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Work–life balance is the lack of opposition between work and other life roles.[1] It is the state of equilibrium in which demands of personal life, professional life and family life are equal.[2] Work-life balance consists but it is not limited to flexible work arrangements that allow employees to carry out other life programs and practices.[3] The term ‘Work-Life Balance' is recent in origin, as it was first used in UK and US in the late 1970's and 1980's, respectively. Work-life balance is a term commonly used to describe the balance that a working individual needs between time allocated for work and other aspects of life. Areas of life other than work–life can include, but it is not limited to personal interests, family and social or leisure activities. Technological advances have made it possible for work tasks to be accomplished faster due to the use of smartphones, email, video-chat, and other technological software.These technology advances facilitate individuals to work without having a typical '9 to 5 work day[4]

Studies from the London Hazards Centre indicate that work today is more intense than it was a decade ago creating the need for a balance between work and life. Experiencing being over-worked, long working hours and an extreme work environment has proven to affect the overall physical and psychological health of employees and deteriorate family-life.[5] Britain's government recognized this reality and started making an effort to balance the work and home life of its employees by providing alternatives such as being able to use portable electronic equipment to do their jobs from a virtual office, or to work from their actual homes.[6]

According to 2010 National Health Interview Survey Occupational Health Supplement data, 16% of U.S. workers reported difficulty balancing work and family. The findings were more prevalent among workers between 30–44 years old.

18% of Workers with a Bachelor Degree and higher education have difficulties balancing work and life outside of work; compared with workers with a high school diploma or G.E.D which is(16%). Workers without a high school education (15%).[7] The results of workers in industries such as agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting are (9%) had a lower work–family imbalance ratio compared to adult employees in other industries (16%). Among other occupations, a higher prevalence rate of work–family imbalance was found in legal occupations (26%), whereas a lower prevalence rate was observed for workers in office and administrative support (14%).[7]

Role of technology

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According to Bowswell and Olson-Buchanan the recent changes in the work place are due to changes in technology. Greater technological advancements such as portable cellphones, portable computers, e-mail and cell phone have made it possible for employees to work beyond the confinement of their physical office space.[8] This allows employees to answer e-mails and work on deadlines after-hours while not officially "on the job".

Having these technological resources at all times and everywhere increases the likelihood of employees to spend their "free time" or outside of work, family time doing work related tasks. Employees that consider their work roles highly important are more likely to apply all these technological advancements to work while outside of their work domain.[8]

Some theorists suggest that this vague boundary of work and life is a result of technological control.[9] Technological control unfolds from the physical technology provided by an organization".[10] Companies use email and distribute smartphones to enable and encourage their employees to stay connected to the business even when they are not in the office. This type of control, as Barker argues, replaces the more direct, authoritarian control, or simple control, such as managers and bosses. As a result, communication technologies in the temporal and structural aspects of work have changed, defining a "new workplace" in which employees are more connected to the jobs beyond the boundaries of the traditional workday and workplace.[11] The more this boundary is blurred, the higher work-to-life conflict is self-reported by employees.[11] In a review of recent literature looking at the theory of technological control suggests employers and employees often communicate and continue to work during "off hours" or even periods of vacation. This added use of technology creates a confusion as to what the purpose of the technology poses for the individual using it. Questions such as "what is work usage media compared to non-work usage media look like" or "are we working more because it is easier and more accessible or because we want to work more?" [12]

Employee assistance professionals say there are many causes for this situation ranging from personal ambition and the pressure of family obligations to the accelerating pace of technology.[13] According to a recent study for the Center for Work-Life Policy, 1.7 million people in the United States consider their jobs and their work hours excessive because of globalization.[14]

Working from Home

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Technology has also provided the opportunity to work from home rather than from the company's physical office. Working from home is an initiative that arose from from the efforts of improving the work-life balance.[15] One of the ways in which the UK government believes the desired work-life balance can be achieved is by working from home. The idea of working from home started in the UK and the number of people working from home is only increasing. By 2000 it was reported that a quarter of Britain's workforce worked from home at least part time. Working from home can be defined as any paid work that is done primarily from home.[15] Working from home is also known as Telecommuting.

