The pursuit of work life balance in a tertiary occupational therapy department: findings from the ‘Reduced Hours Trial’.
Sara Pearson1, Helen DeJong 2, Vinicius Cavalheri 3 1Occupational Therapy, Fiona Stanley Fremantle Hospital Group, Perth , Western Australia , Australia 2Allied Health, South Metropolitan Health Service , Perth , WA , Australia 3Curtin School of Allied Health, Curtin University , Perth , WA , Australia
Abstract
Background
During the WA-Health yearly organisational surveys (2019-21), Occupational Therapists (OTs) at FSFHG indicated poor work-life balance. This finding informed strategies to improve wellbeing of our workforce. One of them was to allow staff to reduce their working hours from 1.0FTE to 0.9FTE, in what was termed ‘the Reduced Hours Trial’.
Methods
This was a 6-month interrupted time series. OTs who reduced their work hours (‘experimental group’) and a control group of OTs (balanced for age, gender, pay-level and work site) who worked 1.0FTE completed a questionnaire (fortnightly) that included items (rated on a five-point Likert scale) related to four components: workload, work-home conflict, job satisfaction and burnout. To maintain the required service, leave cover was employed. On completion of the 6-month intervention, a focus group with six participants from the experimental group was completed.
Results
Twenty participants (29±5 yr; 90% female) were included (10 per group). At 6-months, when compared to controls, the trajectory of the experimental group demonstrated improvements in workload, work-home conflict, and burnout (p<0.05 for all). No between-group difference in job satisfaction was demonstrated. The overall sense in the focus group was that working 0.9FTE reduced burnout and improved work-life balance. Other themes included: potential for alternative flexible ways to work; clinical care standards were maintained; improving time management was required; financial burden.
Conclusion
Reducing work hours resulted in improvements in workload, home-work conflict and burnout. To sustain health and well-being of staff, organisations should prioritise developing a system that allows more flexibility in working hours.
Biography
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