Сочинение work life balance

Introduction

We all know that Work plays an important role in everyone’s life whether it is paid or unpaid, but it helps us to shape our identity, allows us to structure our time and brings us in contact with each other. In today’s fast paced society, people in the workforce often move from one task to the next, only to find themselves coming up for air on Friday afternoon. Unsatisfied by their weekend and not accomplishing all they hoped, they begin to dread another week of work, and the never-ending cycle it has become. With some simple rearranging and prioritizing, there is a fix to this solution for the majority of people. Work/Life balance is a serious topic of discussion in the workplace, and the ideas are becoming more popular by the week. CEOs and managers all over the world are being faced with this issue, and constantly implementing ways to resolve it. With the vast amount of research and studies to date, majority of evidence shows the importance of work/life balance from both the standpoints of an employer, as well as an employee, as being critical in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. So, that’s why I have taken this topic to learn about the management of our personal and professional life.

Meaning of Work-Life Balance

Work-life balance doesn’t mean an equal balance. It is the power to control and stay competitive at work while maintaining a healthy and happy lifestyle at home as well as work with enough leisure. The main motive of work-life balance is to create balance in each and every area of life, which in turn increases self-fulfillment as well as helps to maintain safe from self-injury like depression and stress. A well-balanced life is when we put equal efforts in both areas. It encourages employees to divide their time on the basis of their own significances and maintain a balance by giving time to their family, health, vacations, and so on along with business travels and career. The field of Human resource management is developing day by day and the innovative techniques are developed for the improvement of the atmosphere at the workplace so that the employees can give their best and come up with a successful life and career. Moreover, it is an important concept which helps in increasing their loyalty towards the company or business.

Importance of Work-Life Balance

Work-life balance is an important aspect of a healthy work environment. Maintaining a work-life balance helps reduce stress and helps to prevent burnout in the workplace. Long-term pressure is one of the workplace’s most common health issues. It can lead to physical symptoms such as diabetes, digestive disorders, chronic pain, and heart problems. Chronic stress can also have a negative impact on mental health as it is associated with an increased risk of depression, anxiety, and insomnia.

Excessive pressure over a long period of time leads to burnout in the workplace. Employees who work a lot of overtime hours are at a high risk of burnout. Burnout can cause fatigue, mood swings, irritability and a decrease in work performance. By creating a work environment that prioritizes work-life balance, employers can save money and maintain a healthier, more productive workforce.

You cannot let your business consume you completely. Focusing on your company 100% of every waking hour will ruin your life, your relationships, and your ability to sleep. This is especially true for married entrepreneurs. While your family is likely to depend on your success, they need to be able to spend quality time with you as well. If your relationship gets to the point that you are in trouble feeling more like roommates and less like a married couple. The worst situation for an entrepreneur to be in is that things at the workplace are rough and there’s a lack of support at home because the wife feels depressed.

Causes of Work-Life Imbalance

There are some moderators that are linked to work-life imbalance, like:

• Time: Spending long hours at work due to ‘inflexibility, changing work requirements, overtime or work duties at night’ may lead to inconsistency with work and family duties. It has been shown that ‘time spent at work was positively correlated with work interaction with family and work involvement, but it was not related to cross-domain satisfaction.’
• Gender differences: According to the distinct understanding of role identity, gender differences may contribute to a job-life imbalance. It has been shown that men prefer their work duties to provide financial support to their families over their social responsibilities, whereas women prioritize their family life.

Besides these regulators that could contribute to a disparity, most people are exposed to unsolicited stress at work as they enjoy high social recognition. This aspect of life may also be the source of a mismatch. Certain workplace activities. however, it could also contribute to such an imbalance, such as contributing to house and garden duties, preserving and supporting family members or voluntary tasks. The strong pressure of time leads to increased psychological strain, which in turn affects health. Psychological strain is also affected by the complexity of the work, increasing responsibilities, long-term existential protection concerns, and more. The stresses and strains mentioned could lead to irreversible, physical signs of wear and negative effects on the cardiovascular and immune systems in the long term.

Work-life Balance Programs

To maintain the proper balance in life, the Employer should be aware of these responsibilities to balance work-life as well as personal life.

