A STUDY ON WORK LIFE BALANCE OF EMPLOYEES

 B.Maheswari, III BBA and J.Pavithra, III BBA

ABSTRACT:

Employee Work Life Balance (WLB) is a major driver in the organization that helps to achieve higher productivity. It is a healthy blend of both employee's work life and personal life. There are many factors influencing work-life balance of an employee in the organization. The researchers have identified some factors along with demographic variables to study and understand the work life balance. In the last few decades, there has been a dramatic increase in the amount of research devoted to understanding the linkages between work and family and/or personal life. In the last few decades, there has been a dramatic increase in the amount of research devoted to understanding the linkages between work and family and/or personal life. The term ‘Work-life Balance’ was first coined in 1986 in reaction to the unhealthy choices that many Americans were making in favor of the work place, as they opted to neglect family, friends and leisure activities in the pursuit of corporate / work goals. A balanced life is one where we spread our energy and effort - emotional, intellectual, imaginative, spiritual and physical – between key areas of importance. The neglect of one or more areas, or anchor points, may threaten the vitality of the whole.

INTRODUCTION:

          Managers are increasingly aware of the importance of promoting a healthy work-life balance for employees, which increases job satisfaction. As with most things in life, moderation is the key. People who are constantly tied to their jobs deal with the symptoms of stress and burnout. Overworked employees are more likely to suffer health problems, more like to be absent and/or sick, less efficient, less sociable, and overall more difficult to work with. It is in the best interest of both the employee and employer to avoid these pitfalls through smart human resource management.

The importance of balance:

Balance helps to create harmony and peace of mind. Human resource (HR) management is a particularly versatile element of the organization, and its responsibilities are often much less clear than a textbook might imply. While hiring, training, employment contracts and regulatory considerations are well within the HR framework, so too is ensuring that employees are both healthy and satisfied at work. This requires taking stands on behalf of the employees, and putting organizational and managerial expectations and policies in place to ensure that employees are treated properly.

One example of what HR and/or upper management can do in this regard is overriding the culture to encourage employees to take time for themselves. Upper management must communicate to lower managers, through words and by example, that work communication past a certain time of night (or on the weekends) is only acceptable in highly time-sensitive situations (or never at all). HR can suggest to employees that they turn off their work phones in the evenings and leave their work computers in the office unless absolutely necessary.

Another useful tool for management is flextime. This is particularly useful for individuals in global markets, since they are often on the phone early in the morning or late at night with clients or suppliers on the other side of the globe. Employees might also work only four days a week, but work 10 to 12 hours each of those days (from, say, 6:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.). Businesses focused on quarterly results could offer long weekends at a company-wide level at the beginning of each new quarter (when workload is the smallest). HR professionals should be observant and creative, identifying when employees are pushing themselves too hard and offering solutions.

OBJECTIVES: 

The objective is to study the relationship between WLB and study factors.

v To study the opinion of employees about work life balance

v To study how employees balance work and their life

v To study if there is any association between gender and work life balance

LIMITATIONS

·        The sample size is only 30 which might not reflect the nature of the population

·        Time was limited to do an extensive survey

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

          Work–life balance is a concept including proper prioritizing between "work" (career and ambition) and "lifestyle" (health, pleasure, leisure, family and spiritual development/meditation). This is related to the idea of lifestyle choice. Work-life balance is the optimal arrangement of an individual’s on-the-job and private time to facilitate health and personal satisfaction without negatively impacting productivity and professional success. 

The degree to which an organization promotes a healthy congruence between the professional and personal lives of employees is largely a function of corporate culture and management styles. The most basic elements required to achieve balance are sufficient time off and an appropriate workload. Other elements common to nurturing work environments include the option to telecommute, flexible hours, and wellness initiatives in the workplace such as yoga classes and mindfulness training. The results-only workplace (ROWE), one approach to creating balance, allows employees to arrange their working lives in any way that suits them, as long as they complete the tasks they have been assigned. 

