Work-Life Balance Policies in Highly Industrialised and Less Industrialised Regions of the World - Coursework Example

Work-Life Balance Policies in Highly Industrialised and Less Industrialised Regions of the World Introduction Although work-life balance is a concept that has developed in the industrialised world in the recent past, it presents several benefits to both employers and employees. In this essay, the concept of work-life balance is examined in depth. This is done by comparing the impact that work-life balance policies have on industrial relations in highly industrialised regions with what happens in the less industrialised regions. The concept of work-life balance can be defined as the ability of individuals to successfully combine their responsibilities both at work and at home (Mangels 2008, p. 16). Essentially, there are two different aspects which are incorporated in the concept: work and life. Work in this case refers to both paid and unpaid activities that are carried out for an employer. On the other hand, life in this case refers to all the time that is spent in other activities other than work. Such activities include leisure and family activities. Although the balance between the two varies from employee to employee, what is important is that individuals seek to establish and maintain a stable and acceptable relationship between the two elements. Since this relationship is dynamic and changes with the effect of different factors such as national cultures, it is argued that these effects present different advantages and disadvantages to both employers and employees in different regions of the world. Benefits associated with work-life balance for employers and employees There are several benefits that are associated with work-life balance. These benefits, which result from the impact that adoption of work-life policies create, affect both employers and employees differently. These are outlined next. To start with, for employers, policies that enhance work-life balance are evaluated in terms of their potential to increase the return on investment. This happens in several ways. For instance, work-life balance ensures that employers are able to successfully manage diversity among their employees (Lockwood 2003, p. 4). This is because such policies ensure that different interests are accommodated at the place of work. By successfully managing diversity through work-life balance, employers can enhance their overall level of staff recruitment and retention. Apart from lowering incidents of conflicts and employee turnover, such initiatives ensure that the level of commitment among employees is improved. Additionally, by allowing employees sufficient time to handle other issues, work-life balance ensures that the morale of the employees is maintained. Consequently, their productivity improves, thus leading to enhanced productivity for the organisation. Another benefit for employers that arises from initiating work-life balance policies regards improvements in customer care and overall satisfaction. Since work-life balance initiatives entail allowing flexibility in the working schedules as well as telecommuting, employees are able to increase their level of engagement with the clients of the organisations. This leads to improved customer service and satisfaction which is beneficial to the organisation. As well, with initiatives that allow workers to balance their work and life activities, organisations are able to derive direct benefits such as reduced costs of healthcare as well as non-direct benefits such as reduced losses that may arise from absenteeism as a result of stress among employees (Dhar 2008, p. 97). This arises when organisations implement specific policies that target both scheduled and unscheduled absenteeism among employees. There are also several ways in which work-life balance is advantageous to employees. For example, such initiatives enable employees to give full attention to values of their families and personal lives (Lockwood 2003, p. 5). With the changing attitude towards the meaning of work, family and life in general, various family life benefits that are included in work-life balance initiatives enable employees to pay much attention to the values of their families as well as their personal lives. In addition, flexibility in times of working arrangements and other initiatives that allow employees to work from home during specific hours is important in that it allows employees to have enough time to handle their family responsibilities without compromising their responsibilities at the place of work. More so, initiatives that allow employees to have flexibility in their working time, attend to their family issues and manage to balance their personal lives with their responsibilities at work are important tools which reduce the level of stress among employees (Dhar 2008, p. 96). With an increasing need for productivity, work-life balance programmes are beneficial to employees by allowing them to balance their personal and professional lives. This reduces their level of stress in the modern workplace that is characterised by increasing levels of stress as a result of globalisation and other social, economic and technological changes at the local level (Houtman & Jettinghoff 2007, p. 7). Lastly, work-life balance is beneficial to employees by addressing different needs of the changing family setups. With changes in the form of dual career households, single-parent families and childless families, there are difficult types of pressures from family work situations. By implementing different initiatives that support work-life balance, employers can help employees have enough time and capacity to cope with such different situations. Problems of work-life balance policies in developing and less developed regions Although implementation of work-life policies such as flexible work arrangements, various leave policies and dependent care benefits provide enhance time balance, involvement and overall satisfaction among employees (McDonald, Brown & Bradley 2005, p. 40), implementing them may present various problems to organisations. In general, there are differences in the way work policies are initiated, implemented and taken up by organisations operating in different regions of the world. These differences are apparent in cases where organisations have operations in both the developed regions such as some countries in Europe and less developed regions such as Africa and Latin America. For instance, Carlier, Llorente and Grau (2012, p. 293) observe that there are fundamental differences between developed and less developed countries in the way working schedules, maternity leaves and part-time work arrangements are initiated and practiced. Work-life balance policies in organisations operating in the developed regions of Europe entail problems such as conflicts arising from different provisions of the policies. According to Hofacker and Konig (2013, p. 615), employees in organisations operating in Europe experience numerous conflicts arising from different provisions and interpretations of work-life balance initiatives. One common problem arises from differences in the meaning of flexibility among the employers and employees. A question remains on whether flexibility entails the actions of the employer in terms of addressing functional, numerical and financial flexibility within the organisation or as a function of employees pushing for their needs using different legislations (Hofacker & Konig 2013, p. 616). Another problem associated with work-life balance initiatives in