The Alberta Teachers’ Association

National study confirms Alberta teachers experiencing high volumes of work

A groundbreaking national study released the week of February 24 confirms what ATA research has shown for years: while work–life balance has shifted dramatically in the past two decades for Canadian workers and professionals in general, Alberta teachers are experiencing unique work challenges characterized by high volumes of work and growing complexity of expectations.

The 2011/12 National Study on Balancing Work, Life and ­Caregiving in Canada: The Situation for Alberta Teachers is authored by Linda Duxbury (professor, Sprott School of Business, Carleton University) and Christopher Higgins (professor, Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario). This report is part of a series of national studies of work–life balance in Canada undertaken since 1991 by ­Duxbury and Higgins.

In 1991, 21,000 participants took part in the first study, to “explore how the changing relationship between family and work affects organizations, families and employers.” In 2001, Duxbury and Higgins undertook the second study, to determine how the ­“demographic, social and economic changes that occurred throughout the 1990s increased the percent of the Canadian working population at risk of high work-life conflict.”

In 2011/12, in collaboration with the ATA’s research staff, Duxbury and Higgins undertook a third national study of work–life balance in Canada. Just over 25,000 employed ­Canadians from a variety of work sectors participated in that study, ­including 2,462 Alberta teachers.

“The release of the fourth report profiling the unique circumstances of Alberta teachers comes at a particularly important time for Alberta teachers,” said ATA President Carol Henderson. “While previous Association ­research studies have demonstrated the unsustainable workloads of Alberta teachers, this ­ground-breaking study conducted by this internationally respected research team can’t be ignored.”

The report is wide-ranging in its analysis of the complex variables that shape teachers’ work, including an examination of the relationship between teachers’ demographic variables, the interplay between workplace and community characteristics, the growing effects of technological change and other societal ­influences. The study’s overarching ­conclusion is clear: “Work time and work location flexibility have the potential to balance work and family demands by increasing an employee’s ability to control, predict and absorb change in work and family roles. Unfortunately, the data from this study are unequivocal—Alberta teachers have very little workplace flexibility or control over their work domain or their work schedule.”

Chief findings of the report

Teachers work more hours per week than most Canadians

• The average Alberta teacher spends 41.3 hours per week performing work at the school/office. Eighty-eight per cent of teachers in Alberta work more than 45 hours per week—a much higher percentage than was observed in the total sample of Canadian workers (60 per cent of whom work more than 45 hours per week).
• Nearly all teachers (98 per cent) take work home to complete outside their regular hours (on evenings and weekends). These teachers spend another 13.9 hours per week working (approximately two extra days of unpaid work a week, if a 40-hour workweek is the benchmark). This is higher than in the total sample of all other Canadian professionals, in which 55 per cent take work home and spend approximately 7 hours per week working outside the workplace.
• All things considered, the typical Alberta teacher spends 60.8 hours per week on work-related activities—10 more hours per week, on average, than professionals in the total sample (where the mean ­number of hours of work per week is 50.2).
• Approximately 70 per cent of teachers report high levels of work role overload—just over twice as many as those reporting the same in the total ­Canadian sample. These findings are consistent with the fact that teachers spend about 10 hours more per week on ­work-related activities than other knowledge workers in the sample.
• Teachers are twice as likely as other Canadian employees to report high levels of overload. In fact, just over 80 per cent of teachers report high levels of overload.

Are teachers satisfied with teaching?

• Just under 40 per cent of ­teachers report high job ­satisfaction (15 per cent are dissatisfied with their jobs and 48 per cent have mixed feelings about their work). These findings are in strong contrast to results in the total sample, where 59 per cent of respondents report high job ­satisfaction.
• One in three teachers (30 per cent) in the ATA sample report high intent to turnover (15 per cent think of leaving their current situation several times a week or more, and 15 per cent think of leaving once a week). This is a higher level of intent to turnover than in the total sample.
• Teachers appreciate the extrinsic aspects of their jobs (pay and job security) and love the work itself. They are more likely than employees in the total sample to be satisfied with the amount of job security they have.
• Teachers’ dissatisfaction with their current work includes two main areas: career development and opportunities to meet their career goals.
• Only one in four teachers in the ATA sample are satisfied with their workload and the number of hours they devote to work each week. ­Approximately 60 per cent are dissatisfied with these facets of their jobs. In comparison, more than half of other knowledge workers are satisfied with these aspects of their work.

