Optimal Work-Life Balance is Key to Increased Productivity, Researchers Report

Sarasota, FL (WorkersCompensation.com) – Reduced stress, increased social support and improved sleep quality are vital for employees working from home to achieve peak work performance, according to new research. Employers can help get the best out of their workers through targeted interventions aimed at promoting work-life balance and productivity.

“With the advent of work-from-home (WFH) schemes dominating the work arrangements worldwide, work-life balance (WLB) takes on a different dimension with various factors affecting it, especially in the home setting where the delineation between work and home becomes blurred,” according to a study published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. “Another area of concern in the WFH setting is the issue of productivity. The COVID-19 pandemic forced entire families to stay at home, so the situation and the workplace may not be very conducive to work.”

While many organizations have reported improved productivity while their employees have been working from home, a number of issues can impede a worker’s ability to do the best job possible. Employers can change that dynamic by fostering an atmosphere in which employees can differentiate their work and home lives and get improved social support.

The Study

Researchers conducted an online survey of 318 employees of 46 various types of organizations in the Philippines, including education, government administration and information technology. The majority were in the non-managerial level, with just over 2 percent in top management.

The questions addressed topics of interest before and during WFH. Included were the following categories:

• Psychological detachment. The employees were asked about the extent to which they are able to avoid thinking about or doing work during non-working times.  
• Sleep quality.
• Social support of supervisors and colleagues.
• Job autonomy, or the extent to which work can provide freedom, independence, and individual discretion in scheduling work and determining the procedures to be used implementing them.
• Workload perception. 
• Stress. The questions related to whether the worker experienced problems relaxing, irritability and tension.
• WLB. The researchers asked three questions pertaining to work-life conflict.
• Productivity.

Findings

“Psychological detachment, sleep, stress, social support, WLB, and productivity declined during WFH,” the researchers wrote. “Structural equation modeling showed that psychological detachment significantly influenced stress and sleep, subsequently affecting productivity. Social support significantly helped the participants maintain WLB.” 

Psychological detachment was described as a significant predictor of well-being. Having a balance between work and leisure “is crucial in promoting employees’ well-being,” according to previous research, the authors wrote. “The use of information and communication technology while working from home can affect psychological detachment because it was found to be disruptive to sleep. Boundary crossing between work and family does not necessarily affect sleep quality or consistency – unless there is a problem with psychological detachment.”

Setting boundaries can help attain psychological detachment, though it may be difficult when WFH employees are also involved in family obligations. Also, employers expect workers to be at home and may schedule meetings at inopportune times, such as late at night. Workers who cannot psychologically detach from work have higher stress levels. The ability to psychologically detach from work has been shown to moderate the effects of job demands on burnout and depression.

Problems with sleep quality have been associated with reduced productivity. People working from home may have disrupted schedules and work hours, which can hamper sleep. “A person who does not get enough sleep experiences fatigue and impairments in performance manifested by decreased attention and memory function,” the study said.

Stress has also been shown to be “a significant determinant of employee productivity and performance,” according to the study. “It is a major problem for such employees that fail to balance the competing demands of work and family. It significantly influenced the productivity of employees without spouses and young employees that WFH.”

Getting social support from family members and/or managers and colleagues can reduce an employee’s level of stress. Such social support was associated with higher levels of productivity.

“Work from home employees during the COVID-19 pandemic cited social support as a means to overcome loneliness and feelings of isolation,” according to the researchers. “It is associated with job satisfaction, work-family enrichment and mediates the relationship between stress and job satisfaction. Low supervisor and co-worker support had been associated with tiredness and sleeping difficulties.”

Job autonomy was generally considered to have a positive impact on productivity. The freedom to choose working hours reduces the thought that a job is mentally demanding. However, it can have a negative effect on someone who does not have a high level of discipline. Nevertheless, it was seen as a factor that can improve productivity during WFH.

“The autonomy given to employees to customize their methods to suit the situation positively contributes to their productivity,” according to the report. “Although ratings of productivity are lower during WFH than prior, job autonomy proved to be a crucial means of allowing the respondents to cope with the new setup.”

While psychosocial factors related to work declined significantly during the pandemic, organizations can use the available information to enhance their employees’ well-being and productivity.

“Among the factors affecting productivity, sleep quality registered the highest impact which in turn was greatly affected by stress,” the writers concluded. “Among the factors affecting stress, psychological detachment had the highest effect. Moreover, the path psychological detachment-sleep quality-productivity is significant, making sleep quality the mediating variable between psychological detachment and productivity. Hence, the key to increasing productivity during WFH is to foster psychological detachment among employees.”

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