Construction Management and Economics

ISSN: 0144-6193 (Print) 1466-433X (Online) Journal homepage: www.tandfonline.com/journals/rcme20

The work‐life experiences of office and site‐based

employees in the Australian construction industry

Helen Lingard & Valerie Francis

To cite this article: Helen Lingard & Valerie Francis (2004) The work‐life experiences of office
and site‐based employees in the Australian construction industry , Construction Management
and Economics, 22:9, 991-1002, DOI: 10.1080/0144619042000241444

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/0144619042000241444

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Construction Mangement and Economics (November 2004) 22, 991–1002

The work-life experiences of office and site-based

employees in the Australian construction industry
HELEN LINGARD* and VALERIE FRANCIS
Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, The University of Melbourne, Australia

Received 28 August 2003; accepted 26 April 2004

A survey was conducted among employees of a large Australian construction firm. Comparisons were made
between employees who differed by gender and work location. Male employees in site-based roles reported
significantly higher levels of work to family conflict and emotional exhaustion than male employees who worked
in the regional or head office. Site-based male employees were also less satisfied with their pay than male respon-
dents who worked in the regional of head office. Few significant differences were found between women who
worked in different locations. Neither were significant differences between men and women who worked in the
same location reported. The results are explained in terms of women’s tendency to work in administrative,
secretarial or support services roles, which typically demand fewer hours. The paper concludes that the experi-
ences of site-based construction employees, particularly men, warrant further attention to explore the sources of
work-life imbalance and burnout.

Keywords: Construction, work-family conflict, burnout, job satisfaction, social exchange

Introduction doubt places strain on the marital relationship and

affects both the employees’ and spouses’ adjustment to
The construction industry the relocation.
Construction industry employees are also expected
Construction is a demanding work environment with
to work long, and often irregular, hours and research
considerable potential to interfere with employees’
suggests that long work hours are negatively related to
non-work lives in a negative way. The project-based
family participation and positively related to divorce
nature of work and the uncertainty associated with
rate (Aldous et al., 1979). Irregularity of work hours has
competitive tendering means that many construction
been identified as the most important variable affecting
employees suffer a lack of job security or face frequent
low marital quality among shift workers (White and
relocation to ensure continuity of employment. Previ-
ous research has found job insecurity to be negatively Keith, 1990) and non-standard work schedules have
related to marital and family functioning (Larson et al., been found to affect separation or divorce rate among
1994) and a positive predictor of burnout (Westman married people with children (Presser, 2000).
et al., 2001). Furthermore, as a result of women’s Work pressures are also reported to be an important
increasing participation in the workforce, dual career determinant of professionals’ subjective beliefs that
couples are now commonplace, making frequent reloca- work interferes with non-work life in a negative way
tion difficult. Research suggests that accompanying (Wallace, 1997). Construction is a high-risk industry
spouses, who move for their partners’ careers, transition characterized by organizational and physical uncer-
into jobs offering lower pay, fewer benefits and less tainty. Profit margins are narrow and construction
opportunity for promotion (Eby et al., 2002), which no schedules are tight, with project delays and time
overruns resulting in serious financial penalties. These
work pressures may also have an impact upon construc-
* Author for correspondence. E-mail: [email protected] tion employees’ non-work lives.
Construction Management and Economics
ISSN 0144-6193 print/ISSN 1466-433X online © 2004 Taylor & Francis Ltd
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
DOI: 10.1080/0144619042000241444
992 Lingard and Francis