DEFINITION OF WORK LIFE BALANCE

Work-life balance is not necessarily about achieving an equal balance and there is no one size fits all approach that companies should be striving for. It varies for individuals and different organizations and changes over time. However, one definition that is useful is the following from The Work Foundation:

“Work-life balance is about people having a measure of control over when, where and how they work. It is achieved when an individual’s right to a fulfilled life inside and outside paid work is accepted and respected as the norm, to the mutual benefit of the individual, business and society.”

EFFECT OF WORK-LIFE BALANCE

The case for work-life balance tends to be made on two counts.

v First, that work-life balance improves individuals’ health, wellbeing and job satisfaction.

v Second, that business can benefit from work-life balance because these policies:

Ø Improve productive and working commitment

Ø Reduce sickness absence

Ø Increase retention rates for talented workers and reduce replacement costs

Ø Allow organizations to recruit from a wider pool of talent

Ø Enable organizations to offer services beyond usual business hours by employing workers on different shifts that fit in with caring responsibilities

CHARACTERISTICS:

Ø Work life balance business benefits.

Ø Not, constant, comes and goes with life changes

Ø It takes WORK

Ø The process of seeking balance can be deeply rewarding

How to: Achieve a work-life balance

Work and a career are an important part of many of our lives, from helping us to pay the bills to giving us a sense of purpose. However, it’s important to remember that work is just a part of our lives. While it may feed into many aspects of life, it’s important to find a balance that gives us some time away from the stresses of the office to enjoy other aspects of our personal lives.

What is a work/life balance?

A work/life balance varies from person to person. However, it’s essentially the amount of time and focus a person gives their work versus other aspects of their life of course everyone’s priorities change depending on a range of factors. For example, age can make your balance very different. If you’re in your twenties or thirties, you may have strong commitments to building a family life whilst, at the same time, focus on growing your career.

If you’re in your fifties and sixties, on the other hand, your focus may be on more personally meaningful and purposeful activities, which may not have been present earlier in life. Whatever you do to establish your work/life balance, it’s vital to create it and keep to it whenever possible.

Why do I need it?

In the current economic climate, where the pressures to work harder than ever are constant, the need to unwind from work can be crucial. It’s human nature to want to feel in control of the conditions that affect your life, and not being able to can prompt a range of negative reactions including:

Work burn out: A person who’s worked too long and too hard will often simply burn themselves out, both personally and professionally. This can potentially cause problems with your employer should they see you display a lack of interest, a short temper or difficulty with others. This issue could prove costly to you, as it could lead to disciplinary action or, in the worst case, even dismissal.

Stress: A person who doesn’t achieve a satisfying work/life balance can end up generating extra stress in their life. As we all know, stress, when allowed to linger, often causes side effects that can lead to health issues and personal distress.

These conditions can take their toll on any individual and may end up having physical impact, causing a break down in relationships and impeding work performance. In other words, a lack of balance will create problems that can be costly physically, emotionally and financially.

How can I achieve a better work/life balance?

The first step to achieving a better work/life balance is to think about the demands on your current professional and personal life. Do you ever find yourself with time to yourself?

May be you have too much free time or none at all of course these considerations will vary for every individual. Regardless, you should make a conscious effort to establish your own set of rules that allow you to strike the right balance between work and life. Ways to do this include:

Ø Creating realistic boundaries between work and non-work items

Ø Prioritizing tasks and events within both

Ø Set time aside for you: schedule an activity in your free time or block out a time period that’s for you to relax and enjoy yourself – it can even be as simple as not checking work emails when you’re at home

Ø Asking friends and family if they feel you dedicate too much time to one or the other

Ø Why would my employer encourage this balance?

Ø There are as many benefits for companies to encourage a work/life balance as there are for you.

Ø A happy workforce results in increased productivity for a company

Ø Should an employee leave the company due to being overworked, there are the costs

Ø For companies to compete against other companies, a range of flexible working options are often used to entice potential employees.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

          Research methodology is a way to systematically solve the research problem. It may be understood as science of studying how research is down scientifically.

