Is Work life balance an unrealistic dream or something that organisations should pay attention to - Essay Example

A work life balance is important because work life and life systems, although very different, are intertwined together in a firm manner. It has been proven through current theories that emotional spillovers from one side can affect the other. Such that, a disappointment at the job may translate in to a disappointment at the family level, and vice versa. One of the theories that are used to explain the relationship between the balance of work and life is the Work/family border theory. Border Theory The border theory divests upon the interactions between the life and work of an individual and how he may attempt to balance them (Poelmans 2005).

According to the theory, as Clark (2000) relates, the primary connection between the work and family systems is not emotional but it is human. So ‘people’ in the theory are regarded as daily border-crossers who have to make daily transitions between the two worlds- the world of work and the world of family. People are important here because they are considered responsible for shaping the worlds, for defining the borders between the two worlds and for determining their relation to each of the worlds.

Although people are the primary agents at work here, to change the environments, they can themselves be affected in turn, giving rise to a work-family spillover (Hislop 2008). It is this concept that makes keeping a balance between the two worlds the most challenging thing. The border theory seeks to explain the complex interaction between the border crossers and their work and family systems and henceforth, attempts to attain a certain degree of balance between life and work. Psychological contract The psychological contract is also an important concept when it comes to the study of work/life studies and refers to the exchange occurring between the employee and the employer (Andrae 2008).

Through the psychological contract, one can attempt to understand what employees and employers expect from a job and work environment. According to Smithson & Lewis (2000), these expectations may not just be confined to tenures or promotions, but, may also include other things like a sense of entitlement to work/ life benefits and flexible working hours. It has been argued recently that a better integration of the worlds of ‘work’ and ‘life’ lead to a positive psychological contract. The psychological contract explains that meeting or breaking of promises has a greater influence than practices and policies (Cooper, Quick & Schabracq 2009).

According to Roehling, Roehling and Moen (2001), work/life policies, such as the flexible working hours and informal support, are directly linked to employee satisfaction and loyalty which get translated in the form of a positive psychological contract. The met and unmet expectations have a significant impact on the attitudes and behaviours of the employees (Naswall, Hellgren & Sverke 2008). Recent research in UK also shows that employees tend to look for the awards that their psychological contract promises to deliver and to consider it their right to have an entitlement of flexible working hours, the lack of which is believed to be a violation of the psychological contract (Leat 2007).

The psychological contract is an important tool because it considers the individual expectations of employees and employers. The approach is also important to shift the focus from policies and instead concentrate on the different settings of work and life systems for both the employees and emp