• Scheduling their time: It is one of the main components that the employer should take care of. They can schedule their time by following these steps-
• Telecommuting: An employee can also work online at home with the help of innovative technology. It is one of the easiest ways for computer-based job employees.
• Compressed workweeks: Some companies also offer 10 hours a day, to give an extra day off as well as offer some amenities like onsite meal preparation and concierge services and so on, to make the home life a bit easier.
• Health and Wellness: We all know that Health and medical insurance is the most widely offered benefit in most of the companies. In most places, there are onsite gym or discounted gym premiums for the employees as well as some wellness programs like diet and fitness workshops.

Moreover, there is one another benefit that can help employers to keep their personal issues under control is the Employee Assistance Program. The most common benefits that are provided in this program are mental health care, elder care, alcohol or drug treatment, and so on.

Personal Development and Care

In many small businesses, just one person handles the human resources function, and sometimes it is the owner of the company. Empowering employees to take responsibility for their own professional development is, therefore, a priority. Internally the company paid training and formal mentoring programs can help the employees to gain the skills to improve their growth in their current roles or help them to move further to the higher roles or positions. Moreover, some companies also offer tuition reimbursement for the employers who want to obtain a degree, certification or specialized training, so this is very helpful for the employees who never attended college or did not complete their degree requirements.

Vacations

So many companies have different norms of vacations. They provide vacation pay to their employees so that they can live their life to the fullest and enjoy their life and quality time with their family and friends. Moreover, seniors receive more vacations in some places as well as there are some of the vacation trips that are given to the employees as a reward for their good work.

Practices towards Work-Life Balance

• An employer should learn to say NO when you are assigned a task that does not fall under your job description and could be easily accomplished by the person who is asking it. It’s important to say no at work because it earns you respect.
• An employer should work out to be de-stress because stress is one of the main problems that can create so many issues in life. We know that there is so much workload, which can put so much pressure on us. That’s why a person should give some time every day to do Yoga, Meditation or deep breathing, which will help in de-stressing and make you feel much better and fresh.
• An employer should also try to share the load with their co-workers. Each and every person in a company should share their feelings, workload or problems with others so that they can help you if you need it. In this way, you can also feel stress-free.
• Each and every person should have a positive approach always, which will help them to be positive and more punctual regarding their work as well as the company.
• A person should always focus on whatever they are doing. However, we should always put our best effort even if its not our core competence. We should maximize our productivity at work and make sure that the unfinished work should never come over in our personal time.
• Moreover, you can have a second phone with you because if you receive phone calls and emails from clients and colleagues on one phone, then you can use another phone for the family and friends. Whenever you leave work you can off the work phone and use another one. So, in this way you can balance your time with family and work.
• An employer should set SMART goals in their life which stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely.
• The last and important step to maintain work-life balance is to be organized always because we should manage our day properly instead of having the day to manage you.

Components of Work-life Balance

There are six main components of work-life balance as following:

Self-Management

It can be difficult to maintain one’s self properly, particularly to get proper sleep, exercise and food. Self-management is the understanding that it is important to use spaces wisely in our lives and that the money, energy and life available are limited. It means being our own ship’s captain; no one will come for us to guide.

Time Management

Effective time management means making the best use of your day and the tools that can be mobilised to help you–you keep pace as the resources exceed the challenges. Time control is improved by clear priorities and the discernment of what is important and immediate, as opposed to important or urgent. This involves knowing what you are doing best and when and getting together the appropriate tools to support you.

Stress Management

In the period of time, societies tend to become more complex. Stress on the person is inevitable, in front of increasing uncertainty. More people, distractions, and noise require each of us to be able to maintain quietly and work out of situations that are full of pressure. Basically, most ways of multi-tasking raise the pressure as opposed to focusing on one thing at a time.

Leisure Management

The most neglected of the work-life balance that encompasses professions, leisure management recognises the importance of rest and relaxation— that one can not cut recreation, and that ‘time off’ is a critical component of human interaction. Curiously, however fun, too much of the same leisure activity will result in monotony. Good recreational planning thus includes a variety of activities

Technology Management

Good innovation leadership means ensuring that you are served by software rather than abussing you. From the first walking stick, flint, knife, and drum, engineering has always been with us. The rate of change is now rising, fuelled by vendors seeking to expand market share. There is often no alternative but to keep up with the Joneses technologies, but innovation must be regulated, not vice versa.

