Working condition of nurses in Japan: awareness of work–life balance among nursing personnel at a university hospital

Aim. The aim of this study was to examine the awareness of work–life balance (WLB) among the nursing personnel at a university hospital in Japan. Design. Survey. Methods. A questionnaire was sent to 1236 nursing personnel working at a university hospital and 1081 (87·5%) responses received. The questions concerned the following: (1) respondent demographical characteristics, (2) living background, (3) wishes for working environments and (4) motivation to work and health condition. The data were analysed by simple and cross‐tabulations. Results. The results can be summarised as follows: (1) the concept and significance of WLB has not yet been established among nurses in Japan, (2) three factors were found, which nurses need as working environment, 1st quality‐of‐life benefits, 2nd flexible working style, 3rd lifelong learning and (3) nurses who reported good WLB also reported higher job satisfaction and job motivation. Conclusion. The concept and significance of WLB has not yet been established among nurses. Thus, it is needed to enlighten nurses on the concept and significance of WLB as well as how they should practise WLB. Approximately half of the nurses gave their jobs first priority in reality, although they had various needs for their private lives and household affairs, as well as jobs. WLB cannot be achieved only by individual attitudes; thus, organisational efforts are necessary. In the correlation between WLB and ‘job satisfaction’ and ‘job motivation,’ nurses who were satisfied with their job and those who were highly motivated showed higher WLB. There was a significant correlation between satisfaction and motivation. Relevance to clinical practice. It is necessary that nurses understand and have any information about working policy to improve working conditions to get better conditions which they need.