Work-Life Balance during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Insights from Extension Professionals

Abstract

Using a retrospective post-then-pre design, we asked Extension professionals to reflect on their work-life balance before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The objectives were to assess whether work-life balance variables (work interference with personal life, personal life interference with work, and work-personal life enhancement) changed from before to during the pandemic, whether any changes in work-life balance were concentrated in households with parents who had caregiving responsibilities, and whether changes in any of these work-life balance variables were associated with respondents’ gender, marital status, or work location. Findings indicated that (1) personal life interference with work significantly increased and work-personal life enhancement decreased during the pandemic; (2) respondents who had young children in the household reported a significant increase for work interference in personal life while respondents who did not have young children in the household reported a small decrease for work interference in personal life; and (3) changes in work-life balance variables were not associated with gender or marital status, but younger respondents and those with more direct contact with the public showed larger increases in personal life interference with work.