Jarrod Haar (Ngati Maniapoto/Ngati Mahuta) [University of Waikato] The Work-Family Interface and Job Burnout amongst Maori Employees: The Role of Resilience Jarrod Haar (Ngati Maniapoto/Ngati Mahuta) & Derek Riley [University of Waikato]

Acknowledgement Acknowledgement: Funded by Marsden Grant (UOW806) “The Role of Maori Cultural Support for Employees and Employers”

Work and Family Issues Working Hours Pay – and multiple jobs… Working women & mothers Dual-career couples Single parent families Childcare & childcare costs Eldercare issues Cost of living [housing!] Technology...24/7 (e.g. CrackBerry) Recession [2nd only employee issue after pay!] Based on global study of 50,000 workers!! employees who feel they have a better work life balance tend to work 21% harder than those that don't, Business Week reports.

Work-Family Issues Since time began! Caveman: “sorry me late, hunt take long time – Mammoth very strong!” Cavewoman: “yeah, yeah, yeah...while I’m stuck here in this cave with the kids!”

Work-Family Conflict Defined as “a form of interrole conflict in which the role pressures from the work and family domains are mutually incompatible in some respect. That is participation in the work (family) role is made more difficult by virtue of participation in the family (work) role” Meta-analyses show conflict is detrimental to a lot of outcomes including mental health (including job burnout)

Work-Family Enrichment Defined as “the extent to which experiences in one role improve the quality of life in the other role.” This enhancement in the quality of life (as evidenced by improved performance or favorable moods and emotions in the other role) occurred as a consequence of the resource gains from the other role. Recent meta-analyses supports the benefits of enrichment to outcomes including mental health (but job burnout is missing)

Hypotheses Direct Effects: High work-family conflict will be positively related to job burnout (emotional exhaustion and cynicism) High work-family enrichment will be negatively related to job burnout (emotional exhaustion and cynicism)

Resilience Resilience is defined as toughness, the ability to be adaptable or adjust easily to adversity; to display hardiness and be stress resistant. A person’s response to adversity or trauma & ‘bouncing back’ from difficult experiences. Resilience is not a trait that people either have or do not have. It involves behaviours, thoughts, and actions that can be learned and developed in anyone. It develops with time and is used when an individual is confronted with unanticipated situations/events and demonstrates the flexibility to cope

Resilience Studies show resilience can be very important for coping with stressors (i.e., work-family conflict) and thus the focus of this study. Strong fit with Positive Psychology  Lots of non-workplace studies showing the benefits of resilience, but exactly how resilience acts is less clear… We test resilience as (1) a mediator of the work-family interface-job burnout relationship; and an alternative (2) an antecedent of the work-family interface

Hypotheses Direct Effects: High resilience will be related negatively to job burnout (emotional exhaustion and cynicism) Mediator/Antecedent Relationship Resilience will fit the data better as (a) an antecedent to the work-family interfaces influence on job burnout; or (b) as a mediator to the influence the work-family interface has on job burnout

Method Data collection in two waves 500 surveys and a total of 261 matched surveys (1&2) returned (52.2% response rate) On average, the participants were aged 39.3 years, females (66%), married (69%), and parents (71%). Education level of was well spread 40.3 hours per week and had tenure of 5.3 years. Industry: 24% private sector, 70% public sector, and 6% in the not for profit sector. Measures had good reliabilities (all > .80)

CFA Model

Structural Model

Discussion Overall, findings support meta-analyses regarding work-family conflict being detrimental and work-family enrichment being beneficial towards job burnout (extends the enrichment lit) Resilience is shown to be a good thing  Resilience fit the data best as an antecedent of work-family dimensions, although still directly influenced cynicism Thus resilience is important!!  SEM showed that mediating effects were superior models (note: moderation an option too…) Lack of sig FW dimensions is interesting…

Conclusion Strong support for including resilience in models testing work-family and job burnout Resilience important for Maori employees and clearly comparison data with other NZ employees is desirable  Overall, more resilient Maori workers will likely enjoy enhanced work-family interface (less conflict and more enrichment), as well as less job burnout The work-family dimensions and resilience are encouraging towards the study of Maori employee wellbeing Importantly, since resilience can be taught/developed there is options there to enhance resilience amongst working Maori [a good future study! ]