Leadership in Hybrid Workplaces: A Win-Win for Work-Innovation and Work-Family Balance Through Work-Related Flow?

Building on the mutual-gains perspective, the present chapter aimed to contribute to the discussion on the future way of (hybrid) working by drawing lessons from employees' experiences with leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic. More specifically, we investigated the mediating role of work-related flow in the relationships between empowering and directive leadership behaviours, on the one hand, and innovative work-behaviour and work-family balance, on the other. We employed Partial Least squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) to analyse the perceptions, experiences, and behaviours of a group of employees (N = 172) regarding the study's core variables during three phases of the COVID-19 pandemic (Summer 2020, Autumn 2020 and Winter 2021). Our findings show that work-related flow mediates the relationship between empowering leadership and innovative work-behaviour positively and the relationship between directive leadership and innovative behaviour negatively. However, we found no significant evidence for work-related flow mediating the relationship between leadership behaviour and work-family balance. Additionally, this chapter provides guidance for leaders leading a hybrid workforce. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023.

How Digitalization, Work-Family Balance, and Work Efficiency Can Influence Employees' Preferences for Teleworking in the Future

During Covid-19 pandemic many employees found themselves in the new position of teleworkers. Proof of the last years, teleworking remains an alternative to the classic system, reason why in this paper we aim to examine, based on an online questionnaire, the perceptions of Romanian employees about the very complex aspects that teleworking involves: the new ICT tools and technologies adoption, impact on work efficiency, work-family balance, and employees physical and mental health. The paper is based on an empirical analysis of data, and the authors have used as research methods: testing the independence of groups (Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis) and the correlation between variables, categorical principal components analysis (CATPCA) and logistic regression model. Our findings show that several factors, such as flexible working hours, family time, and autonomy have a positive influence on the decision to telework, while IT security risks, interruptions and virtual meetings were not perceived by respondents as negatively influencing their decision to telework. However, the consequences for mental health, such as mental stress, lack of socialisation and the difficulty of separating working time from family time, lead respondents to prefer another working system. The implications of the research are relevant for policy makers, employers, and employees as they reveal which categories of employees are more likely to telework and why.

The Struggle to Balance Work and Family Life During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Insights Based on the Situations of Working Women in Delhi.

The COVID-19 pandemic generated economic contraction across the world. In India, the stringent lockdown led to extreme distress. The unprecedented situation adversely affected the women's efforts to balance professional life with family life because of a disproportionate increase in their domestic work burden and a shift in their workstation to home. Since every job cannot be performed remotely, women employed in healthcare services, banks and media witnessed additional risks of commuting and physical interaction at the workplace. Based on personal interviews of women in the Delhi-NCR region, the study aims to explore the commonalities and variances in the challenges experienced by the women engaged in diverse occupations. Using the qualitative methodology of flexible coding, the study finds that a relatively larger section of women travelling to their office during the pandemic, rather than those working from home, had an effective familial support system that helped them navigate this tough time.

"I've Got More of a Role to Play": Australian Fathers' Perspectives on Parenting Through the Lens of COVID-19 Lockdown

Using interviews with 15 Australian fathers, we explored the impact of having spent time in COVID-19 lockdown on men's views of their relationship with their children and family-work life balance. All interviewees were married to women and living with their children, most were employed and working full-time. Three themes were identified from the interviews: an ongoing desire to be present as a father, benefits to being present through COVID-19 lockdowns for self as a father and for the children, and conflicting pressures from workplaces and at home which were barriers to being present. Survey data 1 year later revealed that many of these fathers had shifted their work patterns because of their lockdown experience. Shifts in workplace culture and behavior were identified as supporting flexible working arrangements. Despite the immediate challenges of lockdown, it provided the opportunity for some fathers to reevaluate their priorities resulting in long-term changes in working patterns.

It's part of the "new normal”: Does a global pandemic change employees' perception of teleworking?