Changing workforce demographics and work pressures in the 1980s and 1990s, the new generation of
patterns workers are sceptical about over committing themselves
to work. Instead, they expect their work to deliver
Dramatic increases in women’s participation in the paid
immediate pay offs, such as independence, flexibility,
workforce have forced employers in many industries to and an enjoyable work environment. Young workers
consider the familial responsibilities of their employees also report to have greater expectations of achieving a
(Hegtvedt et al., 2002). Jacobs and Gerson (2001) balance between their work and non-work lives (Family
suggest that the unprecedented number of dual earner and Work Institute, 2000). Loughlin and Barling
households has led to increased time pressure on fami- (2001) suggest that, in order to attract, retain and
lies because no longer can it be assumed that children motivate the future workforce, organizations will have
can be cared for by a stay-at-home mother. In Australia, to accommodate the preferences of younger workers
in 59% of two-parent families, both parents are in paid for ‘non-standard’ work arrangements that permit a
employment (ABS, 1998). However, Becker and Moen work-life balance.
(1999) report that participants in dual earner couples
often prefer to work part time in order to balance work
and family responsibilities. Despite this preference, part Work-family issues in the construction industry
time options are often not available to construction The work-family experiences of construction industry
employees. employees have largely been ignored by construction
Parenting introduces new demands and requires a researchers. However, there is a growing body of
great deal of time and energy. Roxburgh (2002) reports evidence to suggest that work-family experiences play
that, for both men and women, having children living at an important role in shaping employees’ work-related
home increases subjective time pressures. Tausig and attitudes and behaviours as well as determining indi-
Fenwick (2001) assert that married working couples vidual and organizational well being. It is reported that,
without children report greater work-life balance than by 2020, Australia will face a labour shortage of 500 000
those with children. A report prepared by the Australian (The Age, 2003). The hardest hit industries are likely
Bureau of Statistics states that in dual income couples, to be those that cannot attract high calibre, younger
70% of all mothers and 56% of all fathers reported that employees and employees from groups whose participa-
they always/often felt rushed or pressed for time. Only tion in the workforce is growing, for example women
25.2% of couples without children reportedly experi- (Francis and Lingard, 2002). Closer attention to work-
enced this feeling with the same frequency (ABS, 1999). family experiences of construction industry employees
This suggests that many Australian workers experience is therefore timely.
what Hochschild (1997) termed the ‘time-bind’, in
which workers experience a subjective feeling that the Work-interference with non-work life
time and energy demands of work and family cannot be
met simultaneously. Since the publication of Kanter’s seminal work,
Men and Women of the Corporation, there has been a
growing understanding of the inter-connected nature of
Changing expectations regarding work and employees’ work and non-work lives (Kanter, 1977). It
family is now widely accepted that traditional management
The roles and expectations of women and men have theories and practices, which presuppose a lifestyle that
also changed significantly over the past 60 years. There segregates work and non-work spheres, are no longer
has also been a substantial shift in the expectation relevant.
of fathers’ involvement in parenting. In an Australian The extent to which work interferes with family
study by Russell, Barclay, Edgecombe, Donovan, life has been the focus of many studies of the work-life
Habib, Callaghan and Pawson (as cited in Russell and interface (see, for example, Frone et al., 1992 and
Bowman, 2000), 68% of fathers reported they did not Wallace, 1999). Kahn et al. (1964) defined work-
spend as much time with their children as they would family conflict as a type of inter-role conflict in which
like, with 57% acknowledging that work-related factors the demands of the work role conflict with demands in
were the major contributors to this problem. the family role. Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) identified
There is evidence to suggest that the new generation three dimensions of work-family conflict as follows:
of workers has different expectations of work and family • time-based conflict, which occurs when time
life. Loughlin and Barling (2001) assert that young spent on activities in one role prohibits the
children’s understanding of the world of work is fulfilment of responsibilities in another role;
influenced by their parents’ experiences of work and • behaviour-based conflict, which occurs when
that, due to corporate ‘downsizing’ and other economic behaviour in one role cannot be adjusted to be
Work-life experiences of office and site-based employees 993