In 2017 it was reported that 8 million people in the US are working from home, that is 5% of the entire US work force. This increase has been in response to the demand for more flexibility work environments. A 2017 report by polling company Gallup found that allowing their employees to work from home decreases employee turnover and increases employee productivity.[16] Trend suggests the type of workers leading the work from home wave are professionals in industries such as finance, designers, computer scientists and other high-skill professionals.[16]

Improving work–life balance

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Responsibility of the employer

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Texas Quick, an expert witness at trials of companies who were accused of overworking their employees, states that "when people get worked beyond their capacity, companies pay the price."[13] Although some employers believe that workers should reduce their own stress by simplifying their lives and making a better effort to care for their health, most experts feel that the chief responsibility for reducing stress should be management.

According to Esther M. Orioli, president of Essi Systems, a stress management consulting firm, "Traditional stress-management programs placed the responsibility of reducing stress on the individual rather than on the organization where it belongs. No matter how healthy individual employees are when they start out, if they work in a dysfunctional system, they’ll burn out."[13]

Work–life balance has been addressed by some employers and has been seen as a benefit to them. Indeed, employees report increased job satisfaction, greater sense of job security, better physical and mental health, reduced levels of job stress and enhanced control of their environment. In fact, work–life balance does not only benefit the employee, but also the organization. Once work–life balance has been introduced to the employee, the organization faces less absenteeism, lateness and staff turnover rates. In addition, there is an increase retention of valuable employees, higher employee loyalty and commitment towards the organization, improved productivity and enhanced organizational image.[17]

In the literature, “work–family policies, family-friendly or family-responsive policies” are practices intended for work and life balances. In fact, “the primary way companies can help facilitate work–life balance for their employees is through work–life practices, that are usually associated with flexible working and reductions in working time or family-friendly policies”.[17] According to Hartel et al., a variety of policies could be implemented to help manage work life balance just as "flexible working hour, job sharing, part-time work, compressed work weeks, parental leave, telecommuting, on-site child care facility".[17]

Studies from Canadian adjunct professor and psychology researcher Yani Likongo demonstrated that sometimes in organizations an idiosyncratic psychological contract is built between the employee and his direct supervisor in order to create an "informal deal" regarding work–life balance. These "deals" support the idea of a constructivist approach including both the employer and the employee, based on a give-and-take situation for both of them.[18]

As of March 2011, paid leave benefits continued to be the most widely available benefit offered by employers in the United States, with paid vacations available to 91 percent of full-time workers in private industry. Access to these benefits, however, varied by employee and establishment characteristics. According to the data from the National Compensation Survey (NCS), paid vacation benefits were available to 37 percent of part-time workers in private industry. These benefits were available to 90 percent of workers earning wages in the highest 10th percent of employees and only to 38 percent of workers in the lowest 10 percent of private industry wage earners. Paid sick leave was available to 75 percent of full-time workers and 27 percent of part-time workers. Access to paid sick leave benefits ranged from 21 percent for the lowest wage category to 87 percent for the highest wage category. These data provide comprehensive measures of compensation cost trends and incidence and provisions of employee benefit plans.[19]

"It is generally only highly skilled workers that can enjoy such benefits as written in their contracts, although many professional fields would not go so far as to discourage workaholic behaviour. Unskilled workers will almost always have to rely on bare minimum legal requirements. The legal requirements are low in many countries, in particular, the United States. In contrast, the European Union has gone quite far in assuring a legal work–life balance framework, for example pertaining to parental leave and the non-discrimination of part-time workers." [20]

