The Work-Family Interface in a Flexible Workplace: How Academics Deal with Workload and Family/Home Demands

Objetivo: Este estudio explora la manera que el personal docente e investigador (PDI) gestiona la interfaz trabajo-familia. Para ello, primero se definirá el trabajo del profesorado. ¿Qué implica ser profesor en la universidad? Segundo, ¿qué tipo de conflicto trabajo-familia (CTF) es común en el ejercicio de esta profesión? Tercero, ¿qué prácticas lleva a cabo el profesorado con tal de reducir el CTF y promover la facilitación o enriquecimiento trabajo-familia? Y cuarto, ¿qué diferencias existen según las variables tipo de contrato, etapa vital, y género? De acuerdo con estos objetivos, la revisión de literatura abordará los siguientes temas: 1) interfaz trabajo-familia (conflicto y facilitación), 2) sobrecarga de trabajo, 3) conceptos relacionados, incluidos el burnout y el engagement, 4) el marco teórico demandas-recursos (estrategias de afrontamiento), y 5) el trabajo del profesor universitario en el contexto español. Diseño y Metodología: Esta tesis adopta un enfoque cualitativo en el estudio de los antecedentes, consecuencias y estrategias de afrontamiento de la sobrecarga y del conflicto trabajo-familia. Un cuestionario respondido por 146 profesores y profesoras de universidades españolas pregunta abiertamente si ellos perciben que les falta, basta o sobra tiempo para realizar su trabajo, y cómo lo viven. Adicionalmente, se llevaron a cabo en Barcelona 17 entrevistas y 2 grupos de discusión. El trabajo de campo se completó entre primavera de 2007 y 2010. Los datos obtenidos de los cuestionarios, grupos de discusión y entrevistas fueron asignados como documentos primarios en el programa Atlas.ti para someterlos a un análisis de contenido temático. Resultados: El carácter multi-propósito del trabajo del profesorado, que combina actividades de docencia, investigación y gestión, es el principal factor de la sobrecarga de trabajo, y ésta, a su vez, es el principal factor de CTF. Además del triple perfil del profesorado, muchos están pluriempleados y algunos tienen participación política. Las tareas de gestión son vistas como labores para las cuales el profesorado no ha sido preparado, por lo que ella es fuente de estrés, burocracia y sobrecarga de trabajo que va en desmedro de la calidad de la docencia e investigación. Esta tesis hace un llamado a una mejor distribución de los recursos y del personal administrativo, para que éste actúe como soporte a las tareas nucleares de la universidad: docencia e investigación. Además de la sobrecarga cuantitativa del profesorado, también existe sobrecarga cualitativa, relacionada particularmente a dos áreas: desarrollo profesional y promoción, y control y satisfacción por el trabajo bien hecho. La carga laboral no es algo nuevo, pero en el pasado esta carga no había sido tan alta. Por ejemplo, hace veinte años atrás había menos presión social y presión autoimpuesta entre los profesores de la universidad. Había menos evaluación profesional, menos competencia por una plaza fija, y los profesores estaban menos expuestos a la comunidad académica global. Así, la sobrecarga laboral, definida en este estudio como la percepción de falta de tiempo para realizar el trabajo, es identificada como el mayor estresor en el ámbito familiar. Los antecedentes de la sobrecarga laboral se clasifican en tres: antecedentes personales, sociales y organizacionales. Los factores personales incluyen la presión autoimpuesta y desarrollo en la trayectoria académica, conflicto familia-al-trabajo, y deficiencia en autoeficacia. Para esta muestra, los factores sociales sólo incluyen la presión social. Y finalmente, los factores organizacionales consisten en sobrecarga de rol, falta de recursos/personal, distribución de tareas y horarios, y cambio, burocracia y sobrecarga de información. Por otra parte, las consecuencias de la sobrecarga laboral pueden clasificarse en tres categorías: consecuencias en la salud física y psicológica, en la familia, y en el trabajo. La primera categoría incluye distrés psicológico e impacto emocional, e impacto en la salud y hábitos saludables. Consecuencias familiares se refieren al conflicto trabajo-a-la-familia, y al impacto en el tiempo personal y social. Por último, las consecuencias laborales abarcan la calidad del trabajo, satisfacción, participación, motivación y clima laboral. Entonces, ¿qué hacen los profesores para reducir el CTF? Este estudio considera sólo la una demanda del ámbito laboral: la sobrecarga de trabajo cuantitativa. Del ámbito no remunerado, considera las demandas familiares (tareas de cuidado y ocio de familiares) y demandas domésticas (como la limpieza, compras, presupuesto y finanzas del hogar). Los recursos (estrategias de afrontamiento) han sido clasificados en tres tipos: absorción de la carga, reducción de la carga, y reducción del distrés, creando así una taxonomía particular al profesorado español. Muchas estrategias se superponen y se usan tanto para afrontar la sobrecarga de trabajo como las demandas doméstico-familiares, simultáneamente. Generalmente, los profesores afrontan de manera diferente según el ámbito de procedencia de la demanda. Sin embargo, el