Challenges for work-life balance during COVID-19 induced nationwide lockdown: exploring gender difference in emotional exhaustion in the Indian setting

Purpose This paper aims to attempt to explore the nature of relationship between work-life balance and emotional exhaustion experienced by the employed individuals while working from home during the pandemic COVID-19 induced nationwide lockdown in the Indian setting. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 180 working professionals in North India who were working from home during the lockdown. PROCESS macro developed for SPSS was used to test the hypotheses. Findings Findings depicted that in comparison to men, women felt more emotional exhaustion due to personal life interference in work during work from home period. Surprisingly, the relationship between work interference with personal life, and emotional exhaustion did not differ by gender. It was found that the participative leadership could contribute to reduction of work interference with personal life, and through such an influence, emotional exhaustion experienced by an employee could be reduced to some extent. Originality/value Many previous studies have explored the nature of the relationship between work-life balance and emotional exhaustion, but rarely any study could cover any Pandemic affected working scenario. This study attempted to investigate such a relationship when employees were obligated to mandatorily work from home during the countrywide lockdown.