Article 8. WORK LIFE BALANCE

   EMPLOYEE WORK LIFE BALANCE

 

 
 
  INTRODUCTION

           The topic of Work Life Balance (WLB) is becoming much aroused area of interest among many corporate sectors in the country today. This is commonly defined as the ‘individual’s ability, irrespective of age and gender, to find a life rhythm that allows individuals to combine their work with other responsibilities, activities or aspirations’ (Feldstead, Jewson, Phizacklea and Walter 2002). People experience a conflict with themselves when they cannot find balance between their work and non-working life.  Work-family research has generally been dominated by the study of family and work role interference. However, work and family role enhancement studies seem to be growing in recent years (Grzywacz & Marks, 2000). Work and family role interference suggests that responsibilities in separate domains such as work and family compete in terms of limited time, psychological resources and physical energy, which leads to negative outcomes in both areas (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985). In contrast, work and family role enhancement suggests that participation in multiple roles can lead to better functioning in other life domains (Barnett & Rivers, 1996).

 

 

 Theories on Work Life Balance (WLB)

Work-life balance is significant measure for individuals’ successfulness, organizations’ performance and as a function of society (Grady et al., 2008). There are totally different beliefs on however work-life balance ought to be outlined, measured and researched in Work-life balance. This completely different terms are employed by different researchers whereas relating ‘work-life balance’.

Clark (2000) argues that keeping work and family lives separate allows the management of labour and family borders; but, integration of labour and family lives eases transitions between those two domains. Every of those two approaches can improve doctors’ well-being; this but is influenced by individuals’ preferences in terms of separation or integration. Clark (2000) found that higher flexibility and lower porousness/penetrable between work and family domains may end up in lower work-family conflict. This once more depends on individuals’ preferences concerning segmentation and integration. Analysis conducted by Hill, Hawkins and Miller (1996) shows that high integration of work and family domains can lead to negative consequences, as high flexibility can blur the boundaries between those two domains. Flexible, integrative work-family arrangements will improve WLB by enabling workers to pay longer with their family. At the identical time, once these integration arrangements are therefore high that they blur work-family boundaries, they will worsen WLB and cause higher work-family conflict, higher discontentedness with work and family life, and better levels of stress or depression (Clark, 2000; Hill et al, 1996).

 Barnett & Hyde, 2001 state that the term ‘work-life balance’ is additional acknowledge and includes “family, community, recreation and private time”. As explicit by them WLB in its broad sense captures all aspects of employees ’ personal and work life; this means that WLB ought to be cantered on people, families, workplaces, communities, and society as a full.

The literature indicates many WLB definitions. for example, Clark (2000) describes WLB as “satisfaction and smart engaging at work and reception, with a minimum of role conflict”. Further they state that WLB is associate “equilibrium or maintaining overall sense of harmony in life”. Greenhaus et al. (2003: 511) outline WLB as “the quantity of their time and also the degree of satisfaction with the work and family role” presents a four-fold taxonomy of work-life balance, within which WLB is delineate as “low levels of inter-role conflict and high levels of inter-role facilitation”. Grzywacz associated Carlson (2007) believe that WLB is an “accomplishment of role-related expectations that are negotiated and shared between a private and his/her role-related partners within the work and family domains”.

 

  Work-life balance and economic changes

 The recent crisis inflated competition and evolving technology have place pressure on organizations to perform, and on workers to extend their productivity Organizations to these powerful economic scales by cutting expenditure, decreasing workers levels and increasing workloads for remaining workers (O’Connell et al., 2010). The successfulness of doctors who unbroken their employment will be negatively stricken by job insecurity (Scherer, 2009).  Several people feel struggling to figure longer hours to stay their jobs (Wayman, 2010), and to fulfil their family expenses (Edwards & Rothbard, 2000). Higher demands on doctors’ duties and longer operating hours cut back the time doctors should pay with their families (Hill, 2005).  Heavier work demands directed by workers conjointly end in higher levels of stress, that negatively impacts workers’ physical and psychological successfulness (Malik, McKie, Beattie & Hogg, 2010). Grady et al. (2008) and Burke (2000) argue that organizations and managers must perceive the importance of WLB, its impact on doctors’ successfulness, and the effects it's on organizations productivity and performance.

