Research and Publication Office

[WORK LIFE BALANCE BETWEEN OFFICE AND HOME DURING

ON-CALL SHIFT]

[Author name and Affiliation]

e.g. Adam A. Ali, PhD
AMA International University Bahrain
College of…………
Department of…………..

Research Submission –Ch. 1-3

2nd trimester SY…..-…...

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Chapter 1

1. Background of study

Nowadays, Work-life balance is a constant challenge for most people, especially on-call

shift especially at a time when companies reduce their labour force because of the

economic situation and load their employees the increasing workload. The process of

balancing work-life can be seen as a difficult goal especially for people who strive to

complete everything in a timely fashion The process of balancing work-life in an on-call

shift may vary from one person to another over time as the balance achieved when the

employee is single may change his or her data and requirements when he marries or has

children. The balance between work and home has become one of the basics of life for all

employees in all stages of life, where work is one of the main factors in acquire a living

and try to reach many successes and innovation. where work definition is known as any

activity leads to the collection of a specific financial benefit (Salary). Working in respect

of achieving a goal through the implementation of the tasks entrusted to the person

(employee), which performs those tasks called under the name of the employee where it

is agreed between the work where he rewarding him for the accomplishment of the tasks

of the company department in an agreed period of time can be contract or permanent.

There is also a lot of reasons that encourage people to search for work, where work is a

major way to get money (income appropriate salary amount), as well as work encourages

people to get the opportunity to appropriate training within the work environment where

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the employee may contribute to the creative of skills through creative courses that lead To

guide the employee in the range of his job and even in the expansion of it-self and the

follow-up of achievement and innovation as well as work encourages the humans

( employees ) to take advantage of the personal skills of his team in the work where he

recognizes their experience and career opportunities to obtain many new information that

helps in the growth of self-skills. The work shows many benefits to the community

especially families and individuals, where it provides financial budgets, which means the

amounts owed by the employee for a specific service and receive retirement

compensation is a financial return received by the employee in a period after the

completion of a currency in accordance with same certain laws policy. as well as the

important benefits on the individual Providing healthcare or health insurance (for the

private companies) is the aim of providing the means to maintain the healthcare of the

individual in the event of any diseases or harm, as well as the benefits are to obtain

vacations, which is a total of holidays gives to the employee during the period of

currency and does not include holidays or weekends It is offered to the employee for sick

leave or family leave for travel abroad or it can be like bonus.

1.1 Statement of the Problem

This study sought to support the employee's problems of work life balance during on-call

shifts in kingdom of Bahrain. The study aimed to answer the following questions :

1 What are the general problems in work life balance on-call shifts in kingdom of

Bahrain in terms of :

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1.1 Healthcare

1.2 Family relation

1.3 Work relation

1.4 Balance in work with life

1.5 Balance in life with work

1.6 Financial problems

1.7 Rise performance in work

1.8 Incentives and Rewards

2 What are the problems faced by an employees during working on-call shifts in

terms of:

2.1 Availability

2.2 Days, working hours and holidays

2.3 Work location

2.4 Rewards, recognition and incentives

2.5 Work assistance

2.6 Vacations work and public holidays

3 What are the family problems that an employee may face?

3.1 Problems of infants and young people

3.2 Problems of disabled children

3.3 Education problems

3.4 Family attention

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3.5 Financial cost for living

4 What are the suggestions for balancing work and home during on-call shifts in

the Kingdom of Bahrain in terms of :

4.1 Education

4.2 Healthcare

4.3 Happiness and comfort

4.4 Raising the performance of employees in the work and seeking innovation

4.5 Family and parents

4.6 Increase in bonuses

4.7 Raising staff salaries

Objectives
- To improve the possible solutions in balancing between work and home.

- To pursuit of work in the system of seizures and development in it.

- To effort healthcare environment for the employees.

- To effort for balance and family care at home.

- To expansion research study target “on-call shifts” in Kingdom of Bahrain.

