Work-home Interference Research Articles

Conceptualizing work-life integration: A review and research agenda

The COVID-19 pandemic and global teams have significantly contributed to the rise of virtual teams and digital workspaces requiring a fundamental shift in viewing work and life as an integrated construct. While a vast majority of literature exists on work-life it is fragmented by sub-constructs like work-family conflict, family-to-work conflict, work-home interference, etc. The current paper looks at work-life integration as a harmonious amalgamation of an individual's personal and professional demands beyond just work and family commitments. The paper attempts to synthesise this literature across 116 articles and propose a comprehensive, future-relevant model of work-life integration that will guide future researchers and practitioners alike. The paper expands the existing academic knowledge by proposing an integrated model of work-life relationships including 5 key aspects of individual and self, work and career, home and family, community and connecting, and finally health and wellbeing. The recommendations from the paper can also better equip practitioners to manage work-life integration in virtual or hybrid workplaces and help HR practitioners design policy interventions for the same.

A New Look at Job Demands, Resources, and Volunteers’ Intentions to Leave: The Role of Work–Home Interference and Burnout

AbstractVolunteers’ intention to leave is a relevant issue for organizations. Thus, it is critical to advance knowledge on its determinants. This study proposes that burnout symptoms mediate the relationship of work–home interference with leaving intentions. In addition, we hypothesize that job resources, namely organizational appreciation and organizational task support, buffer the positive indirect relationship of work–home interference with volunteers’ leaving intentions through burnout symptoms. To this end, we rely on the job demands–resources theory, a theoretical framework first conceived for the paid work context that has been widely applied in volunteering settings. Consistent with our predictions, (moderated) mediation analyses on a sample of 220 Italian volunteers showed that only cynicism, and not emotional exhaustion, significantly mediated the positive relationship between work–home interference and leaving intentions and that organizational appreciation and task support weakened this indirect relationship. We discuss how these findings contribute to theory and practice for the volunteering sector.

Managing boundaries for well-being: a study of work-nonwork balance crafting during the COVID-19 pandemic

AbstractIn the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the boundaries between the work and nonwork domain have rapidly blurred, presenting employees with new challenges and potentially heightening interference of the work with the nonwork domain (work-home interference, WHI) and vice versa (home-work interference, HWI). To counteract these interferences, employees can apply work-nonwork balance crafting (WNBC), referring to proactive efforts for balancing both life domains by targeting the permeability of the boundary between them. Employees may focus their crafting on the boundary toward the work domain (WNBC-work) or the non-work domain (WNBC-nonwork), e.g., shielding each domain from negative spillover from the other. This study aims to investigate the longitudinal associations of WNBC with health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic. We hypothesized that individuals who exhibited more such crafting behaviors at the onset of the pandemic would experience higher mental well-being and work engagement at later points in the COVID-19 pandemic, mediated by lower WHI and HWI. We surveyed N = 2,171 German-speaking employees from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland at three time points during 2020. Structural equation model results indicate that only WNBC-work is longitudinally negatively associated with reduced HWI and positively associated with mental well-being and work engagement. Further, in our sample, only HWI is longitudinally associated with lower mental well-being. No indirect effect reaches significance. Our results underline the importance of WNBC in the work domain in the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. Future research should explore the nature of the direct links between WNBC and mental well-being and work engagement and consider alternative mediating processes, such as gain spirals. Lastly, our study underscores that supporting employees in crafting boundaries for well-being can be crucial, particularly during times of crisis.

“Dear Manager, now I know what you expect”: Examining availability ambiguity in two studies

In the present study, we introduce the concept of availability ambiguity and propose that it extends our understanding of the consequences of availability expectations after hours beyond the absolute level perceived by employees. Thus, we investigated how the level and ambiguity of supervisors’ availability expectations contribute to ICT communication satisfaction, detachment, work-home interference, and exhaustion. Furthermore, we test the effectiveness of a training for supervisors aimed at encouraging them to be transparent about their availability expectations by making explicit agreements with their team. In cross-sectional Study 1, data from 235 individuals showed that availability ambiguity predicted detachment and work-home interference beyond the effect of availability expectations. This finding underscores the need for clear agreements, which was addressed in an intervention tested in the two-wave Study 2. Results from 62 subordinates at T1 and 33 at T2 belonging to 17 different supervisors who participated in the training indicated an increase in explicit agreements and a decrease in availability ambiguity, but no decrease in levels of availability expectations or emotional exhaustion and no increase in ICT communication satisfaction, detachment, or work-life balance. Taken together, our studies show that the ambiguity of availability expectations is a unique stressor that needs to be and can be targeted.