 

 
   Work-life balance and demographics changes

 Over the previous couple of decades, world demographic changes like associate fluctuated participation of female within the men, two-income households, single-parent families and eldercare have resulted in inflated challenges moon-faced by doctors  who tried to balance demands of labour and family life (Tennant & inventor, 2003; Young, 1999). These challenges and better demands from work and family life are found to own negative effects on the successfulness of doctors and their families (Hochschild, 1997), and resulted in family-work conflicts and work- family conflicts.

  (Aryee, Srinivas & Tan, 2005).The labour force has knowledgeable about a major increase in feminine doctors and two-income households (Grady et al., 2008; Hilliard, 2007).  In step with CSO (2012) in 2011, 46.7% of these in Irish employment were girls. Hilliard (2007) combine noticed that within the past three decades, their knowledgeable about a major increase in feminine doctors staying within the paid men once obtaining married or returning to figure once having kids. This might be caused by dynamic attitudes of Irish people towards the standard read of men being breadwinners and girls being housewives taking care of kids (Hilliard, 2007).

 Research shows that married girls appear to figure fewer hours than married men. Fine-Davis, Fagnani, Giovannini, Hojgaard and Clarke (2004) found that in fathers worked weekly forty-five (45) hours and mothers worked thirty-two (32) hours. Recent statistics show that in 2011, 14.7% of married girls worked forty hours or additional per week, compared with 45%.5% of married men (CSO, 2012). Fine-Davis, McCarthy, Edge and O'Dwyer (2005) argue that men do not contribute the maximum amount time to home activities and child care as girls, thence WLB initiatives appear to be used usually by girls than by men.

 

CONSEQUENCES OF WORK-LIFE BALANCE AND WORK-LIFE IMBALANCE

 

Various studies conducted within the USA and the UK show that one in all the foremost common consequences of work-life imbalance is depression, resulting in cut productivity and better absence (Layous, Chancellor, Lyubomirsky, Wang & Doraiswamy, 2011; Seligman, 2011). Low level of WLB may cause workers experiencing low morale and better absence (Brought, O’Driscoll & Kalliath, 2005), and organizations experiencing higher workers turnover, lower productivity and poorer work quality (Seligman, 2011; Hill, 2005).

Research conducted by leader et al. (2010) shows that unbalanced work-family life caused by inflated work demands results in higher levels of stress. Stress caused by higher demands from work ends up in family-work conflicts and work- family conflicts (Aryee et al., 2005). This has negative impacts not solely on the successfulness of doctors however combined on their families (Hochschild, 1997), because it will increase anxiety of people at work and reception (Doby & Caplan, 1995), and results in lower quality relationships with relations (e.g. relation or children) (Parasuraman & Greenhaus, 2002). Inflated work demands like overtime and shift work might cause work-family conflict, which may end in cut satisfaction with work and with the leader (Paton, Jackson & Johnson, 2003). Therefore, work-related stress features a negative impact on workers, organizations, families and society (Brought & O’Driscoll, 2005; Parasuraman & Greenhaus, 2002).

       

CONCLUSION

WLB is significant for individuals’ successfulness, organizations’ performance and a functioning society (Grady et al., 2008). Family and work are the foremost necessary components of everyone’s life. Any competitive demands of labour and family life cause conflict and negatively influence the successfulness of doctors (Clark, 2000; Frone, 2000). Findings from the literature review show that conflicts caused by interference between work and family activities cause lower family life satisfaction and work satisfaction (e.g. Parasuraman & Greenhaus, 2002), and are negatively associated with WLB (Kalliath & Monroe, 2009). Therefore, smart WLB and successfulness will be achieved once there's no role conflict, and once folks are glad about their work and family roles (Clark, 2000).

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