The importance of work – life balance for well-being of Lithuanian emigrants and non-emigrants

Abstract

Background. Scholars agree that work – non-work life conflicts lead to decrease of well-being and satisfaction with life. Emigration can also be considered as a threat to the well-being even if many people choose emigration in order to increase their quality of life. Emigrants face many changes in their work and private life as they need to adapt to new society and new organizational requirements. However, the nature of work – non-work life balance of emigrants is addressed insufficiently. Thus, this presentation is aimed to explore the relationship between work – life balance and well-being in the group of Lithuanian emigrants and non-emigrants. Methods. 953 working Lithuanians (52.8 % emigrants; 22.2 % males) participated in the cross-sectional online survey. Work – life balance was measured with Work Spillover into Family Life scale and Mental Health Continuum Questionnaire was used for the evaluation of well-being of study participants. Findings. Emigrants reported lower levels of job-marriage, job-parent, job-leisure and job-home management conflicts and higher psychological, social, and emotional well-being compared to non-emigrants (even when other socio-demographical variables were controlled). Regression analysis revealed that lower levels of job-home management conflict predict higher emotional, social, and psychological well-being of emigrants while lower job-marriage conflict was found to be an important predictor of emotional and psychological well-being of Lithuanians living in their country of origin. Discussion. The well-being of emigrants and non-emigrants is related to different domains of work – private life conflict, thus different strategies for balancing between work and non-work are needed.