Industry news
Marriage 'upsets workers' morale'
Posted Mon, 09 Jul 2012
Job satisfaction is negatively affected by important moments in life such as marriage or the birth of a child, research by Kingston University's Business School suggests.
According to the study, for as long as five years after someone's first child is born they are considerably more unhappy at work, and this is even more the case for women than men.
The report was published in the Journal of Vocational Behavior and recorded the yearly job satisfaction levels of almost British 10,000 people from 1991 to 2008.
Furthermore, the report found that there was a heightening of morale just before major events such as marriage and having a child due to the anticipation of the changes ahead.
Author of the study and Director of the Centre for Research in Employment, Skills, and Society at Kingston Business School, Professor Yannis Georgellis, said: "Quite often how you feel about your job is determined by outside factors. Before the happy life event, people may experience increased job satisfaction because of the 'spillover' effect, where happiness at home influences happiness at work. Afterwards, people's focus inevitably shifts more towards home life as priorities change and the work-life conflict kicks in."
The results of the study point towards the birth of a first child as having a bigger and further-reaching effect on job satisfaction.
Copyright Press Association 2012