compatible with behaviour patterns in another particular, the perceptions of employees who work
role; and on site, in project-based roles, and those who work in a
• strain-based conflict, which occurs when pres- regional or company office were compared to determine
sures from one role interfere with fulfilling the whether work-life experiences differed by the work
requirements of another role. location and nature of work undertaken by employees.
Research suggests that a subjective sense that work The study also compared employees’ experiences by
interferes with family life in a negative way is linked gender to determine whether any significant gender
to negative mental health outcomes (Grzywacz and differences existed.
Bass, 2003) and behavioural problems, such as problem
drinking (Grzywacz and Marks, 2000). Work to family
conflict has also been linked to diminished family func- Methods
tioning and reduced job and life satisfaction (Bedeian
et al., 1988; Adams et al., 1996; Kossek and Ozeki, Data collection
1998; Boles et al., 2001). Recent research in the Austra- The data were collected from within a single organiza-
lian construction industry revealed that hours worked tion. The organization is one of Australia’s leading
each week and role conflict predicted marital satis- construction contracting organizations, comprising two
faction and conflict among construction professionals core groups, building and civil engineering. Although
(Lingard and Sublet, 2002). For these reasons, marital the organization’s head office is in Sydney, the organiza-
quality and various aspects of job satisfaction were tion undertakes large scale building and engineering
included as variables in our study. projects throughout Australia, and has regional offices
Work stress and long hours can also cause fatigue in each Australian state.
and burnout, a phenomenon of emotional exhaustion, The questionnaire was distributed to a total of
cynicism and a diminished sense of personal efficacy 600 employees including senior managers, middle
(Maslach et al., 1996). Previous research in the Austra- managers, secretarial and administrative employees,
lian construction industry reports that role conflict employees in technical support roles, foremen and site
and a subjective sense of having too much to do in the supervisors. The survey was distributed with a letter
time available predicted burnout among civil engineers from the human resource director explaining the
(Lingard, 2003). Burnout is of interest to researchers purpose of the survey and assuring confidentiality and
exploring work and family issues because research anonymity of responses. Each employee also received
suggests that, although burnout predicts a distancing
a postage-paid addressed envelope in which they could
from work, it is associated with a complex interaction
return their completed questionnaire directly to the
between experiences in work and other life domains,
research team. Three weeks after questionnaires were
including family (Aryee, 1994; Dolan, 1995; Lingard,
distributed, the company’s human resource director
2003). Furthermore, family issues are stronger predic-
sent a follow-up e-mail reminder to all employees.
tors of burnout among parents and employees in dual
earner couples, suggesting that certain family variables
can shape employees’ susceptibility to burnout Lingard, Questionnaire design
2004). There is also evidence to suggest that burnout,
once experienced, can spread to affect other family Demographic information collected from respondents
members (Westman et al., 2001). For these reasons included their age, gender, the number of years they
burnout was included as a variable in our study. have worked in the construction industry and their job
classification. Respondents were also asked to indicate
the average number of hours they work each week and
Objectives where they spent most of their time at work. For this
This paper reports the results of a preliminary investi- purpose, respondents were asked to to choose between
gation of work-life experiences of employees in one following three work location categories:
large Australian construction organization. A survey • on site (in direct construction activity);
was undertaken to investigate employees’ experiences • on-site (but mostly in a site office); and
in several key work-life areas, including work-family • in the head or a regional office.
conflict, job burnout and job satisfaction. The aim of
the study was to identify whether work-family issues Work-life conflict was measured using Small and Riley’s
are perceived to be a problem by employees and to what (1990) spillover scale. This scale measures respondents’
extent employees’ experiences differ between project subjective sense that work interferes with family life in a
and office-based employees within the company. In negative way. Items are rated from ‘strongly disagree’
994 Lingard and Francis

