Work-Life Balance in HRM

Work-life balance has always been a concern of those interested in the quality of working life
and its relation to broader quality of life.

In the early days of the industrial revolution in Europe (and today in some parts of the
developing world) a primary concern was with the impact of child labour.
Yet work-life balance has come to the fore in contemporary debates largely because in
affluent societies the excessive demands of work are perceived to present a distinctive issue
that needs to be addressed.

Work-life balance is a form of metaphor. In the English language “balance” is a complex

word with a variety of meanings. As a noun, a balance is a set of scales, a weighing
apparatus; it is also the regulating gear in clocks.

If we use the scales, then balance occurs when there is “an equal distribution of weight or
amount” but this presents problems for work-life balance since both sides may be very heavy
or very light.

Work-family conflict and time pressure had a stronger effect than other stressors such as
leader relations and job insecurity.
However this affected each partner independently and did not spill over into the marital
satisfaction of the other partner.

What is Work-Life Balance?

Work-life balance has always been a concern of those interested in the quality of working life
and its relation to broader quality of life. In the early days of the industrial revolution in
Europe (and today in some parts of the developing world) a primary concern was with the
impact of child labour. Yet work-life balance has come to the fore in contemporary debates
largely because in affluent societies the excessive demands of work are perceived to present a
distinctive issue that needs to be addressed.

In the community, there is growing concern that the quality of home and community life is
deteriorating. There are various explanations for this associated with affluence, the growth of
single parent families, the privatization of family life and the lack of local resources and
facilities. In addition, the pressures and demands of work reflected both in longer hours, more
exhaustion and the growth of evening and weekend work leave less scope for “quality”
family time.
The consequences include increases in juvenile crime, more drug abuse, a reduction in care of
the community and in community participation and less willingness to take responsibility for
care of elderly relatives and for the disadvantaged. While steps to redress these concerns
transcend work and employment, it is nevertheless argued that the demands of work
contribute to a reduced participation in non-work activities resulting in an imbalance.
Much of the general analysis about the causes and consequences of work-life imbalance is
speculative and based on limited convincing evidence. We need to learn more in particular
about the consequences of imbalance on family and community and on changing values
among younger workers. It is also notable that debates about work-life balance often occur
without any clear and consistent definition of what we mean by work-life balance.

Work-Life Balance – Meaning

Work-life balance is a form of metaphor. In the English language “balance” is a complex
word with a variety of meanings. As a noun, a balance is a set of scales, a weighing
apparatus; it is also the regulating gear in clocks. If we use the scales, then balance occurs
when there is “an equal distribution of weight or amount” but this presents problems for
work-life balance since both sides may be very heavy or very light.
Furthermore, the type of work-life balance sought by many may not imply equal weight on
both sides. However balance also has a physical and psychological meaning as “stability of
body or mind” so that suicide is sometimes officially recorded as taking one’s life “while the
balance of the mind was disturbed”.
In much of the debate about work-life balance, there is a loose use of language. Ideally, we
should define work and life carefully. On the other hand, it is partly the blurring of the
distinctions and the borders between them that has stimulated interest in the topic. In simple
terms, “work” is normally conceived of in this context as including paid employment while
“life” includes activities outside work. An important part of the policy debate has concerned
the importance of family-friendly policies while leaving unclearly specified what is meant by
the family.
In the face of these challenges, we need to find ways of operationalising and measuring work-
life balance. An initial definition might take the form of “sufficient time to meet
commitments at both home and work”. In his review of the subject area, O’Driscoll (1996)
identifies research on work and life satisfaction, on well-being, mental health and physical
health and on individual performance in organizations.
More sophisticated research typically starts from a particular model of the family. For
example- there is a large body of research on women’s careers that explores the consequences
of various types of family commitment. Similarly, there is extensive research on dual career
families. Such studies usually take into account the demands and rewards in both the
workplace and the home.
A typical example can be found in the work of Mauno and Kinnunen (1999) who report a
Finnish study of 215 dual earning couples in which they explored the impact of a range of
work stressors on marital satisfaction. One of the stressors was work-family conflict. Using
structural equation modelling, they found that most of the stressors spilled over into marital
satisfaction via job exhaustion and its impact on psychosomatic health.
Work-family conflict and time pressure had a stronger effect than other stressors such as
leader relations and job insecurity. However this affected each partner independently and did
not spill over into the marital satisfaction of the other partner. In other words, the women
partner may have experienced work-family conflict; this had an impact on exhaustion and
health which in turn had a negative impact on her marital satisfaction but despite this work
spill over, the study detected no marital spill over from the satisfaction of one partner to the
other.
Work Life Balance is defined as a means of flexible working or flexible leave available to
employees. These arrangements may be in addition to statutory entitlements and are generally
granted to the employee to accommodate their needs outside of the workplace.
Work life balance also describes the relationship between your work and the commitments in
the rest of your life, and how they impact on one another.
Employers, employees and government want to maximize participation in the workforce.
However, in our demanding lives many people struggle to balance work and the
responsibilities of caring for children, family members with a disability or elderly parents.
For other workers it’s often difficult to find time outside work for study, volunteering, taking
care of their own health or participating in sport and recreation.
There is no ideal work life balance; everyone is different and the ‘right’ balance may alter
over time as families grow older and personal commitments change. Having options about
how work is organized makes managing work and life demands possible by allowing
employees to work in non-traditional work patterns and locations that better fit their personal
commitments. Overall quality of life improves and businesses also benefit from employees’
higher morale and commitment.
For employers the capacity to negotiate flexible work arrangements provides an antidote to
loss of skills and experience and the high cost of recruitment and retention in a competitive
labour market. Employers who provide flexible work options immediately gain a competitive
edge in the labour market by becoming ’employers of choice.’