Domestic Factors as Determinant of Sickness Absence with Psychiatric Disorders: A Scoping Review of Nordic Research Published between 2010-2019.

Uneven division of domestic factors may contribute to sex differences in sickness absence with psychiatric disorders. The aim of this scoping review was to compile current Nordic research on domestic factors and sickness absence with psychiatric disorders. A systematic search was performed to identify studies from the Nordic countries published between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2019. Twelve studies were included. Marital status, family situation, work-home interference (in both directions), social affiliation, and loss of child/young adult (suicide, accident, or natural death) were identified as measures of domestic factors. In 8 of the 12 studies, domestic factors were used as co-variates, while four used them as the main exposure. Social affiliation, home-to-work conflict, and total workload were not associated with the outcome. One study found that parents with children older than two years, widows/widowers, and those divorced or unmarried had an increased risk of sickness absence with psychiatric disorders. One study found that work-to-home conflict was associated with sickness absence with stress-related diagnoses in men, and with other mental disorders in women. Finally, one study found that losing a son or daughter aged 16-24 years increased the risk of future sickness absence with a psychiatric disorder regardless of the cause of death. Future studies need to develop concepts, study designs, and measurements to move this research area further. In particular, the concept of "unpaid domestic work" needs theoretical and empirical development.

The relationship between physicians' self-kindness and professional fulfillment and the mediating role of personal resilience and work-home interference: A cross-sectional study.

Professional fulfillment is crucial for physicians' well-being and optimal patient care. Highly demanding work environments, perfectionism and self-critical attitudes jeopardize physicians' professional fulfillment. To explore to what extent a kinder attitude towards the self, i.e. self-kindness, was associated with physicians' professional fulfillment and whether this relationship was mediated by personal resilience and work-home interference. In 2020, cardiologists (n = 374) in the Netherlands participated in a web-based survey. Self-kindness was measured by the self-kindness subscale of the Self-Compassion Scale, personal resilience by the Brief Resilience Scale, work-home interference by the negative Work-Home Interference subscale of the Survey Work-Home Interaction-Nijmegen, and professional fulfillment by the corresponding subscale of the Professional Fulfillment Index. Using Hayes' SPSS macro PROCESS v3.5, the authors tested the parallel mediation model. Self-kindness was not directly associated with professional fulfillment (direct effect = .042, p = .36, 95% CI: -0.048, 0.132). Self-kindness was indirectly related to professional fulfillment through individual resilience (indirect effect = .049, 95% CI: .020, 0.086) and work-home interference (indirect effect = .057, 95% CI: .023, 096). This study suggests that improving physicians' self-kindness may enhance professional fulfillment through personal resilience and work-home interference. Our findings may stimulate and remind physicians to be kind towards themselves as it may benefit them and their patients.

The COVID-19 pandemic: Perspectives on work engagement and work-from-home in a higher education institution

Orientation: Globally, the repercussions of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic infiltrated many areas within societies. Like all other institutions, higher education institutions (HEIs) had to migrate to online and blended activities, and work-from-home (WFH) became characteristic of the ‘new normal’.Research purpose: The main purpose of the study was to determine the perspectives on work engagement and WFH among employees of an HEI in South Africa during the global COVID-19 pandemic.Motivation for the study: There is limited published research reporting on WFH and work engagement in HEIs.Research approach/design and method: The study employed a quantitative-based cross-sectional design. The target population of this study included all employees an HEI in South Africa who worked from home during the COVID-19 lockdown. A web-based survey was used to collect the data. In total, 399 respondents participated in the research.Main results: The results of the study revealed that the employees were to a great extent engaged in their work because of the organisational support received from the institution. It was also evident that some employees experienced difficulties with establishing a work routine, a lack of sufficient equipment and resources to function at home, work–home interference, increased workload and working hours, isolation and work–life balance issues.Practical/managerial implications: The results of the study are important to inform business decisions regarding the WFH model as an alternative working arrangement to be considered in HEIs.Contribution/value-add: This study contributes to the body of knowledge regarding work engagement and WFH in HEIs in the context of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Are psychosocial work factors and work-home interference associated with time to first full return-to-work after sick leave due to common mental disorders?