SAMPLE INFORMATION:

Data collection	Survey
Type of data	Primary data & secondary data
Sample Area	Chennai
Type of questionnaire	Structured
Research instrument	Questionnaire(Google docs forms)
Statistical tools used	percentage ,chi square
Sample size	30
Sampling technique	convenience random sampling

DATA AND INTERPRETATION

1. How do you manage stress arising from your work?

CHOICES	PERCENTAGE
YOGA	0%
MEDITATION	0%
ENTERTAINMENT	27.6%
DANCE	10.3%
MUSIC	34.5%
OTHERS	27.6%

INTERPRETATION:

From the above table it is interpreted that 34.5% of employees manage their stress by music while 27.6% have manage by entertainment, others and 10.3% by dance

2. Do you ever miss out any quality time with your family or friends because of pressure of work?

CHOICES	PERCENTAGE
never	30%
rarely	6.7%
sometimes	50%
often	10%
always	3.3%

INTERPRETATION:

From the above table it is interpreted that 50% of them miss out quality time with their family or friends because of work pressure for some times,30% of them never,10% of them often,6.7% of them rarely and 3.3% of them always

3. Do you feel work life balance policy in the organization should be customized to individual needs?

CHOICES	PERCENTAGE
strongly agree	23.3%
agree	63.3%
indifferent	6.7%
disagree	6.7%
strongly disagree	0%

INTERPRETATION:

         From the above table it is interpreted that 63.3% of employees agree that work life balance policy in the organization should be customized to individual needs while 23.3% strongly agree,6.7% is disagree and 0%that is none of them strongly disagree

CHI-SQUARE

	Male	Female	Total
Yes	15	6	21
No	5	4	9
Total	20	10	30

Null hypothesis: H₀

          There is no association between gender and generally feel able to balance work life.

Alternative hypothesis: H1

          There is association between gender and generally feel able to balance work life.

Observed	Expected	(O-E)	(O-E)2	(O-E)2 E
15	10.5	4.5	20.25	1.929
6	4.2	1.8	3.24	0.771
5	1.5	3.5	12.25	8.167
4	1.2	2.8	7.84	6.533
			Total	17.4

Level of signification=5%=0.05

Degrees of freedom=(c-1) (r-1)

                              = (2-1) (2-1)

                              = 1×1

                              =1

Critical value if X²=3.841

X² calculated    >  X² critical

     (17.4)                 (3.841)     

So, H₀ is rejected.

Conclusion:

          The association between gender and generally feel able to balance work life.

FINDINGS:

ü Almost 81% of the employee’s works in normal shifts (day shift)

ü More than half of the respondent’s feel that they are able to balance their work

ü Half of the surveyed employees miss out their quality time with their family or friends because of work pressure

ü Most of the respondents feel that work life balance policy in the organization should be customized

ü 100% of the respondents agrees that good work life balance will be more effective and successful or the organization

ü More than half of the respondent employees agrees that their organization take initiatives to manage work life of employees

ü 60% of the surveyed respondents are flexible with their working hrs provided by their organization

CONCLUSION:

          The family and work life are both important to employees in any sector and if these two are not maintained properly it creates stress and strain and results into various diseases. This study is found important because it tries to know how the work life and family life interface results into stress.

          Achieving a good balance between work and family commitment is a growing concern for cotemporary employees and organizations. These is now mounting evidence-linking work-life imbalance to reduced health and wellbeing among individuals and families. It is not surprising then that these is increasing interest among organizational stakeholders (e.g. CEOs, HR managers) for introducing work-life balance policies in their organizations.

          Work-life balance policies are most likely to be successfully mainstreamed in organizations which with have a clear understanding of their business rationale and which respect the importance of work-life balance for all employees.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ø www.google.com

Ø journal of Asian work life balance