Work-Life Balance – Definitions

Kirchmeyer views living a balanced life as “achieving satisfying experiences in all life
domains, and to do so requires personal resources such as energy, time, and commitment to
be well distributed across domains”. Clark views work-family balance as “satisfaction and
good functioning at work and at home with a minimum of role conflict”. According to
Kofodimos, balance refers to “a satisfying, healthy, and productive life that includes work,
play, and love”.
These definitions of balance tend to have some common elements. First is the notion of
equality, or near-equality, between experiences in the work role and experiences in the family
role. Clark (2000), Kirchmeyer (2000), and Kofodimos (1993) imply similarly high levels of
satisfaction, functioning, health, or effectiveness across multiple roles.
The definitions of work-family balance implicitly consider two components of equality-
inputs and outcomes. The inputs are the personal resources that are applied to each role. To
be balanced is to approach each role – work and family – with an approximately equal level
of attention, time, involvement, or commitment.
The second component of balance refers to the resultant outcomes that are experienced in
work and family roles. One outcome frequently included in definitions of balance is
satisfaction. Positive balance implies an equally high level of satisfaction with work and
family roles, and negative balance suggests an equally low level of satisfaction with each
role.
A comprehensive definition of Work Family Balance (WFB) was offered by Greenhaus,
Collins & Shaw (2003), as “the extent to which an individual’s effectiveness and satisfaction
in work and family roles are compatible with the individual’s life priorities”. Thus, WFB is
an area of research that investigates whether the satisfaction that one experiences at work is
in part affected by the satisfaction that one experiences in non-work and vice versa.
Greenhaus and colleagues further explain WFB as “a 50/50 balance between work and family
with respect to amount of time, involvement, and satisfaction”.
Time balance refers to spending an equal amount of time on work and family roles.
Involvement balance involves being psychologically involved in work and family roles to the
same extent. Satisfaction balance occurs when an individual is equally satisfied with their
work and family roles.
Some researchers found limitations in this approach. Firstly, not all individuals may desire a
50/ 50 balance between their work and family lives. Secondly, the term ‘family’ restricted the
scope, in the sense that as the era of globalization began; younger, single individuals began to
enter the work force upon whom no one was dependent.
Thus, some researchers suggested that the term ‘personal life’ should be used so that the
experiences of non- married or single individuals, or childfree individuals, are considered.
This change in conceptualization also allowed other non-family activities, such as leisure
time and friendships, which are undoubtedly important to many individuals, to be taken into
account.
Thus was formed the concept of Work Life Balance (WLB). WLB means different things to
different people and different things at different stages of life. It is the equilibrium between
the amount of time and effort somebody devotes to work and to other aspects of life. Work-
life balance is about the interaction between paid work and other activities, including unpaid
work in families and the community, leisure, and personal development.
Conrad (1990) defines balancing work and life as the “successful orchestration of career,
family, recreation, studies, hobbies and other commitments that promotes a sense of self-
actualization”. The ability to make choices and find something that can be enjoyed doing as a
career will enhance the probability of establishing a balance between life and work.
Owen, Heck & Rowe (1995) explain that WLB refers to “families or individuals who
combine lifestyle, well-being and income generating work under the same roof”. Good WLB
is defined as a situation in which workers feel that they are capable of balancing their work
and non- work commitments.
The term Work Life Balance was coined in 1986, although its usage in everyday language
was sporadic for a number of years. Research shows that WLB programs existed as early as
1930s. Bird (2006) observed that during the 1960s and 1970s, employers considered work-
life mainly an issue for working mothers who struggled with the demands of their jobs and
raising children.
The 1980s, saw the then leading organizations recognize the value and needs of their women
contributors, and begin to change their internal workplace policies, procedures, and benefits.
This period was also marked by men beginning to voice their work-life concerns. By the end
of the decade, work-life balance was seen as more than just a women’s issue, affecting men,
families, organizations and cultures.
The 1990s solidified the recognition of work-life balance as a vital issue for everyone –
women, men, parents and non-parents, singles, and couples. Data suggested that both
physical and psychological well-being of a person were affected whenever an individual’s
life was out of balance, when too much time and energy was invested in one sphere.
Most research and theory related to WFB/WLB actually concentrates on the effects of a lack
of balance. These effects are often discussed in terms of the stress created by conflicting
demands between work and non-work activities. Another way to say this is that the
satisfaction that one experiences at work is in part affected by the satisfaction that one
experiences in non-work and vice versa, particularly to the extent that one environment has
demands that conflict with the other.
Work-life conflict is defined as “A form of inter-role conflict in which work and family
demands are mutually incompatible, meeting demands of both the domains is difficult”.
Thus, so far it can be said that Work Life Balance is a broader version of Work Family
Balance and Work Family Conflict (WFC) or Work Life Conflict (WLC), its exact opposite.
Hence, it is said that WFB is, in essence, the absence of WFC.
Work-Life Balance – Need
Effective work-life balance policies are valuable to businesses and organizations for
a number of reasons, including:
i. Reduced staff turnover rates
ii. Becoming a good employer or an employer of choice
iii. Increased return on investment in training as employees stay longer
iv. Reduced absenteeism and sick leave
v. Improved morale or satisfaction
vi. Greater staff loyalty and commitment
vii. Improved productivity.
Work and life demands need to be balanced in view of the following reasons:
i. Increased competition due to globalisation, liberalisation and privatisation enhanced work
pressures on employees;
ii. Increase in stress levels of employees due to high demands of jobs in terms of targets, high
productivity, high quality, customisation and better customer relationship management;
iii. Increase in personal ambitions for higher level salary, status and power;
iv. Increase in pressure of family obligations to the accelerating pace of living standards;
v. High performance culture eroded the long-term loyalty and a “sense of corporate
community;
vi. Managements expect more and more from their employees yet offers little security in
return;
vii. Job targets and attractive performance-based pay results in spending of more than 18
hours a day by employees on the job and neglecting the normal family life including
interpersonal and sexual relationships.