ObjectiveTo (1) examine the time to first full return-to-work (RTW), and (2) investigate whether psychosocial work factors and work-home interference are associated with time to first full RTW after sick leave due to common mental disorders (CMDs).MethodsThe cohort study comprised 162 employees on sick leave due to CMDs participating in a two-armed cluster-randomised controlled trial in Sweden. Baseline data consisted of a web-based questionnaire and follow-up data of repeated text messages every fourth week for 12 months. The time to first full RTW was estimated using the Kaplan–Meier Estimator. Parametric Weibull survival models with interval-censored outcomes were used to determine associations between psychosocial work factors and work-home interference with time to first full RTW. In a post hoc analysis, time-interval differences in associations for 0– ≤ 6- versus > 6–12 months were tested.ResultsDuring the 12-month follow-up, n = 131 (80.9%) reported a first full RTW. The median time to this RTW was 16 weeks (95% CI 12; 20). High psychological job demands, high emotional job demands, high work-to-home interference (WHI), and low social job support were independently associated with a longer time to first full RTW. Time-interval differences were found for job control and emotional job demands.ConclusionsPsychosocial work demands and WHI are associated with a longer time to RTW after sick leave due to CMDs. Work organisations and rehabilitation practices should include accommodations for high psychological and emotional job demands during RTW, as well as pay attention to the risk of spill-over of high job demands into employees’ private lives.

Work Interrupted at Home: Examining the Influence of Supportive Teleworking Practices on WFC

By utilizing boundary theory and distraction-conflict theory, this study attempted to examine the influential process of supportive teleworking practices granting work scheduling autonomy on work-to-family conflict via the mediating mechanism of work interruption initiated from home. The study conducted two-wave online questionnaire survey to obtain a final sample of 277 remote knowledge workers in Taiwan during the peak period of COVID-19 pandemic. Regression analysis was used to examine the proposed relationships. The results revealed that supportive teleworking practices did not directly decrease the level of work-to-family conflict while home-sourced work interruptions fully mediated the negative relationship between supportive teleworking practices and work-to-family conflict. This provides a more nuanced explanation for how and why supportive teleworking practices are beneficial for employees to cope with the challenge of work-home interference under the new ways of working. Our findings simultaneously address evidence-based practices to better deal with mandatory teleworking during potential societal crisis beyond the Covid-19 pandemic.

Job Demands, Resources, and Future Considerations: Academics' Experiences of Working From Home During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic.

The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has severely affected workers, workplaces, and working practices. In the higher education setting, universities have shifted to distance learning, resulting in profound changes in academics' work. In this study, we aimed to describe academics' job demands and resources related to changes in working conditions during the pandemic, and to examine how these changes have affected the perceived occupational wellbeing of academics. Additionally, we aimed to investigate academics' expectations and concerns for future academic working practices following the pandemic. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 26 academics working at various universities in Sweden. A content analysis was used to identify the key themes from the transcribed interviews. The results indicated that academics experienced a lack of face-to-face communication, absence of an academic environment, work overload, and work-home interference as demanding during the pandemic. In relation to resources, online communication options, appropriate working conditions, organizational-social support, and individual factors were perceived as important. Most respondents perceived negative occupational wellbeing outcomes. However, academics who had the appropriate resources were less likely to be affected by job demands. Academics' expectations for future academic work included continuation of working online, flexibility in the choice of workspace, and strengthened digital capacity. Their concerns were related to a lack of face-to-face interaction, management actions and economic implications, and pure digital education. This paper contributes to the literature by illustrating the complexity and diversity of experiences and preferences among academics that are important for universities to consider when organizing and managing future academic work.

Walking the tightrope between work and home: the role of job/home resources in the relation between job/home demands and employee health and well-being.

The present study investigated the role of job/home resources in the relation between job/home demands and exhaustion, job satisfaction, work-home interference, and home-work interference during the COVID-19 pandemic. We explored the prevalence of job/home demands and resources during the COVID-19 pandemic, and examined whether working at different locations (i.e., working from home or at the office) affects how both job/home demands and resources are associated with employees' health and well-being. An online cross-sectional survey study using self-report questionnaires was carried out among the networks of the International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH) association (N=153). The findings of this study illustrated that (1) cognitive job demands/resources and emotional home demands/resources were crucial in predicting employee health and well-being; (2) a conceptual match was detected between corresponding demands and resources; (3) subgroup analysis showed that employees were not heavily affected by the different working locations during the pandemic. In conclusion, this study confirms the positive role of job/home resources. We suggest that cultivating specific job/home resources and establishing an appropriate match between specific job/home resources and corresponding job/home demands is necessary to ensure employees' health and well-being in times of a pandemic.

