Work and Family Life Balance of Administrative Professional Mothers

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to identify supporting factors which help administrative professional mothers balance their work and family life and to analyze the level of importance and satisfaction of each supporting factor. For the purpose, the research identified nine supporting factors under four categories through two rounds of a modified Delphi study with 15 panelists, and analyzed the level of importance and satisfaction of each supporting factor using questionnaire survey. Based on the findings of this study, the following conclusions were drawn: First, internal support such as self preparation and individual management was considered the most important. Also, domestic support including family supports both in attitude and finance was considered significant. Second, working mothers in administrative profession proved to value family friendly organizational culture as organizational support. Furthermore, proper work schedule was found to be strongly tied to supervisor support because administrative professional’'s job is closely interwoven to supervisor. Third, administrative professional mothers needed more supports from both organizations and society. Such support in organizations and society may facilitate the recruitment and retention of people who juggle multiple roles into the challenging professional positions. Fourth, overall, the administrative professionals were definitely challenged by their work and time they spent working. However, the majority of them accept their workloads as part of the job. They conveyed that they had passion for what they do and that they made a choice to be an administrative professional. Conclusions of the study showed that there existed no quick and painless solutions in work and family life balance but administrative professional mothers need to be proactive in taking advantage of various supports suggested by the research to improve quality of life.