This paper fills an important gap related to employee perceptions of teleworking during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on the work/family border and task-technology fit theories, we propose and empirically test a new model using data collected from 483 employees. Our findings suggest that social well-being, work-family balance and task-technology fit during the pandemic are positively related to teleworking performance. In addition, teleworking performance during the pandemic affects employees' intention to continue to telework and career engagement after the pandemic. Also, we offer evidence of the impact of the moderating effect of factors contributing to the digital divide in this context. Our findings contribute to the teleworking literature, by proposing a model which provides insights into employees' perceptions of teleworking during the pandemic and how this affects their intention to telework and career engagement after the pandemic. Our research has multiple implications for employers, policy makers and technology developers.

Work-Family Balance among University Employees Having Children Aged 11 or Less in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Research Framework: Although all Quebec residents have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and by the health and social measures put in place since March 2020, working parents have been particularly affected by the various stressors caused by this crisis, in both their family and professional life. In such a context, it seems relevant to examine the consequences of the pandemic on work-family balance, and more specifically on the factors associated with it. Objectives: The purpose of this study is to document the personal, family and work characteristics associated with work-family balance among university employees with children aged 11 or younger in the context of the pandemic. Methodology: The data used for this study were collected between April 24 and June 5, 2020, through an online survey. A total of 217 staff members from ten institutions of the Quebec University Network completed the survey, which included questions related to work-family balance. Multiple linear regressions were used to determine the respective influence of factors associated with the work-family balance. Results: Overall, this study shows that university employees having children aged 11 or younger present a majority of moderate to high work-family conflict in the context of the pandemic. It also highlights some of the factors that may help or hinder work-family balance in this population of parents, namely level of parenting strain, satisfaction with sharing childcare and parenting duties, job category, stability of job performance, and number of young school-aged children. Conclusions: These findings underscore the importance of implementing work and family support programs and respite measures for parents with young school-aged children to help them balance their family and work responsibilities in times of crisis. Contribution: Although some studies have documented factors associated with work-family balance in times of pandemic, they remain few and only one has been conducted in the Quebec context. Work-family balance is likely to be experienced differently in Quebec, which is different from other countries in terms of its family policy. In addition, this study is the first to look at university employees, a group of workers who were among the first to be affected by the school closures in the spring of 2020. © 2022 Centre - Urbanisation Culture Societe de l'INRS. All rights reserved.

Being stressed in the family or married with work? A literature review and clustering of work-family conflict

PurposeWork-family conflict is an important topic which had an evolution, starting from a static definition, where work and family domains were divided, to a more dynamic and complex balance. COVID-19 has influenced society and created a significant distress among families and working activity, and this topic has been characterised by a major interest, considering some old definitions where this balance was considered problematic but not as an enriching opportunity.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used SCOPUS to find all records mentioning work-family conflict, by considering book, article and review, excluding conference paper and considering only records written in English language. After a duplicated and not pertinent record removal, the authors obtained a number of 675 records. The authors considered 437 records from SCOPUS to create a cluster map.FindingsUsing SCOPUS and VOSviewer the authors have clustered 5 different areas, which are regrouped in next clusters considering keywords with most co-occurrence and significancy: Work-life balance and burnout gender cluster job stress and performance social and family support job satisfaction.Research limitations/implicationsCluster map is origined only by SCOPUS database.Originality/valueThis work aims to find a state of art about this topic, creating hypothesis where this problem has been exacerbated by 2020 due to important society modifications created by COVID-19, where recent evolution of work-family balance has been complicated by papers which come back to consider this balance as problematic.

Associations between Work-Family Balance, Parenting Stress, and Marital Conflicts during COVID-19 Pandemic in Singapore.