Work-Life Balance – Traditional Perspectives

Work-life balance reflects “the extent to which an individual is equally engaged in – and
Equally satisfied with – his or her work role and family role”. According to Clark (2000)
work life balance is defined as, “satisfaction and good functioning at work and at home with
a minimum of role conflict”. Guest (2001) gives a more subjective definition of work life
balance, as “a person’s perceived balance between work and the rest of life”.
There are several types of conceptual models to explain the relationship between work and
family or personal life have been proposed, and they represent different perspectives on how
we fill both work and family. Zedeck and Mosier (1990) and O’Driscoll (1996) note that
there are typically five main models used to explain the relationship between work and life
outside work. The segmentation model hypothesizes that work and non-work are two distinct
domains of life that are lived quite separately and have no influence on each other; spill over
model hypothesizes that one world can influence the other in either a positive or negative
way.
A compensation model which proposes that what may be lacking in one sphere, in terms of
demands or satisfactions can be made up in the other; Instrumental model whereby activities
in one sphere facilitate success in the other and Conflict model proposes that with high levels
of demand in all spheres of life, some difficult choices have to be made and some conflicts
and possibly some significant overload on an individual occur.
Different methodologies were used by the researchers to examine how increased work
overload of layoff survivors relates to their work-life balance and job and life satisfaction.
The study found that employees experience higher levels of workload which impact overall
role overload that negatively affects work-life balance. Another survey was conducted to
check that happy employees have a good work life balance stated that flexible working helps
to keep the staff motivated.

