Reducing Work-Life Conflict: What Works? What Doesn't?

5.1 How Do Canadian Employees Cope with Stress?

To make it easier for the reader to follow the discussion of our findings, we categorized the familial coping techniques used in this study using principal components analysis. This categorization (Table 20) shows that Canadian families use five different sets of coping strategies in their attempt to deal with work-life conflict: (1) restructure and redefine family roles, (2) put family first, (3) sacrifice personal needs and standards, (4) seek social support, and (5) procure outside help.⁴⁵

Data on the availability and use of the different family coping strategies are summarized in Table 21 (Total Sample) and 22 (Gender by Dependent Care and Gender by Job Type). These data indicate that Canadian families use a wide variety of strategies to cope with stress.

Table 20: Factor Analysis of Family Coping Strategies

	Strengthen/ Restructure Family Roles	Putting Family First	Sacrifice Personal Needs	Social Support	Procuring Help from Outside	% Use Often
Encourage children to help each other	.75					71
Get children to help with household tasks	.68					53
Cover household responsibilities for each other	.63					72
Try to be flexible	.61					76
Plan family time together	.58					48
Limit job involvement to allow time for family		.70				37
Modify work schedule		.68				24
Plan work changes around family needs		.62				36
Identify one partner as responsible for family		.51				31
Leave work problems at work		.45				50
Leave things undone around house			.72			77
Get by on less sleep			.70			54
Cut down on outside activities			.60			56
Buy more goods and services			.45			45
Rely on extended family for help				.79		30
Rely on friends for help				.77		17
Hire help to care for children					.80	42
Hire help to care for elderly dependents					.80	26

Table 21: Use of Family Coping Strategies (Total Sample)

Family Coping Strategies	% of Sample Who Use
	Rarely	Sometimes	Often
Leave some things undone around the house	12	11	77
Trying to be flexible	3	21	76
Covering household responsibilities for each other	10	18	72
Encouraging children to help each other	7	23	71
Cutting down on outside activities	18	26	56
Get by on less sleep that I would like	27	19	54
Get the children to help with household chores	17	30	53
Leaving work-related problems at work	29	21	50
Plan family time together	18	34	48
Buying more goods and services	32	24	45
Hire help to care for the children	40	18	42
Limiting job involvement to allow time for family	31	32	37
Planning work changes around family needs	35	28	36
Identifying one partner as primarily responsible for household tasks	41	28	31
Relying on extended family for help	50	20	30
Hire help to care for elderly relatives	48	25	26
Modifying the work schedule	46	29	24
Relying on friends for help	56	27	17

Table 22: Use of Family Coping Strategies
a. Gender by Dependent Care

Family Coping Strategies	% Who Use Frequently
	Males		Females
	No D	D	No D	D
Get by on less sleep that I would like	45	54	53	59
Leave some things undone around the house	65	75	78	85
Get the children to help with household chores	-	50	-	60
Plan family time together	38	41	52	52
Hire help to care for elderly relatives	-	22	-	30
Hire help to care for the children	-	32	-	45
Covering household responsibilities for each other	75	76	72	78
Leaving work-related problems at work	51	48	51	52
Modifying the work schedule	22	25	22	26
Relying on extended family for help	23	26	33	34
Relying on friends for help	16	14	18	18
Planning work changes around family needs	30	35	31	40
Identifying one partner as primarily responsible for household tasks	29	36	29	30
Buying more goods and services	39	40	47	48
Encouraging children to help each other	-	70	-	73
Trying to be flexible	71	78	73	79
Cutting down on outside activities	47	55	55	65
Limiting job involvement to allow time for family	28	35	38	45

Table 22: Use of Family Coping Strategies
b. Gender by Job Type

Family Coping Strategies	% Who Use Frequently
	Males		Females
	Mgr/Prof	Other	Mgr/Prof	Other
Get by on less sleep that I would like	55	48	61	53
Leave some things undone around the house	74	67	86	78
Get the children to help with household chores	49	48	58	56
Plan family time together	43	41	55	49
Hire help to care for elderly relatives	22	20	28	27
Hire help to care for the children	35	32	56	45
Covering household responsibilities for each other	78	75	75	66
Leaving work-related problems at work	45	55	45	56
Modifying the work schedule	26	20	26	22
Relying on extended family for help	25	24	36	32
Relying on friends for help	14	16	19	17
Planning work changes around family needs	45	32	43	35
Identifying one partner as primarily responsible for household tasks	34	31	31	28
Buying more goods and services	42	35	55	42
Encouraging children to help each other	68	70	72	71
Trying to be flexible	77	72	79	74
Cutting down on outside activities	56	47	66	52
Limiting job involvement to allow time for family	32	32	42	39

The majority of Canadian families cope by strengthening and restructuring family roles and sacrificing personal needs

Approximately three quarters of the survey respondents cope with work-life issues by sacrificing personal needs (77% leave things undone around the house) and restructuring their family-role expectations (76% try to be flexible, 72% cover household responsibilities for each other, 71% encourage their children to help each other). Furthermore, just over half of the respondents cope by cutting down on outside activities (56%), getting by on less sleep (54%) and getting their children to help with household tasks (53%).