As part of the "Circuit-breaker" social distancing measure to address COVID-19, the government of Singapore closed schools and workplaces from April to May 2020. Although this helped reduce transmission rates, for working parents, this period had been a challenging experience of working from home while providing care for children full-time. Problems in the work-home interface can have a significant impact on parenting and marital harmony. We analyzed data from 201 married and employed parents in Singapore using online surveys. Latent profile analysis was used to identify profiles of parents' work-family balance (WFB) and spousal and employer support. Linear regression was used to examine links between profiles with parenting stress and marital conflicts. Results indicated three distinct profiles of WFB and social support levels: (a) Strong (43%), (b) Moderate (38%), and (c) Poor (19%). Mothers were more likely than fathers to be in the Moderate and Poor profiles. One key finding is that profiles characterized by poorer WFB were found to be linked with higher parenting stress and increased marital conflicts. There are important variations in parents' abilities to balance work and family and levels of social support received. Lock-downs can affect parenting and marital harmony especially for parents with poor WFB and weak social support. Any attention given to supporting working parents is vital and urgent to counter any problems in the work-family interface during a lockdown.

The impact of work-family balance on manufacturing employees? mental health during pandemic br

Purpose. The study aimed to measure the impact of manufacturing employees' high work pressure on the urge for their family-life balance, and the impact of high work-life pressure and the urge for family-life balance on manufacturing employees' concern for mental health during COVID-19 pandemic from an emerging economy perspective. Methodology. The study has picked 20 items under three different variables such as work-life, family-life, and mental health. The structured questionnaire has been developed based on the literature survey and divided into two parts. The initial part has contained demographic information and the second part has contained measure items of the model. The questionnaire has been designed through Google Docs and distributed via Facebook messenger, E-mail, WhatsApp, IMO, etc. 400 data was collected through the snowball sampling technique and 201 data (response rate 50.25%) was found usable for the research. The exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling were run to test the proposed research framework with the help of MS Excel 2007, SPSS 22.0, and AMOS 23.0. Finding. The findings revealed that high work-life pressure had a positive significant impact on the urge for family-life balance and both the high work-life pressure and urge for family-life balance had a positive significant impact on manufacturing employees' concern for mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originality. The novelty of this research is the manufacturing employees' context during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Use of work-related communication technology outside regular working hours and work-family conflict (work interference with family and family interference with work): results from the 6th Korean working conditions survey.

Background: Recently, use of work-related communication technology-smartphones, tablets, and laptops-is increasing rapidly by development of technology with the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Some studies have suggested that work-related communication technology has a significant link with work-family conflict (WFC) but these studies included only limited number of participants and lacked essential covariates. Therefore, this study analyzes this association using large representative data sample and selected waged workers who were married-couples with children. Methods: This study was conducted based on data from the 6th Korean Working Conditions Surveys (KWCS). A total of 17,426 waged workers having a marriage partner and one or more children were selected. Logistic regression analysis was performed to determine whether WFC was associated with communication technology use. The odds ratios (ORs) for WFC were stratified by sex and working hours. Results: In fully adjusted model, WFC was higher those who used communication technology outside regular working hours compared with those who did not use it (OR: 1.66; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.39-1.97). When stratified by sex and working hours, the effect was greater in women than in men (OR: 1.79; 95% CI: 1.42-2.26 vs. OR: 1.52; 95% CI: 1.17-1.97) and women who worked over 52 hours per week had the highest OR (3.40; 95% CI: 1.25-9.26). Conclusions: This study revealed that the work-related communication technology use outside regular working hours was associated with WFC. The association were greater among those having longer working hours and female workers. These results suggest that appropriate policy should be implemented to reduce working hours and right to disconnect after work, particularly in female workers.