Work-Life Balance – Importance

It stands established that jobs affect and create stress in the personal lives of the job holders.
The pressures of work or personal lives can lead to stress. It has been found that stressful
situations can take a toll on a person’s health, both physiologically and psychologically.
Pressure, stress, or tension in work life can also lead to bad social life and vice versa.
Employees should maintain a healthy balance between work and their private lives.
Maintaining this balance can help them achieve their personal goals, professional goals, and
organizational goals smoothly. Programmes to support work-life balance fall into categories
of alternative work arrangements, benefits, support programs, and health programs.
Contextually, Sekar (2009) quotes Bryan Dyson, the Chief Executive Officer of Coca Cola –
‘Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name
them—work, family, health, friends and spirit. You are keeping all of these in the air. You
will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. However,
the other four balls—family, health, friends, and spirit—are made of glass. If you drop one of
these; they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged, or even shattered. They
will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for balance in your life.’
Work-life balance does not necessarily mean an equal balance. Trying to schedule an equal
number of hours for each one’s work and personal activities can never be rewarding or
realistic. Life is and should be more fluid than that.
The best individual work-life balance of any person varies over time, and often on a day-to-
day basis. Today’s right balance will probably be different from tomorrow’s. Again, the right
balance for a person also differs before and after marriage, childbirth, starting a new career,
and retirement. Thus, work-life balance varies with time, marital status, number of children,
stage of one’s career, and is person specific. There cannot be any perfect and one-size work-
life balance that fits all.
Work-life balance does not mean an equal sharing of time between work and personal life.
Two terms—achievement and enjoyment—play a dominant role in balancing the two.
Striking a balance between professional and personal priority is a big challenge for an
employee in today’s world, which is characterized by high competition, advanced
technology, fast pace, and commercialization in every aspect of life. An employee’s personal
and professional wellbeing is fully dependent on how well he balances his work and life.
Employers cannot afford to neglect this aspect in their own interest of getting maximum
return on their investment on employees.

