scholarly journals The impact of the first COVID-19 lockdown in the UK for doctoral and early career researchers

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia C. Jackman ◽  
Rebecca Sanderson ◽  
Tandy J. Haughey ◽  
Caroline E. Brett ◽  
Naomi White ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Work Environment ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Academic Leadership ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Considerable Heterogeneity ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
Qualitative Survey ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

AbstractDoctoral researchers and early career researchers (ECRs) are crucial to producing scientific advancements and represent the future of academic leadership. Their research endeavours were changed radically by lockdowns in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this study was to explore the perceived benefits and challenges of the national lockdown in the UK from the perspective of doctoral researchers and ECRs. We present analysis of qualitative survey data from 1,142 doctoral researchers and ECRs on their experiences of the first UK lockdown collected from April 16, 2020–May 14, 2020. Our findings suggest considerable heterogeneity in how the pandemic impacted this key group of academic workers. Challenges arising from the lockdown largely cohered around a poor work environment, limited access to resources, perceptions of pressure, and negative psychological outcomes. Conversely, respondents also highlighted several benefits in the early stages of the pandemic, with the change to working from home creating more time, resulting in greater productivity and a better work-life balance. Collectively, findings indicate the importance of considering the personal circumstances and needs of individual researchers. We discuss the implications for support these researchers require to rebuild their careers in the wake of the initial disruption.

Things I wish I’d known: desiderata for early career psychiatrists

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 78-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lillian Ng ◽  
Richard Steane ◽  
Emme Chacko ◽  
Natalie Scollay
Keyword(s):  
Work Environment ◽  
Reflective Practice ◽  
Self Care ◽  
Career Progression ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Career Plans ◽  
Zealand College

Objective: The objective of this study was to disseminate advice imparted to early career psychiatrists by a panel of senior colleagues at a Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists symposium, reflecting on things they wished they had known at the earlier stage in their careers. Methods: Key themes were extracted from notes taken at the symposium, where opinions were expressed by three senior psychiatrists. Results: There are components in building a sustainable career as a psychiatrist, which include considering one’s work environment and relationships with colleagues; self-care, mentorship and reflective practice; and seeking opportunities to teach and research for career progression. Conclusions: The mentorship and advice from senior colleagues can be highly influential. In order to sustain a career that has reward, meaning and longevity, psychiatrists would do well to pay attention to aspects of self-care, stay connected to their loved ones, seek an optimal work–life balance and take an interest in their long term career plans.

scholarly journals The Intersection of Reproductive, Work-Life Balance and Early-Education and Care Policies: ‘Solo’ Mothers by Choice in the UK and Spain

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 458
Author(s):  
Ana Bravo-Moreno
Keyword(s):  
Assisted Reproductive Technologies ◽  
Early Education ◽  
Reproductive Technologies ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Childhood Care ◽  
Education And Care ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

This article focuses on women who have opted to be mothers on their own by choice in the UK and Spain, and how their access to assisted reproductive technologies in the National Health Service was affected because they were 35 years old or older, forcing them to go to private clinics for their treatment. Having given birth to their children, the participants face a second obstacle: the lack of policies that support work-life balance. A third obstacle also arises, in the form of a lack of childcare and early-education provision, particularly in the UK. The last two obstacles affect the whole population, but they are intensified in the case of solo-mother-families where the mother is responsible for simultaneously being the caregiver and the sole economic provider. Solo motherhood by choice highlights the impact of the absence of these policies, and the inequalities that result from current contemporary conceptualizations of family, woman and early-childhood-care and education. This article draws on ethnographic research that took place in the UK and Spain where I conducted 60 in-depth interviews and participant observations. The aim is to provide an analysis capable of capturing and confronting how inequalities affect women-mothers-workers and their children.

scholarly journals Retention of Nurses in Medium Size Health Care Units -Role of Work Life Balance, Compensation and Work Environment

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 510-514
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Work Environment ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Medium Size ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Organization Commitment ◽  
Predominant Factor ◽  
Chennai City ◽  
The Impact

This paper evaluates the impact of compensation, work life balance and work environment towards organization commitment of nurses who belong to less attended medium size health care units in and around Chennai City in India. It also deals with the impact of organization commitment towards retention of nurses. From the findings it is evident that the commitment of nurses in the hospital increases their likelihood of continuation. Also it reveals that compensation is the predominant factor followed by work life balance and work environment in enhancing organization commitment.

scholarly journals The impact of the pandemic on early career researchers: what we already know from the internationally published literature

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eti Herman ◽  
David Nicholas ◽  
Anthony Watkinson ◽  
Blanca Rodríguez-Bravo ◽  
Abdullah Abrizah ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Pertinent Literature ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
Research Activities ◽  
Analytic Review ◽  
Scholarly Communications ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Development Prospects

