A great deal of research exists that looks at the impact of work stress on individual psychological well-being in many professions and settings. After all, one of the most significant challenges any successful professional faces is not letting problems in the workplace negatively impact family life at home. There is a related issue, however, that has not received the same level of analysis: the degree to which an employee’s work problems impact the well-being of a spouse at home. Put differently, how much do a spouse’s work challenges enable/disable someone to cope with their own? 

This is a critical problem made more so by the pandemic’s new stresses on dual-career couples suddenly dealing with childcare and education. Indeed, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in 2019 that among married couples, both spouses are employed 48.3% of the time, and 66% of these dual‐income partners in U.S. households have children (the number is slightly higher in the European Union). Understanding how work stresses affect spouses is something that all companies need to consider, given these figures and the pandemic’s new pressures on dual-career couples suddenly dealing with childcare and education.

Fortunately, new research by Zheng Cheng and Allison Ellis begins to shed some light on this interesting and important topic. Their new paper starts by adopting something called the challenge/hindrance stressor framework model to classify the problems someone faces at work. Challenges refer to work demands that, although stress-inducing, could ultimately lead to career advancement or some other significant benefit. Hindrance stressors are problems that must be overcome to get through the day but don’t hold any intrinsic value. A challenge stressor might be learning to manage a global team. A hindrance stressor might be having to work with out-of-date technology or an unresponsive colleague.