New research* is shining a light on the reality of how UK working women set about having to manage or control the pressures of clashing roles, such as employee, parent or carer, when work and aspects of their personal lives conflict.

The research comprised of 34 interviews with women, conducted around 201 photographs captured of when they experienced role pressures linked to work and life. The findings highlight how UK employed women are having to manage the added pressures of dealing with tensions between work and nonwork roles themselves, and the emotional consequences of this.

Findings revealed that women relied on organisational support, but more so with self-initiated strategies to resolve or apply control over role conflict, both when at home and at work, with often negative emotional consequences. This included establishing their own resources, such as creating time/space during work hours to address other role demands, which were often financially costly or impacted their working capacity.

The research explored women’s responses to role conflict, when responsibilities around work, parenting and as a partner clash, looking at the emotional impact of this pressure. Role conflict occurs when time demands, strain, including fatigue and stress, or behavioural constraints around one role spillover into another or cause tension/conflict for the other. For example, a family responsibility may spillover into work, should a family matter occur during working hours or the other way around, if an urgent work request/emergency arises out of hours. However, the research looks at how women set about controlling these role conflicts or collisions, through either combining work and family roles or by separating them from one another, further looking at the emotional impact of this pressure.

“Sacrificing lunch breaks at work to do household chores, having to take pay cuts/salary sacrifices due to childcare, utilising flexible working policies to take on more responsibilities at home, and struggling to get to work on time due to morning role conflicts such as dropping toddlers off at nursery, are just some of the role burdens women are having to take on, in addition to their professional requirements in the workplace,” explained Fatima Malik, Lecturer in People Management at the University of Salford, who has conducted the research.

The research revealed organisational policies however, supported women in separating from work for priority family-time/responsibility. Although on doing this, role nuances such as choosing work over family and how women felt as a result of such decisions, presented further challenges. This included combining work with household tasks and being required to find resources to support family responsibilities themselves, creating additional pressure.

“The pressures of having to personally manage the tensions between work and life roles themselves are an additional burden that employed women across the UK are carrying. In many instances, it’s making it incredibly challenging for women to have any sort of balance in their lives.

“The emotional consequences of the pressures the women we interviewed faced was significant. On many occasions it resulted in frustration and annoyance, thus highlighting a need to destigmatise this conversation to enable women to openly voice such concerns. Further encouraging transparency and creating an open dialogue in the workplace on the responsibilities women have outside of work, and the additional effort they themselves have to carry, could really address this issue and help alleviate some of this stress,” continued Fatima.

In addition, the research also revealed that, while flexible working policies supported women to achieve temporary role-control over role conflicts, relying on such support meant that women further faced long-term repercussions on workloads.

“Overall, a primary objective of this research is to provide women with a voice regarding the responsibilities they are balancing in their personal and professional lives, while also raising awareness of the burdens many working women face daily in dealing with role conflicts and the psychological consequences this can have.

“While some workplace policies provide great levels of support towards work-life balance, others are perhaps counterproductive in alleviating some of the tensions women face between work and life as workloads have the potential to then mount even further,” concludes Fatima.

*Research from the University of Salford