Individuals range from high to low in their preference to protect their home domain from work, and from high to low in their preference to protect their work domain from home (Powell & Greenhaus, 2007). This essay will aim to critically evaluate the relationship between work and non-work and the complex nature of it in relation to the essay statement.
Starting with an explanation of how work and non-work differentiate from one another; a study on sociology, work and organisations comes to the conclusion that; work is the carrying out of tasks which enable people to make a living within the social and economic context in which they are located. Whilst going on further to explain how non-work/leisure; are activities which individuals pursue for pleasure, that may have no link with their employment or domestic obligations (Watson, 2012; 2011).
Even though through studies and reviews, academics are able to create a basic definition of work and non-work, the relationship between the two dimensions are very complex, making it difficult to differentiate between when individuals are working or not working. Parker (1982) identified three types of relationship between work and non-work/leisure, these were; extension, opposition and neutrality. Leisure can often be an extension of an individual’s working life, often know as a spillover. (Evans & Bartoleme, 1980). Extension is normally where individuals prioritise work with their leisure activities being considered as a spillover, both negative and positive spillover can occur between work and family. (Grzywacz & Marks, 2000). An oppositional relationship between work and non-work is where work and leisure are completely separate, with leisure being the main focus. Finally; neutrality, is where family or non-work activities take priority, and work is carried out for income instead of satisfaction.
Not all work is paid, with many occupations consisting of unpaid work. Parker (1982) categorized work and non-work into 5 different elements, helping us to understand how complex the relationship is between the two. Parker identified work as; the amount of work time spent in employment. Work related time; such as the amount of time you spend travelling to and from work etc. Existence time; such as psychological needs, Non-work obligations such as household duties, cleaning etc. Finally, the 5th Category parker identified was Leisure; the amount of free, uncommitted time you have left after all the other activities. This framework or model helps individuals understand the complex nature of work life balance, and how many activities are work related even though they may not provide any financial benefit.
The complex relationship between work and non-work can expand further when you start to looking at individuals based on their age, occupation, gender, life and career stage (Guest, 2002). Lewis, 2003; Pockock, Skinner & williams, 2008 argue that; Low paid workers in occupations where only minimum wage is available, have little choice but to work longer hours than higher paid jobs, often balancing multiple jobs, in order to make a living, reducing the ability to be able to create a work/family balance, with their work domain causing a negative spillover into their non-work domain. Gender can have a key influence when evaluating the relationship between work and non-work as; even though the majority of household work and childcare is still performed by women (Nordenmark, 2004), changes are happening within family environments, which include a higher percentage of women now entering into the labour market (Walia, 2015). This is resulting in a strain on women who are struggling with balancing work and family demands; especially those individuals with young children, who have been found to be more likely to show signs of psychological disturbance (Elliott & Huppert, 1991). Furthermore, women reported more work interference in their non-work domain than men (Rajadhyaksha & Velgach, 2009), despite spending a similar amount of time in paid work as men (Gutek, Searle & Klepa, 1991).
Studies show that employees who have to deal with organisational pressures such as working long hours, have to prioritise their jobs over their family or personal lives resulting in higher levels of strain (Beauregard, 2011). Another study also supports this idea but expands to say; work-home interference, and home-work interference occur when pressures from work and family roles are mutually incompatible (Parasuraman & Greenhaus, 1997), making participation in either role makes it difficult to participate in the other (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985). People therefore try to balance their work and non-work activities by trying to insulate the personal domain from their work domain and vice versa. They achieve this by only accepting certain amounts of interference from one domain to the other (Edwards & Rothbard, 1999). This has being proven to reduce strain and provide a healthier work and family life balance. Methot & LePine (2016) specifies that; individuals tend to take preference to which domain they protect based on their individual circumstances, whilst also going on to suggest that people who preferred to protect their work domain reported higher levels or job satisfaction, whilst people who preferred to protect their home domain showed higher levels of life satisfaction. Frone, Russell & Cooper (1992) expand on this theory and suggests that; if individuals do not differentiate between work and non-work activities, interference may impede on performance in an individual’s non-work domain, whilst also affecting performance at work. With this in mind, both men and women need to try create a balance between family and work life in order to be satisfied in both domains.
There are many difficulties both men and women face when trying to balance between work and non-work commitments. Including; technological advances, such as the use of mobile phones and portable computers (Chesley, 2005; Rakow & Navarro 1993; Sproull 2000) that allow individuals to work outside their usual environments. These technological developments make paid work more pervasive and possibly addictive (Pocock, Skinner & Williams, 2008) weakening the boundaries between work and family/leisure time. With the use of technology enhancing the possibility of working at home as well as in the workplace, this can result in longer working days, making the boundaries between work and non-work almost indistinguishable (Lewis, 2003). With these higher levels of work and non-work interaction, it doesn’t just cause strain across both domains but can also lead to mental health problems (Frone, 2000). This is one of the major reasons why it has become an important issue with the EU social policy agenda (European Commission, 2000) and EU employment guidelines, who have included the compatibility of work and family life as a central policy issue (Beauregard, 2011). With this in mind; the negative interference and emotion that can occur in the work domain if not managed correctly, can cause a negative spillover in the individual’s family/personal life resulting in; time based conflict, strain based conflict and behavior based conflict (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985), causing not just strain but potentially the individual incurring mental health issues (Montgomery, Panagopoulou, Peeters & Schaufeli, 2009).
Mangers have a difficult task in providing support to employees across both domains, ensuring that individuals at work are not effected negatively by non-work interactions, but also that work does not negatively impact employee’s leisure life to a certain degree. Beauregard, 2011 indicates that; “Instrumental support from an employee’s immediate supervisor may lessen the employee’s work interference with home, by providing increased flexibility or control over the employee’s work schedule and tasks”. With work demands and long working hours being a confirmed source of strain (Jex & Bliese, 1999), managers who provide more support to employees, by creating an organisational climate in where they are encouraged to help employees by upper levels of management, the relationship between interference and strain will reduce drastically (Beauregard, 2011). Management can provide flexibility at work by; offering flexible working time, parental leave, job share and part-time working. With those employees who accept this flexibility have found to report better psychological health than those not using these options (Houston & Waumsley, 2003). Flexible working is not always available, with public sector occupations likely to have more access to flexible working arrangements over this occupations in the private sector (Ford & Collinson, 2011).
The position/occupation of a manger can be difficult in itself; with expectations that managers will work unlimited hours and prioritise work commitment above their own domestic responsibilities and non-working life (Ford & Collinson, 2011). Park, Curtis, Thompson, et al. (2007) indicates that managers are aware of the interference across both domains prior to gaining a managerial position, yet choose to take on this position. As stated previously, flexible working arrangements and work/non-work interference can vary depending on the occupation. Even though managers can often use work flexibility to improve non-work options, they choose to work longer, excluding their personal/leisure time (Lewis, 2001, 2003; Perlow, 1998).