Telecommuting during COVID 19: A Moderated-Mediation Approach Linking Job Resources to Job Satisfaction

The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has led to sudden and significant changes in the work and family roles of the employees. Due to the unprecedentedness of the situation, academicians and practitioners have limited knowledge of the effect permanently working from home during this crisis can have on employees. Developing the role and work–life balance theories and using the job demands and resources model, the authors study the role of availability of job autonomy and family supportive supervisory behaviors (FSSBs) directly on work–life balance and indirectly on job satisfaction through work–life balance for Industry 4.0 based employees. Using work-to-family positive spillover (WFPS) as a first-level moderator and prior telecommuting experience (PTE) as a second-level moderator, the authors also check for the moderating effect on work–life balance and job satisfaction, respectively. The data were analyzed using CFA and SEM in AMOS v21.0 and model 21 in PROCESS Macro for SPSS. The study found that job autonomy and FSSBs have significant positive direct and indirect effects on work–life balance and job satisfaction, respectively, and these relationships are positively moderated by WFPS and PTE, respectively. The study focuses on the human factor of Industry 4.0, adds empirical insights to the work–family interface literature, and has implications that will help both employees and organizations during such critical times.

Counselors’ Experience of Work and Family Roles During the COVID-19 Pandemic

In this study, the researchers used quantitative analysis to examine the relationship between counselors’ work–family conflict, work–family enrichment, work variables, and family variables during the COVID-19 pandemic. Factors that predicted counselors’ experience of conflict between work and family roles included lacking work-place flexibility, having a child under the age of 6, spending a high number of hours caring for others, and experiencing a change in location of the work setting due to COVID-19. Workplace flexibility and a low number of hours spent caring for others predicted counselors’ experience of enrichment. Participants’ mean responses to the Work–Family Conflict Scale and Work–Family Enrichment Scale indicated they experienced higher levels of enrichment than conflict during the pandemic.

Study of two large Indian companies shows critical role of organizations in helping workers to manage work-family-conflict (WFC)

Purpose The authors felt previous research focused on the mental health impacts of WFC, but did not analyse the constructive role organizations can play. This is what they set out to do. Design/methodology/approach The study took place in the service sector. The authors chose a qualitative method and carried out long interviews with 15 employees at the two companies based in New Delhi. The two main questions were: Q1. Please share a situation where you experienced conflict between your work and family roles. What was your experience? Q2. Please share instances of WFC where the organization played a role in helping you resolve the same. Findings It revealed a number of key factors, including effective two-way communication between employees and top management, structural support from the organization and restructuring jobs to prevent overload. Originality/value The authors felt their study was valuable because most previous research focused on the mental health impacts of WFC, but did not analyse the constructive role organizations can play.

Work flexibility-ability and work–family conflict: the joint role of willingness and worry

PurposeThis study introduced a focus on work flexibility-worry and intended to test whether work flexibility-worry would weaken the strengthening power of work flexibility-willingness on the relationship between work flexibility-ability and work–family conflict from the perspective of person–situation interaction.Design/methodology/approachParticipants were 924 employees recruited by the snowballing technique. They completed questionnaires about demographics and work flexibility. Multivariate stepwise regression was used to analyze the collected data.FindingsResults showed that work flexibility-ability can reduce work-to-family conflict. However, this effect is most pronounced only among individuals with a high work flexibility-willingness who simultaneously experience low work flexibility-worry.Practical implicationsFor organizations that want to provide work flexibility benefits to employees, they should not only pay attention to employees' personal preference for work flexibility but also create a climate in which all employees are allowed to use the flexibility supply without criticism from coworkers and without impacting organizational evaluations, which can benefit employees' functioning in both their work and family roles.Originality/valueThis study clarified the joint role of willingness and worry in predicting the extent to which work flexibility-ability reduces work–family conflict, which helps organizations to better understand the conditions under which work flexibility can better reduce work–family conflict.

