Flexible working time arrangements are becoming increasingly popular around the globe, but do they actually benefit employees? To address this question, we take a differentiated look at employees' day-specific use of flextime and its effect on the intersection of work and nonwork life. Specifically, we examined whether links between day-specific flextime use and affective well-being at work and at home can be explained by and the subjective boundaries around one's work and private life domains (i.e., the). During 2 consecutive workweeks, 150 bank employees from various functions (Study 1) and a heterogeneous sample of 608 employees (Study 2) reported their day-specific use of flextime, boundary strength at work and home, and affective well-being in the evening and the next day. Multilevel structural equation modeling of 2,223 (Study 1) and 3,164 (Study 2) observations revealed that flextime use was associated with stronger boundaries at home in both studies and stronger boundaries at work in Study 2. Stronger boundaries were, in turn, positively associated with affective well-being, both in the same evening and the next day. Study 2 further revealed that day-specific nonwork goal completion mediated the positive association between daily flextime use and boundary strength at work. However, whereas occasional flextime use had unequivocal positive consequences, chronic flextime use undermined the completion of work goals. Overall, findings suggest that flextime use benefits employees when used in moderation. (PsycINFO Database Record
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Initial evidence suggests that older workers enjoy higher work-life balance than young workers. Yet little is known about the mechanisms of this effect or the robustness of age differences when accounting for differences in life context. We introduce and test the boundary management account of aging and work-life balance, which suggests that older workers maintain stronger work-nonwork boundaries as a pathway towards work-life balance. Both in Study 1 (cross-sectional; N = 298 bank employees) and in Study 2 (aggregated diary entries; N = 608 workers), older workers reported better work-life balance and stronger boundaries at work than young workers; and stronger boundaries at home (Study 1). In both studies, stronger boundaries were related to better work-life balance, and boundary strength mediated the relationship between age and work-life balance. Study 2 additionally suggests that the use of boundary management strategies is responsible for stronger boundaries at higher age. Analyses accounted for differences in family and work context characteristics (both studies), and boundary preferences (Study 1). The findings corroborate evidence of older workers' enhanced work-life balance and suggest that it results from more successful boundary management with age rather than merely from changes in contextual factors or boundary preferences.
Wenn Lebensbereiche aneinander reiben, kostet das wertvolle Ressourcen. Bei der
Definition, Diagnostik und Therapie von Burnout stehen meist individuelle
Faktoren oder die Arbeitsbedingungen im Vordergrund. Jedoch kann auch die
Schnittstelle von Arbeits- und Privatleben durch ständige Neuverhandlung von
Rollen oder die Entgrenzung von Lebensbereichen zur Entstehung von Burnout oder
Erschöpfung beitragen.
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