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Introduction
Key Findings
Results
Discussion
Work Life Study - Discussion
It is important to keep the characteristics of the people who took part in mind. To sum up briefly, typical participants of the study were in their late twenties to early thirties, with the majority having neither school-age children nor adult dependants to care for. This would seem to explain for instance that the majority found their leisure pursuits having suffered most from their work commitments which is in contrast to prior findings where partners and children were felt to have missed out most. The sample was almost evenly split into males and females. The majority considered themselves to work at managerial level, Sales/Marketing, Professional and Specialist were the most frequently chosen work definitions. Most were from relatively small organisations with traditional work patterns, working 35-45 hours a week on 5 days, with a considerable number putting in more time. However given the choice, many would prefer alternative work arrangements to the traditional 5-day week. Furthermore most people felt that they had reasonable control over the hours worked which they felt to be mostly justifiable. In order to improve their Work/Life Balance, the majority would choose to change the total number of hours worked per week. The majority cited Increased Pay as their main incentive for a career change, although it has to be born in mind that this was a forced choice question which only included work intrinsic aspects, rather than qualitative aspects.PCA yielded two Factors underlying a scale of attitude statements. The largest factor was interpreted as Perceived Work Culture And Support and the second one as Focus Of Ambition And Individually Perceived Impact Of Work Demands. Overall the respondents were observed to perceive their Work/Life Balance as tipped towards a negative one. This would also seem supported by the number and quality of personal statements obtained, with 19 statements out of a total of 23 echoing some dissatisfaction with one's Work/Life balance, as opposed to two positive and two neutral ones.
The overall strongest correlations were observed between Perceived Workplace Support And Culture and items 2a ("Do you feel your company is committed to its employees' needs") and item 2c ("Do you feel committed to your company"). Possible explanations for both appeared logical since if people perceive their company to be very committed, this may have a positive impact on Perceived Workplace Support, possibly via some underlying 'feel-good factor'. However, there seemed to be some indication that the majority did not necessarily the support they receive as positive. On the one hand, most people disagreed with the statement that their company did not support them in their struggle to juggle both work and personal commitments. On the other hand, a large number felt that in their organisation working long hours has more to do with inefficiency than workload and that their organisation does not do all it can to maintain a healthy work life balance. Overall, this seems to point to a certain ambiguity in the relationship between employee and employer. Moreover, a highly significant positive correlation was also observed for Focus Of Ambition And Individually Perceived Impact Of Work Demands with Perceived Commitment To One's Company. Again, this may be argued to make intuitive sense, since the more career-focused an individual is the more one feels 'married to one's job'. It is interesting to note that overall perceived commitment seems to hold such particular importance in the Work/Life Balance context over other more factual data, such as the time spent with the company or the size of one's organisation. This would also be in line with previous findings which found commitment and consultation to be the central elements of a satisfied workforce.
Another strong correlation was found between item 2e ("have you ever considered seeking alternative employment which would entail a career change") and Factor I. Considering that the people in this study generally expressed some dissatisfaction with the Work/Life Balance, it is not surprising that this would trigger a need for a career change. This may indicate that the assessment and advocacy of a healthy Work/Life Balance may be of commercial interest to companies. It may prove beneficial to increase the perceived level of support thus retaining loyal staff over time, thus keeping training and recruitment costs to a minimum. This would be in line with a model of organisational chance which views "Culture change and the mainstreaming of work/ family issues" as a vital and integral component of successful company development.
With regard to Section One, a number of significant correlations were observed, amongst which were three highly significant ones, i.e. items 1a (Time With Company In Months), 1e (Days Worked Per Week) and 1f (Average Work Hours) with Factor II. The last two would support a common sense notion that career-focused individuals are more willing to put in extra hours despite their detrimental impact on one's private life as well as one's health and wellbeing. Hence it may be argued that an underlying factor here may possibly be individual levels of work stress.
It is also interesting to note that a significant correlation to Time With One's Company In Months was observed. Given that the majority of the sample population had spent a comparatively short time with their employers, it may be that work matters may have had a particular impact due to individuals' perception of 'having to prove one's worth'.
A significant correlation between Age and Factor II also emerged. Bearing in mind that the present sample was large limited to people in their late 20s and early 30s, this may possibly suggest that there may be a generational difference in the perceived work life balance, a notion in line with previous findings, where the under 35s displayed the highest levels of dissatisfaction.
It is somewhat surprising that no significant correlation between the item tapping on sex and either Factor emerged. Considering the comments put forward by participants, it seems that women generally feel the Work/Life strain more. Certainly more women choose to comment (14 as opposed to 9 men indicating that women and especially mothers still feel trapped in a 'catch 22', torn between their responsibilities. Nevertheless, in the present relatively young sample relatively few participants actually had dependants, thus the traditional gender divide with women still taking the brunt of household duties may not have much of an impact here.
An aspect worthy of further attention in the future would be the incorporation of a variable tapping on Quality Of Life and how this fits into the Work/Life Balance. Responding to items 3t and 3u, one respondent reported that Quality Of Life had suffered most from his/her work commitments and that this would also be the main motivator for changing his/ her job. It is a valid suggestion that such qualitative aspects deserve merit in the measurement and assessment of the Work/Life Balance and additional variables tapping on this aspect could be included in a subsequent design.
Besides a few paradoxical observations emerged. On the one hand a considerable number of respondents reported regularly work longer than average hours, feeling that these are mostly justifiable. On the other hand, the majority reported that working long hours was more to do with inefficiency than workload in their company and was also often confused with commitment. Hence, it may be concluded that the sampled population is overall somewhat stuck in a prevailing culture of presenteeism, where working long hours is still seen as an indicator of productivity. Given that the majority also commented to be somewhat torn between personal and professional responsibilities and working too many hours with not enough flexibility it may be in companies' interest to help to redress this balance. This would to enhance employees' Psychological Availability for work and stop wasting "valuable human resources", as one individual commented, by overworking their employees. This could be implemented by strategies such as offering more flexible work models, which were certainly favoured by the population sampled here.
Similarly, respondents seemed to take the little time they take out due to family or private matters as Sick Leave, despite claiming that they never had to lie when having to take time off. Again, this underline the provision of more flexible structures to be in the employer's best interest in order to prevent absenteeism.
In all there is vast scope for future research for both the detailed study into the traits underlying the Work/Life Balance by psychometric assessment and studies into the practical implementation of more flexible models, incorporating such aspects as gender differences, attitudinal change and stress levels. Further investigations may help to raise public awareness about these matters as well as aid employees to successfully co-ordinate their responsibilities and help companies to make prime use of their existing workforce. Judging by the findings of the present study, companies are still far removed from the concept of a Learning Organisation.
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