Work–family conflict

Work–family conflict occurs when there are incompatible demands between the work and family roles of an individual that makes participation in both roles more difficult. Accordingly, the conflict takes place at the work–life interface. Conflict between work and family is important for organizations and individuals because it is linked to negative consequences. For example, conflict between work and family is associated with increased occupational burnout and job stress, and decreased health, organizational commitment and job performance, or can, on the other hand, lead to child neglect and broken homes.

Conceptually, conflict between work and family is bi-directional. Most researchers make the distinction between what is termed work-to-family conflict, and what is termed family-to-work conflict. Work-to-family conflict occurs when experiences and commitments at work interfere with family life, like extensive, irregular, or inflexible work hours, work overload and other forms of job stress, interpersonal conflict at work, extensive travel, career transitions, unsupportive supervisor or organization. For example, an unexpected meeting late in the day may prevent a parent from picking up his or her child from school. Family-to-work conflict occurs when experiences and commitments in the family interfere with work life like presence of young children, primary responsibility for children, elder care responsibilities, interpersonal conflict within the family unit, unsupportive family members. For example, a parent may need to take time off from work in order to take care of a sick child, or to witness a tournament or performance of a child.

Although these two forms of conflict—work interference with family (WIF) and family interference with work (FIW)—are strongly correlated with each other, more attention has been directed at WIF more than FIW. This may because work demands are easier to quantify; that is, the boundaries and responsibilities of the family role is more elastic than the boundaries and responsibilities of the work role. Also, research has found that work roles are more likely to interfere with family roles than family roles are likely to interfere with work roles. This is largely attributed to the idea of what Arlie Russel Hochschild termed "the ideal worker". Hochschild astutely points out that the image employers have of an "ideal worker" already rests on some unrealistic assumptions about how the family should operate. Many employers expect that employees with families have someone tending to everything at home, leaving the worker unencumbered. Despite the fact that a majority of families in the U.S. are dual earning, the image of the "ideal worker" persists and causes work–family conflict by demanding too much of working parents.

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