Digital-Insecurity and Overload: the Role of Technostress in Lecturers’ Work-Family Balance

While the Covid-19 emergency revealed some vulnerabilities in the Italian higher education system, it also enhanced its resiliency: in a short time, most Italian universities were able to ensure the continuity of teaching activities, replacing face-to-face experiences with online ones. The pandemic required stakeholders (including lecturers) to redesign teaching activities using distance learning methods, even if they were not prepared to do so. In addition to the difficulties of accepting and using information technologies, lecturers faced the challenge of planning and designing new forms of teaching that would ensure students’ attendance and guarantee high levels of learning. Increasing attention has been paid to different forms of technological stress and their repercussions on students’ well-being. Less attention has been paid to how technostress affects lecturers’ quality of working life and work-family balance. This paper reflects on the experience of lecturers at the University of Milan Bicocca, discussing the outcomes of a survey administered to them. Data were analyzed through Structural Equation Modelling (SEM), focusing on the impact of two main dimensions of technostress (techno-overload and techno-insecurity) on lecturers’ work-family balance in light of their perception of digital availability, gender, parenthood and relationship status. © 2022, Padova University Press. All rights reserved.

Balancing work and family in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic: the role of work conditions and family-friendly policy

Purpose Work from home has become as regular as the traditional commuting system after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Previous studies have discussed the influence of working at home on the work-family interface. However, there is limited understanding of how diverse workforces manage their work-family issues with various family-friendly policies. This study aims to bridge this research gap by examining the collective influence of work conditions and family-friendly policies on work-family balance. Design/methodology/approach A survey experiment featuring two working conditions (work from home or commuting) x four family-friendly policies (household subsidy, family-friendly supervisor, financial profit, paid leave vs no policy) was approached based on 703 valid responses in China. Findings The results indicate that family-friendly policies are more effective under the work-from-home condition than the commuting condition, household subsidies and financial profits are considered more helpful for work-family balance under the work-from-home condition and employees' policy preferences depend on personal identity and work conditions, which help them maintain work and family issues concurrently. Originality/value This study explores the joint impact of work conditions and family-friendly policies from a situational perspective. This study indicated that professional organizations need to perform delicacy management considering policy preferences. Moreover, changing working arrangements help employees facilitate their work-family balance.

The role of work-family conflict and job role identification in moderated mediating the relationship between perceived supervisor support and employee proactive behaviors.

In recent years, the outbreak and persistence of COVID-19 has greatly changed the way people work, and encouraging employees to work online from home has become a new form of work for organizations responding to the epidemic. Based on the W-HR model, this paper explored supervisor support as a situational resource in the context of online office, aiming to verify the changes in work-family status caused by individuals facing the background of supervisor support, and then relate employees' proactive behavior. Meanwhile, the predicted moderating effect of job role identification on supervisor support and work-family conflict was verified by considering the role identification generated in the positive interaction between employees and supervisors as individual resources. In this study, 555 employees from enterprises in the provinces of Jiangsu and Guangdong were selected as the research participants, and data were recovered at two time nodes. The results show that: (1) Perceived supervisor support significantly relates employee proactive behavior. (2) Work-family conflict mediates the relationship between perceived supervisor support and employee proactive behavior. (3) Job role identification has a significant moderating effect on the relationship between perceived supervisor support and work-family conflict, and high level of job role identification moderated the mediating effect of work-family conflict on perceived supervisor support and employee proactive behavior significantly. This paper expands the research perspective of employee proactive behavior. It can be used as a reference for enterprises to formulate strategies to improve employee proactive behavior in the process of digital reform.

Covid-19 Pandemic: Reflections on Organizational Life and Employee Psychology

The Covid-19 pandemic, which started in China and spread rapidly all over the world in a short time, can be considered as a dynamic struggle that forces all individuals and therefore organizations to act with new strategies. When considered in terms of its effects and consequences, it can even be regarded as the beginning of a new world order. In this new order, individuals who are unintentionally exposed to chaos theories and possible disaster scenarios related to Covid-19, both in their daily life and in organizational life, can make an effort to continue their lives with the increase in their anxiety levels. While this new order, which shakes the vital balance, forces individuals to struggle, the managers of the organization become a part of this struggle. In addition to the individual struggles of the employees, organizations are also in a separate struggle as providing the necessary support. In this chaos environment, it is important that the psychological health of the employees and the strategic moves of the organizations are mutually supportive in order to ensure a healthier working life. Therefore, this research was carried out with the support of current data and literature to evaluate the Covid-19 pandemic under the headings of remote work, work-family balance and the psychological reflections they cause. In this context, the changes caused by covid-19 were evaluated from the employee's point of view, and inferences were made from the possible consequences of the situation.

