The Impact of Work Time on Work Family Conflicts: A Study of Nurses in a Leading Hospital in Central Province Sri Lanka

Abstract

The main purpose of the study was to identify whether work time impact on work family conflicts of nurses in a leading hospital of central province in Sri Lanka. It is generally accepted that work Schedules including shift work, night shifts, unpredictable hours, and long number of working hours constitute major work related conflicts based on Role theory and JD-R theory. Thus, problem of this study is to identify the impact of work time on work family conflicts of nurses in central province of Sri Lanka. The study was quantitative and a cross-sectional survey design was followed. Data was collected through a structured questionnaire. Convenience sampling technique was applied to select the sample, and the final sample consisted of 144 nurses from a leading hospital in central province. The data was analyzed using the computer based statistical data analysis package, SPSS(Statistical Package for Social Science)English version 20 and Correlation and Regression analysis used as analytical tools. Findings of the study revealed that there is an impact from work time on work family conflicts. Further the dimensions of the work time, Number of working hours and Work schedule impact on work family conflicts of nurses in the selected hospital in central province. It was concluded that there is a positive impact of work time on work family conflicts of nurses. Further, this study supported the managers of apparel firm to get strategic steps to increase organizational effectiveness of their organizations. Nurses are to be provided with greater choice in the number and times of shifts to be worked, with local management oversight to ensure fairness and equity in shift allocation across life stages. Traditional shift hours and patterns and work starting and finishing times should be systematically reviewed, and where necessary and feasible, adjusted to provide a better fit between work, childcare and school hours.