Key Takeaways
- Working conditions, an increasingly important factor in job satisfaction, can drive educators' perceptions of their work-life balance.
- According to a new report by the RAND Corporation, teachers reported worse work-life balance than similar working adults. Less job flexibility and increased intrusion into home life were each highly correlated with poor well-being.
- In the survey, teachers said that school leaders’ help in managing workloads and support for flexible paid leave improved their work-life balance. Teachers also said that it was helpful when leaders helped them set work boundaries.
Even as professional pay continues to drive many educators’ decision to stay in the profession, working conditions can play just as big a role. How many hours a day do they work? How much time do they have to collaborate with colleagues? Are they assigned too many administrative tasks? Is the school's leadership supportive?
As these and other issues have become more prominent, educators and their unions have responded— winning more planning time, healthier school environments, smaller class sizes, and more autonomy through advocacy and collective bargaining.
But more work needs to be done. Better working conditions are critical in supporting and maintaining a better work-life balance. Work-life balance—achieving a healthy equilibrium between professional and personal life—is a key driver of an individual’s mental well-being. But finding that balance is hard, as work demands can create undue anxiety and spill over into personal lives, worsening stress and anxiety.
The RAND Corporation recently explored teachers’ perceptions about their own work-life balance and found, not surprisingly, that it was elusive for too many educators. The new survey found that teachers were consistently more likely than similar working adults to report experiencing multiple job flexibility and job intrusion challenges.
In addition, fewer than half of the teachers reported that their school or district was making efforts to help them balance work and life. But in those places that had taken steps to address the issue, most teachers said the efforts—some of them modest and inexpensive—were having positive results.
Job Flexibility and Job Intrusion
RAND researchers used the 2025 State of the American Teacher survey (a survey of 1,419 K–12 public school teachers across the country, funded in part by the National Education Association) to explore educators’ perceptions of work-life balance and what factors in their professional and personal lives had the most impact.
The survey focused on two specific aspects of work-life balance—work flexibility and work intrusion. RAND defines job flexibility as “how difficult or easy it is to take care of personal matters during working hours.” Job intrusion is defined as “the erosion of the boundary between work life and personal life.”
On both measures, teachers’ perceptions fell short of those of similar working adults (surveyed by RAND in a separate survey). Teachers reported less job flexibility than similar working adults. Three times as many teachers (71%) as similar working adults (22%) said that it was difficult to change their work schedule or attend to personal or family matters while at work.
“We get five personal days and five sick days each year, but we are chastised by our principal and given a warning if we use more than six days in one year.” — High school teacher, State of the American Teacher survey
The survey asked about three aspects of flexibility: the ability to change work schedules or work hours to accommodate personal/family matters, the ability to take an hour or two to address similar matters, and the ability to take a personal call during work hours. At least 60 percent of teachers said it was somewhat or very difficult to take on these tasks, compared to 15-22 percent of working adults.
The numbers were slightly smaller for job intrusion questions, but still lopsided. For example, 46 percent of teachers said they were too tired for activities in their private lives because of their job demands. Only 13 percent of other working adults reported the same. Forty-two percent of teachers worry about work when not working compared with 21 percent of similar working adults), and 20 percent of teachers believed their job made spending time with family or friends more difficult compared with 13 percent of working adults).
Overall, teachers reported 13 fewer hours of leisure time per week, on average, than similar working adults.
“Both a lack of job flexibility and increased intrusion of work into home life were highly correlated with poor well-being for teachers,” the RAND researchers wrote. The amount of time female teachers are spending on household duties, particularly child care, is a driving factor behind these challenges.
Responsibilities at Home
In fact, on almost every measure, female teachers reported worse work-life balance than male teachers but worked the same number of hours. Female teachers with children spent an average of 40 hours per week on household duties—11 hours more per week than male teachers with children.
The RAND report noted that, unsurprisingly, having more responsibilities at home and work increases the potential for these responsibilities to conflict with each other and worsen work-life balance.
“In addition, having more leisure time was associated with experiencing fewer job intrusions and flexibility challenges,” the researchers wrote. “For instance, teachers experiencing all three job intrusion challenges reported, on average, 44 hours of leisure time, in comparison with the 54 hours reported by teachers experiencing no challenges.”
So What Works?
The RAND survey also asked the respondents an open-ended question about how their schools or districts were, if at all, addressing these issues. More than half did not respond because they said their schools were not doing anything to support work-life balance. Of the 44 percent who did respond, nearly one-third said the changes that were implemented supported work-life balance.
What worked for them? These teachers mentioned the availability of paid sick leave and paid personal time off, the availability of mental health or wellness days, flexibility in work hours, and the ability to use preparation periods to take care of personal matters. Others said the ability to take their days off in smaller increments (for example, half-days or class periods) was beneficial, along with the opportunity to work remotely on some days—at the end of the teaching term, or during professional development.
“Sometimes we can leave early on a day where we have professional development [PD]. We occasionally can work from another location during our PD time. I find these small allowances helpful.” — Elementary school teacher, State of the American Teacher survey
School leaders’ support was cited by most teachers as a key resource helping them balance personal and professional responsibilities. The RAND report outlines specific recommendations to improve educator work-life balance. “District and state leaders, in collaboration with collective bargaining units or teachers’ associations, should consider which options make the most sense for their context,” the researchers write.
Providing parental leave and childcare could make an enormous difference in helping teachers manage work and household/caregiving demands. In addition, the researchers recommend allowing teachers to flexibly use their paid leave and provide classroom coverage to support instructional quality.
Flexible job options, such as team teaching or job-sharing opportunities, should be offered to interested teachers. And researchers urged district and school leaders to “adjust their messaging and expectations” to help foster a climate in which teachers feel comfortable setting work boundaries.