These strategies all have one thing in common -- they deal with work-life issues by making accommodations within one's personal and/or family life. They also converge on two factors: strengthen and restructure one's family role, and sacrifice one's own personal needs.⁴⁶ This suggests that families cope by putting work first -- ahead of family and personal life.

Many Canadians deal with work-life issues by purchasing supports from outside the family

Many Canadians attempt to deal with work-life conflict issues by purchasing help from outside the family unit. Just under half (45%) buy goods and services and 42% hire help from outside to care for their children. Just over one in four (26%) hire help to care for elderly dependents. It is interesting to note that Canadians are more likely to try to "buy" balance than they are to ask extended family (30%) or friends (17%) for help.

One in three Canadians copes by putting family first

A substantive minority of Canadian employees seem to buck the trend of expecting family members to adapt to the employee's work situation and instead of using employee coping strategies that put family first. They do this by trying to leave work problems at work (i.e. 50% try to psychologically separate their work and non-work domains), limiting their job involvement to give time to the family (37%), planning work changes around family needs (36%), identifying one partner as being responsible for household tasks (31%) and by modifying their work schedule to accommodate their family schedule (24%).

Examination of Table 22 indicates that the use of all but two of the family coping strategies examined in this study (rely on friends and get children to help each other) are associated with gender, dependent care status and/or job type. Key between-group differences are highlighted in the section below.

Women more likely than men to attempt to cope by sacrificing personal needs

Regardless of the type of job they hold, or the dependent care responsibilities they have, women were more likely than men to try to cope with work-life issues by putting their own needs second and purchasing supports from outside the family. They were more likely than men to engage in all the strategies in the "sacrifice personal needs" (get by on less sleep, leave some things undone around the house, cut down on outside activities, buy more goods and services) and purchase supports from outside the family (hire help to care for elderly relatives and for children). Women were also significantly more likely than men to:

• get the children to help with household chores
• plan family time together
• rely on extended family for help
• limit job involvement to allow time for family

It is interesting to note that there are no strategies that are more likely to be used by men than women across both job type and dependent care status.

Managers and professionals more likely to cope by putting family first and sacrificing their own personal life

Managers and professionals, regardless of their gender and their dependent care status, are more likely to try to cope by modifying their work schedule (it will be recalled that this group is more likely to use flexible work arrangements) and plan work changes around family needs. These findings may reflect the fact that highly educated managers and professionals have more ability to negotiate such things with their employer than those in other positions in the organization.

Managers and professionals more likely to cope by sacrificing their own personal life

Managers and professionals are more likely than those in other positions to cope by sacrificing personal needs. They get by on less sleep, leave things undone around the house, buy more goods and services (female managers and professionals in particular are likely to use this strategy) and cut down on outside activities. These findings are consistent with the fact that employees in this group have heavier work demands. Given the fact that the hours in a day remain constant, these findings suggest that employees in this group have to sacrifice time that they would typically spend on socializing and sleeping to meet work and family demands. Consistent with these findings is the fact that managers and professionals are more likely to say that they cope by "trying to be flexible."

Employees in other positions are more likely to cope by making a conscious effort to separate work and family

Those in other positions in the organization are more likely than managers and professionals to indicate that they cope with work and family issues by leaving work-related problems at work and covering household responsibilities for each other. That being said, it should be noted that women in other positions within the organization were significantly less likely to use this strategy than their male counterparts.

Employees with dependent care cope by putting family first and sacrificing personal needs

Men and women with dependent care are more likely than those without dependent care to cope by engaging in strategies that put family first and sacrificing personal needs. Specifically, with respect to sacrificing personal needs, they:

• leave some things undone around the house
• get by on less sleep
• cut down on outside activities

In all three cases, it is important to note that these differences can be attributed to the fact that women with dependent care responsibilities are more likely to use this strategy than their male counterparts. There were no gender differences in the use of these strategies for those without dependents.

Employees with dependent care were also more likely to:

• plan work changes around family needs
• limit job involvement to allow time for family
• try to be flexible
• identify one partner as primarily responsible for household tasks

Again, there are a number of significant gender differences within these findings that are important to note. Women with dependents are more likely to plan work changes around their family and limit their job involvement to allow time for their family than their male counterparts. Men with dependents, on the other hand, are more likely to identify one partner (their spouse) as having primary responsibility for the family. No such gender differences in use were apparent for employees without dependents. These findings are interesting as they suggest that women are still the ones who are expected to (and perhaps want to) sacrifice personal career goals for their family. These findings are also consistent with the fact that women still earn less than men, even when job type is controlled for, and suggest that this situation will not change until the family role is more equitably shared.