"What you will": Results of an Empirical Analysis of the Need to Improve Work-life Balance for Physicians

Abstract

This study assessed the perceived need for clinics to improve work-life balance of physicians. Hospitals are increasingly facing demands to offer physicians working conditions that allow greater balance between family life and pursuit of career. Simultaneously, hospitals could consider this an opportunity to stand out as attractive employers. N=120 doctors of the medical faculty and N=679 medical students in their premedical and clinical training participated online. The results of the Work-Family/Family-Work Conflict Scale (WFC/FWC) showed physicians to have a decreased work/life balance when starting to work professionally, especially with a child. Ninety percent of the respondents considered the following arrangements to be especially helpful: temporary work interruptions in an emergency, part-time positions or emergency childcare. The doctors also expressed their wish to be actively supported by their supervisors on the topic of work/life balance. This analysis on work-family balance shows the need for change in the studied samples. Based on the measures that were determined to be helpful, hospitals can make conclusions about what concrete steps of action can be taken. Additionally, WFC/FWC could be used as a standardized analysis measure to assess the load imposed on physicians by family on work place and vice versa.