Image courtesy of Charity Defense Council
In the United States, nonprofit organizations are often praised for spending high percentages of their budgets on program costs. Nonprofit watchdog organizations, such as Charity Navigator, even reward organizations that have higher program spending by giving them higher charity ratings. While seemingly harmless, this leaves nonprofits in a position in which they must compromise funding overhead needs – especially staffing – to fulfill their mission. Considering this phenomenon, I seek to answer the question, “How do staffing deficiencies in nonprofit organizations affect employee feelings of work-life balance?”
To begin to answer this question, I consider the variables of staffing levels and job support, job descriptions, and employee feelings of work-life balance. Further variables I explore are job enlargement (the addition of same-level tasks to an employee’s workload) and job enrichment (the addition of career-developing tasks to an employee’s workload). I hypothesize that job descriptions and job enrichment will increase work-life balance, considering that job descriptions can help to define the boundaries of an employee’s workload and that career-developing tasks are more well-received by employees. I hypothesize that job enlargement will decrease work-life balance, considering that adding more same-level tasks to an employee’s workload can make them feel more quickly burnt out. I also hypothesize that nonprofit organizations with lower staffing levels and job support will have employees who experience more poor work-life balance, considering that those employees may feel more overworked. To measure these variables, I use data from a web survey of 202 paid employees of nonprofit organizations that were almost all located in Indiana.
There was no evidence of a statistically significant relationship between job descriptions and an employee’s feelings of work-life balance, therefore not supporting my hypothesis that job descriptions will improve work-life balance. One explanation for this is that while people may look at their job description frequently when they are first hired, it is likely that they do not refer to it as much after their initial onboarding. However, employees who experienced job enrichment were more likely to have better work life balance. On average, 23% of respondents who experienced job enrichment reported poor work-life balance, in comparison to 58% of respondents who did not experience job enrichment, therefore supporting my hypothesis that job enrichment will increase work-life balance.
Employees who experienced job enlargement were more likely to have poor work-life balance. On average, 49% of respondents who experienced job enlargement reported poor work-life balance compared to 23% of respondents who did not experience job enlargement. These findings support my hypothesis that job enlargement will decrease work-life balance. Additionally, nonprofit organizations with lower staffing levels and job support had employees who were more likely to experience poor work life balance. On average, 55% of employees who felt overworked reported poor work-life balance, in comparison to 20% of employees who did not feel overworked. Similarly, on average, 54% of employees who felt unsupported at work reported poor work-life balance compared to 25% of employees who felt supported at work. Both of these findings support my hypothesis that nonprofit organizations with lower staffing levels and job support will have employees who experience more poor work-life balance.
Other interesting findings that were not directly related to any hypotheses were that managers and long-time employees reported experiencing more poor work-life balance than those in non-managerial positions or newer employees. Additionally, respondents with caregiving responsibilities were more likely to experience more poor work-life balance than those without caregiving responsibilities. These findings could be due to self-selection, as managers, long-time employees, and caregivers all likely have more responsibilities that would influence their relationship between their work and personal life.
This research finds that organizations that ensure additional responsibilities given to employees benefit their careers and professional development rather than being non-enriching additions to their plate can help foster better work-life balance. Similarly, organizations that ensure adequate staffing levels and proper allocation of training, materials, and help with completing required job tasks for employees are better positioned to support the work-life balance of their employees. Finally, staffing and resource support, along with the provision of enriching responsibilities, should not stop after the initial years of employment. Rather, nonprofits should provide resources and support throughout the lifetime of an employee’s career to ensure that they are supporting the work-life balance of more long-term and senior-level employees. These tangible actions that nonprofits can take are not only important because they can improve the work-life balance of employees, but they can also help organizations become more successful overall.
Grace Brenner is a junior at the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs studying in Nonprofit Management and Leadership with minors in Human Resources Management and Social Welfare Advocacy. After graduation, she intends to work for an advocacy organization in nonprofit sector.
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