Work-Time Control and Exhaustion: Internal Work-to-Home Interference and Internal Home-to-Work Interference as Mediators.

Strong work-time control (WTC) has been linked to reduced employee exhaustion, with work-to-home interference as an underlying mechanism. In this study, we aimed to investigate the mediation effect of both directions of internal work–home interference, namely internal work-to-home interference (IWHI) and internal home-to-work interference (IHWI). The analysis is based on data from the 2015, 2017, and 2019 BAuA-Working Time Survey, a representative German panel study. Cross-lagged panel models were estimated separately for IWHI and IHWI, based on the balanced panel (n = 3390). We investigated the hypothesized indirect as well as potential direct, reversed, and reciprocal effects of the constructs. WTC had a small but significant indirect effect on exhaustion via IWHI. Contrary to assumptions, WTC positively affected IHWI. Unexpectedly, there was no significant effect of IHWI on exhaustion. Hence, only IWHI was identified to mediate WTC’s effect on exhaustion. This implies that WTC helps employees avoid exhaustion from psychological preoccupation with work during free time. In addition, analyses suggested reversed and reciprocal relationships between the investigated constructs. Further investigation is needed to explore the role of psychological preoccupation with private matters during work time in the context of WTC and employee well-being.

Shadow of cyber ostracism over remote environment: Implication on remote work challenges, virtual work environment and employee mental well-being during a Covid-19 pandemic

This study aimed to identify the influence of workplace cyber ostracism on employee online work engagement and employee mental well-being with the mediating roles of remote work challenges such as loneliness, procrastination, work-home interference, and ineffective communication. As amidst lockdown due to COVID-19, the data was collected from 303 respondents through an online questionnaire that was distributed in virtual groups among friends, relatives, and other fellows who were working in the private sector organizations of Pakistan. The hypotheses were tested using the partial least square structural equation modeling PLS-SEM technique. The findings of this study showed that workplace cyber ostracism has a positive and significant impact on employee online work engagement and employee mental well-being. Moreover, results also demonstrated that loneliness, ineffective communication, procrastination, and work-home interference positively and significantly mediate the relationship between workplace cyber ostracism, employee online work engagement, and employee mental well-being. Furthermore, discussion, implications, and limitations were also discussed in this research article.

Working from home: mismatch between access and need in relation to work–home interference and fatigue

Working from home: mismatch between access and need in relation to work–home interference and fatigue

호텔 비대면 서비스 종사원의 직무요구와 직무자원(JD-R), 직무열의, 조직몰입에 관한 연구: 연령차이 분석

This study investigated the influence relationship of job demand, job resource, job engagement, and organizational commitment of non-face-to-face service employees and analyzed the age difference. A total of 118 valid samples were collected from non-face-to-face service employees of hotel room reservation departments and INS departments. The collected data were used for hypothesis testing through ANOVA to perform frequency analysis, factor analysis, reliability analysis, regression analysis, and age difference verification through SPSS 21.0 statistical package. As a result of the study, first, work overload, emotional demand, and work-home interference as job demand had a negative (-) effect on job engagement. Second, only opportunities to learn and to develop as job resources had a positive (+) effect on job engagement. Third, it was found that job engagement had a positive (+) effect on organizational commitment. Fourth, age difference analysis showed significant differences. Based on the results derived, implications for the continuous organizational commitment of non-face-to-face service employees were provided.

The "What", "Why" and "Whom" of Interrole Interference Among Home-Based Teleworkers.

Many employees are drawn to work-from-home arrangements based on expectations that such arrangements will help them manage both work and home life more effectively. Yet, mixed empirical findings suggest that telework arrangements do not uniformly result in less interrole interference (i.e., work-home and home-work interference). Applying and extending a border theory perspective, the present research offers insight into what factors may predict interrole interference, mediating mechanisms that may explain why such interference occurs, and a moderator that tests for whom interference is most damaging when employees work from home. Specifically, we test cross-role interruption behaviors as a predictor of interrole interference, with recovery experiences as a mediator of this relation and work-life border segmentation preference as a moderator. A sample of 504 home-based teleworkers recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk participated in a three-wave survey. Results from a structural equation modeling approach support our overall model. However, the extent and valence of the impact of cross-role interruption behaviors had on teleworkers’ interrole interference depended on the direction of the interruption, type of recovery experience, and personal work-life border preference. These findings provide theoretical and practical insights that may help explain the gap between expected and actual occurrence of interrole interference in home-based telework arrangements.

