Exploring family support and job satisfaction on work-life balance among academic staff at a South African university
The Covid-19 pandemic significantly altered traditional work environments, resulting in many professionals, including academics, transitioning to remote work. This shift created challenges for maintaining work-life balance, particularly as home and work responsibilities became increasingly blurred. This study examines the impact of family support and job satisfaction on work-life balance of academics at a South African university in the post-pandemic era. An exploratory study using semi-structured interviews was adopted to obtain the data. Purposive sampling was used to select the participants. The sample comprised of ten full-time academics from the Economic and Management Science Faculty who had some form of family responsibility and had to work from home during the Covid-19 pandemic. The thematic qualitative data analysis technique using the Atlas-ti software (Version 24) was used to analyse the data from which 14 sub-themes emerged. The findings revealed that while working from home offered flexibility, it also introduced heightened work-life conflicts. Family support emerged as a factor in overcoming conflicts and enhancing well-being. Academics who received robust family support were able to better manage the demands of work and family, leading to greater job satisfaction and improved work-life balance. Conversely, those lacking sufficient support struggled with increased stress and reduced job satisfaction leading to a reduced work-life balance. The role of institutional policies in fostering a supportive work environment, particularly in terms of promoting job satisfaction and family-friendly initiatives to increase work-life balance, was also an important finding that emerged.
Academia, Post pandemic era, Work-life balance, Job Satisfaction, South African University
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