Change Management

Shift is essentially the only constant in our fast-paced world. Adopting new methods on an ongoing basis and adapting others is key to a successful career and a happy home life. Effective change management involves regular and concerted efforts to ensure that you are not overwhelmed or defeated by the volume and rate of change at work and at home.

Importance of Work-life Balance in Human Resource Management

Work-life balance is about creating and maintaining inclusive and stable work environments so that work and personal responsibilities can be managed, and employee satisfaction and performance can be improved. Today’s employees have many overlapping commitments such as school, youth, housework, fundraising, partner and elderly parent care, and this puts stress on the people, households, and neighbourhoods they live in. Conflict in work and life is a major issue that affects employees, employers and societies. Extended hours of work and highly stressful careers not only hamper the ability to harmonise work and family life but are also associated with health risks such as increased consumption of smoking and alcohol, weight gain and anxiety. There have been many physical and mental health effects associated with work-life dispute.

However, it is very important part of an organization because when employees are balanced, then everything is balanced. A more positive mood develops as stress is controlled and has been shown to help protect physical and mental health. A healthy, satisfied community is becoming more positive and productive. In response to the strategic aim of organization, work-life balance is about creating and maintaining inclusive and stable work environments that will allow for a balance between work and personal responsibility. Employers are increasingly aware of the financial effects of overworked practises such as operational and production expenses, absenteeism, timeliness, dedication and efficiency. There are five main reasons that companies engage in work-life balance programmes: high investment gains, recruitment and retention, policy, expenses, and labour rules. So, in these ways it plays a very important role in HR as well as a company wellness and growth.

Work life can influence organizational productivity and the well being of the employees in different ways. Given below are some of the areas in terms of opportunities and concerns on which work life issues can have an impact:

1. Employee Engagement at Work and Quality of Customer Service

A work-life disparity would adversely affect the workers ‘ full participation in the workforce and hamper the quality of the services provided to consumers. On the other hand, the quality of service will be reliable and consistent if the workers believe that the leadership appreciates their contributions, or their involvement and that the organisation is dedicated to both personal and professional success of the employees.

2. Impact on the Profitability and Growth

Excessive pressure to achieve the goals of efficiency and development creates stress, hampers workers ‘ overall productivity and disturbs their work-life balance. A well-planned and executed work-life balance approach will significantly alleviate the work burden on both the workplace and perceived work pressure, which in effect can encourage productivity for workers and lead to a career. A well-planned and executed work-life balance approach will significantly alleviate career pressure as well as potential workforce stresses, which in turn can positively improve employee productivity and lead to a good return on investment.

3. Rising Cost of Health Care and Medications

A large percentage of workers are faced with lifestyle-related diseases and major health issues due to an increase in the rate of job stress and never changing demands. This has become a serious concern for companies due to rising health care costs and a drastic reduction in the worker productivity rate. Such questions prompted the management to give the importance to work-life balance priorities and creating a healthier workplace by executing many developmental initiatives.

So, I think that Work-life initiatives is not a choice but an imperious component for the management. It is because the staff look forward to the management’s guidance and care about issues related to their work-life.

Steps that I Want to Take in Future to Enhance my Knowledge on this Topic

According to me, I think that Work-life balance is one of the main parts of our life because balance is a key toward success and we should manage our time properly. I want to enhance more knowledge on this topic in future because I need to develop and prioritize realistic goals. By working on this topic, I learnt to manage my time effectively at work when it is difficult and busy as well as I can’t delegate most of my tasks. That’s why I want to learn more about work life balancing so that I can be stress-free and happy in my personal as well as professional life.

Conclusion

Work-life balance is a best elusive ideal and useful in everybody’s life. Through work life balance the individual will feel relaxed and organized as well as the productivity of the person increases which will lead to accomplishing tasks efficiently as well as to attain greater success. It will improve relationships with families and friends. Moreover, there will be better mental and physical health as well as enough leisure time.

