Work–Life Imbalance and Nursing Staff Turnover in Private Hospitals in India: A Study

Abstract

Nursing staff turnover has remained a challenge to the healthcare sector in India, especially in the private hospitals. Work-life imbalance is one of the factors that have raised as a serious issue that affects job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and retention outcome. This paper reviews the association between work-life imbalance and turnover intention among nursing professionals working in the private hospitals in India. It discusses the long work hours, rotations, shortages of personnel, emotional draining, and the lack of institutional support as the factors influencing the personal well-being of nurses and their professional involvement.

The study takes a quantitative methodology with the use of structured questionnaire to be administered to nursing personnel in sampled private hospitals. Workload, scheduling flexibility, supervisor support, family interference, burnout and turnover intention are the variables to be measured and analyzed through statistical tools such as correlation and regression analysis. The results show that work-life imbalance and turnover intention have a high level of positive correlation, and emotional exhaustion and insufficient managerial support are the main intermediary variables. Nurses with irregular shifts and lack of rest time reported to be more stressed and more inclined to find alternative to their employment were more likely to find different jobs.

The paper identifies supportive human resource practices as per the need of administrators in hospitals to adopt such practices such as flexible work schedules, proper staffing, wellness programs, and policies that are friendly to families. Attrition rates can be substantially decreased with a healthy work environment being promoted, and this process can be achieved by strengthening the organizational support systems. Through work-life balance, the private healthcare institutions would be able to enhance retention of nurses, continuity of care, and quality of services provision in their establishments. The study has added to the increasing body of work on the sustainability of the workforce within Indian healthcare setting and provided effective implications in policy development and management practices in hospitals.