(1) to ‘strongly agree’ (5). The scale measures work effort, progress to date and chances for career progres-
spillover into four aspects of respondents’ non work-life: sion in the future. Satisfaction is rated on a five-point
scale ranging from very dissatisfied (1) to very satisfied
• relationship with spouse/partner (my marriage/ (5). An additional item was added asking respondents
relationship suffers because of my work); to rate their overall satisfaction in their current job.
• relationship with children (because I am often Overall satisfaction is rated on a scale ranging from
irritable after work, I am not as good a parent as completely dissatisfied (1) to completely satisfied (5).
I would like to be);
• home management (my job makes it difficult to Data analysis
get household chores done); and
In order to compare the work-life experiences of
• leisure activities (the amount of time I spend different groups of employees, statistical tests were
working interferes with how much free time I conducted to compare the mean scores for important
have). variables between groups of employees. One-way analy-
The quality of respondents’ relationship with their ses of variance (ANOVAs) were used to test for signifi-
spouses/partners was measured using Spanier’s Dyadic cant differences between respondents working in the
Adjustment Scale (DAS) (Spanier 1976). The DAS three different work location categories. Pairwise t-tests
measures relationship quality on four interrelated were then used to identify significant differences among
dimensions: dyadic consensus, dyadic cohesion, dyadic two sample means, for example between male and
satisfaction and affectational expression. Only the female respondents working in the same location.
dyadic consensus, cohesion and satisfaction scales were
used in our study because the affectational expression
items were deemed to be too personal. Consensus items Results
measure the level of agreement on matters including
family finances and amount of time spent together. The sample
Items are rated from always agree (5) to always disagree Before presenting the results of the data analysis, the
(0). Cohesion items tap into the extent to which couples characteristics of the sample will be described. 281
engage in joint activities, including having a stimulating completed questionnaires were received representing a
exchange of ideas or working collaboratively on a response rate of 47%. Table 1 shows the demographic
project. Items are rated according to frequency on a characteristics of the sample. It is worth noting that,
scale ranging from never (0) to more than once a day of all employee groups who received the questionnaire,
(5). Satisfaction items assess respondents’ overall satis-
the largest number of completed and returned question-
faction in their relationship. Satisfaction items include
naires was from foreman/supervisors (19%). This was
an overall indicator of happiness in the relationship,
unexpected and suggests that this group of employees
ranging from extremely unhappy (0) to perfect (6).
may be particularly concerned with work-life issues.
Burnout was measured using the Maslach Burnout
Inventory – General Survey (Maslach et al., 1996). This Respondents indicated their age within one of the
16-item inventory comprises three sub-scales assessing nine categories given. The modal age of the sample was
emotional exhaustion (I feel emotionally drained from 40–44 years. The number of hours respondents spent at
my work), cynicism (I have become less interested in my work ranged from nine hours through to 80 hours per
work since I started this job) and personal efficacy week. The modal average number of hours worked by
(At work, I feel confident that I am effective at getting respondents was 55.2 hrs with a standard deviation of
things done). The items for the third dimension of 9.46 hrs. The number of years respondents had worked
burnout are framed in positive terms and thus a low in the construction industry ranged between 0.33 and
score reflects a low sense of personal efficacy. Items are 50 years with a modal value of 18.1 years and a standard
rated on a seven point Likert scale ranging from never deviation 11.05 years.
(0) to everyday (6). To facilitate the comparisons by gender and work
Job satisfaction was measured using a general satis- location, three groups were separately created for
faction scale incorporated into the Survey of Organiza- women and men. Table 2 shows the distribution of
tions developed at the University of Michigan and male and female respondents in each group. A greater
widely used in organizational research (Taylor and proportion of women (59.1%) worked in a regional
Bowers, 1972). This scale asks respondents to rate their or the head office than men (26.4%). Women were
satisfaction with various aspects of their job, including under-represented in site-based roles. Fifty-eight men
people in their work group, supervisor, job security, (25.1% of all male respondents) reported working
the organization as a whole, pay in relation to skill and on-site in direct construction activity. Only one woman
Work-life experiences of office and site-based employees 995

Table 1 Demographic characteristics of sample

n % n %
Age Description of household
Under 24 8 2.9 Couple with dependant children 149 53.0
25–29 31 11.0 Couple with non-dependant children 30 10.7
30–34 31 11.0 Single parent 3 1.1
35–39 47 16.7 Couple without children 61 21.7
40–44 61 21.7 Single person 29 10.3
45–49 43 15.3 Other or not specified 9 3.2
50–54 29 10.3
55–59 20 7.1 Job description
60 or over 8 2.8 Site/project engineer 32 11.4
Not specified 3 1.1 Project/construction manager 50 17.8
Contract administration 43 15.3
Gender Corporate management 22 7.8
Male 232 82.6 Clerical/secretarial 21 7.5
Female 44 15.7 Foreman/supervisor 54 19.2
Not specified 5 1.8 Support services 35 12.5
Engineering services 16 5.7
Dependant children Estimating/tendering 5 1.8
Yes 154 54.8 Not specified 3 1.1
No 125 44.5
Not specified 2 0.7 Work location
On site 60 21.4
No. of dependant children Site office 129 45.9
0 129 45.9 Head/regional office 88 31.3
1 34 12.1 Not specified 4 1.4
2 78 27.8
3 34 12.1 Years worked in construction
4 4 1.4 5 or fewer 42 14.9
5 2 0.7 6–10 40 14.2
11 or more 196 69.8
Not specified 3 1.1