According to Stewart Friedman—professor of Management and founding director of the Wharton School’s Leadership Program and of its Work/Life Integration Project—a "one size fits all" mentality in human resources management often perpetuates frustration among employees. "[It’s not an] uncommon problem in many HR areas where, for the sake of equality, there's a standard policy that is implemented in a way that's universally applicable -- [even though] everyone's life is different and everyone needs different things in terms of how to integrate the different pieces. It's got to be customized."[21]

Friedman’s research indicates that the solution lies in approaching the components of work, home, community, and self as a comprehensive system. Instead of taking a zero-sum approach, Friedman’s Total Leadership program teaches professionals how to successfully pursue "four-way wins"—improved performance across all parts of life.

Although employers are offering many opportunities to help their employees balance work and life, these opportunities may be a catch twenty-two for some female employees. Even if the organization offers part-time options, many women will not take advantage of it as this type of arrangement is often seen as "occupational dead end".[22]

Even with the more flexible schedule, working mothers opt not to work part-time because these positions typically receive less interesting and challenging assignments; taking these assignments and working part-time may hinder advancement and growth. Even when the option to work part-time is available, some may not take advantage of it because they do not want to be marginalized.[22] This feeling of marginalization could be a result of not fitting into the "ideal worker" framework (see: Formation of the "ideal worker" and gender differences).

Additionally, some mothers, after returning to work, experience what is called the maternal wall. The maternal wall is experienced in the less desirable assignments given to the returning mothers. It is also a sense that because these women are mothers, they cannot perform as "ideal workers".[22] If an organization is providing means for working mothers and fathers to better balance their work–life commitments, the general organizational norm needs to shift so the "ideal worker" includes those who must manage a home, children, elderly parents, etc.

Corporate Social Responsibility

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Work-life balance practices are institutionalized arrangements that make it easier for employees to manage the often discordant worlds of work and personal life. These practices are part of a company's social responsibility with its stakeholders.[23] These practices can be summarized in three major categories: policies, benefits and services.[24]

The term work-life balance has been neglected by employers since it has been the norm to put pressure on employees in the workplace. In the current business world work-life balance is not only a common term but it ranks as one of the most important workplace aspects second only to compensation.[24] According to research conducted by more than 50,000 Corporate Executive Board members employees who have a better work-life balance tend to work harder than those that don't. These practices result in more productivity and employees reporting higher work satisfaction and company reviews.[24]

The changing global social demands have changed the structure and nature of traditional work practices. Work is not just a matter of necessity or survival but of personal and professional development and family satisfaction. All these factors must balance in order to achieve the best results for both the employer and the employee; this is a characteristic of organizational wisdom. This will engage people to the organization while allowing them to have a balanced life outside of the workplace. This has become an organizational responsibility due to the fact that the demand for flexibility is only increasing and the opposite of it bring dissatisfaction of one of one will impact the other two which is not beneficial for the organization.[24] Executive leaders and Human Resources professionals are recognizing the important of employee engagement or "happiness at work" as a driver of a company's success. Employees that consider the companies they work for invest in them are usually more invested in the success of the organization.

Companies such as Starbucks, Google and Boston Consulting Group who have incorporated these practices as part of their organizations have been recognized by Fortune's 100 Best Companies to work for. Some of the world's best performing organizations understand that creating a work-life balance is a key factor for great business performance outcomes. Work-life balance is a strategic initiative for engaged employees that produce business growth.[24]