organisations operating in European countries is the low level of uptake of particular family-friendly arrangements (Murphy & Doherty 2011, p. 256). Although many organisations operating in European countries are keen to offer to their workers a number of different arrangements intended to enable them have flexible working arrangements and time off, many employees have favoured particular types of leaves as opposed to others. Furthermore, an increase in the number of employees taking different types of leave has been disproportional with regard to male and female employees. This has been a reflection of the general trend in European countries where the uptake of family-friendly initiatives by employees has remained relatively low and disproportional. This is in contrast to what the situation is in the less developed regions of the world where there still remains need to initiate work-life balance policies in both the formal and informal sectors of the economy. Moreover, there are differences in the way organisations approach the subject of work-life balance with social changes taking place in different regions of the world. For example, Susi and Jawaharanni (2011, p. 478) observe that the need to adopt family-friendly policies in developed regions of the world has been necessitated by a combination of factors such as the need to comply with social policies and voluntary action by both employers and employees. Because of this, global corporations such as IBM in Australia have taken the initiative to effectively maintain a wide range of policies that enhance work-life balance among the employees. How national cultures affect work-life balance policies in developed and less developed countries Different issues of national culture affect the implementation, adoption and overall success of work-life balance practices in different regions of the world in various ways. Whereas some issues act as barriers to different aspects of work-life balance, some do enhance the extent to which different types of work-life balance initiatives are adopted within organisations. Also, the impact of these factors varies with regions, with remarkable differences being witnessed within organisations operating in the highly developed countries in Europe and the less developed ones in parts of Asia. According to Spinks (2003, p. 285), there are certain aspects of work-life balance policies that seem to transcend all cultural differences. As a result, their acceptance and role in helping employees achieve and maintain a balance between their lives and work has been experienced in different regions of the world. One of them is telecommuting and the advantages that it brings in terms of flexibility in time and place of work. It is observed that as a result of advantages such as increasing productivity and enhancing overall flexibility, flexible working arrangements and telecommuting have been used in different organisations operating in different regions of the world over the course of time (2003, p. 286). This implies that organisations operating both in developed and less developed regions have found it necessary to incorporate flexible working arrangements for their employees. In the same vein, the relationship between work-life balance and the characteristics of a job seem to surpass socio-cultural boundaries. This is because studies have shown that regardless of where an organisation operates, the overall level of work-life balance that the employees enjoy is directly influenced by the salient characteristics of the job (Baral & Bhargava 2010, p. 291). On the other hand, there are differences in the way highly developed regions have adopted work-life balance policies as compared to less developed ones. According to Wheatley (2012, p. 814), countries in Europe have adopted different policies that support work-life balance among employees. This trend has been necessitated by many factors, key among them being overall changes in human resource management practices among organisations and legislative frameworks that make it necessary for both public and private organisations to take into consideration different issues relating to the welfare of their employees. Through the effort of companies, governments and employees, different policies that enhance work-life balance have been developed and implemented. This is in contrast to what the situation is in developing regions in the world such as India. According to Rajadhyaksha (2012, p. 108), work-life balance policies in India have existed and have been implemented in a disparate manner that focuses on the formal sector at the expense of the informal one. This has been enhanced by the lack of effective government policies to influence adoption of work-life balance initiatives in the country. There also are other issues of cultures which, because of differences in the way different regions approach them, bear an impact on the overall work-life balance policies implemented by organisations operating within these cultures. For instance, cultures vary in terms of issues such as the level of importance that is attached to work, how time is treated and the overall level that individuals accept responsibility (Caligiuri, Lepak & Bonache 2010, n.pag). In general, cultures in European countries are characterised by attaching a high level of importance to work (Wheatley 2012, p. 816). In such cultures, individuals tend to show a low level of uptake of different work-life policies that are initiated by organisations. This is in contrast to what the situation is in countries in less developed regions of the world. For instance, Banerjee (2008, p. 370), describes Indian culture in terms of different values, cultural and social dimensions. As a result, the culture can be describes as being made up of values such as collectivism and the need for conformity (Banerjee 2008, p. 374). These factors influence the consumption patterns and behaviour of Indian employees in general. In such countries, individuals tend to value the different place that various aspects of human life play. In such cultures, individuals are much willing to adopt different work-life balance policies such as flexibility in work arrangements and specialised leaves that are offered by organisations. Conclusion From the foregoing, several conclusions can be drawn. The first one is that the advantages and disadvantages of work-life policies depend on their overall impact on both employers and employees. The second one is that as a result of differences in social and economic circumstances, different regions of the world experience different problems in managing their industrial relations. This is of practical importance to organisations operating in such regions when it comes to implementing global policies on work-life balance. Lastly, when compared to Europe, newly developing regions of the world such as India experience different challenges in the implementation of work-life balance policies. This is because of the impact of different national cultures on industrial relations. References Baral, R & Bhargava, S 2010, ‘Work-family enrichment as a mediator between organizational interventions for work-life balance and job outcomes’, Journal of Managerial Psychology, vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 274–300. Banerjee, S 2008, ‘Dimensions of Indian culture, core cultural values and marketing implications’, Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 367–378. Caligiuri, P, Lepak, D & Bonache, J 2010, Managing the global workforce, John Wiley & Sons, New York. 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