In order to take account of the impact of the pandemic on the already changing scholarly communications and work-life of early career researchers (ECRs), the 4-year long Harbingers study was extended for another two years. As a precursor to the study (featuring interviews and a questionnaire survey), currently underway, an analytic review of the pertinent literature was undertaken and its results are presented here. The review focuses on the challenges faced by ECRs and how these compare to the ones more senior researchers have to tackle. In the examination of the literature three general questions are posed: Q1) What are the identifiable and forthcoming impacts of the pandemic-induced financial pressures felt in the Higher Education sector on ECRs’ employment and career development prospects? Q2) What are the identifiable and forthcoming pandemic-associated disruptions in the pace/focus/direction of the research undertaking? Have any disruptions been predicted to exert an impact on ECRs’ research activities, and if so, with what scholarly consequences? Q3) How is the work-life of ECRs shaping up under the virus-dictated rules of the ‘new normal’ in the research undertaking? What challenges, if any, arise from the changes in practices identified, and what might their potential consequences be for ECRs? The broad conclusion of the study is that the literature leaves little room for doubt: junior researchers are already disproportionally affected by and bear the burden of the ongoing pandemic-incurred hardships and they are likely to remain similarly impacted when more trials, still unfolding, materialise.

Work–life balance among early career researchers in six European countries

2018 ◽  
pp. 145-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanja Cukut Krilić ◽  
Majda Černič Istenič ◽  
Duška Knežević Hočevar
Keyword(s):  
Work Life ◽  
Early Career ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Early Career Researchers

scholarly journals Employees Work Stress in Saudi Telecom Sector: Examining the Role of Long Working Hours, Empowerment, Work Life Balance and Work Environment

2020 ◽  
pp. 81-91
Author(s):  
Mohammed A. Al Doghan
Keyword(s):  
Work Environment ◽  
Customer Service ◽  
Work Performance ◽  
Intention To Leave ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Work Place ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Telecom Sector ◽  
The Impact

Employee management in the telecom sector has emerged as one of the most important human resource functional areas in contemporary global environment. This management of employees in telecom sector is essentially directed toward the realisation of a superior work performance and productivity for efficient customer service and overall sustainability of an organisation in a competitive market. In this context, a background research suggest that work place stress has a derogatory impact on the overall performance through four identified variables such as work hours, work environment, empowerment and the work life balance practices at such organisations. Review of literature suggested an inherent link between less practices in these areas of people management leading to reduced performance and intention to leave. This research therefore undertakes the task to identify the impact of these four variable on the work place related stress and how it impacts the performance of the employees in Saudi Arabia telecom sector. A sample of 150 employees of the telecom sector was selected using a simple random sampling design and a quantitative approach to collect data through close ended questionnaire based survey. The collected data was analysed using the statistical program for social science software for deducing findings and testing hypotheses. The findings of the study indicated a direct link between reduced performance and stress related to the four identified variables of the study.

scholarly journals Green Work-Life Balance and Greenwashing the Construct of Work-Life Balance: Myth and Reality

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (15) ◽  
pp. 4556
Author(s):  
Anuradha Iddagoda ◽  
Eglantina Hysa ◽  
Helena Bulińska-Stangrecka ◽  
Otilia Manta
Keyword(s):  
Job Performance ◽  
Employee Engagement ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Theoretical Contribution ◽  
Green Human Resource Management ◽  
The Impact

Some of the frequently used buzz words in the corporate sector include green leadership, green human resource management, green employee engagement and green work-life balance. The intention of this article is to identify and examine the logical reasons that govern “green work-life balance” or, in simple terms, “greenwashing” work-life balance. The paper also aims at providing a comprehensive conceptualization of work-life balance, while thoroughly examining the components of measuring the construct. Based on a cross-sectional study in the banking industry with a sample of 170 managerial employees, this study analyzes the impact of work-life balance on employee job performance mediated by employee engagement. Results support the assumed relationship between work-life balance and employee job performance embedded in employee engagement. The theoretical contribution of this study concerns the application of role behavior theory to describe the mechanisms shaping the relationship between work-life balance and job performance through employee engagement. The practical implications of the paper include recommendations for improving job performance by enhancing the work-life balance and strengthening employee engagement.

Work-Life Balance in Italy pre-, during and post-COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-46
Author(s):  
Olga Rymkevich
Keyword(s):  
Parental Leave ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Organizational Changes ◽  
Labour Law ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Legislative Measures

The COVID-19 pandemic is bringing immense pressure to bear on labour law and social security institutions in all countries of the world, while having a major impact on work-life balance. The total lockdown, also of schools and higher education, the unprecedented fall in the level of production, the reduced possibility of relying on other family members, friends and domestic workers, traditionally constituting the essential pillars of formal and informal caring, in addition to working from home with children doing their schooling online (in large part on the parents’ shoulders) have compelled families to face new and abrupt organizational changes. The aim of this article is to investigate the legislative measures such as parental leave (ordinary and emergency) adopted in Italy aimed at supporting families during the pandemic, with a view to assessing their effectiveness and the impact on the Italian labour market during and after the pandemic. For this purpose, the socio-economic and legal framework dealing with parental leave before the COVID-19 emergency will be outlined, followed an the analysis of the emergency measures to provide support for parents, concluding with some reflections on possible future developments.

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