Spillover and crossover effects of social support through work-family balance: a time-lagged analysis in Italian dyads

Purpose>Building on the spillover-crossover model (Bakker and Demerouti, 2013), this study aimed to examine the processes through which three forms of social support at work (i.e. from coworkers, from supervisor and organizational family-friendly) were positively associated with an individual's level of work-family balance (spillover effect), and through this latter, with one's partner's family life satisfaction (crossover effect), via the partner's perception of family social support as provided by the incumbent person.Design/methodology/approach>The authors sampled 369 heterosexual couples using a time-lagged design, surveying forms of social support at work and work-family balance at t1 and family social support and partner's family life satisfaction at t2. Data were analyzed through structural equation modeling.Findings>The results showed that coworkers’ support and organizational family-friendly support positively predicted work-family balance. Furthermore, work-family balance mediated the associations between organizational family-friendly support and coworkers’ support with instrumental family social support. Moreover, only emotional family social support positively predicted partner's family life satisfaction.Originality/value>The authors simultaneously examined the direct and indirect associations of three concurrent forms of social support at work with one's work-family balance (spillover effect). Moreover, in line with the spillover-crossover model, the authors adopted a systemic approach and assessed how one's work-family balance is associated with emotional and instrumental family social support as perceived by one's partner and the latter's family life satisfaction (crossover effect).

Telework intensity, work-family conflict, and work-family balance, during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to increased popularity, application, and utilization of telework. To vastly reduce the spread of COVID-19, governmental agencies worldwide have implemented lockdowns and emphasized businesses and corporations should implement telework wherever possible (Anderson & Kelliher, 2020;Belzunegui-Eraso & Erro-Garces, 2020;Buomprisco et al., 2021;Chong et al., 2020;Contreras et al., 2020;Mouratidis & Papagiannakis, 2021;Nguyen, 2021;Oz & Crooks, 2020;Raisiene et al., 2020;Tavares et al., 2020). States of emergency can disturb employees' workflow and lead to financial difficulties;thus, telework presents an option to reduce that disruption. In such unprecedented times, telework may be a beneficial, lifesaving modality (Donnelly & Proctor-Thomson, 2015). Unfortunately, limited research exists on telework experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between telework intensity and work-family conflict, telework intensity and family-work conflict, and telework intensity and work-family balance during the COVID-19 pandemic. There was a total of 201 participants who were at least 18 years of age. All participants lived in the United States and teleworked as a direct result of the pandemic.No statistically significant correlation between telework intensity and work-family conflict, telework intensity and family-work conflict, or telework intensity and work-life balance was found. The Pearson correlation used to examine the relationship among work-family conflict, family-work conflict, work-family balance, and COVID-19 distress found statistically significant negative correlations between family-work conflict and work-family balance, and work-family balance and work-family conflict. Statistically significant positive correlations were found between family-work conflict and work-family conflict, family-work conflict and COVID-19 distress, and work-family conflict and COVID-19 distress. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Le politiche familiari fra servizi all’infanzia e conciliazione famiglia-lavoro ai tempi del Covid-19

The article investigates the main measures introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic in the field of ECEC services and work-family reconciliation in Italy. On the backdrop of the pre-pandemic state of the art and of enduring familialism, it first distinguishes between temporary interventions and structural reforms. Then, it attempts to interpret the factors that may explain the recent – and uncommon in the Italian context – dynamism in the field, mobilizing the policy frameworks at work, the role of the actors, the changing frame in terms of the expansionary macro-economic policy and change in the national Government. A combination of factors that has favored the convergence of interests of a varied constellation of actors, sharing the objective to fill the longstanding gap in the support to families and provision of ECEC services. © SOCIETÀ EDITRICE IL MULINO

Disruptive pandemic effects on telecommuters: A longitudinal study of work-family balance and well-being during COVID-19.