Table 2 Respondents by gender and work location site-based employees work longer, more irregular hours
than office-based employees. The average number of
Work location Women Men
hours worked each week was 62.5 among site-based
n % n % respondents in direct construction activity, 56.1 among
1. On-site (in direct 1 2.3 58 25.1 respondents who work mostly in a site office and 49.0
construction activity) among respondents in the head or regional office.
2. On-site (in site office) 17 38.6 112 48.5
3. Regional of head office 26 59.1 61 26.4
Total 44 100 231 100 Work to family conflict
One-way ANOVAs were conducted to determine
whether site-based employees reported greater work to
(2.3% of all female respondents) indicated that she family conflict than office-based employees. The results
worked on-site in direct construction activity. Among are shown in Table 3. In all categories of work to family
site office-based respondents, the sample included conflict, employees engaged in direct construction
112 men (48.5% of all male respondents) and only activity reported greater conflict than those based in a
17 women (38.6% of all female respondents). site office, and employees based in a site office reported
greater conflict than employees in a head or regional
office. The differences in work interference with the
Work hours
parent-child relationship (F = 9.725, p = 0.000), the
Exploratory analysis of the conditions of work required pursuit of leisure activities (F = 21.369, p = 0.000),
of site and office-based employees revealed that meeting home management requirements (F = 20.485,
996 Lingard and Francis

Table 3 ANOVA results showing work-life conflict by life domain, work location and gender
Group mean of summed conflict scores
On site Site office Regional/head office p
1. Parent-child relationship
Men 18.8a 17.5b 14.8a,b 0.000
Women N/A 15.3 16.2 NS
2. Leisure activities
Men 18.4c 17.0d 14.1c,d 0.000
Women 25.0e 15.2 13.5e 0.026
3. Home management
Men 16.8f 16.8g 13.9f,g 0.000
Women 21.0 17.3h 14.2h 0.032
4. Spouse/partner relationship
Men 18.4i,j 17.9j,k 14.4i,k 0.000
Women 25.0lm 14.6l 13.0m 0.036
Notes: significant differences are denoted by the same superscript; p = significance; NS= not significant.

p = 0.000) and employees’ relationship with their spouse female respondents reported significantly higher rela-
or partner (F = 22.528, p = 0.000) were all statistically tionship cohesion (t = −2.359, p = 0.026) and consensus
significant. Pairwise t-tests were conducted to test for (t = −2.236, p = 0.035) than male respondents.
pairwise differences between men and women working
in the same location. No significant differences were
Burnout by work location and gender
found.
Next, female and male respondents’ burnout scores
were examined separately for employees working differ-
Relationship quality by gender and work location
ent locations. The results are presented in Table 5.
One-way ANOVAs were also conducted to test for The one-way ANOVAs revealed no significant differ-
significant differences between relationship cohesion, ences in levels of burnout among women working in
consensus or satisfaction between employees working in different locations. However, among male employees,
different locations. The results are shown in Table 4. significant differences between employees working in
No significant differences were found within gender different locations were found for all three dimensions
categories. of the burnout phenomenon. Thus, male respondents
Next, pairwise t-tests were conducted to determine who worked on-site in direct construction activity
whether relationship quality differed significantly reported significantly higher levels of emotional exhaus-
between male and female respondents working in tion (t = 2.691, p = 0.008) and cynicism (t = 2.389,
the same location. In the regional or head office, p = 0.019) than employees in the head or regional office.

Table 4 ANOVA results showing relationship quality by work location and gender
Group mean of summed relationship quality scores
On site Site office Regional/head office p
Relationship cohesion
Men 24.8 24.8 25.8f NS
Women 20.0 26.6 28.7f NS
Relationship consensus
Men 27.1 28.7 29.5a NS
Women 15.0 29.7 32.7a NS
Relationship satisfaction
Men 24.2 24.6 24.3 NS
Women 13.0 25.3 26.2 NS
Notes: significant differences are denoted by the same superscript; p = significance; NS = not
significant.
Work-life experiences of office and site-based employees 997

Table 5 ANOVA results showing burnout by work location and gender

Group mean of burnout factor scores
On site Site office Regional/head office p
Emotional exhaustion
Men 0.154b 0.270e −0.327b,e 0.001
Women 1.644 −0.350 −0.455 NS
Personal efficacy
Men 0.397a,c −0.099a −0.182c 0.003
Women −1.864 0.313 0.015 NS
Cynicism
Men 0.249d −0.067 −0.194d 0.041
Women 1.717 −0.028 0.079 NS
Notes: significant differences are denoted by the same superscript; p = significance; NS = not
significant.

