Females and Barriers to Work–Family Balance: A Case Study of Casino Dealers

A positive work–family balance (WFB) can enhance service quality and facilitate job satisfaction among staff members, thereby reducing absenteeism and turnover rate. Female participation in hospitality is one of the significant changes in the last century. Significant progress has been achieved by women with their increase movements in their occupations. The proportion of female dealers in Macau has increased. If females spend additional time in their job, they will often spend less time for their family and social life. This condition is often considered ‘win–lose’ outcomes and hardly achieves WFB. This study investigates the features of quality WFB of female dealers in a casino hotel in Macau. Long work hours, shift duties, demanding customers and a stressful environment are taken-for-granted in the casino business and could lead to an unbalanced WFB. This qualitative study involves face-to-face interviews with 25 casino hotel female dealers from five major large casino hotels in Macau. Content analysis is used to elaborate the female employees’ perception of WFB and identify the challenges and barriers in achieving WFB. Findings show that human resources should provide additional support to eliminate the concern of females in balancing their family and job security. Recommendations will be formulated in the study