The effect of working from home on employees' work family life balances and intention to leave

Working from home can affect work family life balance positively or negatively. An employee can spend more time with their family and children by working from home and better aligning work hours with family time. Working from home will reduce the time and costs spent commuting to work. In addition, people who work from home stay away from many sources of stress in the work environment. However, working from home can result in a lack of clear separation between work and family life. Employees can take their work-related problems home. This can negatively affect the work-family balance. The effect of working from home on work family life balance is complex and depends on personal preferences. In addition, working from home can reduce the intention to leave work in relation to factors such as flexibility, job satisfaction and work-life balance. Intention to leave the job may also increase due to situations such as lack of communication, social isolation and limitation of career opportunities. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of working from home on work family life balance and intention to leave. The study was carried out on the personnel working in the academic and administrative units of Anadolu University. The research model was tested with PLS-SEM analysis. With the analysis of the data obtained from 261 subjects participating in the research, it was determined that there was no direct significant relationship between working from home and intention to leave. However, it has been observed that working from home has a significant and positive effect on work-family life balance, while work-family life balance negatively affects the intention to leave. It has been understood that work family life balance has a mediating effect between the desire to work from home and the intention to leave. It has been revealed that the desire to work from home is a mediator in reducing the intention to leave.