1.2 Significance of the Study

1.2.1 Employee significance

The importance of this study and our research is to improve the balance between

work and home with employees during working on-call shifts, whether the employee is

single or married, whether female or male, this research study aims to achieve balance

where work and home are the responsibilities of all employees who work on-call shifts,

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the work is the main resource in the survival of the life through which the employee can

provide himself and his family needs. The study also provides for Family reunion to

solve existed problems related to the home balance, family and children and the

consequent importance in creativity and development in The on-call shifts in the

Kingdom of Bahrain may help in the development of many tasks that help in the growth

and accompanied by recent developments without obtaining employees for high level of

healthcare services. During working on-call shifts. The study aims to solve the employee

healthcare problems. Kingdom’s of Bahrain companies target to provide the right medical

care for employees and their families. In this study, many problems and modern solutions

will be introduced that will help employees achieve the right balance between work and

home. In this study we will use the real problems found in many resources such us books,

previous research, articles, meetings, interview, questionnaire in Kingdom of Bahrain and

we will include them and find solutions compelling to reduce these problems. Which is

currently available in 2018-2019 ..

1.2.2 Company significance

This research study will support companies, ministries and workplaces during on-

call shifts in the Kingdom of Bahrain and aims to apply a high performance of

employees and help solve the potential problems and achieve the balance between the

actual work and home in this research we will apply many problems that will help

workplace to develop their employees using this study and solve problems that The

company can face as well as the pursuit of innovation and high performance of staff work

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shifts in the private and public sectors, Also this research will be high quality resource

that will be many workplace apply it in during working hours .

1.2.3 Researchers significance

The research aims to establish a new research in the development of on-call shifts and

balance work and home in the Kingdom of Bahrain, where research is the first reference

to researchers in all fields and fields. This research will help solve the problems of

balance between home and work in many of the assistance that will be obtained by the

researcher through Achieving this actual balance in this research This research will be the

first step in achieving postgraduate studies such as PhD and other postgraduate studies

which are applied in the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Arab world. This study will be

applied to be the first Bahraini researcher in the university

1.3 Scope and Limitation

- This section sets parameters of the study.

To assess the prevalence of lack of sleeps and average age of the on-call works, a

study was carried on January to march of 2017 in the kingdom of Bahrain. A survey

was conducted on on-call works across a range of industries. These industries

included hospitality, emergency services, information technology and the healthcare

industry. All the interested participants were prevented the link to the survey. They

were also given a sheet indicating that all the results were anonymous. Then, the

participants signed a declaration form indicating they were above eighteen years old.

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The survey comprised of questions that were related to basic demographics such as

age and gender of the participants, their type of work and how they are often called,

levels of stress and their sleep patterns. To determine the number of times the

workers did not get adequate sleep, the following questions were asked, how much

sleep do you get on weekdays or work days, including naps? This aim of this

question was to get the number of times the on-call workers were not able to get

enough sleep. The second question was, how many hours of sleep do you regularly

get when on-call shift, including naps? .this helped to understand how workers sleep

both when on call and on normal working days. The responses were divided in six

sleep durations 4hrs, 4-5hrs, 5-6hrs, 6-7hrs, 7-8hrs, 8-9hrs and 9hrs. an individual

was said not to enough sleep if they if they slept below the recommended 7-9hrs of

sleep.

The study on-call workers had some limitations which should be acknowledged. The

researchers used self-report measures to estimate the number of times the workers

did not sleep well. The workers might have exaggerated their sleeping hours; they

were only reporting based estimation. Sometimes people overestimate or

underestimate their sleep time with 30-40 minutes. The self-report allowed for a

large number of participants from various industries to be surveyed at a low cost.

The current study used duration of sleep duration as a measure of inadequate sleep.

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Further studies should assess a broad range of sleep variables such as timing and

quality of sleep.

The survey was advertised as a research on the effect of on-call work on the health

and well-being of individuals; it is possible that a number of workers who felt that

on-call work had effect on the health and their well-being took part in the survey.