Organizations suffer when employees’ well-being is at risk

• Alberta teachers miss an ­average of 10 days of work per year—fewer days than missed in the total Canadian sample. Approximately half of this absenteeism can be ­attributed to ill health (5.2 days per year), but the absence due to emotional, physical or mental fatigue (3 days per year) is substantive.
• The most common reasons for missing work include health problems (60 per cent) and emotional, mental or ­physical fatigue (45 per cent). One in five report missing work ­because of child-care issues and one in ten because of elder care.
• Seventy per cent of teachers report high levels of perceived stress—a significantly greater percentage than in the total sample (57 per cent of the total Canadian sample and 61 per cent of women in the total sample report high stress).
• A substantial number of teachers report that work–life challenges have caused them to be absent from work more often (30 per cent), reduce their work productivity (44 per cent), make greater use of the benefits offered by the ­organization (34 per cent) and reduce their work hours (30 per cent).
• One in ten Alberta teachers report that they have turned down a promotion because of work–life issues.
• Almost half of teachers (47 per cent) report high levels of depressed mood (depressed mood is a state characterized by low energy and persistent feelings of helplessness and hopelessness). This is a greater percentage reporting high depressed mood than in the total Canadian sample (where 40 per cent of women report high depressed mood).
• Three-quarters of teachers report high levels of agreement with the statement “Work interferes with family”—more than double the number of employees who agree in the total sample. (These findings are consistent with the fact that teachers take work home, work long hours and report higher levels of work overload.)
• Alberta teachers are twice as likely as employees in the total sample to report experiencing high levels of conflict between work and family.
• Many teachers pay a high price personally when they try to do everything. Two-thirds of teachers say that work–life challenges mean they have less energy, and half of those report that work–life challenges mean they have less time for themselves, for a social life and for sleep and recreational activities. Furthermore, the data indicate that teachers are two times more likely to report these impacts than are the women in the total Canadian sample.

Organizational culture—teachers have little flexibility

• Teachers are significantly less likely than employees in the total sample to have any of the forms of flexibility explored in this study. In fact, the levels of perceived flexibility reported by teachers are the lowest in the Canadian sample (substantially lower than those reported by police officers and nurses).
• Alberta teachers report that they have higher levels of control over their home situation (57 per cent report high control while only 5 per cent report low control) than their work situation (only 12 per cent ­report high control while 32 per cent report low control). It should be noted that this pattern can also be observed in the total sample, and while those in the ATA sample are less likely than those in the ­total sample to report high levels of control over work or family, the differences are not substantial (5 per cent ­difference).
• Approximately half of Alberta teachers perceive that their employer values and rewards those who keep their work and family lives separate—twice as many as those in the total Canadian sample who perceive the same.
• Half of Alberta teachers ­perceive that their employer values an employee who is available for work 24/7. Only 36 per cent in the total sample agree that this culture is in place in their organizations. The study concludes that ­Alberta’s school boards, in ­order to increase their ­efficiency and effectiveness, must deal with the issue of work–life conflict in general and workload in particular. In reviewing the findings, the authors suggest that the data ought to be a significant cause for concern, as many teachers in Alberta are at risk for work burnout. The authors conclude: “Unfortunately, Alberta teachers have very little workplace flexibility or control over their work domain or their work schedule.”

Henderson says the ­Duxbury–Higgins report is yet one more reminder that “without a sustained effort to address the systemic barriers to school improvement, such as optimal conditions of teaching practice, there can be little meaningful progress on the goal of achieving the transformation outlined in Inspiring Education.”

The 2011/12 National Study on Balancing Work, Life and Caregiving in Canada: The Situation for Alberta Teachers