Many people these days travel far for work or spend more hours working. Does this trend have more advantages or disadvantages? What do you think about work-life balance?

Model Essay

Long working hours are the norm these days and that is hardly surprising. In this competitive job scenario people are forced to work harder and harder. When people spend more hours working, they get less time for themselves. This is not necessarily a positive development because it can lead to health problems as well as the disruption of families and personal relationships.

For one thing, there is absolutely nothing to prove that long working hours improve productivity. In fact, when people work longer than they should, what happens is that their productivity decreases. They fail to concentrate and take longer to finish jobs. Traveling far for work doesn’t help either. In many major cities people often have to travel several hours to reach their work place. When at last, they reach home braving the traffic and a hard-working day, they have little energy left in them. In addition, studies have proved that people who spend long hours in the office are also more likely to develop major health problems like heart disease and dementia.

We have already seen that long working hours doesn’t necessarily translate into improved productivity. Another problem with this set up is the effect it has on a person’s family and social life. When people spend long hours in the office, they get little time to spend with their dear ones. Parents, who work long hours, often fail to take proper care of their young children. This can be quite a problem in families where both parents work. When children are deprived of the attention they deserve, it will affect their emotional well-being. It can also have a negative impact on their academic performance. In extreme cases, failure to strike a balance between work and life can lead to the breakup of families.

As explained above, long working hours are in nobody’s interest. They don’t improve an individual’s productivity. In fact, they make them less productive. What’s more, when people spend more time in the office, their family life suffers. In other words proper work-life balance is absolutely essential to lead a contented life. It is hoped that companies arrange their working hours in such a way that employees also get some time for themselves.

Abstract

Achieving the balance between work and personal life is becoming increasingly difficult due to the pressure current society has placed on individuals. This paper attempts to define what work/life balance is and identifies the benefits it can bring from both employer and employee perspectives.

It also examines the complications in achieving the balance between work and personal goals and discusses the current trends and solutions organisations have in place for their employees to assist in achieving the balance between work and their life.

In conclusion, the paper makes recommendations for Human resource professionals in implementing success work life balance policies on their organisations to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

Introduction

In today’s competitive society work/life balance is considered important by many. Australian organisations are rapidly looking for ways of making their employee lives well balanced between work and family.

Traditionally employment was considered the means to which you support your private life. Work Life Balance improvement provisions means that employers can now achieve competitive advantage from creating a more symbiotic relationship with a person’s home and work. This results in lower stress in the work place and greater enjoyment in the home (Guest, 2002). This causes the improvement in employee performance in the work place and positive public image for the organisations

Everyone is looking for perfect balance in life as this can be the key to a healthy living. Reaching the top of the corporate ladder rapidly by sacrificing quality family time and working too much can have a heavy negative impact on family life. However in today’s competitive world, one has to concentrate on improving professional career to be able to financially support his family.

Due to the current skill shortages faced by both Australia and New Zealand and the prospect of an ageing workforce, it is now imperative for organisations to embrace work/life balance practices to attract and retain talent, not only from traditional sources but also from untapped and diverse social groups (Cohen et al, 2002). These social groups can often demand greater attention to work/life balance: working mothers, mature workers and some minority groups.

It is imperative that organisations ensure that they not just encourage but mandate a practical and workable work/life balance policy, meeting the needs of both the organisation and its employees to stay competitive in market. And importantly, organisations can expose themselves to increasing numbers of dissatisfied and unproductive employees by not providing real opportunity for employee work/life balance. So it is important to realise that creating a work/life policy structure is not enough; development of an organisational culture that supports the use of available policies is also of great importance (Bratton, 2003).

Many organisations are reluctant to implement flexible work conditions due to concerns about the cost implications. Many Work-life balance policies and practices do not have any actual cost implications but rely on a more imaginative approach to everyday working conditions (Hughes et al, 2007). Flexible working arrangements such as flexible working hours, part-time/job share arrangements, unpaid leave; work from home arrangements doesn’t cost organisations much. Areas such as childcare, cares leave and work-life balance counselling can however cost an organisation but its long term benefits and advantages to the organisation far out weights the costs.