We examined the disruptive influence of COVID-19 pandemic rates in the community on telecommuters' satisfaction with balancing their work and family roles and consequently their well-being. Utilizing event system theory and adaptation theory, we proposed that the rate of increase in proportion of confirmed COVID-19 cases in telecommuters' residential communities would predict a lower rate of increase in their satisfaction with work-family balance over time, thereby indirectly influencing two key aspects of well-being-emotional exhaustion and life satisfaction. Results from latent growth curve modeling using objective community data, as well as survey responses from a three-wave (N = 349) panel study of telecommuters in the United States, indicated that rate of increase in the proportion of confirmed COVID-19 cases in communities was negatively associated with the rate of increase in satisfaction with work-family balance, which translated into decreasing levels of well-being over time. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

Télétravail en temps de crise, engagement organisationnel affectif et satisfaction de vie professionnelle : le rôle de l’ajustement au télétravail et de la satisfaction vis-à-vis de l’équilibre entre domaines de vie

Résumé Introduction La crise sanitaire a été un considérable accélérateur du recours au télétravail. Objectifs Notre étude explore les effets de la fréquence du télétravail sur la satisfaction de vie professionnelle et l’engagement organisationnel affectif des travailleur·se·s. Par ailleurs, elle évalue le rôle médiateur de la satisfaction vis-à-vis de l’équilibre entre domaines de vie dans ces deux relations. Enfin, elle étudie le rôle modérateur de l’ajustement au télétravail (i.e., adaptation aux changements découlant du passage à un environnement virtuel) dans la relation entre la fréquence du télétravail et la satisfaction vis-à-vis de l’équilibre entre domaines de vie ainsi que les leviers de cet ajustement. Méthode Au total, 377 télétravailleur·se·s « tout venant » ont répondu à un questionnaire en ligne mesurant ces variables. Résultats L’augmentation de la fréquence du télétravail entraîne indirectement une baisse de la satisfaction de vie professionnelle et de l’engagement organisationnel affectif chez les travailleur·se·s, en raison d’une dégradation de leur satisfaction vis-à-vis de l’équilibre entre domaines de vie. De plus, lorsque les personnes se sont fortement ajustées au télétravail, les effets négatifs – directs et indirects – de la fréquence du télétravail s’atténuent. Enfin, l’ajustement au télétravail est en grande partie prédit par le fait d’avoir choisi ou subi cette modalité de travail, par l’environnement de télétravail au domicile et par le soutien organisationnel fourni aux travailleur·se·s. Conclusion Nous discutons des implications théoriques de ces résultats et proposons des pistes pour accompagner au mieux le déploiement du télétravail. Introduction The COVID-19 health crisis considerably accelerated the use of telework. Objective The present study focuses on the impact of telework frequency on workers’ work-life satisfaction and affective organizational commitment. This study also evaluates the mediating role of satisfaction with work-family balance in these two relationships. Finally, it investigates the moderator role of telework adjustment (i.e., adaptation to changes resulting from the transition to a virtual environment) in the relationship between telework frequency and work-family balance satisfaction, as well as the drivers of this adjustment. Method In all, 377 teleworkers replied to an online questionnaire measuring the above-mentioned variables. Results The increase in telework frequency is directly associated with a decrease in workers’ work-life satisfaction and affective organizational commitment, due to the degradation of their work-family balance satisfaction. Yet, once workers have made significant adjustments to telework, direct and indirect negative impacts of telework frequency are reduced. Finally, telework adjustment is largely predicted by whether telework resulted from choice or obligation, by the telework environment at home, and by the organizational support provided to workers. Conclusion Theoretical and practical implications of these results will be discussed, with potential avenues to best support the deployment of remote work.