Additionally, if a person’s job had an on-call component, they were included in the

survey without considering the number of hours the worker was on call. Therefore,

the number and distribution of on call shifts and the likelihood of receiving a call,

would affect a person’s sleep and the risk of injury. The high the amount of on-call

shifts the high the possibility of injury. Further research should be done to determine

the impact of on-call amount of work on the injury risk. The study should also

consider the circumstances when during the on-call shift the workers are not called.

In these circumstances there is no risk of workplace injury because the worker is not

at working. Lastly, the method of analyzing costs mostly relied on population

averages. This data may hide the fact that older workers have a lower economic cost

compared to young workers.

Use the following format in writing: [Font: Time New Roman, Size 12, Line spacing:

Double]

1.4 Conceptual Framework / Theoretical Framework

On-call work shifts mean that employees have to be available at a certain times to be

called to worker by their employers. Offs-site on call work is the form of work shift

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where workers do not have to be at their workplace. It can always be scheduled in

between regular working hours. At times these periods are meant for rest and recovery.

Research shows that sufficient recover is very important for the wellbeing of every

worker. If someone is called to work during their offsite time, it implies that they are

making extra effort and they will have less time for recovery.

However, even without working during offset time, recovery can be impaired by lower

cognitive detachment, psychological problems, physiological problems and less control

over free time activities. there are adverse effects of on call work on recovery may be

more evident when the apprehension of a call induces stress. This is because stress does

not have a good relationship with recovery. It affects the well-being of a person. The most

important part of recovery is getting enough sleep. A person who is getting poor sleep

quality has the following symptoms; the individual has some difficulties falling asleep,

staying asleep and waking up too early. Lack of sleep makes someone irritable.

Therefore, these workers may not be able to perform their tasks well and sometimes they

may feel miserable. In addition lack of sleep also leads to mental and health problems

such as heart diseases, obesity and diabetes.

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+
Physical
demands

Reduced
disturbed
sleep,
psychological
dysfunction
and fatigue

community
Family

employer
Moderators
The role theory
 Job
 worker
explains the

work-life balance. It puts the negative side of the work-life balance in the spotlight. The

role theory explains that work-life very important for an individual’s psychological well

beings, self-esteem, and satisfaction and overall sense of harmony in life. This is

considered as successful work-life balance.

Research on work-life balance relies on multiple theoretical frameworks. These include

spill-over. This is the process whereby life experiences in one role affect the role in other

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activities. Study has examined the spill over values, skills, moods and behaviors from one

role to another. The experience of the spill-over effect may be negative or positive

(Morris and Madsen, 2007). It is interpreted as the positive association between life and

satisfaction and work values and transfer of entire skills and behaviors in different areas;

such as when a person experiences fatigue at home and when the demands of the family

interfere with the individuals work demands.

Another theory used to explain work-life balance is the compensation theory. It refers to

the efforts put in place to counter the negative experiences in one area through increasing

positive experiences in another area. For example, an employee is dissatisfied with their

work focusing more on their family thus relocating human resources. Compensation can

be viewed in two broad categories; supplementary and reactive (Zedeck and Mosier,

1990). Supplemental compensation happens when positive experiences are insufficient at

work and are therefore pursued at home. Reactive compensation occurs when negative

work experiences are made up for in positive home experiences.

Chapter 2

2. Literature Review

This chapter is based on the review of existing literature in order to understand the

pressures of working in shifts, the pressures of life and impact of on-call shift to a

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person’s well-being. The literature review will examine what is known about these

aspects of workers lives and their impact on both the professional and home life.

2.1 Research Environment

Over the years, many workplaces all over the world have experienced changes in

their organization of work. For various reasons, most of the companies have made

changes in their working schedules. Some of them have adopted different work practices

such as night, daytime and on-call shifts. Due to social and economic changes, there has

been a renewed interest in flexibility for working hours. The pressure that comes with

Competitive markets and globalization has changed our lives and our work in particular.

