Experiences of risks in the workplace and work-life balance amidst the COVID-19 pandemic: The case of death care workers

• Main Author: Cobb, Michelle Monique Lao
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2021
• Subjects: COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020-; Death care industry; Death care industry > Employees; Death care industry—Risk factors; Social and Behavioral Sciences
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etdm_behsc/6; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1007&context=etdm_behsc
• Institution: De La Salle University

This study explored the experiences of risks and work-life balance among death care workers of Zen Gardens Chapels, Crematorium and Columbarium. In depth interviews were conducted among ten (10) key informants. This study was examined in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings of the research show that death care workers have different perceptions with regards to the risks present in the workplace. Some workers consider their job to be risky, while some do not. Regardless of their perceptions of risk, the findings of the study show that death care workers have various experiences of risk. These include safety risks such as machine malfunctions and exposure to chemical hazards, health risks such as COVID-19 transmission, physical risks such as injuries and disablement and emotional risks such as compassion fatigue. Furthermore, findings of the study demonstrate that the risk experiences play a role in the worker’s work-life balance. Workers value the idea of spending quality time with family. However, some workers claim that they spend more time at work and less time with family. The nature of the work and the demands that comes with it during the COVID-19 pandemic somehow constrained some informants to enjoy the boundary between home and work. In form, the boundary of work and home was perspicuously articulated by the informants. In substance, however, such boundary is becoming obscure. There seems to be fluidity in terms of how the informants wade across a river of contesting demands between work and family life. Such fluidity is due partly to the fact that one’s sacrifice at work will better family life conditions. This study concludes that, regardless of risk perceptions, death care workers are prone to experience various risks in the workplace and in turn, influences their work and family life.