A Qualitative Exploration of Role Salience among Malaysian Professional and Managerial Dual-Career Couples

This paper explores work and family roles salience in the context of dual-career couples in Malaysia. Semi-structured qualitative interviews has been conducted on 18 couples in professional and managerial position. The data were transcribed and analyzed using template analysis. The findings revealed that several factors namely culture, religious values, gender, work characteristics and personal preferences influence the couples’ role salience. Women tend to face more struggles to maintain the salience of both roles despite the fact that couples regard both roles to be central to their lives. Factors such as culture and religious values influence the couples’ role salience making them holding to traditional gender attitude and reduce the impact of family to work. Some couples are more affected with spouse work condition or personal preferencesleading them to practice less traditional roles in their family arrangements.Conflicting views within couples also exist, which influence their challenges and satisfaction. This study adds to the work and family research using couple-level analysis in a non-Western context. The qualitative data gained has also enabled the study to extend the understanding on how the dynamic of the interaction between culture, religion, gender, work characteristics and personal preferences come into play to shape couples’ role salience and consequently their work-family experiences and perceptions.

The Road Less Travelled

One of the most crucial factors affecting development in the 21st century is the increased participation of women in the economy of a country and increased entrance to managerial positions. Even though such tremendous changes have taken place, the patriarchal social set up insists on women's responsibilities towards family and children. The domestic roles of women are not shared by men despite the fact that women have shared the economic and social responsibilities of men. This causes conflict among work and family roles, which ultimately affects the physical and psychological well-being of women managers. This chapter deals with the problems and challenges faced by women managers in higher education in India and how family support and suitable coping strategies help them maintain work-family balance.

«Αν ήμουν άνεργη και δεν ήμουν παντρεμένη, θα ήμουν ένα τίποτα…»: Έμφυλες διαπραγματεύσεις της ανεργίας

This study investigates the ways in which unemployed married women talk about and justify their unemployment status in relation to the construction of gendered identities. It focuses on the analysis of the “interpretative repertories” which women use and their consequences on the negotiation of their female identity within the particular family and work framework. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and the analysis was based on the principles of discourse analysis within the framework of feminist perspectives. It was found that women construct and arrange their occupational practices and choices relying primarily on traditional beliefs and assumptions about female participation in the labour market. Gender and marital status are used in order to justifyunemployment since the later is being described as a “natural” situation, especially for married women. Participants construct a context where there are no supportive mechanisms for married unemployed womenand their needs for employment are not taken into serious consideration. Findings further show that married women are confronted with personal conflicts as well as stereotypical socio-cultural expectations and constructions of female unemployment. Within this context, they seem to finally accept the dominant discourses about the traditional gendered division of work and family roles.

Trends in Female Workers’ Childbearing Intentions in South Korea

This study aimed to analyze trends of South Korean working women’s childbearing intentions to provide directions for strategies to increase South Korea’s birth rate. This study used the data generated by the Korean Longitudinal Panel Survey of Women and Families in South Korea from 2007 to 2016, and included 2,341 working women. This study showed that female workers’ intention to bear children is decreasing. In 2007, age and the number of children were considered in predicting the characteristics of those with childbearing intentions. In 2016, the provision of maternity leave at work, job satisfaction regarding relationships and communication, and work-family conflicts were added. When identifying the factors by category, the impact level of occupational factors increased, although the impact level of individual factors decreased. There should be a balance between work and family roles, and employers should provide ample maternity leave and promote an organizational culture that supports job satisfaction.

Longitudinal Analysis of Work-to-Family Conflict and Self-Reported General Health among Working Parents in Germany

The combination of work and family roles can lead to work-to-family conflict (WTFC), which may have consequences for the parents’ health. We examined the association between WTFC and self-reported general health among working parents in Germany over time. Data were drawn from wave 6 (2013) and wave 8 (2015) of the German family and relationship panel. It included working persons living together with at least one child in the household (791 mothers and 723 fathers). Using logistic regressions, we estimated the longitudinal effects of WTFC in wave 6 and 8 on self-reported general health in wave 8. Moderating effects of education were also considered. The odds ratio for poor self-reported general health for mothers who developed WTFC in wave 8 compared to mothers who never reported conflicts was 2.4 (95% CI: 1.54–3.68). For fathers with newly emerged WTFC in wave 8, the odds ratio was 1.8 (95% CI: 1.03–3.04). Interactions of WTFC with low education showed no significant effects on self-reported general health, although tendencies show that fathers with lower education are more affected. It remains to be discussed how health-related consequences of WTFC can be reduced e.g., through workplace interventions and reconciliation policies.