Other changes include dissolution of work unity and time, faster innovation rate,

competition among companies across the world and increased complexity (Frese & Kruif,

2000). The changing employment patterns from the service industry to the

manufacturing industry have been accompanied by the rising demand to work around the

clock. Also, there most of the companies have gone from standard working hours to

extending services where employees work 24 hours a day all week. However, the 24-hour

economy, there has been concerns about the abnormal working hours.

Working in shifts is a practice that involves providing services across all the 24

hours of the clock, each day of the week. Typically, a day is divided into shifts and then

periods of time are set for a different group of workers to perform their duties. Working

in shifts can be either daytime or night time. On call shift workers are supposed to be at

any time of the day or night, usually on short notice, to carry out any tasks assigned.

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Sometimes, the on-call shift tasks might be different from normal duties because they are

mainly emergency duties (Rutenfranz et.al, 1977). There is also the on-call shift. This is

whereby the employees working schedules are unintentional and unpredictable.

International Labour Office, defines shift work as; 'A method of work organization under

which groups or crews of workers succeed each other at the same workstations to

perform the same operations, each crew working a certain schedule or shift so that the

undertaking can operate longer than the stipulated weekly hours for any worker. The

increase in the amount of work, the desire to gain a competitive advantage, to increase

profits and to reduce costs has driven most of the companies to change their working

hours. Many of the organizations have moved from normal working hours (8 hours a

day) to shift work.

2.1.1 Reasons for working in shifts

Changes in the economy and social aspects are the main reason for working in

shifts. Most of the organizations have changed their working practices to provide services

around the clock. Competition from other companies has forced employers to look for

ways to operate their businesses for long hours to meet seasonal demands and other

fluctuations. The reasons for work shifts are similar among different countries (Kogi,

2001). For instance, the need for offering continuous services drives businesses to extend

their working hours. From police services to hospital services are good examples of

services that should be offered continuously. These services can also be offered on-call

shifts. For example, when there is an emergency in the hospital, a doctor can be called to

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attend the emergency. It does not matter if the doctor was on a shift or not. If hospitals do

not over operate around the clock, it can cause damages; people will die for lack of

treatment. Moreover, social expectations also cause changes in work shifts (presser,

2005).

2.1.2 Types of work shifts

There are different ways of organizing work shifts. These include the stable

working hours. This is whereby the work schedule use does require an employee to work

more than one shift, rotating shifts, unscheduled working hours and shifting from one

shift to another (Pilcher & Coplen, 2000). Another form of working shift is the on-call

shift. This is an unscheduled shift; it occurs in case of emergency. A group of individuals

is usually called to fix the problem. The common working shift is the standard 8-hour

shift, day and night shift (Bara & Arber, 2009). The use working shifts have developed

since the 1920s. Today, most of the businesses use rotational shifts for efficiency in their

operations. Rotational shift work covers some schedules. Employees rotate their shifts

according to the schedule. The shits are either continuous as they run two or three shifts

per day including weekends. Employees take turns to perform the assigned duties.

2.1 State of the art research situation

Work and home are two important things in the life of an employee. International

trends that are concerned with the wellness of the organization and the employees

emphasize the importance of work-life balance (Lockhood, 2003). In the past decade,

these trends have directed a major shift in the workplace towards improving the quality of

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life and balancing between work and life (Parkes & Langford, 2008). In the past decade,

research and literature show that people have gained an interest in work-life balance

issues, internationally and work-home interactions.

Due to the changing demographic trends in the current workforce, where there is

an increased number of working mothers and single and two-earner families, there has

been an increased research activity in the area of work-life balance. Despite the changing

definitions of work-life balance, the concept has not been well researched on (Eikhof et

al., 2007). Most of the review of work-family relations does not explicitly define work-

life balance. "While the term work-family balance is widely adopted a formal definition

of this term remains elusive ... an array of definitions and measures populate the

literature ... [providing] limited value for both the theoretical advancement of the

construct and for practical human resource interventions” (Kalliath & Brough, 2008).