Work-Life Balance – Among Men and Women, Gender Differences and The Work
Home Interface
For many employees today both male and female their lives are becoming more consumed
with a host of family and other personal responsibilities and interests. Therefore, in an effort
to retain employees, it is increasingly important for organizations to recognize this balance.
According to Sylvia Hewlett, president of the Center for Work-Life Policy, if a woman takes
time off to care for children or an older parent, employers tend to “see these people as less
than fully committed. It’s as though their identity is transformed.”
Research conducted by the Kenexa Research Institute (KRI), a division of Kenexa, evaluated
how male and female workers perceive work-life balance and found that women are more
positive than men in how they perceive their company’s efforts to help them balance work
and life responsibilities. The report is based on the analysis of data drawn from a
representative sample of 10,000 U.S. workers who were surveyed through Work Trends,
KRI’s annual survey of worker opinions.
The results indicated a shift in women’s perceptions about work-life balance. In the past,
women often found it more difficult to maintain balance due to the competing pressures at
work and demands at home.
Women spend more time feeling tense and worried at work than their male colleagues, a new
in- depth study into workplace relations shows. The research by experts from Kingston
University’s School of Human Resource Management found women were less likely than
men to be relaxed and calm in the workplace, but still tended to be more satisfied with their
job.
One possible explanation for the anxiety women reported could be down to the fact that 29
per cent of those surveyed said they had encountered some form of bullying or harassment at
work. Dr. Soane said. Men on the other hand had experienced less bullying with just 19 per
cent saying it was a problem. Despite women feeling less relaxed in the office, overall the
study showed there were no significant differences between men and women’s experiences of
stress at work.
The study also showed women tended to fare better in their appraisals and were more
passionate about their work. They also felt more positive about their senior management team
than men, with 41 per cent of women questioned saying they had confidence in their senior
managers, compared to 34 per cent of men.
Female workers also reported a number of other positive aspects about their jobs. Women
worked shorter hours, with 44 per cent of women contracted to work fewer than 35 hours per
week compared with 18 per cent of men. Female workers were also happier with their work-
life balance and felt they got more support to work flexible hours than their male
counterparts.
A total of 58 per cent of women surveyed said they were happy with their work-life balance,
compared to 52 per cent of men. This is probably a reflection of the fact that employers have
made some changes to make it easier for women to work shorter or more flexible hours, but
this has not yet filtered through to men.
Work life balance is the boundary that you create between your profession, career, or
business and every other segment that makes up your life. It is the separation between your
work life and your personal life. Aside from your career, these segments include your family,
personal growth, spirituality, fitness and health, and community and friendships.
Once you begin to establish healthy boundaries between your work life and your personal
life, you begin to feel more fulfillment and personal satisfaction. This happens as a result of
your own state of wellness. Your mental state becomes much more confident, clear, and
decisive because you are well-rounded and balanced.
By having a clear and consistent separation between your job and the other segments of your
life, you enable yourself to truly be present in each realm of your life. You no longer worry
about work projects while at home and do not worry about things you need to do at home
while at the office.
This allows you to be sharper, more efficient, and better-focused. It also enables you to use
your time more efficiently, be more effective with your communication, task completion, and
decision making, and to enjoy your time at work much more than ever before.
Work life balance plays a huge role in determining whether a person will reach career
advancement. This has been proven by studies and statistics. The studies on work life balance
are truly impressive and have been eye-opening to many employers.
Gender Differences and the Work Home Interface:
Another important research perspective within the work-family literature has focused on
gender differences. Gender has been found to affect career advancement, perhaps through
differential access to valuable work networks, work and family time investment, work-family
conflict and roles stress, and strategies for managing the work-family interface. These gender
differences may due to gender role socialization and different opportunity structure for men
and women, which can lead men and women to have different psychological experiences of
work and family roles.
Men and women have different perceptions of their work roles. Women’s perceptions of their
work role often shaped by barriers to career advancement, compensation and networking
opportunities. Such barriers start with sex typing of jobs and persist with differential access to
development opportunities such as international assignments.
Gender differences also exist in the ways that participation in work and family roles affects
one another. For example- Tenbrunsel et al. (1995) found that, unexpectedly, men’s work
involvement increased their family involvement, but that women’s work involvement had no
effect on their family involvement. Rothboard and Edwards (2003) found that family time
investment decreased work time investment for women but did not affect work time
investment for men.
Men and women also differ in the ways they manage the boundary between work and family
roles, whereas women tend to integrate these roles. This gender difference in management of
the boundary between work and family is thought to stem from differences in mental models
men and women have about work and family roles, as well as from different societal
expectations regarding how men and women ought to handle work and family roles.
Although much research has found gender differences in work-family relationships, it is
important to note that some researchers have not found these differences. For example- Frone
et al. (1992) did not find significant gender differences in the antecedents and outcomes of
work-family conflict. Likewise, Frone et al. (1992) did not find gender differences in the
permeability of the work-home boundary. Further, Anderson et al. (2002) did not find
differences between men and women in the experience of work-family conflict.
Balancing is harder for men also than it was once. The men in the study came to realize that
the tide toward their privileged status has turned both at work and home.
Job demands have gone up, especially for assistant professors. The quantity of publications
and presentations required for tenure has risen dramatically. Men report working harder than
before. Some wonder if they have grown less efficient as they have grown older.
Male faculty at every stage of career agrees that senior professors are better positioned for
work/ life balance than their junior colleagues. Assistant professors see themselves as
carrying undue burdens as a result of changing rules, rewards and definitions of academic
success.
Meanwhile on the home front, men are doing more housework as their partners take full-time
jobs. The old clear-cut division of labor has yielded to a more participatory model. Some
divide tasks by who enjoys what instead of traditional gender roles. Accurately or not, many
of the early- career men see themselves as equal partners at home.
Husband and father are important parts of their identities. In addition to helping meet
practical needs, they value their role in the family. They want to be there for their children in
a way some of their fathers were not for them.