This paper explores the many definitions of work/life balance, including the benefits for employers and employees. Further, it outlines the need for work life balance in an organisation and provides recommendations and strategies for developing work/life balance agendas.

What is Work/Life balance?

Life is a balancing act, and it is safe to say that in current fast paced society everyone is constantly looking for the right work/life balance. It is imperative to find the true meaning of work/life balance for both employees and employers. Following chapter is aimed at discussing many definitions of work/life balance attempts to find the most relevant definition.

Defining the Concept

In a broader sense Work/Life balance can be described as the ‘fit’ between multiple roles in a person’s life (McCartney, 2002). Some would say it is the need of all individuals to achieve and maintain the balance between their paid work and their life outside of work (Lockett, 2008)

Although the meaning and definitions vary, work/life balance is generally associated with maintaining an overall sense of harmony in life (Clarke .et al, 2004)

Studies of work/life balance generally consider one’s ability to manage simultaneously the multiple demands of life. Traditionally work/life balance is assumed to involve the devotion of equal amounts of time to paid work and non-work roles. However more recently the concept has been recognised as more complex and has been developed to incorporate additional components.

Following aspects have been studied and measured recently in regards to work/life balance (Greenhaus et al, 2003),

• Amount of time allocated to work and non-work roles, which is known as time balance.
• Level of psychological involvement in to work and non-work roles, which is known as involvement balance.
• Satisfaction balance or the level of satisfaction with work and non-work roles.

This work/life balance Model which includes time, involvement and satisfaction components, facilitates the emerging of an extensive and more inclusive picture.

For example, a person who works only three days a week and spends the rest of the week with their family or friends may be unbalanced in terms of time, but may be highly satisfied with the level of involvement in both work and family (balanced satisfaction) and may also be equally committed to the work and non-work roles (balanced involvement).

Someone who works sixty hours a week might be considered as not having work-life balance in terms of time. However this person might be highly satisfied with their involvement with work (balanced satisfaction).

Someone who doesn’t enjoy their job much but works the normal 37.5 hours a week may have found the balance of time but unbalance in terms of involvement and satisfaction. Hence, work-life balance achievement needs to be considered from multiple perspectives.

Changing Face of Family

In recent times, what used to be known as work-family balance has been replaced by work-life balance due to the growing diversity of the family structure. The concept of family has evolved rapidly in the past few decades to encompass extended families, same-sex relationships, single parents, shared parenting, and a wide range of social communities. So the semantic shift from work-family to work-life to recognise the fact that care of dependent children is no longer the only important non-work related role. Other activities such as sport, study, health and fitness, volunteer work, hobbies or care for elderly also need to be balanced with work. So it is important for human resource professionals to better understand the ‘family’ relationships of their staff and the impact it is going to have on businesses.

Caring for elderly is becoming a growing issue for many employers and employees. Australian companies currently employee about one third of the 600,000 Australians who provide principle care for elderly such as their parents or relatives (Department of Workplace Relations and Small Business, 1998).

Typically, organisations only concentrate on men or women who are married or living with a partner and with children when preparing policies for work/life balance. This should no longer be the case due to aforementioned reasons.

The Employee’s perspective

Job seekers today expect Work-life balance. Life in the 21st Century is increasingly complex with people juggling multiple roles. Therefore employees will consider a job only if it offers flexibility.

Public Policies

In response to economic and cultural trends, many with focus on women and parents with children, a range of public policies supporting work-life balance has been developed. Many government organisations such as State Government of Queensland have developed detailed policies in achieving work-life balance (Department of Justice and Attorney General, 2010)

Legislative reforms such as the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 156, Workers with Family Responsibilities 1981, antidiscrimination and affirmative action legislation and industrial relations changes have also lifted the profile of issues related to work/life balance (Tully, 2005).

