Abstract

This study offers an insightful glimpse into the experiences of working men and women in Greece during the unprecedented first lockdown from March to May 2020. As the pandemic enforced restrictions that led to teleworking, parents found themselves overwhelmed with the simultaneous demands of work, home-schooling, and childcare, all without external support. This situation severely tested work-life balance and placed additional strain on relationships between partners due to the increased burden of unpaid work. This paper shares findings from the Greek segment of the "Covid19-Health emergency and work-life balance" research, conducted across six countries during the pandemic's initial surge using a standardized online questionnaire and quota sampling. The study included 840 Greek participants aged 18 to 70, analysing the pandemic's effects on work relations, workspace and time organization, job performance, the balance between paid and unpaid work, domestic roles and tasks division, and familial and partner relationships. Employing a work-life balance Likert scale (WLB) with 8 items based on Hayman (2005) and Fisher-McAuley et al. (2003), the study utilized multinomial logistic regression to delve into factors affecting work-life balance during COVID-19. This statistical method predicts outcomes based on a mix of continuous and categorical predictors, aiming to identify individuals with high or low WLB scores using sociodemographic variables such as gender, education level, age group, and marital status.