In this paper I am investigating the impact of working in the gambling industry on individual’s family and social life. I chose a qualitative research approach since my purpose was to understand the views and opinions in depth and to discover new thoughts, and not to obtain predictive, statistical results.
In the first part of the thesis there is an introduction to gambling industry, its history and development. In the theoretical introduction I also defined night-work, shiftwork and workplace stress. To fully understand the problem of the paper, a review of past studies and the usage of Greenhaus model of work – family conflict was needed. Furthermore, the thesis also focuses on gambling addictions.
The qualitative study involves interviews with 64 casino employees, who have at least 1 year of work experience in the gambling industry. Interviews were done with male and female workers of all ages, with different job titles and job statuses. Research has shown that casino employees are satisfied with their jobs, yet most of them still find their work stressful and demanding. According to the results of the research, workplace stress influences family relationships, since it gets transferred from individual’s work life to family life. Besides the workplace stress, working rotating shifts can also influence the quality of family life. Casino employees have a lot of free time on their own, but what they lack is free time spent with their families and friends. With the research I identified the reasons for this, which are the following: the nature of work, night-work and shift-work, responsibility of handling big amounts of money and frequent disagreements and conflicts with coworkers and superiors.
Findings of the study show that employees have different views on the gambling industry. Some see gambling as a form of entertainment, others as a problem and a potential addiction.
Additionally, respondents have different views on whether working in a gambling environment induces the development of a gambling addiction.
Finally, with the help of both the qualitative and quantitative findings, I prepared some suggestions on how to improve both the satisfaction of casino employees and their work-life balance.
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