2.2.1 The pressures of new forms of work

The continuous shift in employment manufacturing sectors to service sectors has

led to the increased demand for employees to work around the clock. Most of the

companies have extended their service offering periods through changing working hour's

patterns and operating 24 hours a day for the whole week (Hogarth et al., 2000). The

alleged job insecurity and the increased workload makes the employees show their

commitment by being present at the workplace and responding to on-calls quickly. Most

of the companies have employees who are always present in the workplace. The

employees work beyond the standards working hours, for which they may not be

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compensated. Most employees extend their working hours because of the backlog of

work and temporary workloads. The supervisors also work for additional hours with no

compensation (Hogarth et al., 2000).

In the first half of the twentieth century, there was an important shift in work

behavior (Flecker & Hofbauer, 1998). Under the Taylor work regime, a real employee

was supposed to strictly any task managerial task assigned based on the principles of

reliability punctuality, and obedience (Goldthorpe et al., 1968). Today, workers attitudes

and emotions have proved to be an important productive resource in an organization.

Employees are supposed to dedicate their time and everything to achieve the

organization’s set goals. However, there has been a misuse of emotional labor; employees

are expected to be fully committed to their work so much that the boundaries between

work-life and home-life have disappeared (Scase 2002).

2.2.2 The pressures of life

Nowadays, work plays a central role in individual's lives. With the introduction of

different working shifts, personal and home life has become more complex and it has

greatly impacted the lives of employees. People have moved from being in extended

families to lone parent households. The need to manage relationships within families has

made life more complicated and fuller of tension (Crow and Hardey 1999).

Another trend is the growing participation with an increased number of women in

employment. Around 70 percent of women are now employed, and the others have

dependent children work. Although there are fewer employment rates for single mothers,

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at least there is 48 percent employment growth for this growth of people. Although most

of the women are now employed, they continue to do all the domestic work (Morrell et

al., 1999). Today, most of the employees are spending so much time at their workplace,

and it has greatly affected them physiologically and psychologically. As a result of this,

the employees’ quality of life continues to deteriorate day by day.

2.3 Effects of on-call shifts

2.3.1 Physical Well-Being

Balancing between life and work when working in shifts can be both difficult and

tedious. It can greatly affect your physical well-being. Research conducted in Harrington

in 2001 indicates that on-call work shifts affected the workers physically. Most of the

employees who worked on on-call shifts changed their sleeping and eating schedules

which had a negative effect on their bodies. Also, it affected their performance at work

(Harrington, 2001). Other studies, on-call shift workers had a 40 percent probability of

having cardiovascular diseases and gastrointestinal diseases like heartburn, flatulence and

abdominal pains (Bogglid, 1999). On-call shifts can also affect the reproductive health of

the employees. In women, long working hours can disrupt the normal menstrual cycle.

Studies also show that there is an increased risk of premature birth, weight loss and

spontaneous abortion from increased stress. This stress is caused by the failure to balance

between work and life during the on-call shifts.

Another study conducted in 1976 found that failure to balance between work and

life causes stress which in return causes physiological symptoms. According to Cooper

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and Marshall, these symptoms include the rise in cholesterol levels and change in blood

pressure. Although exercising, dieting, and sleeping well can help employees cope with

stress that comes with on-call shifts, management should also participate in helping the

employees cope with work stress.

Due to the nature of the work, on-call employees can be forced to work for day

and nights shifts. Sometimes when they are called in, they may be forced to extend the

working hours depending on the duties (Nicol & Botterill, 2004). The employees lack

time to rest, and this may cause fatigue. Research conducted by Steele, Ma, Watson, and

Thomas on doctors found that 80% of the errors committed were as a result of fatigue.

There were also accidents when the resident doctors worked for long hours. Although

most of the employees working on irregular hours complain of fatigue, it cannot be

measured. Fatigue has been cited as one of the reasons people quit on-call work shifts.

Also, various studies show that young employees can perform well during both

day and night shifts. However, old employees tend to be greatly affected by working in

shifts. Most of the old people only perform on the standard 8-hour shift (Reid, 2003).

