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Dive Brief:

• Work-life balance is worse for teachers than for other working adults, a Rand Corp. survey released Tuesday finds. But educators say conditions could improve if school leaders complied with policies that help them manage workloads and flexibly use paid leave.
• Examples of poor work-life balance for teachers include 71% reporting that it’s very or somewhat difficult to change work schedules or hours to accommodate personal or family matters, compared to 22% for other working adults, Rand found.
• Fewer than half of teachers reported their school or district was trying to help teachers better manage their work and life. For teachers who experienced such efforts by school leadership, they cited ease of taking time off, schedule flexibility and access to classroom coverage in their absence, according to Rand.  

Dive Insight:

As teachers report struggling with work-life balance, they are also more likely to experience job-related stress and burnout than other working adults, according to a separate Rand survey released in June. 

Still, it’s unclear whether these issues are impacting national turnover rates, as fewer teachers expressed intentions to leave their jobs — dipping from 22% in 2024 to 16% in 2025, the June Rand report said.

Meanwhile, Rand found this month that teachers who experienced more challenges with work-life balance were more likely to report indicators of worse well-being such as frequent job-related stress, difficulty coping with that stress, and symptoms of depression and burnout. 

On top of job flexibility issues, teachers were more likely to experience job intrusion in their daily lives outside of work than other working adults. For example, 46% of teachers said they are always or most of the time too tired for activities in their private lives because of their jobs, compared to 13% of similar working adults. And 42% of educators said they worry about work when off the clock, while 21% of other working adults said the same. 

“In a budget-constrained environment, 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 Rand report said. Some solutions for improving teachers’ work-life balance — like adequate access to substitute teachers — may be more costly than others, while options like supporting a school culture that encourages work-life balance might not, the report added.

In that vein, Rand suggested four ways school and district leaders can better support teachers’ work-life balance:

• Allow teachers to flexibly tap into paid leave and provide them classroom coverage. While it’s more difficult to offer teachers more paid leave, districts can allow them to take off time in smaller increments — from an hour to a half-day — rather than an entire day. Teachers should also be allowed to use their planning time for occasional personal needs.
• Consider other staffing structures such as team teaching or job-sharing opportunities. District leaders should weigh team teaching models, Rand said. A recent study by researchers from Arizona State University and the University of Pennsylvania suggests the innovative approach supports job flexibility and teacher retention. For those looking to implement teaching teams, they could rely more on substitutes, paraprofessionals or teaching assistants while flexible job options are being developed.  
• Provide teachers parental leave and childcare benefits. Given that teachers are predominantly women and most commonly leave the profession to care for their family or children, local education leaders should consider offering parental leave or childcare benefits to help female teachers manage work and their own caregiving demands.  
• Prioritize messaging and expectations for work-life balance while also setting work boundaries. In the Rand survey, teachers most commonly cited school leaders’ support as a crucial part of helping them responsibly balance work and life. Specifically, they said it was most helpful when school leaders helped establish work boundaries like limiting meetings and administrative work. Flexible planning time and the use of messaging that encourages keeping work at the workplace was also important.