Work–life balance and wellbeing in academic employees

Academic employees can be particularly vulnerable to work-life conflict which can threaten their wellbeing and job performance. This chapter reviews research examining how they experience the interface between work and personal life. It focuses specifically on the organizational- and individual-level factors found to increase the risk of work-life conflict among academics and the implications for their mental wellbeing and other outcomes such as job satisfaction, performance and retention. Drawing on research that has used key frameworks of workplace wellbeing, the chapter considers how the job role together with individual behaviors and orientations to work can influence the quality of academics’ personal life, both positively and negatively. Studies that have explored how academics manage work-life boundaries, particularly in relation to flexible working, are also discussed. The need to implement targeted, systemic interventions to help academics maintain a healthy work-life balance is identified with examples of initiatives provided.