Although, older employees are said to be free from family obligation and have become

gotten used to on-call work shifts over the years. However recent studies show that older

employees perform less well than young employees. This caused by short sleep patterns

whereby old employees find it difficult to sleep well.

2.3.2 Work-family balance

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Working in shifts may interfere with personal and family life. For instance,

working in shifts takes much of employees' time, therefore, they do not have or have

limited time for their families. Most of the employees face the problem of work-family

conflict. Work-family conflict is a situation whereby the pressures of work, family, and

life are discordant to the point that one cannot work well because of family duties

(Greenhaus $ Beutell, 1985).

Due to the introduction of technology, most of the people have phones, tablets,

and laptops. This has greatly contributed to flexibility; it has made it easy for people to

work at any time, from anywhere. Technology has also brought about video conferencing

where individuals can hold meetings from the comfort of their homes. There are no

boundaries between work and personal life. Work has invaded employees' personal lives

making it difficult for them to perform parental duties. There is no time to even build

family relationships (Kalliath & Kalliath, 2012). Research shows that it is difficult to

balance between working in shifts and family life. Most of the employees are straining to

gain job satisfaction and family satisfaction. For example, people working in hospitals are

incapable of leaving their workplaces on time because there are sick people who need to

be urgently attended. Also, they go home recounting the events of the day and holding

their emotions of the things that happened at work. This affects their family life. In most

of the jobs, the boundary between work and personal life is unclear which leads to work-

family conflict (Emslie & Hunt, 2009). For example, a doctor on on-call shifts does not

have time for family, and this puts a strain on marriages. These marital problems are as a

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result of lack of communication, constant interruptions and couples detaching themselves

from each other. Detachment occurs when partners spend most of their time at work.

Work-family conflicts are bidirectional, and it only affects various professionals

who have on-schedule components. A study conducted by Kalliath explored ways in

which employees can be helped to manage work-family conflict. The study found out that

employees face various problems. These include pressure from managers to perform,

working past normal working hours to ensure everything is done, being away from home

all the time and lack of support from fellow workers. All these things have a negative

impact in regards to work-family conflict.

When employees work for long hours, undesirable hours or during times when

they are supposed to perform family duties or social obligations it can lead to job

dissatisfaction. They will not be able to spend times with their loved ones. These

pressures also affect their performance at work, their relationships and the ability to take

care of themselves. The employees feel like they are being deprived time for themselves

and time for getting intimate with their partners Rout’s (1995).

2.4 The Effect of Shift Work on Workers/ Employees

Working in shifts has a profound impact on the lives of employees and their well-

being. In the end, working in shifts affects an individual's quality of life. The work shifts

affect the efficiency and productivity of employees. Research shows that working in

shifts alters a person's circadian rhythm (24-hour body Cycle) disrupts their family and

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personal life and leads to health problems including chronic diseases fatigue and

gastrointestinal disorders.

2.4.1 Psychological well being

Stress is also another factor that makes it difficult for a person to balance between

life and home when they are working in shifts. Stress can be defined as a response to a

situation when an individual feels threatened (Moran & Hughes, 2006). Being stressed

for a long time is associated with psychosomatic illness, chronic anxiety and a variety of

other emotional problems. As the levels of stress increases, a person's energy levels are

also affected, and the on-call work shift worsens the situation. This leads to conflicts in

the workplace such as high turnover rates, compassion fatigue and absenteeism (Cooper

& Marshall, 1976). A study carried out on general practitioners ranked on-call working

shift at night as one most stressful aspects of their work (Sutherland & Cooper, 1992).

The results of the study indicated that the practitioners working on one or more nights on-

call shift were suffering from anxiety and depression and for those working on on-call

shift for three or more days were stressed and tired. There was no difference between

male and female employees. Also, depression and anxiety increased as per the number

times that the person was on an on-call shift in a month. Likewise, employees were also

reported to have experienced high levels of general anxiety and depression and poor

mental health compared to employees working for normal hours (Bradley & Sutherland,

1995).