Work-Life Balance – Measures to be Taken by Employers and Employees

Work-life balance means a harmonious poise of work and family life. It permits an employee
to discharge all the roles in his/her life successfully and proficiently. Research in this field
has proved that employees are at their best when they are satisfied and motivated both at
work and at home.
Attaining a work-life balance is not as simple as it seems. In the corporate world, change is
invariably impending. The impact of globalization has further stimulated these changes. The
corporate world is symbolic of uncertainties, too many responsibilities, and long work hours.
These changes in the environment upset the balance between domestic and work-life of
employees. The increasing competition and demands of society further adds fuel to intensify
the situation. All this adds up to burnout.
Achieving a work-life balance benefits both employers and employees. While the employers
get the advantage of industrious and active employees, the employees feel protected and
loyal. It also improves self-assurance, attentiveness, self-worth, and allegiance among the
employees.
To build up knowledge of the significance of work-life balance in employees, companies
should carry out regular workshops and programs on work-life balance.
The following measures have to be taken by employers:
1. Working late should be discouraged.
2. Employees should be surveyed at regular intervals to ascertain their satisfaction level and
causes of dissatisfaction.
3. Provide vacations for recreation.
4. Provide plans like work from home, flexi times.
5. Relocate the employees.
The employees should take the following actions:
1. Practice Meditation:
Meditation is one of the most effective techniques in reducing and avoiding stress.
Regular meditation helps in stress reduction by –
i. Enables one to control the thought process.
ii. Enables one to take effective decisions.
iii. Helps in physical and mental relaxation.
iv. Improves concentration.
2. Relaxation Exercises.
3. Change the outlook towards life.
It is truly believed that the productivity of the employee is negatively affected by work place
stress. Many big companies like Hewlett Packard, Dr. Reddy’s laboratory, Google Inc.,
Wipro Technologies Ltd., Tata Consultancy Services, Max New York Life Insurance
Company to name a few have programs to assist the employees and managers to achieve
work-life balance. They ensure of provide a work environment provides employees with all
the facilities to make them feel at home.

Work-Life Balance –
Techniques of Work-Life Balance Adopted by Subordinates and Boss

Work-Life Balancing Techniques for Subordinates:

In order to help employees to maintain a fair balance between work and personal life
commitments, the company may resort to the given techniques:
1. Bring children to the office if and when one can, and let them see their photos or their
creative work on your desk. This lets them know that they are in your mind and heart. It helps
them understand that you think of them often – and they will also feel a part of what you do.
Make their special day an adventure.
2. Know the boss’s schedule – Maximize meeting time with your boss; be strategic and work
closely with his administrative staff to achieve this.
3. Know when to make calls and when to do administrative work to optimize your time at
work.
4. Schedule family vacations when people aren’t going to be around. Offer a countdown to
vacation time so there are no surprises for your boss or team.
5. Draw a clear line between your personal and work time. Set clear expectations with your
boss.
6. In case of an overachiever, consider cutting back to realistic goals in order to succeed.

Work-Life Balancing Techniques for the Boss:

1. If a manager is an overachiever, he/she should encourage staff to take breaks
2. In case of the employees’ work-life balance the manager must not interfere of dictate.
Learning to let go will pay dividends in building a dedicated, motivated staff.

Essential Ingredients & Merits of Work-Life Balance:

1. Work-life balance is a concept that supports the efforts of employees to split their time and
energy between work and the other important aspects of their Lives.
2. Work-life balance is a daily effort to make time for family, friends, community
participation, spirituality, personal growth, self-care, and other personal activities.
3. In addition to the demands of the workplace, it is assisted by employers who institute
policies, procedures, actions, and expectations that enable employees to easily pursue more
balanced lives.
4. The pursuit of work-life balance reduces the stress that employees experience. When they
spend the majority of their days on work-related activities and feel as if they are neglecting
the other important components of their lives, stress and unhappiness result.
5. Work-life balance enables employees to feel as if they are paying attention to all the
important aspects of their lives.
6. Because many employees experience a personal, professional, and monetary need to
achieve, work-life balance is challenging.
7. Employers can assist employees to experience work-life balance by offering such
opportunities as flexible work schedules, paid time off (PTO) policies, responsible time and
communication expectations, and company-sponsored family events and activities.
8. Managers are important to employees seeking work-life balance. Managers who pursue
work-life balance in their own lives model appropriate behaviour and support employees in
their pursuit of work-life balance.
9. They create a work environment in which work-life balance is expected, enabled, and
supported. They retain outstanding employees to whom work-life balance is important – like
parents.

Impact of Work Life on Women and Men Employees:

The impact of work-life balance is relatively more on women employees compared to men
employees. This is because; women employees are more responsible towards taking care of
children, old parents in addition to home maintenance. However, it is felt that with the
breaking down of joint families even male employees need to spend more time on family
responsibilities and interests.

Why Employers are Interested?