Working from home: mismatch between access and need in relation to work-home interference and fatigue.

Objectives:Working from home (WfH) is a promising practice that may enable employees to successfully and sustainably combine work and private life. Yet, not every employer facilitates WfH and not every employee has similar needs concerning the practice. The current study aims to examine the association of a WfH mismatch with work–home interference (WHI) and fatigue.Methods:Data on WfH, WHI, and fatigue of a quasi-representative sample of 2374 Dutch employees in 2012/13 and a follow-up measurement one year later were used. Cross-sectional and longitudinal regression analyses were conducted to investigate the cross-sectional and temporal associations between WfH mismatch on the one hand and (changes in) time-based and strain-based WHI and fatigue on the other hand.Results:In the cross-sectional analyses, WfH mismatch was significantly associated with higher time-based WHI (B=0.13), strain-based WHI (B=0.17) and more fatigue (B=0.32). WfH mismatch was not associated with changes in these outcomes after one year of follow-up.Conclusions:A tailored WfH organizational policy, in which employees’ need for working from home is taken into account, may be a fruitful approach to utilize WfH as a way for employees to successfully and sustainably combine work and private life to its full potential.

Work availability types and well-being in Germany – a latent class analysis among a nationally representative sample

ABSTRACT Employees who remain available for work outside regular work hours often experience strain and work–home conflicts. This study clusters employees in distinct availability types based on different aspects of unregulated extended work ability, which are contacting frequency, availability expectations and perceived legitimacy of availability. Moreover, we examined covariates of class membership and relationships with employees’ well-being. We used data from 17,410 employees who took part in a representative survey of the German working population. Latent class analysis with double cross-validation revealed three availability types. Satisfaction with work–life balance was higher and internal work–home interference was lower in the “rarely available”-class than in the “legitimate available”-class and the “illegitimate available”-class. Members of the “illegitimate available”-class reported worse subjective health, more psychovegetative health complaints, and higher levels of exhaustion than members of the “legitimate available”-class and the “rarely available”-class. Several socio-demographic variables, job characteristics, and factors associated with boundary management predicted class membership. Overall, the study highlights the risks for employees’ well-being associated with unregulated extended work availability – particularly when it is perceived as illegitimate – and points towards implications on the individual, organisational, and political level that may help reduce and better manage extended work ability.

Lonely@Work@Home? The impact of work and home demands and support on workplace loneliness

Workplace loneliness, and its negative effects such as stress and reduced job performance, seem especially relevant in the fast-growing e-working environment and even more so recently with strict social distancing and home-working measures taken due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During e-working, employees are not only subject to different demands and support structures at work, but also at home, yet these two sides have so far not been investigated in the workplace loneliness literature. Drawing on job demands-resource (JD-R) theory and the workplace loneliness literature, we suggest job and home demands as antecedents to workplace loneliness, work-home interference and home-work interference as mediators, and job and home support as moderators. We conducted a two wave study of at remote-working, white-collar employees in Germany during the COVID-19 pandemic. We found that job demands increased workplace loneliness through heightened work-home interference and this relationship was buffered by job support. Home demands increased workplace loneliness through heightened home-work interference, but this relationship was not buffered by home support. We contribute to the workplace loneliness literature by identifying important antecedents of and possible remedies for workplace loneliness.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on management-level hotel employees' work behaviors: Moderating effects of working-from-home.

This study examines the effects of working-from-home during the COVID-19 pandemic on management-level hotel employees’ work engagement, burnout, and turnover intentions. The study demonstrates that working-from-home tends to be a double-edged blade that leads to both positive and negative employee behavioral outcomes. Findings reveal that while working-from-home is associated with a higher level of vigor, it magnifies the effects of absorption on burnout. In addition, due to work-home interference, working-from-home suppresses the positive effect of dedication and amplifies the negative effect of burnout on turnover intentions. The theoretical contributions and managerial recommendations are provided.