However, male respondents who worked on-site in respondents who worked in the head or regional office
direct construction activity enjoyed a significantly (t = 4.007, p = 0.000).
higher sense of personal efficacy than male respondents
who worked predominantly in the site office (t = 3.310,
Job satisfaction by work location and gender
p = 0.001) and those who worked in the head or regional
office (t = 3.659, p = 0.000). Finally, male respondents Table 6 shows the mean scores for job satisfaction by
who worked predominantly in a site office reported employees’ gender and work location. When the facets
higher levels of emotional exhaustion than male of job satisfaction were examined by gender and work

Table 6 ANOVA results showing job satisfaction by work location and gender
Group mean satisfaction scores
On site Site office Regional/head office p
Satisfaction with work group
Men 4.05 4.11 4.28 NS
Women 4.00 4.24 4.46 NS
Satisfaction with supervisor
Men 3.93 3.85 3.93 NS
Women 3.00 3.82 4.42 NS
Satisfaction with job security
Men 3.61 3.50 3.60 NS
Women 2.00 3.53 3.76 NS
Satisfaction with organization
Men 4.05 4.15 4.15 NS
Women 4.00 4.00 4.15 NS
Satisfaction with pay
Men 3.26c 3.25b 3.68b,c 0.020
Women 1.00 3.35 3.35 NS
Satisfaction with personal progress
Men 3.65 3.56a 3.74 NS
Women 2.00 4.12a 4.08 017
Satisfaction with chance to
advance in the future
Men 3.42 3.29 3.42 NS
Women 2.00 3.12 3.23 NS
Overall job satisfaction
Men 3.86 3.75 3.89 NS
Women 2.00 4.06 4.12 NS
Notes: significant differences are denoted by the same superscript; p = significance; NS = not significant;
1 = very dissatisfied, 2 = fairly dissatisfied, 3 = neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, 4 = fairly satisfied, 5 = very
satisfied.
998 Lingard and Francis

location, some significant differences were found. A one Interestingly, the differences between site and head
way ANOVA revealed significant differences in satisfac- office-based employees were stronger for men than they
tion with pay, between male respondents working were among women. Few significant differences were
in different locations (F = 4.003, p = 0.020). Pairwise found between women who worked in different loca-
t-tests revealed that male respondents who worked on tions, though women who worked in the regional or
site in direct construction activity were significantly head office reported lower work interference with home
less satisfied with their pay than male respondents management activities. It is not clear why the female
who worked in the head or regional office (t = −2.161, respondents in our sample did not report the same dif-
p = 0.033). Male respondents who worked mostly in a ferences as the men, although a closer examination of
site office were also less satisfied with their pay than the nature of work undertaken by women in the sample
those based in the head or regional office (t = −2.810, might offer a partial explanation of this.
p = 0.006). In terms of role, most women in our sample per-
A pairwise t-test also revealed a significant difference formed a role with a lower average number of hours
between male and female respondents’ satisfaction worked each week. A total of 46% of female respon-
with their personal progress in the organization among dents worked in a clerical secretarial role and a further
those respondents who worked predominantly in the 25% were in a support role, such as environmental
site office (t = −2.820, p = 0.008). Unexpectedly, men management or quality. The average hours worked each
reported lower satisfaction with their progress than did week for these groups was 43 and 49 respectively. This
women. is substantially lower than in positions dominated by
men, such as site/project engineer (60 hours a week)
and foreman/supervisor (62 hours a week). Thus, it
Discussion seems that the fact that site-based women do not experi-
ence greater difficulty at the work-family interface than
The results of this study reveal that site-based male women in the regional or head office may reflect the fact
employees suffer higher levels of work interference with that female employees perform less demanding roles
family life than male employees based in a head or re- and are underrepresented in mainstream construction
gional office. Men who work in site-based roles also suf- and engineering roles associated with greater time-
fer significantly higher job-related emotional exhaustion based demands. It may be the case that were women
and are less satisfied with their pay than men who work better represented in site-based technical roles differ-
in the regional or head office. ences by work location, similar to those reported by
Our results confirmed that site-based employees men, would be evident.
work longer hours than employees in the head or It may also be the case that the demands of site-based
regional office. It is typical for site-based employees to work actually discourage women from pursuing careers
work six days each week and the expectation of weekend in these roles. One female engineer suggested this as
work was an important theme emerging in the analysis she wrote:
of qualitative comments provided by site-based emplo- Being a young female engineer in this industry, I find
yees at the end of the questionnaire. A total of 23% it hard to see myself staying in this field if I intend to
of employees who work on site in direct construction start a family. Not only do I feel drained each day, it
activity, 52% of employees who work in a site office and affects my relationships dramatically. It seems if you
only 9% of employees based in the head or a regional don’t have the view that you ‘live to work’ you are not
office expressed a desire to work fewer hours and have committed to your job. Today’s generation are looking
more time off. The frustration of one employee who had for self-fulfilment in a job rather than loyalty to a
recently moved from a site-based role to work in the company and security. A balance needs to be kept and
head office reflects this difference. They wrote: at present I don’t think that view is very easily accepted.