In Australia, as a result of these reforms following rules are now in place. (Ministerial Task Force on Work and Family, 2002)

• Mandatory reporting of policies by organisations with more than 100 employees
• Expansion of legal protections to include explicitly those with family responsibilities
• By agreement with the employer, part-time work up to a child’s second birthday

The Australian and New Zealand governments also encourage employers to provide childcare support for staff with families. Provided the contract of employment is not broken, employees in public and private sectors in both Australia and New Zealand are entitled to 12 months’ unpaid maternity leave. After this time, they are entitled to return to the position held before the leave, or to a position of comparable status and salary. Unlike New Zealand, where employed women are entitled to 13 weeks’ government-funded paid maternity leave, Australia has no statutory paid maternity leave.20

The New Zealand Government also supports and partly funds the Equal Employment Opportunities Trust which, among other things, initiates annual Work and Life awards; tracks progress on work and family initiatives within organisations; and promotes the issue through conference speeches and press releases.

The Department of Labour in New Zealand established a Work/Life Balance Project in the last half of 2003, which ran until the middle of 2004. Results from the project showed that many people perceived their work and non-work lives were out of balance (Department of Labour, 2004). One recommendation was government assistance for employers to help them provide work/life balance initiatives.

Family Friendly Benefits

People place high importance on the quality of their personal lives. The common saying “Do not live to work but rather work to live” confirms this. If there is a choice between work and their private lives work will most certainly loose. Employees are now looking to work for organisations where career advancement is not hindered due to one’s family commitments. So they expect support and encouragement from their employers to improve and excel in their personal lives as well as their work commitments.

The Employer’s perspective

In addition to the development of public policies supporting responsibilities outside of paid employment, organisations have increasingly been developing formal policies that attempt to facilitate the work/life nexus. Work/life balance strategies enhance the autonomy of workers in coordinating and integrating the work and non-work aspects of their lives (Felstead et al, 2002).

Three broad types of work/life strategies have been created to help employees balance their work and non-work lives: flexible work options, specialised leave policies and dependent-care benefits (Morgan et al, 1992)

Following are some of the initiatives organisations have implemented in improving work/life balance amongst their staff.

Skill Shortages

Positive Return of investment is the main driver behind an employer’s commitment to invest in work/life balance. Does it really have positives returns? In recent years, organisations increasingly realise that there is a direct relationship between the quality of an employee’s personal and family life and their work quality. Hence there is a valid reason to promote work and family integration.

Australia is heading towards a skills shortage due to its aging population and declining population growth (ABS, 2010). It is anticipated that there will not be enough skilled workers to fill the positions left by retired workers. Also, people caring for elderly in the labour force will increase as a result of this. Following chart shows the population projections for Australia. As you can see elderly population has a trend to grow in coming years.

So it is imperative for business to adopt flexible work /life balance options in their workplaces to attract skilled staff.

Employee retention

Employee retention is a huge challenge faced by many organisations at present. “Employee experience” can be improved by balance work/life policies and can contribute positively in retaining employees. Ernst and Young estimated that the cost of turnover in a client services role averaged 150% of a departing employee’s annual salary (Hewlett et al, 2005).

The turnover cost of an employee is a combination of separation costs, replacement costs and training costs (Bohlander et al, 2004). Due to these huge costs employers are always on the hunt for ways to retain employees within their organisations. The direct correlation between the provision of flexible work options and reduced turnover means that work-life balance is now a strategic Human resource issue.

Company Image

Organisations who have genuine interest in promoting and supporting work-life balance policies often considered good corporate citizens. However an organisation’s keenness to be perceived as a good company may depend on its visibility to public, the nature of their business or the size of the business. Although large organisations might provision flexible work/life options to gain a good public image, small organisations might not do the same due to its low return of investment in a small organisation.

A government organisation might opt to consider flexible work conditions due to their responsibility towards public, but a private organisation which is driven by profit might not consider flexible work conditions to seek approval from public.

Many more advantages

There are many more advantages of implementing flexible work/life options in an organisation. These include and not limited to

• • Better physical and mental health of employees
  • Earlier return to work after maternity leave
  • Reduced absenteeism
  • Improved job satisfaction
  • Reduced turnover
  • Availability of a broader talent pool
  • Loyal employees
  • Retention of skilled aged workers

Many studies have found absenteeism is reduced as a result of flexible work options. Stratex Networks Ltd has confirmed it has reduced absenteeism by 8% and employees averaged only 2.9 sick days as year (Managing Work/Life Balance International, 2004)

Recommendations

Following are some recommendations for flexible work options aimed at providing a better balance between work and life for employees.

