Work-Life Synchronicity: An Ethnographic Study of Workers Who Live in Vans

Abstract

After 50 years of studying how work and life interact, research continues to consider each of these domains as relatively rigid or static, with some seeing the two in conflict with the other (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985) and others seen each enriching the other (Greenhaus & Powell, 2006). However, both work and life may not be static but instead be fluid and changing (Greenhaus & Kossek, 2014; Mark & Su, 2010; Spreitzer, Cameron, & Garrett, 2017), each with the potential to be adapted to better align with the other domain. To investigate the notion of the alignment of work and life as fluid phenomenon, we studied workers who live in vans, people maintain mobility in both work and non-work domains. In this ethnographic study, the principle investigator lived in a van while meeting and interviewing 18 workers who live in vans. Through thematic analysis, a variety of themes related to the extent to which work and home are aligned or in conflict were identified, including (1) the identification of the van as home, (2) sense of identity, (3) career and financial freedom and (4) work-life synchronicity. We consider how these findings contribute to theory on work-life synchronicity for all workers.