I spent four years as a site engineer prior to joining the This comment is also consistent with Loughlin and
team in the head office. If this survey was sent out 18 Barling’s (2001) argument that younger workers have
months ago I would have certainly answered it differ- greater expectations of achieving a balance between
ently. My quality of life has vastly improved now that I work and family.
don’t have to work weekends. My hours have dropped Our results also indicate that, although male emplo-
from over 60 hours per week to 50 hours. Twelve
yees’ subjective sense that work interferes with the
months ago I was burnt out, ready to resign and
exhausted and angry. Now I get enough sleep, I’m
marital relationship and parenting role differed signifi-
not stressed out all the time. Although I terribly miss all cantly by work location, the quality of male respon-
the action, chaos, teamwork and instant gratification dents’ relationships with their spouses/partners did
achieved on site, I feel my stress levels and resting not. Thus, the subjective sense of work interference
periods are where they should be. with family may be more problematic than actual family
Work-life experiences of office and site-based employees 999

relationship outcomes. However, it should be pointed between its employees. Company mail-outs do not
out that no data were collected from employees’ build bonds. Site-based staff with little/no contact with
spouses/partners in this phase of the study and conse- ‘permanent’ company office may have loyalty to the
quently, the quality of the dyadic relationship may not project but feel expendable as far as the company is
have been accurately assessed (see future research concerned.
section at the end of this paper). Women in the regional Furthermore, site-based employees also appear to
and head offices reported greater relationship cohesion perceive that their investments are not fairly rewarded,
and consensus than men who worked in the regional or hence they are less satisfied with their pay. In the addi-
head office. Reasons for this are unclear. tional comments made by many site-based employees,
the fact that ‘blue collar’ site-based workers enjoy
Social exchange theory rostered days off and are paid higher rates for overtime
was a source of complaint. Supervisors, professional
Social exchange theory (Blau, 1964) may offer some and managerial employees do not enjoy these benefits
explanation as to why site-based employees experience and many respondents appeared to compare their own
higher levels of emotional exhaustion and cynicism and job demands and remuneration arrangements less
are less satisfied with their pay than employees who favourably than blue-collar workers. For example, one
work in the regional or head office. The construction respondent wrote:
industry is demanding of its employees’ time and
energy. If employees perceive this involvement is not I feel that the hours/days worked by those on site is
reciprocated it is likely to create a sense of discontent- excessive. It causes division between staff and day
ment. Social exchange theory suggests that people con- labour, as staff do not get paid for all hours worked and
sider the fairness in the exchange relationship between day labour work too long to get more money, which in
themselves and an organization. This theory has been many cases is not well managed.
used to explain why perceptions of unfair treatment
result in low levels of work satisfaction and organiza- Perceived unfairness and inequity have been linked to
tional commitment (McFarlin and Sweeney, 1992). diminished job satisfaction, burnout and absenteeism
Equity in the exchange relationship is also reported (Schaufeli et al., 1996; van Horn et al., 1999; Lam et al.,
to be an important determinant of employees’ work 2002). De Boer et al. (2002) report that when salary and
attitudes and behaviours (De Boer et al., 2002; Lam recognition are perceived to not match investments in a
et al., 2002). Equity theory holds that the amount that job role, exhaustion and impaired health can occur.
people invest in and gain from the employment relation- Our results suggest that there may be a need to con-
ship should be proportional to what others invest and sider site-based employees’ evaluation of their relation-
gain. Thus, outcomes or rewards will be judged to be ship with the company. In exchange for their input of
unfair if they are perceived to be lower than they should long hours and weekend work, they will have certain
be according to some referent. Furthermore, research expectations of the company, which may not be being
indicates that perceptions of fair treatment are shared met at present. The notion of a ‘psychological contract’
by social groups within organizations and that organiza- is relevant to this suggestion as it may be that this
tional norms can create a work environment in which contract is being breached, with negative consequences.
whole groups of employees feel unfairly treated, perhaps Strategies for trying to redress this imbalance may
as a result of the treatment of one member (Lamertz, need to be developed. Management may try to change
2002). perceptions of the fairness of the exchange relationship
Some of the comments made by site-based employees by discussing with site-based employees, how they per-
suggest that there is a sense that all site-based employees ceive the investments they make. For example, it might
are unfairly treated and that their contribution is not be useful to ask whether these employees perceive work-
recognized by managers in the head or regional office. ing every weekend to be a part of the normal working
Given the long hours and personal sacrifice made by week, which can be expected of them, or as an addi-
many project staff, comments made by site-based tional, unrecognized investment. If the latter is the case,
employees suggest that they feel alienated and removed then management may need to explore what employees
from the power or decision-making centre of the expect to receive in return for this investment.
company and are resentful of this. For example, one
site-based employee wrote:
Gender issues
In three years with the company (on one large project),
I have visited the head office (for a company induction) The lack of significant difference between men and
and have attended three ‘company’ functions (Christ- women on most of our indicators suggests that, once
mas parties) in three years. The company can only foster work location is taken into account, gender differences
loyalty if it can build bonds with its employees and in the work-family experiences of respondents are not
1000 Lingard and Francis

