Exploring Social Workers’ Perceptions and Experiences of Work-Life Balance Policies in Korean Human Service Organizations

With the increased recognition of the significance of work – life balance (WLB), research on policies that promote it has also increased. However, social workers’ perceptions and experiences of WLB policies in human service organizations remain underexplored. The study aims to address this research gap in the context of South Korea. Semi-structured, in-depth focus group interviews across four sessions were conducted on 19 participants from human service organizations (age groups: 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s and older). The study identified three major themes. First, enablers of the use of WLB policies included the continuation of telecommuting and flexible work practices established during the COVID-19 pandemic, the introduction of smart work policies, and supportive leadership. In contrast, limited awareness of relevant policy and information, challenges in recruiting replacement staff, rigid organizational culture, and excessive work hours are barriers to their utilization. The second pertains to the benefits (improved work efficiency, burnout prevention, and improved service quality and increased happiness among clients and social workers) and concerns (increased work burden on managers and negative perceptions of workplaces) regarding the use of these policies. Lastly, the study pinpointed directions for improvement in WLB policies at the individual, organizational, and systemic levels and discussed strategies for adopting WLB policies for social workers in human service organizations.