impacto que las estrategias utilizadas tendrán sobre el otro ámbito son continuamente consideradas. Esto les ayuda a decidir, aunque en muchas ocasiones no hay elección. Ciertas estrategias, como las orientadas a absorber la carga de trabajo, parecen contradictorias, pues ellas crean o intensifican el conflicto con el cuidado de los hijos. En otras palabras, estrategias de aumentar la jornada laboral tiene consecuencias en el conflicto temporal, en detrimento de otras demandas que compiten por ese tiempo, del equilibrio trabajo-familia, y del bienestar general. Inevitablemente, el estrés surge cuando las demandas exceden los recursos disponibles. Para el estrés, los profesores tienen estrategias de reducción del distrés que apoyan y amortiguan los efectos de las consecuencias para absorber y reducir la carga. Esta tesis identifica dos estilos o perfiles extremos de afrontamiento entre profesores que perciben una alta carga de trabajo: los “sobrecargados y quemados” y los “sobrecargados y engaged”. Los primeros tienen un estilo de afrontamiento reactivo y preferencias por estrategias de segmentación, mientras que los segundos afrontan proactivamente y tienden a integrar el trabajo y la familia. Las estrategias orientadas a absorber la sobrecarga laboral, especialmente la práctica de trabajar más horas, promueven la cultura del presentismo. Es decir, mientras los profesores trabajen más horas, esa práctica se vuelve normal y deseable, por lo que luego se hará más difícil ejercer estrategias en el sentido contrario. Esto cuestiona el poder de agencia del docente para actuar con libertad. Se identifican diferencias entre algunas variables como el tipo de contrato (fijo o temporal), la etapa vital y el sexo/género. El trabajo academic parece ser más difícil para mujeres jóvenes, sin plaza fija, y personas con hijos pequeños o el primer hijo. Limitaciones: Se reconocen varias limitaciones: 1) el carácter transversal de su diseño, 2) la existencia de un único codificador/analista, y 3) la coincidencia del período de trabajo de campo (2007-2010) con el apogeo de la crisis económica y el potencial impacto de ésta en los datos. Implicaciones: La tesis señala unos aspectos de las condiciones de trabajo del profesorado universitario español (y por las referencias de la literatura, del personal académico considerado a escala global) que constituyen importantes factores de riesgo psicosocial, y por tanto unos puntos de referencia para las correspondientes políticas preventivas. Se hace un llamado a utilizar como variable independiente la jornada laboral efectiva (consecuencia de las estrategias personales para absorber la carga), en vez de las horas de trabajo reflejadas en el contrato, o la carga de trabajo objetiva para estudiar el campo trabajofamilia. La razón de esto es que las horas de trabajo más allá de la jornada normal de trabajo inciden y contribuyen fuertemente en el conflicto trabajo-familia. Además es una medida subjetiva. Contribución: El valor de esta tesis reside en enfocar la investigación en el campo trabajo-familia sobre una profesión, país y contexto contingente particular: el personal docente e investigador en España. Los resultados demuestran que algunas estrategias personales de afrontamiento para absorber la carga laboral (como aumentar la propia jornada laboral) predice el CTF. Dos perfiles de estilos extremos se han identificado, lo cual ayuda a entender por qué aumentar las horas de trabajo tiene algunas veces consecuencias negativas y otras no. Palabras Clave: Interfaz trabajo-familia, sobrecarga de trabajo, estrategias de afrontamiento, académicos.Background: In our knowledge society, it is common to experience work without boundaries. Some occupations such as self-employed professionals, physicians and academics can work longer hours, which leads to work-family conflict (WFC) (Byron, 2005; Frone, 2003; Eby, Casper, Lockwood, Bordeaux and Brinley, 2005). Time flexibility has been offered by employers as the most common prescriptive approach to providing a balance between work and life for their employees (Cully, Woodland, O’Reilly and Dix, 1999; Dex and Smith, 2002; Hogarth, Hasluck and Pierre 2000). However, problems concerning coping with work and domestic responsibilities remain especially acute for employees with caring responsibilities and especially women (Major, Klein and Ehrhart, 2002; Schwartz and Scott, 2000). But what happens when the work environment is flexible? Is it flexible enough to partially resolve WFC? Purpose: The general goal of the present study was to explore how professors manage the work-home interface. Therefore, the study aims to define professors’ work and specify how work can cause WFC, to identify the type of WFC events the exercise of this profession can entail, and to examine the strategies employed to reduce WFC and enhance work-family facilitation (WFF). According to the aims, relevant literature was reviewed on the following issues: 1) workfamily (life) interface (conflict and facilitation), 2) work overload, 3) related working concepts, including burnout and engagement, 4) the demands-resources framework (coping strategies), and 5) the professor’s work and the Spanish context. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative approach was used to investigate the work-family (WF) interface antecedents, outcomes and coping strategies. A survey administered to 146 female and male Spanish university professors enquired if they perceive a lack of, a sufficient amount of, or a surplus of time to perform their work. Seventeen interviews and two focus groups were also conducted in Barcelona. The fieldwork was conducted during spring 2007 and 2011. A questionnaire, focus group and interview transcripts were entered as primary documents into the Atlas.ti software for qualitative analysis, where a Thematic Content Analysis was conducted. Findings: A unique set of WF interface antecedents, outcomes, coping strategies and linkages to other factors were identified in the professors’ responses. Some professors have more than one job, some because they wish to, and others because they need to. Some may also have a presence in the political arena. Participants consider that the main task contributing to work overload is dedication to service, which means time and energy that comes from the teaching and researching realms. Only a few professors like to perform service tasks. The majority feel frustrated when obliged to carry out service tasks, since they have not been prepared to do so. This is also related to the lack of staff and resource complaints. The Teaching and Research Academic Staff (Personal Docente e Investigador, PDI) feel a lack of control when performing service tasks. However, these tasks also constitute unpaid work and it is simply their turn to do service work. Service position or tasks are also notorious for their excess paperwork. Professors that perceive a lack of time usually identify some areas of their working life in which they require more time. Two fields were detected: professional development and career advancement and control and satisfaction concerning work well done. Was a heavy workload always experienced? Twenty years ago, there was less social pressure and less self-imposed pressure. Professors were subject to fewer appraisals and less competition, and people were less exposed to the global academic community. Work overload (as a perceived lack of time to complete work) is the main stressor in the family domain. Professors’ work overload is due to the very nature of the profession and the multi-purpose nature of their work: teaching, research and service. Antecedents can be classified into three main categories: personal, social and organizational antecedents. Personal antecedents include self-imposed pressure and career development, family-to-work conflict (FIW), shortcomings in personal organization and shortcomings in self-efficacy. For the project sample, social antecedents only concern social pressure, and organizational antecedents comprise role overload, lack of resources/staff, task and schedule distribution, unforeseen events, change, bureaucracy and information overload. On the other hand, outcomes of work overload can be classified into three categories: physical and psychological/health outcomes, family consequences, and work consequences. The psychological/health outcomes category features the following aspects: psychological distress and emotional impact and impact on health and healthy habits. Family consequences consist of work-to-family conflict (WIF) and impact on social and personal time. Finally, work consequences involve work quality, satisfaction, participation, motivation and working climate. What do professors do to reduce WFC? For the purposes of the study, only one demand of the work domain has been considered: work overload (related to teaching, research and service activities). From the unpaid work domain, family (tasks and leisure related to kinkeeping) and home activities (i.e. housework, grocery shopping, budgeting and management of household finance) have been considered. The resources (coping strategies) are classified into three main coping styles: load absorption, load reduction and distress reduction, thereby creating a particular taxonomy of coping strategies for Spanish academics. Many strategies overlap and are employed to cope with work overload and family/home demands simultaneously. People cope differently according to the demand domain. However, professors evaluate the consequences generated by a certain strategy in one field on the other field. This helps them decide. However, on many occasions, there is no choice. This situation sometimes makes strategies seem counterproductive. For instance, there are some strategies for absorbing work overload (e.g. working longer hours at the office, working on Saturdays at the university or working at night) that create or intensify conflict with childcare. In other words, the behavioral-based strategy of working long hours has consequences on time-based conflict, to the detriment of competing demands and the work-family balance. In particular, the strategy of working longer hours than usual is an antecedent of work-family conflict. Stress inevitably surfaces when professors perceive that demands exceed the resources available. Professors have their own supportive coping strategies for stress, which are classified