Your office reaching out your home?

Employees with high levels of job autonomy bring work home with them.

London, April 30: Employees with high levels of job autonomy and responsibilities tend to bring work home with them, according to a study.

Using data from a 2002 representative survey of more than 2,600 American workers, sociology professor Scott Schieman and student Paul Glavin examined the impact of schedule control and job autonomy on work-family role blurring. Role blurring is measured by how often employees bring work home and how often they receive work-related contact outside of normal working hours. For instance, having greater control over the start and finish times of work - is associated with more frequent work-family role blurring; this pattern is stronger among men. It also blurs the distinction between work and home among both women and men, according to a Toronto University release. Men in autonomous jobs are more likely than women in similarly autonomous jobs to receive work-related contact outside of normal work hours. Among both genders, receiving work-related contact outside of normal work hours increases work-to-family conflict, but only among individuals who have less autonomy at work. The findings are important because researchers have established work-to-family conflict as a core stressor in peoples` lives, Schieman added. IANS