Examining work-home segmentation as a coping strategy for frontline workers: a mixed method study of social workers across Australia

Recent scholarship has shown the prevalence of work-family conflict among social workers caused by their intense job demands. Correspondingly, academics and practitioners alike have recommended work-home segmentation as an effective coping strategy to help social workers deal with work-family conflict. Drawing on the stressor-strain-outcome framework, we first conducted Study 1 using a survey of 504 social workers to test psychological strain as a mediator of the relationship between work-family conflict and job performance, and to examine if work-home segmentation buffered the mediating relationship. Contrary to prior studies, work-home segmentation only alleviated work-family conflict for some social workers, but intensified the psychological strain and reduced the job performance of other social workers. To probe this finding further, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 15 social workers in Study 2 to understand why work-home segmentation did not reduce their psychological strain. The interviews revealed that most struggled to detach themselves psychologically and emotionally from work at home. The inability to implement work-home segmentation thus became an additional stressor, and they also engaged in after-hours work-related rumination. Therefore, we encourage organisations and managers to adopt a nuanced approach when advocating work-home segmentation as a coping strategy for frontline workers to deal with work-family conflict.