A Life Beyond Work? Job Demands, Work-Life Balance, and Wellbeing in UK Academics

Abstract

Research findings from several countries suggest that academic work has become comparatively stressful, with potentially serious consequences for the workforce and the quality of higher education. This article reports the findings of a study that examined work demands, work-life balance and wellbeing in UK academic staff. Job demands and levels of psychological distress were high and working during evenings and weekends was commonplace. Most academics surveyed, however, were at least moderately satisfied with their jobs. Work-life balance was generally poor and most respondents wished for more separation between their work and home lives. Academics who reported more work-life conflict and perceived a greater discrepancy between their present and ideal levels of work-life integration tended to be less healthy, less satisfied with their jobs, and more likely to have seriously considered leaving academia. On the whole, academics that perceived Gail Kinman, PhD, is affiliated with the Department of Psychology, University of Luton, Luton Bedfordshire. Fiona Jones, PhD, is affiliated with the School of Psychology, University of Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK. more control over their work, more schedule flexibility and more support from their institutions had a better work-life balance. These factors, however, failed to moderate the relationship between work demands and perceptions of conflict between work and home.

The Effect of Family Relationships on Technology-Assisted Supplemental Work and Work-Life Conflict among Academics

“…Additionally, working long hours has also been positively associated with WLC (Batt & Valcour, 2003;Skinner & Pocock, 2008). Kinman and Jones (2008) found that academics who worked during the evenings and on weekends experienced more WLC than academics who did not work after hours. It is therefore not surprising that studies in this field of research have suggested and found a significant relationship between TASW and WLC (Boswell & Olson-Buchanan, 2007;Fenner & Renn, 2010;Fenner & Renn, 2004;Messersmith, 2007).…”

“…Academics often work during the evenings and weekends in order to cope with the escalating work demands and work pressures (Houston, Meyer & Paewai, 2006;Kinman & Jones, 2008;O'Laughlin & Bischoff, 2005). Working normal hours is associated with a 9am to 5pm work schedule that runs from Monday to Friday (Kinman & Jones, 2008).…”

“…Currie, Harris and Thiele's (2000) study expresses that academics have to work for about 50 to 55 hours a week in order to be completely satisfied with their work. Indeed, most of this work is performed after hours such as during evenings, weekends and on holidays (Kinman & Jones, 2008;O'Laughlin & Bischoff, 2005). Currie and Eveline (2010) reported that almost half of the academics in their sample accessed their work emails daily during their annual leave while a third accessed their work emails once a week.…”

Walking the tightrope between work and non-work life: strategies employed by British and Chinese academics and their implications

“…A plethora of government initiatives have had a substantial impact on the context and content of academic work (Hunt 2006). Significant consequences include restructuring, a dramatic expansion in student numbers, and major reductions in funding (Kinman and Jones 2008;Tytheleigh et al 2005). Academics now face demands for greater accountability, value for money, efficiency and quality, and an increase in remote and autocratic management styles (Tytheleigh et al 2005).…”

Technology and Work-Life Conflict of Academics in a South African Higher Education Institution

“…O'Laughlin and Bischoff (2005) report that on average, academics work for approximately 55 hours per week. More so, a large proportion of academics are increasingly working during evenings and weekends to engage in work-related activities such as marking, reading, writing reports and doing research (Gornall & Salsibury, 2012;Kinman & Jones, 2008;O'Laughlin & Bischoff, 2005;Santos & Cabral-Cardoso, 2008). Furthermore, academics tend to work more on their own research and publications after hours and, in addition make use of their vacation time to attend or present at research conferences (Santos & Cabral-Cardoso, 2008).…”