Work-Life Balance as a Strategy to Attract and Retain Employees - Literature review Example

Work life balance is increasingly used as a strategy to attract and retain employees. Argue the business case for and against implementing work life balance initiatives. [Student Name] [University] Contents Introduction 3 Women Employees and Work Life Balance 4 Work Life Balance Strategies 5 Benefits of Work Life Balance Strategies 5 When Work Life Balance does not Work 7 Conclusion 8 References 9 Introduction The competitive nature of the business world has led to an increase in work demands. Employees are under stress to perform well as good performance is vital for their survival and also for the growth of the organization. Greater obligations at work means employees have to spend greater part of the day in the office which leaves little personal time. This imbalance between work and life is potentially harmful in the long run as it affects the productivity of the employee. Ideally work life balance means a proper fifty-fifty division of time between work and leisure/ family activities. In actual practice such a perfect balance does not exist as professionals juggle in most cases unsuccessfully between their personal and professional lives. Life in the opinion of Lockwood (2003) is a balancing act and every member of the society seeks to achieve a balance between work and personal life. Different people have different views of work life balance; employees view it as a struggle of managing work responsibilities along with personal responsibilities whereas employers find it a desirable factor for attracting and retaining the right talent. Over the years human capital has been identified as a strong differentiator among businesses (Lombardi & Laurano, 2013) and organizations now truly believe in the philosophy that “a happy employee is a productive employee”. To keep their employees happy, organizations offer attractive salaries and benefits, provide opportunities for growth, listen to their employees, create culture of collaboration, offer job security and establish good working environment (Sageer et al., 2012). Although a large number of organizations offer these incentives but still they fail to satisfy their employees completely and thus find it difficult to retain employees. Branham (2005) has identified work life imbalance and stress from overwork as one of the main reasons that causes dissatisfaction among the employees compelling them to leave their jobs. According to Branham (2005) organizations which make unreasonable work demands on their employees and where employees work long hours and even stay after office hours to work have a toxic culture making them less attractive places to work. Francis and Lingard (2004) state that greater work demands and long working hours create work life imbalance which results in employee burnout causing many of them to quit their jobs. Work overload also causes absenteeism and lowers work productivity. Quality of the work also suffers as overworked employees are seldom satisfied and completely engaged in work. It also results in high turnover as a company stands to lose its knowledgeable and skilled workforce to competitors (Yasbeck, 2004; Grandi, 2012). The organization suffers the most in terms of cost when an employee leaves because every organization spends considerable time and resources in training a person. Cost and time are also involved when a new person has to be recruited and trained; thus employee turnover results in considerable loss. Because of this organizations have introduced a work-life balance strategy to attract and retain employees (Francis & Lingard, 2004). Women Employees and Work Life Balance Women are an important part of the workforce the world over and work life balance has become all the more important for recruiting and retaining educated and qualified women employees. In her study Schings (2007) compared women and men with MBA degrees and found that one in every three women holding MBA degree did not hold a full time job while one in twenty men with MBA degree was not employed full time. Elaborating further the author stated that pressing work demands were the reasons why women left their jobs; similarly women work demands also discouraged women from reaching and or accepting top (leadership) positions because the growing responsibilities of the position meant less time for home and children. Schings (2007) states that like men, retaining women is also important as much time and resources have been spent on training them; another reason why companies want a good representation of women working in their companies is that women form a large customer base (Lockwood, 2003). Work Life Balance Strategies Different companies adopt different work life strategies depending upon the size of their firm, nature of work and most importantly cost of the strategies. For instance there are work life balance programs which are mostly cost or time related and which offer the employees opportunity to fulfill personal and work responsibilities (Lockwood, 2003). Work life balance initiatives are the procedures and processes used by the organizations to help employees accomplish the organizational tasks and offer flexibility to deal with personal or family responsibilities. Family- friendly benefits are also work life balance strategies through which employees address their personal commitments without compromising their organizational tasks (Lockwood, 2003). Benefits of Work Life Balance Strategies Developing and retaining talent has become quite a challenge for HR managers (Lockwood, 2006). This is why attraction and retention strategies have become vital for recruiting and retaining skillful employees especially in areas where the job market is competitive, staff turnover is high and recruiting and retaining skillful employees is a challenge. Because of increasing competition, the employers have raised their standards and expectations from employees pushing them to work harder and longer. Setting up a balance that suits the needs of both the organization and its employees is the top priority of many organizations. Those organizations that have adopted work life balance strategies argue that these strategies are important as they lead to greater loyalty and productivity from employees. The pro- work life balance organizations state three reasons for adopting this strategy; growth and profit, customer service and employee demands. Work life balance contributes to the growth and profitability of the organization as it reduces job related stress which is a major factor in reducing work quality and employee productivity (Lockwood, 2003). Flexibility at work removes the pressure of actual and perceived work overload and this is an effective way of ensuring employee commitment. Customer services improves because a committed employee is more likely to engage with the customers and clients (Lockwood, 2003). Lately, the interest in family values