Spillover and work–family conflict in probation practice: Managing the boundary between work and home life

Abstract

Based on the close relationship between social work and probation practice, this article uses and develops Greenhaus and Beutell’s (1985) work–family conflict model to understand the spillover from probation work to practitioners’ family lives. We examine the ways spillover affects practitioners’ family lives and show that these conflicts stem from desensitisation and the work being community based. They also arise in more imagined ways, which we describe as altruistic imaginings and darker imaginings. The article concludes by highlighting the need for organisations to acknowledge spillover and its effects and makes suggestions around the provision of organisational policies. We conclude by considering what probation providers, as employers, might do to improve the situation as well as some reflective tools that practitioners might use to consider their own work–life balance with a view to improving staff wellbeing as well as effective service provision.