See also

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References

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Further reading

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Notes

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  1. ^ Frone, Michael R. (2003), "Work-family balance.", Handbook of occupational health psychology., American Psychological Association, pp. 143–162, ISBN 1557989273, retrieved 2019-04-02
  2. ^ work/life balance is an issue for all employees and all organizations.”31 Work-life balances. (2002). the Word Spy
  3. ^ "Ezproxy | FIU Libraries". login.ezproxy.fiu.edu. Retrieved 2019-04-02.
  4. ^ Delecta, P (2011). "Work Life Balance". International Journal of Current Research. 3: 186–189.
  5. ^ Felstead, Alan; Jewson, Nick; Phizacklea, Annie; Walters, Sally (2002). "Opportunities to work at home in the context of work-life balance". Human Resource Management Journal. 12 (1): 54–76. doi:10.1111/j.1748-8583.2002.tb00057.x. ISSN 1748-8583.
  6. ^ Hill, E. Jeffrey; Miller, Brent C.; Weiner, Sara P.; Colihan, Joe (1998). "Influences of the Virtual Office on Aspects of Work and Work/Life Balance". Personnel Psychology. 51 (3): 667–683. doi:10.1111/j.1744-6570.1998.tb00256.x. ISSN 1744-6570.
  7. ^ a b Alterman, T; Luckhaupt, SE; Dahlhamer, JM; Ward, BW; Calvert, GM (June 2013). "Job insecurity, work–family imbalance, and hostile work environment: Prevalence data from the 2010 National Health Interview Survey". Am J Ind Med. 56 (6): 660–669. doi:10.1002/ajim.22123. PMID 23023603.
  8. ^ a b "Work Life | Work–Life Balance | Behavioural Sciences". Scribd. Retrieved 2019-04-18.
  9. ^ Barker, James. "Tightening the Iron Cage: Concertive Control in Self-Managing Teams." Administrative Science Quarterly 38 (1993):408-37
  10. ^ Barker, James. "Tightening the Iron Cage: Concertive Control in Self-Managing Teams." Administrative Science Quarterly 38 (1993): 408-37.
  11. ^ a b Boswell, W. R.; Olson-Buchanan, J. B. (2007). "The Use of Communication Technologies After Hours: The Role of Work Attitudes and Work-Life Conflict". Journal of Management. 33 (4): 592. doi:10.1177/0149206307302552.
  12. ^ Duxbury L., Smart R. (2010). "The "Myth of Separate Worlds": An Exploration of How Mobile Technology has Redefined Work-Life Balance". Creating Balance?!: 269–284.
  13. ^ a b c Are Americans working themselves to a frazzle? at the Wayback Machine (archived March 4, 2014) The CQ Researcher Online
  14. ^ Rawling, Paul (2016). Core Topics in Operating Department Practice, Leadership and Management. ISBN 9781467231732.
  15. ^ a b Crosbie, Tracey & Moore, Jeanne. (2004). Work-Life Balance and Working from Home. Social Policy and Society. 3. 223-233. 10.1017/S1474746404001733.
  16. ^ a b Kopf, Dan; Kopf, Dan. "Slowly but surely, working at home is becoming more common". Quartz at Work. Retrieved 2019-04-18.
  17. ^ a b c Ford, Michael T.; Heinen, Beth A.; Langkamer, Krista L. (2007). "Work and family satisfaction and conflict: A meta-analysis of cross-domain relations". Journal of Applied Psychology. 92 (1): 57–80. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.92.1.57. PMID 17227151.
  18. ^ https://politique.uqam.ca/upload/files/POL4801-30-A15-Likongo.pdf
  19. ^ http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ebs2.pdf
  20. ^ Aluvala, Ravi (2014). Managing Human Resources in Global Era - Prospects & Challenges. pp. 153–154. ISBN 9788192681931.
  21. ^ "Four-way Win: How to Integrate Work, Home, Community and Self - Knowledge@Wharton". Knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu. Retrieved 2013-04-26.
  22. ^ a b c Williams, J. (2000). Unbending gender: Why family and work conflict and what to do about it. New York, NY: Oxford University Press
  23. ^ ASIAN JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT RESEARCH Online Open Access publishing platform for Management Research. ISBN ISSN 2229 – 3795. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
  24. ^ a b c d e Work‐Life Balance – a Social Responsibility-Dr. J.Arpankumar
  25. ^ "Finding Time. The Economics of Work-Life Conflict". Harvard University Press. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
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