Why Is It so Difficult for Employees to Achieve Work-Life Balance In Australia - Essay Example

?Why Is It So Difficult For Employees To Achieve Work-Life Balance In Australia? Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Work-Life in Australia 4 Problems to Be Faced If There Is Less Working Hours in Australia 5 Conclusion 6 Recommendations 6 References 8 Introduction Work-life balance can be understood as the management or maintaining proper control while performing multiple roles entailing work-life as well as personal life. Thus, maintaining all the important aspects of life along with work-life without any hurdles can be considered as work-life balance (Kalliath & Brough, 2008). The main stress will be laid upon those employees who are working in Australia and the issues if any are faced by the employees while maintaining their work life with the other aspects of life. Australian work life is undergoing transformation every day which is proving to be useful for many but also proving to be a challenge for some as with increasing work pressure the requirement of more time and dedication increases (Van Wanrooy & et. al., 2007). It is of primary importance to retain employees so that the organizational efficiency of the organization does not decrease (De Cieri & Kramar, 2003; Thompson & McHugh, 2009). Efforts will be made to enhance long working hours in the organization by way of various motivational activities and various schemes which enable high productivity in the organization (Balnave & et. al., 2009). Work-Life in Australia Work-life in Australia is mostly governed by all the internal factors that exist inside the organizations. Those internal factors may include various laws which are entitled for the employees as well as various arrangements are kept for taking care of the employees. There include catering facilities, first-aid facilities and non-hazardous working environment among others. In certain reports, it has been found that equality in workplace is not maintained all the time. However, according to various reports, it has been found that the affect of work life in one’s personal life is almost zero or nil. Even though, it was recorded that work life did not have any negative impacts on the other aspects of life, it was found that almost 50% of the employees were not paid for working overtime. These findings were extracted from the work history of Australia from the last 30 years. Nevertheless, surprisingly, it was found based on genuine reports that more than 70% of the employees were satisfied with the overall work culture (Cch, 2010). It is also found that Australia, as a nation, strongly believes in the concept of extended hours of part time work as it is found that many employees feels accustomed having to work part time and for long hours but they may not get the desired results all the time, in fact, it is found that those employees who work according to the preset limits are more satisfied with their jobs. From the studies, it was observed that employees in Australia favor equality in the workplace along with flexibility in the work and timings along with overall job security which is similar to most of the employees throughout the globe (Pocock & et. al., 2007). The Australian employees do consider work life balance a very important aspect and they are also very much active in their work and their duties irrespective of the various internal and external factors concerning their personal lives or any other aspect of life. It can be noticed that they know how to maintain a proper balance of work with other aspects of life as a whole. On a broader context, it has also been found that the government has not provided significant concentration on the issue of Work-life balance instead it has merely supported the need for work-life balance to alleviate the problem of 'baby crisis'. Along with this, human resource policies of the Australian companies targeted mainly on certain groups only, e.g. single parents, mother, child-careering instead of other employees i.e. married professionals in relation to work-life balance issue (Pocock & et. al., 2007). Problems to Be Faced If There Is Less Working Hours in Australia Working time tends to decrease as there is an assumption that excessive dedication of time to work leads to negativity in personal life. For this reason, there are laybacks in work which may affect whole of the organization’s output (Eikhof & et. al., 2007). The working practices should be made flexible so that the employees get benefitted and feel contented to work (Fleetwood, 2007). Now, the question remains, whether the Australian workforce will be able to adopt these major changes in the workplace or will they sustain themselves with these major changes? However, if the changes prove to be non-responding from the employees’ point of view then it could prove to be a downfall for the Australian work culture (Van Wanrooy & et. al., 2009). There is a general tendency of increase in working time which is generally not considerable by many employees. Similarly, employees of Australia may not accustom themselves with extra working hours provided if they receive their overtime dues in timely basis. However, if these issues are not taken into consideration then it may lead to ineffective results (Roberts, 2007). All the above factors that are discussed above should be taken into consideration and effective plans in order to counter these working parameters should be improved upon otherwise it may lead to laybacks from the employees which will not be a good aspect for development. Conclusion From the above observations, it can be concluded that Australian work life is undergoing transformation every now and then which is proving to be useful for many but also proving to be a challenge for a number of the employees as with increasing work pressure the requirement of more time and dedication rises in a steady manner. However, the Australian workplaces are expanding in a drastic manner and on the basis of most of the reports it is identified that a majority of Australian employees feel contented to work with their organization if their minimum and basic needs are fulfilled. Recommendations From the research, it has been found that the overall work environment is in the mode of expansion and this change is proving to be useful for many employees who are craving for self- development and challenge for those employees who feel over burdened by their work. Based on the evidences, it is recommendable to make certain changes in the overall work environment of Australia. One of the important measures that the management can take is by ensuring proper health along with safety measures through various health plans for all the employees. This will lead to self-satisfaction of the employees and they will feel contented to work with the organization. Apart from this, Australian organizations should introduce the option of ‘work from home’ especially for the employees having minor health issues and most importantly for single mothers who have to take care of their jobs as well their children at the same time. Also, flexibility in work timings should be initiated at levels of operations in the organization Moreover, lucrative incentive and remuneration plans should be introduced (Hor & et. al., 2008). In a broader context, not only the HRM policies of the organizations but the government too should focus to ascertain the sustainability of organizations with all its employees instead of focusing only on certain groups only, e.g. single parents, mother, child-careering instead of other employees. Married professionals should also be considered equally while framing HR policies relating to work-life balance. Work life balance is an important aspect to sustain a healthy life and government should support this significant factor (BoudreAu & Ramstad, 2005). References BoudreAu, J. W. & Ramstad, P. M., 2005. Talentship, Talent Segmentation, and Sustainability. Human Resource Management. Vol. 44, No. 2, pp. 129–136. Balnave, N. & et. al., 2009. Employment Relations in Australia. John Wiley & Sons Australia, Limited. Cch, 2010. Australian Master Human Resources Guide 2010. CCH Australia Limited. De Cieri, H. & Kramar, R., 2007. Human Resource Management in Australia. Issue. [Online] Available at: http://rphrm.curtin.edu.au/2003/issue2/mayson.html [Accessed May 19, 2013]. Eikhof, D. R. & et. al., 2007. Introduction: What Work? What Life? What Balance? Critical Reflections On The Work-Life Balance Debate. Vol. 29, No. 4, pp. 325 – 333. Fleetwood, S., 2007. Re-Thinking Work–Life Balance. Int. J. of Human Resource Management. pp. 351–359. Hor, J. & et. al., 2008. Finders Keepers. CCH Australia Limited. Kalliath, T. & Brough, P., 2008. Work-Life Balance. Journal of Management & Organization. Vol. 14, pp. 323-327. Pocock, B. & et. al., 2007. Work-life ‘Balance’ in Australia. Gender Studies. No. 12, pp. 1-18. Roberts, K., 2007. Work-life Balance. Employee Relations. Vol. 29 No. 4, pp.334 – 351. Thompson, P. & McHugh, D., 2009. Work Organisations. Palgrave Macmillan. Van Wanrooy, B. & et. al., 2007. Australia@work: The Benchmark Report. The Tertiary Research Education Database. Vol. 11, pp. 1-113. Van Wanrooy. B. & et. al., 2009. Australia at work: In A Changing World. The Tertiary Research Education Database. Vol. 10, pp. 1-118. Read More