An exploratory study of work-leisure relationships during the Covid-19 lockdown

ABSTRACT This study explored the attitudes towards work-leisure relationships (WLR) among Chinese during the Covid-19 lockdown. The lockdown creates a ‘quasi-experiment’ situation to investigate people’s views of WLR since they are obligated to stay home for weeks or months instead of commuting to workplaces. Eighty-two Chinese were interviewed, and the qualitative data were analysed using NVivo 12.0. The results suggest a model of ‘BRIS’ depicting four types of WLR: (a) ‘B’ for Balance, i.e. a dynamic equilibrium; (b) ‘R’ for Reciprocity, i.e. mutual beneficial; (c) ‘I’ for Integration, i.e. work and leisure could be each other; (d) ‘S’ for Separation, i.e. totally different from each other. The study contributes theoretically to developing this BRIS model to interpret the WLR in the context of the Covid-19 lockdown. Practical implications for employee management and satisfaction enhancement in companies, leisure policies, as well as future prospects for telework are also provided, particularly the importance of ‘balance’ in WLR is called for.