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Another factor that makes it hard to balance work and life is work-related

problems. These include high demands from the employer, role ambiguity, shortage of

employees, budget constraints and conflicts in roles among the employees. According to

Kadushin, employees experience conflicting role expectations while other members do

not understand and appreciate their work. This leads to stress which in turn results to a

lack of recognition, conflict role, and discrepancy about good practice. All these

problems lead to burnout and lack of satisfaction in your workplace. Burnout is a

syndrome with extents of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced feelings

of personal achievement (Koeske & Koeske, 1989). It affects every aspect of the

employee's life because prevents the employee from performing the duties and

responsibilities as expected and also affects their personal life. Sometimes the employees

will feel like they are not performing their duties at an appropriate psychological level

(Lloyd et al., 2002).

2.4.2 Emotional well being

Employees have little control over the customers that they serve, type of contact

and the length of duties they are required to carry out. The principal responsibility of an

employee lies in the relationships that they form with clients. This leaves workers

vulnerable to emotional exhaustion. Research conducted in on social workers indicated

that they had high levels of emotional distress which was worsened by on-call shifts.

Doctors were in low moods when on-call shifts compared to when they not. Working on

call shifts increases tension and frustration (Nicol & Botterill, 2004).

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Most of the time, when workers are on-call shifts are faced with crises. They may

experience violence and discrimination, and this can cause emotional overload (Adams et

al., 2006). Also, it can lead to compassion fatigue whereby employees lack interest in the

job, and they are not empathetic towards clients. The employees experience burnout and

job dissatisfaction. The study shows that burnout is predicted by both the challenge of the

job and absence of promotion opportunities, and proper compensation. According to,

Martin and Schinke Social work can be emotionally draining

However, different strategies can be adopted by an organization to ensure that

their employees do not experience burnout and job dissatisfaction (Deery, 2008).

Supervisors should offer support to their subordinates. They should provide a safe, secure

and conducive environment for their workers. When employees have emotional support

from both their colleagues and supervisors, they experience low levels of stress, burnout,

and reduced mental health problems. The heavy workload is also another negative impact

of lack of support from both the supervisors and the co-workers, above all the number of

clients seen in a day, the average hours spent in direct client contact, and the percentage

of crisis interventions (Koeske & Koeske, 1989). This can be true if there is an on-call

work component because employees are expected to perform at their best abilities.

However, these claims are not always feasible because extensive exposure to emotionally

draining events places unnecessary demand to the mind and body which in turn leads to

feelings of emotional exhaustion, cynicism, burnout and reduced efficacy in the

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workplace, which has a negative impact on clients and the services social workers

provide.

A recent study from Washington University that was conducted on two-parent

families; one parent worked on nonstandard shift. The study found that the effect of

parents work schedules varies according to the age and gender of the child. The results of

the study indicated that children why to like to have more problems if their parents were

on rotating shifts. Rotating shifts are work schedules that rotate day by day or week by

week. According to Christine Leibrand, most of the employees struggle to create a work-

life balance that they want for themselves. However, in families where both parents are

working, balancing between life and work remains an issue (Bianchi & Milkie, 2010). In

a situation where one parent is on-call work shift especially the mother, there were

greater problems with the boys. Gender differences may relate to how parents are

involved in children’s lives.

On a call, work shifts are stressful to parents. This stress may have a negative

impact on children. It brings about inconsistency in childcare, and sometimes it becomes

difficult to predict when the parents will be home next. Unlike parents who work on

standard hours, they have time to take care of their children and model their behaviors as

they grow up. For instance, one parent who works at night available for children both

before and after school while the other prepares dinner and prepares the children for bed.

However, not all family has money to cater for daycare expenses. Also, most

employees do not have control over their work schedules. For example, nurses have to

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work on shifts. This is where the employment agencies and policymakers come in.

Employers can decide to create more flexible work schedules or provide access to

affordable daycares. Most of the parents are straining to find a way to spend time with

their children. Generally, employers should help their employees balance between work

and personal life (Presser, 1989).

