Work Life Balance - Essay Example

? “Work Life Balance” Work life balance is considered as one of the most important concept for the organizations competing in today’s corporate world. Organizations cannot progress if their employees are going to be treated as machines whose sole aim is to provide earn profits for its masters. This mentality is outdated as far as the HR practices of modern management are concerned. Organization can only progress if its employees are given equal time to spare on their domestic activities. Research suggests that work life balance is the major concern of today’s workforce. Although companies often claim that their policies focus on the work life balance however this is not always the case. Company’s policy and procedures are not sufficient enough to protect the rights of employees. Therefore proper legislation should be performed to improve work environment. There are many laws which have been enacted for the protection of workers. However government has to take serious steps to improve the overall condition of workers. Government of USA has introduced legislation for different states. For example employees working hours have been restricted. This means that organizations cannot force its employees to work after certain limit. Fair Work Act 2009 is an example of legislation which has been done for the welfare of employees. There are some HR professionals who are of the opinion that these types of legislations are not required since organization should be considered as one happy family. However practical situation is quite different from the assumption which has been made by these HR specialists. Organizations are working to earn money and to achieve this aim most of the times they do not realize that they taking more work from their employees. Fair Work Act focuses on the provision of right to parental leave, flexible working hours and long service leave. Fair dismissal and unfair dismissal Fair dismissal is one in which employees are fired because of their ineffective way of doing work. Employees are neither willing nor ready to work and contribute towards the overall productivity of the organization. Therefore organizations have the right to remove such employees after giving them the required number of warnings. As far as unfair dismissal is concerned, it is the type dismissal in which employees are fired because of some personal biases against them. Government has done its job by enacting different laws but unfortunately most of the employees do not have the awareness about their own rights. Although there are different types of laws which are operational in the country however to provide guidance to the employees about their rights, sections of Fair Work Act has been discussed. Most of the employees do not know about the process of termination provided in the law. They think that organizations can fire them any time only on the basis of showing less productivity. However this is not the case. As far as the concept of productivity is concerned, organizations often try to get more output from the employees with same sets of benefits. Fair Work Act clearly provides the process through which employee can get terminated. First of all organizations should provide warning to such employees who are not working up to the mark. After those notices employers have a reason to fire unproductive employees. Exit Interviews Exit interview is an interview which is conducted after the acceptance of resignation of an employee. These interviews can unleash internal problems prevailing in the organization. An outgoing employee can provide better insights about what is happening in the organization. Exit interview can also identify discriminating practices prevailing in the organization and mangers can take preventive action as necessary against such issues. Evaluation of Discrimination laws There are many laws prevailing in the world which are against the true spirit of equal employment opportunities. Unfortunately human rights activists are always silent when powerful people are involved in the corruption. Ethiopian Jews are one such example. Ethiopian academicians in Israel were prohibited from working just because of the racial grounds. There were some hidden laws according to which Ethiopian teachers were not allowed to work in the country. Women in the workforce also become the victim of discrimination at the workplace. The most controversial issue is of pregnancy as far as the work life balance is concerned. Employers try to reduce the maternity and pregnancy leaves so that they can achieve the desired level of profitability. USA government has introduced some steps to reduce the extent of such cases however still a lot has to done. Employer should treat pregnant ladies in their workforce who are not able to perform their duties as temporary disables. Americans with Disabilities Act provide provisions on the basis of which working ladies can claim the compensation for the problems which they are facing because of their health. Working in holidays is one of the challenging tasks for employees. Organizations bound their employees to work in holidays during the peak season of business. Employees often do not have the choice but to accept such tough schedules. Holidays Act 1910 provides us the whole legislation based on which employees can challenge their employers on such an illegal work schedules. Employees do not look for the job. They always go for a career. However in this period of recession organizations try to exploit human resource by hiring them at meager packages. Career recognition act 2005 provides a framework based on which employees can challenge the decisions which they feel can affect the career with a particular organization (Paludi, Antoinette & Neidermeyer, 2007). Deriving compensation package for executives working in the organization is quite a difficult task for Human Resource Department. Research reflects the fact that some employees receive higher pay packages as compared to their counterparts. Employees assume that those peers might get paid because of their special skills which they bring in the organization. However this is not the case. No matter what type of skills they bring they work as per the job descriptions and specification provided to them. Therefore those special skills can be learned by any ordinary person with same education level. Equal Pay Act 1970 is the best source on the basis of which employees can challenge such cases in the court of law. The psychological contract and its relevance to organizational policy Psychological contract refers to the understanding between employee and employer about the inputs and outcomes expected from each other. Unfortunately it has been observed that employers often expect a lot from their employees without providing them the required inputs. This is the major reason because of which employees complain about job dissatisfaction. Organizational policies are directed towards getting more outputs from the least inputs because of which overall productivity of the organization suffers a lot. Conclusion Work life balance is very important for employees. However discrimination with women at the workplace is also one of the major concerns for the management experts of twenty-first century. In fact it is impossible to maintain work life balance where women are being discriminated. Equal Opportunity Act 1984 is a tool by the help of which the problem of discrimination can be resolved. Employees should be aware of laws which can help them to enhance their standard of living while working with the organization. Employers should also make sure that their employees are treated fairly and their services are also recognized. This is the only way by the help of which organizations can improve their overall productivity. Works Cited Paludi, Michele Antoinette, and Presha E. Neidermeyer. Work, life, and family imbalance: how to level the playing field. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2007. Print. Read More