Organizations in Addressing Work-Life Balance - Essay Example

Organizations in Addressing Work Life Balance of the Table of Contents Introduction 3 Relevance 3 Identification of Key Issues 4 Discussion 4 Labors Point of View 5 Management Point of View 5 Application of Ideas 5 Lobbying Efforts Conducted By Parties 5 Types of Work Life Balance Program 6 Teleworking 6 Elder Care 6 Summary 7 References 8 Introduction We come across facts related to work life balance largely in management journals such as “Millennials in the workplace” written by Myers and Sadhagiani (2010). The concept of work life balance can be described as the interaction between paid work and some other tasks which includes unpaid work in family or in community, in case of personal development or in leisure. Work life balance is considered important in creating a productive work culture to minimize the possible tension between work and other parts of the workers life. Work life balance is concerned with having a right combination of an employee’s paid work and other parts of their lives. These combinations are not fixed and keep changing with time. The purpose of this study is to identify how the trade unions and the organizations address the issues related to work life balance and the benefits of addressing the (Mental health foundation, 2004). Relevance There are ample number of benefits in addressing work life balance and most obvious among them is employees benefits. Employers found out various benefits in making the work life balance possible for their employees (Myers & Sadhagiani, 2010). It also helps people in improving their quality of life and benefits business as well. Many studies related to work life balance have been conducted previously. Among all the job related factors impacting work life conflict, the most prominent one is the amount of time spent at work. The biggest reason of work to family conflict which generally the managers or professionals report are functions of their lengthy work hours (Smith, 2012). There are few other reasons that include job security, supervisors support to employees, support from co-workers, demands of work and overload, dissatisfaction regarding job and overuse of communication technology that thwart and haze the boundaries between an employees work and family. It is important to create a supportive and healthy working environment that helps in maintaining a balance between work and personal responsibilities (Fursman & Zodgakar, 2009). Workers today have to face many responsibilities including work, family and many more which creates a situation of stress on the individuals, communities and the families in which they are residing in. This problem keeps on increasing with time due to participation of high rate of female labor force participation, increasing number of families with single parent and due to trends like elder care (Meenakshi, Subhramanyan & Ravichandran, 2013). Identification of Key Issues Work life balance is concerned with people feeling satisfied with the way they are dividing their time and their energy between work and the various things they likes doing. It happens to be a critical issue for employees, having their own disabilities or issues relating to health, who are about to retire, having responsibilities in their relevant communities or culture, having responsibilities of caring which includes care needed for children, old people and partner suffering from long term health issues or disabilities, who have a passion to be involved in or any other interest, who are in need to manage his daily business of personal life which includes visiting a bank, or to organize a plumber (Hseni Controlling Risk Together, 2013). The issues and its desirable solutions keep on varying, but work life balance is a common issue for employees involved in any kind of work, at every level and in all type of organization (Jones & Westman, 2013). Few people may feel work life balance is offering the possibility of combining work with other tasks relating to their lives instead of having to choose one among them (Wolcott,1994). The employees who get tired and stressed out from work, lack in energy and patience required to support teenage children. An employee having unhappy personal relationship fails to bring enthusiasm and is unable to concentrate on their work. Achieving a satisfactory balance of work life will help in maximizing the positive spillover between work and other aspects of their life and thus negative spillover gets minimized. This happens to prove good for employees as well as employers (American Management Association, 2004). Discussion The changing situations in the labor work force in most of the developed countries are encouraging many employers to bring into limelight the balance of work life of their employees (Reilly & Sirgy, 2012). Along with that, the recognition of family and work disconnection is growing mostly among working mothers. The management and labor together should exercise on work life balance and consider streatchability in work arrangements (Smith, 2012). Both management and labor union, in their own, ways should understand the requirements which are important in making work life programs and practices related to it to obtain success (Purohit, 2013). Labors Point of View According to the employee’s perception, work life balance is handling responsibilities of work and family simultaneously. They look for support from the organization to manage the stress coming out of responsibilities to serve efficiently to the organization (Office of Fair and Safe Work Queensland, 2002) Management Point of View Work life balance affects the performance of business in a number of ways: it reduces the staff turnover rates, the recruitment and training costs gets minimized due to reduced turnovers, the recruitment pool becomes broader, the quality of the applicants gets improved (Office of Fair and Safe Work Queensland, 2002), the return on investment in training gets increased for the employees are staying for a long time, helps in reducing absenteeism among employees due to job satisfaction, the stress level of the workers gets reduced, improvement in job satisfaction among employees and developing morale, the commitment and loyalty of an employee towards organization gets