significant. Thus, work-family experiences appear to be are more likely to experience cynicism than their coun-
more closely related to the nature of employees’ work terparts in the head or regional office. All site-based
conditions, as indicated by where they work and for men are less satisfied with their pay than male employ-
how long. This finding is consistent with those of other ees based in the head or regional office. Future research
researchers, such as Perry-Smith and Blum (2000), who may usefully explore the notions of fairness and orga-
suggest that gender should receive less attention in nizational justice in ascertaining why these differences
work-family research than other variables. However, exist. In comparison, female employees working in
our findings also highlight the industry’s poor perfor- different locations did not differ significantly in their
mance in gender diversity. The results suggest that experiences at the work-family interface. This may be
gender segregation exists within the industry and that because women were underrepresented in roles in
women are seriously under-represented in mainstream, which time demands and work pressures are highest.
technical site-based roles. It is highly recommended
that reasons for this be explored in future studies, which
may include some examination of work-family issues. Future research
Our results also suggest that work location is a signifi- This research is ongoing. The follow-up study, involv-
cant determinant of burnout among male employees ing a government department and a second large con-
but not among female employees. Male employees in struction firm is collecting data from both employees
the three locations reported significantly different levels and their partners/spouses. This will provide a more
of all three dimensions of burnout. However, no signifi-
complete understanding of the impact of work on the
cant differences were found in burnout experienced by
family life of employees. In addition, the second phase
women who worked in the three work locations.
of the study adopts a longitudinal design. Data will
be collected over a three-year period. This design will
enable researchers to determine causal relationships
Conclusions
between variables and explore how phenomena, such as
burnout, develop over time.
The study was limited in that data were collected from
within a single organization. As such, the results cannot
be generalized to the construction industry as a whole.
However, the company involved in the study is one Acknowledgements
of Australia’s largest construction organizations and
data were collected from both the building and civil The study was funded by the Construction Industry
engineering groups within the organization. The organi- Institute of Australia. The researchers thank Chris
zation also works in all Australian states and territories. Reynolds of Baulderstone Hornibrook Pty Ltd for his
Thus, although the company may possess a unique help in administering the study. (Note: Helen Lingard
culture and organizational characteristics preventing is now associated with the School of Construction
the results from being generalizable, respondents were Management and Property, Queensland University of
drawn from two of the major sectors of the construction Technology.)
industry and from all Australian states/territories.
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