Employers are interested in bringing balance between life and work life of employees as the
imbalances affect workers’ health, quality and productivity. In addition the long run
contribution of employees towards, quality, quantity, innovation and customer care is
severely affected.
In addition the employees prefer to stay with those organisations which take care of their
work and family life balance. Some organizations to be a model employer prefer to invest on
work-family life balance initiatives. Without any loss of performance employers can
introduce some initiatives like flexible working arrangements in the form of part time, casual
and telecommuting work.
Work-Life Balance – Reasons and Consequences of Work-Life Imbalance

Reasons for Imbalance:

Some of the reasons for work-life imbalance are discussed below:

i. Societal Drivers:
Agricultural society is giving way to the industrial and knowledge societies. Consequently,
we can observe major shifts in societal forms and structures. This shift is leading to conflicts
between work and life activities. In the past, husbands used to earn livelihood while wives
were responsible only to manage the domestic issues. In other words, men were responsible
for working outside the family while women were the homemakers. The centuries-old
traditional gender roles have changed now.
Women are pursuing higher levels of education. Added to this, double income has emerged
as a prime necessity. Societal perceptions have changed and it is now appropriate for both
men and women to pursue paid employment outside home and also share responsibilities
within the home.
The Indian society is male dominated and has traditionally granted a favoured status to men
as the chief breadwinners. The employment rate of women has also increased worldwide.
Women’s increased wish for autonomy and social recognition is quite justified. Work-life
balance is critically important for working women to ensure sound physical and mental
health.
ii. Organizational Drivers:
Employee-oriented organizations believe that if employees’ work-life balance is well
achieved then organizational effectiveness will be high. It is evident from literature survey
that most multinationals from Scandinavian and western countries take initiatives to promote
work-life balance. On the other hand, the inclination towards the same in Korean and Indian
organizations are low.
HR initiatives play a vital role in promoting work-life balance practices in an organization.
Work load, working hours, stress at work, and organizational reasons are the grounds behind
experiencing difficulty in balancing work life. Organizations should formulate HR practices
such as job description, and role clarity to reduce role stress due to overload, role ambiguity,
and role conflict.
Effective organizational design and systems and processes further facilitate achieving work-
life balance. Progressive organizations develop a variety of work-life balance practices, such
as flexi time, no meetings after core working hours, forced annual leave, maternity and
paternity leave, shopping at work, creche, disincentives to overtime, gym and good food
facility, no late sitting culture, and so on.
iii. Individual Drivers:
Individuals hold differing views about life. The philosophy of life is a major determinant of
work-life balance. All of us have a life philosophy that affects of work-life balance. However,
philosophy is generally implicit and people cannot articulate it concisely in a few words.
One’s philosophy of life can focus either on ‘being’ or ‘becoming’ or strive to attain a
balance between the two.
The state of being is concerned with human endeavour for self-actualization, contentment,
harmony, and enjoying what one is. However, the state of becoming is related to material
achievement, money, power, and social status, etc. ‘The greater the conflict between being &
becoming within an individual, the lower is the WLB.’ Individuals must learn to prioritize
between and professional and personal goals while companies cannot afford to neglect the
need for work-life balance.
Consequences of Imbalance:
Work life, if not properly balanced, leads to a range of physical and psychological strains,
such as irritability, depression, anxiety, diminished self-confidence, inability to relax, lack of
sleep, increased susceptibly to a number of illnesses, a number of psycho-somatic disorders,
burnout, low productivity, high employee turnover, safety hazards, increase in divorce cases,
high blood pressure, ulcer, migraine and many psychosomatic disorders.
Karatepe and Tekinkus (2006) found that the work-family conflict has increased emotional
exhaustion and decreased job satisfaction.
The consequences of work-life imbalance are also categorized as societal, organizational, and
individual consequences.
i. Societal Consequences:
Societal consequences include family dynamics, social pathology, and harmony. People with
poor work-life balance cannot do justice with family members. In such conditions, the family
is likely to be unhealthy characterized by exchange of hot words, misunderstanding between
husband and wife, and so forth. This unhealthy family environment gets reflected onto the
society.
A family lives in a society and hence, it is a subset of the society. To improve the societal life
and make it healthier, it is of utmost importance to put all-round efforts to balance the work
life.
ii. Organizational Consequences:
The direct consequences are poor productivity, high employee turnover, accidents, etc. The
indirect consequences are low involvement, serious interpersonal conflicts at work, apathetic
attitude towards work and so on.
iii. Individual Consequences:
Lack of work-life balance affects family dynamics indirectly and negatively. The child may
not get proper guidance. In many cases, it results in marital discord, divorce, child abuse, and
neglect of old parents. All these affect societal functioning and harmony.