and personal life has been renewed and the employees especially the aging employees demand that their employers understand and respect that they need some personal time (Lowe, 2006); the work life balance thus creates greater corporate loyalty; quoting data collected by Hoechst Celanese Lockwood (2003) stated that a majority of employees stated that “the ability to balance work with personal and family responsibilities was of great importance in their decision to remain with the company”. Through work life balance strategies organizations stand to achieve better productivity and better quality and quantity of work through committed and loyal employees who work with far more dedication to achieve the goals of the company. It has been observed that family responsibilities especially caring and sudden illness is the major reasons for short absence which causes a significant loss to the organization (Francis & Lingard, 2004). This is because employees have to take whole day off to fulfill their family commitments or to run errands. Flexibility of work arrangements has been quite effective in lowering absenteeism as it gives the employees opportunities to carry out their personal responsibilities. Reduction in costs can also be achieved through work life balance as they lead to retention of employees which enables the organization to save the useful resources; these resources can be used to improve working conditions, flexibilities and facilities offered to the employees (Yasbeck, 2004). When Work Life Balance does not Work Although most organizations are in favor of work life balance and have introduced strategies accordingly, there are some companies that are of the opinion that work life balance strategies should not be implemented. This opposition maybe because work life balance measures are costly; there are some measures that cost nothing at all such as making it mandatory for all workers to avail annual leaves; however there are some measures that involve cost such as setting up a child care center at the premises (Yasbeck, 2004). Mostly firms first do a cost and advantage comparison before adopting work life balance initiatives and then implement the initiatives if a positive outcome is strongly expected. However it has been observed that while it was easy to identify and determine the cost of the initiatives, identifying and measuring the benefits of work life balance was not easy. In short work life balance is not offered by organizations when the cost is high and benefits are low (Yasbeck, 2004). Similarly, work life balance does not go well with industries such as retail, construction and hospitality. Retail professionals are required to work long and hard; for instance in retail stores employees are expected to work during holidays and other busy periods. Workload in case of retail industry can be managed through organizing and prioritizing (Lipow, 2014). Work life balance is also not required in case of organizations that hire low skilled employees or hire employees on hourly basis. Similarly although work life balance is highly beneficial for large companies, it is not much suited for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) because of the costs involved and thus should not be offered as a strategy to attract and retain employees (Grandi, 2012). Sanghoee (2014) suggests that labor intensive industries such as banks should also not introduce work life balance initiatives. The demands of the clients and the nature of this business do not leave room for work life balance strategies. The bankers especially junior bankers are expected to stay connected which means even though their physical presence is not required in the offices (on Saturdays), they are expected to check and respond to their e-mails every now and then. Work life balance strategies are also not meant for those organizations where employees are rewarded for working long hours and where commitment to the organization is given priority over other commitments (De Cieri et al., 2002). Conclusion The growing work demands have put employees under great work stress which has affected their performance, work productivity and has created work life conflicts. As a result employee turnover has increased and many organizations have suffered from the loss of skilled workforce and the cost of recruiting new one. To counter this situation, work life balance strategies are also being offered along with attractive remuneration packages to attract and retain skilled workforce. However these strategies are not suitable when the cost of offering work life initiatives is higher than the benefits achieved and also when employees are rewarded because of their commitment to the organization and long working hours they put in. References Branham, L. (2005). The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave: How to recognize the subtle signs and act before its too late. NY: AMACOM. De Cieri, H., Holmes, B., Abbott, J., & Pettit, T. (2002). Work life Balance Strategies: Progress and Problems in Australian Organizations. Working Paper # 58/02. Available: [Accessed on: April 20, 2014]. Francis, V., & Lingard, H. (2004). A Quantitative Study of Work-Life Experiences in the Public and Private Sectors of Australian Construction Industry. Construction Industry Institute, Australia Inc. Available: [Accessed on: April 18, 2014]. Grandi, D. (2012). Work-Life Balance: constraints and opportunities for an effective implementation at firm-level. Iceland: Reykjavík University. Available: [Accessed on: April 18, 2014]. Lowe, G. (2006). Under Pressure: Implications of Work Life Balance and Job Stress. Human Solutions Report 2006-07. Available: [Accessed on: April 18, 2014]. Lipow, V. (2014). Work Life Balance in Retail. Monster. Available: [Accessed on: April 18, 2014]. Lockwood, N. (2006). Talent Management: Driver for Organizational Success. 2006 SHRM Research Quarterly. Available: [Accessed on: April 18, 2014]. Lockwood, N. (2003). Work/Life Balance: Challenges and Solutions. 2003 SHRM Research Quarterly. Available: [Accessed on: April 18, 2014]. Lombardi, M., & Laurano, M. (2013). Human Management Capital Trends 2013 – It’s a Brave New World. Aberdeen Group. [Online]. Available: [Accessed on: April 18, 2014]. Sageer, A., Rafat, S., & Agarwal, P. (2012). Identification of Variables Affecting Employee Satisfaction and their Impact on the Organization. IOSR Journal of Business and Management (IOSR-JBM) 5 (1): 32-39. Sanghoee, S. (2014). Why banking and work-life balance dont mix. CNN Money. Feb 04, 2014. [Online]. Available: [Accessed on: April 18, 2014]. Schings, S. (2007). Companies Adapt Workplace to Retain Valuable Women. Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Inc. Available: [Accessed on: April 18, 2014]. Yasbeck, P. (2004). The Business-Case for Firm Level Work-Life Balance Policies: A Review of the Literature. Immigration Advisory Authority, New Zealand. Available: [Accessed on: April 18, 2014]. Read More