A Gender Role Perspective on the Impact of Work from Home on Work-Life Balance: Employees’ Experience During Covid -19 Pandemic in Sri Lanka

Abstract

The covid-19 pandemic has impacted every aspect of human life. Many employees start work from home during this pandemic situation, which disturbs employees' everyday work and non-work schedules as it is an unusual practice for some employees. However, there are limited studies which examine the effect of work from home on work-life balance. Based upon work life border theory and crossover spillover theories, the current study attempted to examine the effect of work from home on work-life balance and to examine the moderating role of gender. Using a structured questionnaire, data were collected from 301 employees who started work from home during the Covid-19 pandemic. This study is cross-section nature, as data collection was limited to one point in time. Based upon the extant literature, we developed two hypotheses which proposed the direct effect of work from home on work life balance and the moderating effect of gender on the proposed relationship. The data were analyzed using regression. The results showed that work from home significantly and negatively influence on work-life balance. However, moderating effect of gender was insignificant. Thus, work from home negatively influence on employee work life balance irrespective of their gender. The results of this study inform the literature employees face difficulties of managing their work and non-work life when the there is no clear boarders between work and non-work.