improved, contributes to the reduction of productivity resulting from disruption on a temporary basis (American Psychological Association, 2003; Alliance for work life progress, 2001). Corporate image can be improved which will automatically contribute to increased sales and will also improve stock price in relevance to ethical investment choice Application of Ideas Employee performance and attendance are hindered due to work-family conflict and this also hampers work (Coulmas & Lutzeler, 2011). The employers should facilitate various strategies to enhance work life balance to help employee manage stress and perform efficiently and be committed to the organization. The most commonly used practices by the organization are teleworking, reducing working time, paid family leave, facilitating flexibility in the working hours (Meenakshi, Subhramanyan & Ravichandran, 2013). Lobbying Efforts Conducted By Parties Due to increasing employee grievances, few companies decided to provide compensation to workers who indulge in work for more than 40 hours a week (Cleangovbiz, 2012). This is one of the oldest forms of lobbying efforts conducted by the labor unions. To reduce the employee turnover and conflict, many other lobbying efforts are facilitated such as paternity leave, childcare, vacation. These facilities are provided to them as a result of social responsibility towards employees as well as for gaining a competitive advantage (Poole, 2015). Types of Work Life Balance Program Work life balance can be eased by elaborating different programs and policies by the management. The organizations and unions should acknowledge that their employees besides having official work have responsibilities of their family and support them in managing the various demands of their daily life other than paid work by establishing various work life balancing programs (Alliance for work life progress, 2001). Teleworking Teleworking can be defined as arranging flexibility in work under which an employee could efficiently perform all his responsibilities and duties as per the demand of position an employee holds in an organization (Mello, 2014). Teleworking programs in the organizations require frequent development, adaptation and expansion. A few important practices for developing a framework for better results are managing performance, support from management, identifying the needs of training, proper planning and making policies (Lazar & Ratiu, 2010) Elder Care Eldercare is considered as one of the major issues being faced by organizations nowadays. Eldercare can be defined as an informal caring that an aging family requires whose physical, psychological, financial, household are to be met. These aging people requiring care are living along with caregivers (Salinger, 2013). The responsibilities of eldercare include feeding and bathing to be directly provided, arranging medical care often, providing emotional support, finance handling. Eldercare responsibilities come unexpectedly and keep on increasing as the time passes, as people in need of care becomes more dependent. Employees with responsibilities of eldercare are more under stress than the non- care givers. The stress resulting of eldercare can be minimized with the help of supportive employers. There are three ways by which an employer provides eldercare support: laws related to family leave, managers and supervisors providing an informal support to their employees, formal services provided by employers. Flexible working hours are observed to be more beneficial formal services and are most desired by the employees (Lazar & Ratiu, 2010). Summary Work life balance has proved to be beneficial for both the employees and the employers. A sensible management requires focus on work life balance. Execution of optimum solutions will prove to be instrumental to an organization and its employees. Flexibility in work time and location and developing supportive managers are contributing to lengthy work life balance. The policies and procedures of work life balance program require regular revision for coping up with issues relating to work life balance. According to findings from the analysis, there exists a bond between an employee’s yield and plasticity. Self management is also considered to be important, employees should control their behavior and expectations relating to work life balance. The firms hence should be encouraged to adopt more effective policies to help its employees maintain a healthy work life balance. References Alliance for Work Life Progress. (2001). Seven categories of work life effectiveness. Retrieved from http://www.awlp.org/pub/work-life_categories.pdf . American Management Association. (2004). The problem with work life balance. Retrieved from http://www.amanet.org/training/articles/The-Problem-with-Work-Life-Balance.aspx. American Psychological Association. (2003). Work life balance. Retrieved from www.apaexcellence.org/.../creatingahealthyworkplace/worklifebalance/. Cleangovbiz. (2012). Lobbying: influencing decision making and transparency and integrity. Retrieved from www.oecd.org/cleangovbiz/toolkit/50101671.pdf. Coulmas, F., & Lutzeler, R. (2011). Imploding populations in Germany and Japan :A comparison. Leiden: Brill. Fursman, L., & Zodgakar, N. (2009). Making it work: the impacts of flexible working. Social policy journal of new Zealand Te puna Whakaaro, 35(1), 22-38. Hseni Controlling Risk Together. (2013). Work life balance: issues to consider. Retrieved from http://www.hseni.gov.uk/guidance/topics/topic_work-life_balance/work_life_balance_-_issues_to_consider.htm. Jones, F., & Westman, M. (2013). Work life balance: A psychological perspective. Milton Park: Psychology press. Lazar, I., & Ratiu, P. (2010). The role of work life balance practices in order to improve performance. European research studies, 13(1), 245-392. Meenakshi, S.P., Subhramanyan, V. & Ravichandran, K. (2013). The importance of work life balance. 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Salinger, L.M. (2013). Encyclopedia of white collar and corporate crime. California: Sage Publications. Smith, J. (2012). Work life balance-what you need to know. Aspley: Emereo publishing. Wolcott, T. (1994). Achieving a family supportive workplace and community. Family matters, 35(1), 72-79. Read More