WORK-HOME INTERACTION AND AGING WORKFORCE

Introduction: Demographic ageing is producing a prolongation of working life as well as a growth in the number of senior citizens (also over 80) usually affected by chronic conditions and, because of this, often non-self-sufficient. These changes modify the workforce and the family structures as, increasingly, individuals prolonging their work life will have to provide care to elderly relatives as well as minors at the same time: the phenomenon that Ward and Spitze (1998) defined as the Sandwich Generation, as a middle-aged cohorts who are sandwiched between simultaneous responsibilities to the older and the younger generations by combining their role as parents, children, workers and spouses, is therefore overwhelming. Moreover, in countries such as Italy, where senior citizens welfare systems are still inadequate, what survives is a model of care provided by relatives, which manly relies on women. Because of the reforms to the pension system they will remain on the job market until they reach 60-65 years of age. In this way, the perspective on research and intervention concerning life-work balance is altered. Research and intervention processes on work-life balance, that are basically built on family models with mostly child-care responsibilities, are in this sense modifying their studies perspective. AIM OF THE STUDY: Because of the increasing level of complexity, the aim of this study is to analyse the relationship between work and family domains by taking into account both the direction and the quality of reciprocal interactions between the two. Moreover, we took into consideration the presence of children and their age group as well as the family care-load, differentiating between women and men. DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS: Data were collected in four different organizational contexts (22% administrative personnel; 13,% education; 54,2% health care; 9,8% manufacturing). The questionnaire, administered to a sample of participants, presented a socio-demographic section and an Italian adaptation of the SWING (Geurst, et al., 2005) that highlights four types of interaction: (1) negative Work Home Interaction (NWHI), which is, negative load reactions developed at work hamper functioning at home; (2) negative Home Work Interaction (NHWI), which is, negative load reactions developed at home hamper functioning at work; (3) positive Work Home Interaction (PWHI), which is, positive load reactions developed at work facilitate functioning at home; and (4) positive Home Work Interaction (PHWI), which is, positive load reactions developed at home facilitate functioning at work. A total of 1070 individuals participated in the study, 33,4% females and 47,4% males, their age comprised between 21 and 63, with a mean age of 44,5 years (SD= 9,673). Considering the variable “children load” 34.9% does not have children, 26.4% has children between 0 and 13, the 9.9% between 14-18, 20.6% over 19, 23.8% cares for an elderly relative (elderly load). RESULTS A generalised linear model was carried out for each SWING dimension. Each model also envisaged as independent variables “children load” and “elderly load”. Moreover this was controlled for the gender variable (main effect and as an interaction with the variables analysed). Model NWHII: the generalised linear model (R²=38% of variance explained by the model) highlighted a statistically significant difference on the variables: gender(F=5,0 p=0,026), children load(F=3,5 p=0,014), elderly load(F=6,3; p=0,012). Moreover the interaction between gender and elderly load was significant (F=6,0 p=0.014). Model NHWI (R²=36%): significant differences on both children load (F=5,5 p=0,001) and elderly load(F=1,6; p=0,002) variables are highlighted . No significant differences on gender (both direct and as an interaction) were found. Model PWHI (R²=42%): significant differences on gender (F=9,0; P=0,003) and elderly load (F=8,1 p=0,004). Model PHWI: the model exhibits a low R² value (R²=6% explained variance) thus no analysis of statistical significance was carried out on the F test. DISCUSSION: Results highlight how different family-care loads have a different impact on the SWING dimensions in women and men. From the point of view of the role enhancement hypothesis, fulfilling multiple roles may produce resources (e.g. energy mobilization, skill acquisition greater self-esteem) which facilitate functioning in both life spheres: this happens in our study even when the burden of care is less generative and positively challenging, like the burden represented by ageing relatives. However, significant differences between various caring conditions, with a particular impact on the sandwich generation, were also observed. The steady increase of the over 50s working population in the labour market (in many Italian organisations the 70% of the population is represented by the over 50s) requires a special attention in the study of these interactions with the aim of the developing of new forms of HR policies and family-friendly organizations.