Nevertheless, not all research found working in shifts having uniformly negative

effects. For example, in Australia, most of the employees work in shifts, and they were

reported as being happy with their working hours (Wooden, 2001). However, the study

did not differentiate between people who had children depending on them or those who

did have children. Also, the study did not identify whether they were men or women.

Family circumstances of employees have a great impact on the way they balance their

lives with work. Some people have joined shift work to help them maintain a balance

between work and life. Thereby devoting more time to their children (Golla and

Vernon,2006). The managers are also reported to extend their working hours to avoid

home life hassles.

2.5 Synthesis

From the above, it is clear that the number of women has increased in the

employment sector. However, it is not easy for them to be wives, mothers, and

employees. Most of the employees find it difficult to juggle between working in shifts

and taking care of their problems (Kalliath & Kalliath, 2012). Even though you are

working, you cannot help but think of your problems. The same issues were raised in

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Rout's 1995 study. In the study, some female doctors found it difficult to meet their

traditional roles of a mother and wife while performing their duties and responsibilities at

work. Even if a woman is employed, they are still expected to perform traditional roles of

a woman. Although men in employment sector also face also experience work-family

conflict with the struggle of maintaining a balance between work and family life, for

women it is different. Taking care of children, shopping for home supplies and leaving

your spouse to go work at night can put a strain on a marriage. Much of the research

examined for this literature review suggests that work and family are two significant

things in an employee's life. Therefore incorporating work and family through developing

work-family policies such as offering flexible working schedules, granting employees

supportive leaves, an unpaid family leaves without penalties and secure part-time jobs

should be given a priority (Pocock, 2003).

However, some researchers mainly focused on specific effects of on-call work

shifts for specific professions. The literature reviewed on the health of on-call work is

limited because the professional studies were minimal. The researchers concentrated

more on how general practitioners of medicine and how they balance their lives with on-

call work shifts. But, they did not consider on-call work shifts in other occupations

(Berger, 2009). There is also a lack of research concerning the effects of on-call shifts on

psychological factors and the difference on the effects regarding the gender. Most of the

researchers focused more on how women found it difficult to balance between work

shifts and their personal and home life. They did not consider how men balance work and

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life. Thorough research should be done on the effects of on-call shifts on both genders.

The current research makes it difficult to establish causality. Most of the research has

found health conditions such as cardiovascular diseases, reproductive problems,

gastrointestinal issues and mortality that need to be further explored (Nicol & Botterill,

2004)

The above literature review on balancing between life and home during on-call

shifts leads to the conclusion that it is difficult to balance between on-call shifts and

personal life. People who work on shifts experience high levels of stress at professional

and personal women. On-call shift employees especially women usually have a hard time

as they have to balance between work and their traditional roles. Also, high levels of

stress can affect an individual's performance at work and the ability to take care of

themselves which in turn can lead to job dissatisfaction. Therefore, Companies which

insist on on-call shift instead of standard working time should develop new work

schedules to make it easy for employees to balance between work and life.

Chapter 3

3. Research Methodology

- This is the chronological listing of steps and procedure/s used by the

proponent/s.

- Methods used for gathering of data, laboratory and field experiment,

theoretical and/or conceptual frameworks, as well as techniques employed in
the analyses of data must be specifically listed.

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- Includes instrumentation (or the procedures used in developing an instrument

to gather data) and the data collection (or the details on how the data will be
obtained).

- Specify method of investigation, i.e. questionnaires, personal interviews or

Questionnaire, focus groups, experimental procedures, laboratory modeling,
design techniques, etc.

- Indicate the sampling methodology, i.e. size of sample, population,

experimental and control groups, prevention of bias, etc.

- Indicate statistical methods and explain why you intend to use specific
statistical methods.

- Note: In social science research, methodology comes after Scope and

Limitation before the Conceptual Framework or Theoretical Framework.

You have to write in details the research procedures, which you have used in conducting

your research.

Use the following format in writing: [Font: Time New Roman, Size 12, Line spacing:

Double]

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