• • Management Support for work/life balance is crucial for an organisation to succeed. Having just the policies is not enough.
  • Regular employee surveys can help to understand workers needs and design appropriate policies
  • Assist employees to prioritise their work, otherwise they will think everything is equally important
  • Training of managers and supervisors to understand when their staff is overworked
  • Organise seminars and training for employees to understand the importance of balance between their personal life and work
  • Restrict work to be taken home regularly. This should be the responsibility of the corresponding supervisor, so work gets done in office but not at home.
  • Allow many leave options such a community service leave, pet care
  • Allow work from home, flexitime and sick leave without a doctors certificate
  • Allow children to visit office time to time. It may be a good idea to have a “bring your kid to work” days.
  • Implement the option to work from home while taking care of children or elderly parents.
  • Organise company funded family oriented activities such as family dinners, movie nights or trips to theme parks at least once a year on a weekday.
  • Organisations need to promote work-life balance policies at every opportunity they get. This should not be limited to orientation sessions or to a company handbook.

Conclusion

Work/life balance initiatives have the potential to significantly reduce absenteeism, improve employee morale and retain organisational knowledge and staff, particularly during testing economic times. In today’s global marketplace, as companies aim to reduce costs, it falls to the human resource professional to understand the critical issues of work/life balance and champion work/life programs. Be it employees whose family members and/or friends are called to serve their country, single mothers who are trying to raise their children and take a living, Generation X and Y employees who value their personal time, couples struggling to manage dual-career marriages, or companies losing critical knowledge when employees leave for other opportunities, work/life programs offer a win-win situation for employers and employees.

However developing a work life balance policies is not enough. These need to be practiced and supported especially by the top level managers.

Employee expectations are very high in regards to flexible work conditions at today’s society. So it is imperative for businesses to have highly functional work life balance options to stay competitive and attract the highest skilled staff. Hence many organisations view work/life balance as a human recourse directive with strategic importance.

Organisational culture plays a key role when it comes to work life balance provisions. So an organisation with co-worker and managerial support will excel with carefully created flexible work options. It is apparent that the HR policies in terms of work-life balance mostly concentrate on individuals who have families with small children. Due to the diversity of the concept of family now, work/life balance improvement policies should address every aspect of family such as single parents, shared parents, elderly care and singles.

Finally, we need to adapt a “give and take” philosophy. This means that both employer and employee need to be willing to bend a little. Small compromise will go a long way in achieving perfect harmony between personal and work lives.

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There used to be a time when the domain of work and personal life were clearly distinct. But with globalization becoming the norm of the day the chances of work encroaching into one’s personal life and vice versa has become alarming.

If you think one day you will be lucky enough to get everything set and then relax, you are bound to be disappointed. Life will be always demanding and may not slow up any time soon.  Learning to strike a balance between work and life is an ongoing art. Despite the never ending quest for ‘Work-Life Balance’ it has been cropping in our mind what does it actually mean.

Work–life balance is a broad concept including proper prioritizing between «work» (career and ambition) on the one hand and «life» (health, pleasure, leisure, family and spiritual development) on the other. It is also related to «lifestyle balance» and «life balance».

Sadly, there is no perfect ‘one-size fits all’, balance you are looking for. It is different for each of us because we all have different priorities and different lives. Trying to schedule an equal number of hours for each of your various work and personal activities seems unrealistic and robotic. Life is and should be more fluid than that.

The paradox is that right balance for you today will probably be different tomorrow say when you are single or when you get married, or when you start a new career or are nearing your retirement. Work-life balance is a two-pronged approach. The other prong of work-life balance, which many individuals overlook, relates to what individuals do for themselves.

Similarly, the right work-life balance is different for an MBA aspirant, a graduate, a corporate or a women executive. Our haphazard lifestyle has put us in the paraphrase of “I am running all the time.”

At the core of an effective work-life balance are two key concepts that are relevant to all of us. They are daily achievement and enjoyment. Why do you want a better income, a new house, a good MBA college or a dream job? Achievement and Enjoyment are the front and back of the coin of value in life. Trying to live a one sided life is why so many «successful» people are not nearly as happy as they should be.

