Teachers’ Work-Life Balance in Emergency Remote Teaching During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The balance between personal life and work life is essential to achieve desired outcomes. However, the COVID-19 global pandemic changed the way people live and work and affected schools like other organizations. Teachers were expected to work from home and adapt to the tools and technologies used in distance education. Working from home has blurred the borders between work and personal life and might affect the work-life balance adversely. Although there are studies based on the work-life balance of academicians, there is a gap lack of in the experiences of teachers on work-life balance during emergency remote teaching, especially those who worked at private schools. Therefore, the aim of this study is to identify teachers’ experiences on work-life balance in emergency remote teaching. The current study was designed as phenomenological research. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 11 teachers who were selected through the purposive sampling. The obtained data were analyzed through content analysis. The findings of the study revealed that there were two themes as (i) challenges for work-life balance and (ii) ways of maintaining a work-life balance. It was found that the teachers, who had to work from home, did not maintain a balance between personal life and work because of such challenges as inadequacy of workspace, irregularity of working hours, lack of support and role conflicts. Consequently, they failed to achieve the desired outcomes of work and individual lives which adversely affected their well-being. Besides, working from home and distance education seem likely to continue even after the pandemic has ended. Hence, this study will provide practical and managerial implication for human resources, crisis management and work-life balance.