The impact of female employees' work engagement on work-life balance: The comparison public and private sector in pandemia process

Working life constitutes an important part of human life. Employees with high motivation and passion for work are needed in working life. In addition, the pandemic process we are in is a special situation in itself and has brought about significant changes in working life. It is thought that these changes have a great impact on the work-life balance, especially of female employees. In this direction, the aim of the study is to investigate the effect of the work engagement of women working in the public and private sectors during the pandemic process, on the work-life balance. In addition, the relationship between work engagement and work-life balance with demographic information was examined in the study. In line with the purpose of the study, 23 hypotheses were developed and data were collected by using online and face-to-face survey method with a total of 508 female employees from various occupational groups in public and private institutions living in Bursa. The survey consists of three parts. In the first part, there are questions about demographic characteristics, in the second part, there are questions created by using the Turkish version of Schaufeli and Bakker's (2003) 'Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES)' scale, which was adapted into Turkish by Turgut (2011), in order to measure the levels of work engagement. The scale in question consists of 17 statements in total. In the third part, the 'work-life balance' scale developed by Apaydın (2011) will be used to measure the levels of work-life balance. The scale in question consists of a total of 20 statements. The data collected through the questionnaire were analyzed using SPSS and AMOS package programs, factor analysis, t-test, Anova test, correlation analysis and structural equation modeling. As a result of the analysis, it has been determined that the level of work engagement of employees in public institutions is higher than those working in the private sector. It has been determined that the work-life balance of those working in the private sector is higher than those working in public institutions. While there is a positive and significant relationship between the total work engagement scale score and vigor, dedication, concentration and work-life adjustment, there is a negative significant relationship between neglecting life and taking time for oneself. There is a significant positive and significant relationship between the vigor sub-dimension of work engagement, work engagement, dedication, concentration and work-life adjustment, and there is a negative significant relationship between neglecting life and taking time for oneself. There is a positive and significant relationship between the commitment sub-dimension of work engagement, vigor, concentration and work-life harmony sub-dimensions, while there is a negative significant relationship between the sub-dimensions of neglecting life and taking time for oneself. On the other hand, the concentration sub-dimension of work engagement has a positive and significant relationship between general work engagement score, dedication, vigor and work-life harmony, but there is also a negative significant relationship with the sub-dimension of taking time for oneself.