Engraining a fuller meaning of these two concepts is like half the battle won to define a positive ‘Work-Life Balance’. Most of us already have a good grasp on the meaning of achievement. But enjoyment is not restricted to simply ha ha. It means pride, satisfaction, happiness, celebration, love, a sense of well being, in a nutshell it means all the joys of living.

Being an MBA aspirant or student you need to know that you have to crack the competitive exams, cope up with the increasing exam pressure, submitting thesis on time as well as taking a good care of your health and enjoying time with your friends.

On the other hand corporate world today has become exceedingly demanding. The changing economic conditions and social demands have changed the nature of work throughout the world. Within the ramped up competition of a 24/7 business cycle, ‘work-life’ balance is becoming unbalanced. The imbalance also has a negative impact in the personal life of working people- increasing number of divorces, infertility due high stress levels, advent of nuclear families etc.

While we strike for a work life balance, we are not merely balancing our profession and family, we are also balancing our mental and status quo and thereby balancing our emotional intelligence, which is the worldly ability to manage you and to handle others. This benefits the company in the long-run.

Similarly, women work force now constitutes a significant percentage of the total work force in any organization today. Women executives have to deal with- running a home, doing daily chores like cooking/cleaning, raising family and handle the tight deadlines at home and work. The society over the years has recognized women’s need to legal and financial independence. But the transition to motherhood still continues to have practical and emotional consequences. It also affects their professional stature when they return to work.

Organizations today to some extent have realized the importance of the employee-work-life balance and its importance in the efficiency of the employees. They can help facilitate work-life balance for their employees through work-life programs and training. In offices also, efforts are being made to provide friendly work atmosphere for the employees by providing all sorts of refreshments available for the employee.

The employees are given the freedom to have their own ways of doing the work. They are given the assignments with deadlines and they can have their own schedule as far as they are meeting the deadlines. Some organizations have gone to the extent of involving the families of the employees by introducing maternity leaves / paternity leaves and various holiday packages and insurance schemes. Organizations now focus on grooming their employees who are now not considered merely a work force but regarded as the ‘Human Capital’ of the organization.

To maintain work-life balance is an arduous task. But still it is within one’s reach, if one follows the simple tips listed here:

1.Plan your agenda: Start your day by taking care of the little things you have to do at home. A little planning is essential. Taking care of home needs in advance will help you to be less tensed during working hours. Strike a work-life balance by evaluating your work-home relationships like listing out the amount of time you are spending at work and home.

2.Organize: Everything in your business should be set up using logical systems so anyone needing anything can find it when they need it.

3.Prioritize ruthlessly: The secret to booking your time effectively boils down to knowing what’s important and what can wait. Ask questions that help you determine the level of urgency.

4.Don’t overbook: Things rarely go according to a prearranged agenda. Don’t try to plan on doing too many things. Assume that only 50% of the things you plan on doing today will actually get done. If you don’t, you’ll just waste valuable time trying to find out why things didn’t happen.

5.Be Productive: Switch on to the work mode when you are at work. Be sure that you shut off the part of the brain that makes you worry about your home life. Remind yourself that it is work time and you need to be most productive.

6.Learn to say no: One of the biggest land mines to effective time management is recognizing you don’t have to agree to everything and with everyone. Use your priority criteria to identify requests that simply aren’t worth your time.

7.Everything is not perfect: Time management isn’t an exact science. Do what you can and enjoy whatever time you spend more pleasantly or productively.

8.Focus on Home Life: While you are enjoying your home life, try to avoid intruding into work life by checking emergency e-mails or answering work- related phone calls. The best way to focus on home life will be crumbled to pieces if you intrude into your work life while at home.

Hence, the concept of ‘Work life balance’ is becoming more and more relevant in a never-dynamic working environment. The role played by the individual is as important as that of the organization in managing this tumultuous see saw. One of the best approaches to this is by the use of one’s emotional intelligence. 

Be sure to remember that striking a work-life balance is a continuous process, rather than a one-shot deal. Work and home life should be balanced. If there is a tilt in the balance there are chances of soaring stress levels.

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