under the style known as distress reduction. Coping strategies aimed at absorbing workload, especially those related to exceeding working hours and having to work at home, reverberate in an increase of professors’ WF conflict and a decrease in perceived well-being. The coping style of absorbing the work overload encourages a culture of presenteeism. In other words, the practices change the structure (i.e. working culture), meaning that professors have little freedom to act, thus calling coping agency into question. Two extreme profiles have been identified (i.e. the “overloaded and burned-out” and the “overloaded and engaged”) in coping with work overload according to reports of experience. The relationship held by both profiles with the perception of work-family interface has been demonstrated. Engaged participants are involved in strategies that integrate the work and family domain and proactive coping (engaged professors are more likely to tackle demands while relieving pressure), and the burned-out are less flexible with work and home boundaries (segmentation) and have a preventive coping style. Changes in three variables are particularly relevant in professors’ work. The first is related to whether they have a temporary contract or tenure. The second concerns their life stage, and the third, the gender role. Academy seems to be harder for young women, not-tenured, and with young children. Limitations: The current research is not without its limitations. The cross-sectional research design implies that the postulated relationships between work overload and work-family conflict and vice versa cannot be interpreted causally. The study has also only had one analyst/encoder. A weakness of the study is that it is limited by a convenient sample of academics at one major university, as interviews and focus groups were conducted in Barcelona, and it also represents higher educated Spanish employees. The extent to which the findings can be generalized to employees in other cultural contexts with a lower level of education is unknown. The processes of conducting interviews and focus groups were carried out in Barcelona, and it is assumed that the study is representative of the situation among professors across the country given that the questionnaires were distributed across the entire country. In order to maintain the privacy of study participants, specific data regarding their discipline/profession was not collected. Therefore, future work should include information concerning academic disciplines/professions as the area in which one works may have a different work-family culture. Theoretical Implications: The purpose of this study was to contribute to the literature on both the work-family interface and work overload. Firstly, this study provides the antecedents and outcomes of work overload in a particular occupation and culture, namely, academics in Spain. This study identifies and describes the strategies for coping with work overload and it also determines three styles and two modes of coping. Results demonstrate the qualitative relationship between work overload and WFC. Secondly, this study contributes to coping theories in WF literature. It affords the specific coping strategies employed by professors at public universities in Spain in order to struggle with work and family/home demands. It was found that strategies are more effective when used together, and that some practices to absorb work overload may lead to WFC, which is consistent with emergent research. Practical implications: WF scholars have studied work overload in terms of objective working hours rather than focusing on perceived work overload (and lack of time to carry out the work). This study clearly shows the linkages among antecedents, outcomes and coping strategies regarding work overload and family-to-work conflict. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to use perceived work overload or lack of time as independent variables. Ideally, to make a step forward, researchers should address the coping strategy of working beyond normal hours to tackle workload as a variable affecting the WF interface instead of objective working hours or workload, as was done in the past. This study clearly shows the linkages among antecedents, outcomes and coping strategies concerning work overload and family-to-work conflict. Researchers are encouraged to use perceived work overload or lack of time as independent variables. Furthermore, professors’ work overload outcomes have a devastating impact on WF balance and well-being, as well as on work quality and stress that subsequently reverberates in student learning. Originality/value: The main contribution of this research consisted of setting WF research in a particular profession and context: teaching and research professors in Spain. It also recognizes that particular spillover coping strategies are predictors of WFC. Two extreme profiles for coping with the WF interface were identified, which facilitate the understanding of the reasons why working long hours sometimes has negative outcomes whereas, in other situations, it does not. Keywords: Work-family interface, spillover, work overload, coping strategies, academics