The impact of employment factors on the perception of work-life balance among employees

Abstract

The article analyses part of the results of a survey of the population of the Republic of Bashkortostan aged 17 and over, conducted in October-November 2020 as part of the study "Quality of Employment and Human Development". The volume of the analysed subsample of employees is 898 people. It is correct for employees of the Republic by gender, age, place of residence. The subject of the analysis is the influence of labour factors on the perception of work and personal life as balanced or unbalanced among employees. The main objective of the article is to test the hypothesis that the low quality of employment contributes to the formation of a sense of imbalance and dissatisfaction with work and life in general. The results showed that the hypothesis was generally confirmed. A number of features of employment that characterise it as low quality increase the proportion of those who feel an imbalance in work and personal life. These include: work without formal employment (informal employment); work not in the specialty; negative labour practices (delays at work, working on weekends, doing work at home during non-working hours, performing work functions in a state of illness, restrictions taking care of one's health due to work). Negative subjective characteristics of labour activity also contribute to an increase in the level of imbalance between work and the rest of life: dissatisfaction with working conditions, its safety, psychological climate, technical equipment, sanitary and hygienic conditions; perception of the place of work as the one of the injustice, insecurity and as the one where it is difficult to defend one's rights; non-compliance by the employer with the terms of the employment contract. In part, the imbalance contributes to the instability of employment, the possibility of losing a job. One of the results of the study is the conclusion that the feeling of balance/imbalance is associated with subjective assessments of work and personal life, they are more negative in the group with imbalance and more positive in the group with balance. Differences are especially evident in assessments of work as bringing pleasure and moral satisfaction, in assessments of life as one in which it was possible to achieve everything that one wanted.