Work-Life Programs within a Strategic HRM Context - Research Paper Example

Topic:  Provide a critical analysis of the business case for work-life programs within a strategic HRM context. Introduction The intense competition has insisted the organisations to hire and retain highly skilled labour. In consideration to attract highly skilled people and to improve overall organization performance, companies are going for work life balance. As work life balance policy is introduced to bring benefits therefore, it should be beneficial for the customers, individuals and organisation. Nowadays, companies are highly focusing on work life balance policies to resolve the issues raised by individuals related to the conflicts between their work and family life. Work life balance as identified by David Clutterbuck is defined as being aware of the demands on time and having the ability of making choices and knowing the applications of certain values for choices and finally making choices (CIPD, 2009). Yasbek (2004) business case shows that most of the New Zealand organisations are highly ensuring work life balance policies and practices at their workplace. The topic of importance of work life balance practices has become not only for the employees and organisations but for the government, politicians, workers and academics. Furthermore, the changing market structure of economies from monopolies to competition, increasing women workforce, shortage of skilled labour force and increasing social groups have also enhanced the importance of the subject of work like balance policies. Some social groups also increase the demand of work life balance policies such as women, minority groups and old aged people. Therefore, this topic appears to be an emerging topic, which has changed the working practices in organisations. In consideration to the importance of increasing work life balance policies, this report has been created and it aims to discuss the pros and cons of work life balance policies. The scope of this report is limited to secondary research, as in this report only the early literature on work life balance policies will be evaluated. This report will critically analyse the key issues associated with work life balance policies discussed in business case of New Zealand written by Yasbek (2004). The key issues identified by Yasbek in his case deal with the impact of work life balance policies on employees’ retention, satisfaction, performance, organisation performance and productivity. Therefore, this report aims to highlight the key issues resolved by work life balance policies, the strategies for the firms adopting these policies and challenges faced by the firms after adopting such practices. In short, this report is really worthwhile to learn the importance of work life balance policies and to understand the arrangements of the organisations whilst adopting practical strategies for work life balance agendas. Literature Review and Analysis of Topic A work life balance policy is considered as an important strategic issue for Human Resources Management. Since the organisations are giving great focus towards the changing needs of the people, therefore, work life balance policies and practices have become an important area of HRM. In order to attract and retain employees, to increase employees’ morale and commitment and to increase organisation’s productivity and performance, work life balance strategies are being developed by the organisations in the context of HRM. Regardless of the impact of work life balance practices, they do have improved the attitude of employees towards their companies. A huge work has been done in this topic. The larger companies are more globalised and they have better work life balance policies on average as compared to other firms (Bloom, Kretschmer, & Reenen, 2006). Amble (2006) found that large companies retaining more than 25,000 employees are offering more benefits to their employees for example, large companies usually offer guarantee income in retirement. On the other hand, small companies are more likely to offer full medical insurance to their employees. In short, Amble point of view supports that the level and kind of benefits may differ across small or large companies, however, both kind of companies offer work life are seeking to offer work life balance policies to their employees but large companies are more likely to offer more benefits. In the study of more than 200 manufacturing firms from Germany, UK, US and France, it was found that in well managed firms, employees have better work life balance because they do not work harder but smarter and the companies which foster talent and performance by rewarding them also achieves work life balance of employees (Stanford, 2006). The US multinational companies based in Europe are pursuing US management practices along with the European friendly work life balance policies. It means that US companies internationalise their management practices however, localise their work life balance policies thereby, pursuing a combination of social norms and regulations (Bloom, Kretschmer, & Reenen, 2006). The work life balance policies improve the well being of workforce and increases the job satisfaction (Asadullah & Fernández, 2008). Work life balance policies are beneficial for an organisation because the firm gets able to attract and retain previously unexplored pools of talent and by creating a work environment that was previously unsound (Hudson , 2005). The research conducted by McCrindle on 3000 Australians also shows that the number one factor contributing to job attraction and retention is work life balance policy and it is even more important than salary (Pleffer, 2007). Pleffer also advocated that in the clash of work and life, life wins therefore, the jobs which offer flexibility such as work hours options, enhances the satisfaction of the people. Bloom, Kretschmer, & Reenen (2006) rejected that work life balance policies bring improvement in productivity unless a good control over the management is achieved. Moreover, they also argued that neither is the support for the negative correlation between productivity and work life balance policies. In an attempt to increase work life balance policies and practices, the governments of various nations have started giving recognition to organisations. In March 2010, government of Australia awarded the National Work Life Balance Awards to the organisations. Australian government also argued that the new Work Health and Safety Act will play a major role to reduce psychological and physical hazards at workplace (Jones, 2010). Most of the organisations are pursuing work life balance policies nowadays. According to Human Resources and Social Development Canada (HRSDC), Canadian organisations are highly encouraged to practice work life balance programs because such programs benefit the organisation’s bottom line and offer indirect benefits to the workforce which could be tangible and quantifiable or non tangible as well (CCOHS, 2008). General Electrics is commited to introduce work life balance policies because the company believes that such policies enable the people to extend their work to their private worlds and also enable them to achieve health balance (General Electrics, 2010). Problems Some researchers also highlight that if work life balance policies are not implemented rightly, they do have a negative effect on employees. During the decade of 1980s, the large companies such as Merck, Deloitte & Touché, and IBM identified the value and need of women contributors and started to change their benefits, procedures and policies related to women workforce. The work life balance policies such as home based work, maternity leaves and child care referral etc were introduced by these organisations. During the same decade men also started voicing for work life balance concerns and the gender discrimination issues raised (Bird, 2006).The opponents of work life balance policies argue that such practices are increasing discrimination practices at workplace. For example, if an organisation offers child and family care programs, then the co-workers without children may feel that they are not getting the same level of benefits, which may create dissatisfaction (Nixon). There are various problems in which work life balance policies do not get fit however; many policies can be accommodated with creativity (Queensland Government, 2010). There are various models which give great emphasis towards work life balance practices. The first model is the segmentation model which shows that life in work and life outside the work are two different domains and they do not have any influence on each other (Schoenfeld, 2005). The spillover model highlights that work and non-work life are two different domains but they do have either positive or negative impact on each other (Deery & Jago). The third model is compensation model, which argues that life on work and life outside work are two spheres and if anything lacks in one sphere, it is compensated by the other sphere. The fourth model is instrumental model which advocates that one sphere facilitates success in other sphere. The last model explaining work life balance is conflict model which argues that high level of demands in all areas of life may increase the conflict because of increasing difficulty in making choices (Rykr, 2009). In addition to these models, there are various theories which also highlight the association of work and life. The border theory describes work and family as two major domains in life and people as daily border-crossers (Clark). Moreover, various other theories such as workaholic, achievement oriented people etc also support the subject of work life balance. 3. Discussion and Conclusion Basically, work life balance policies deal with the management of people and they seek to fulfil the dual desires for higher productivity of organisation and employees motivation and twin policy goals of the government of high employment and high value added with fair and just society (CIPD, 2009). The demand of such policies have never been seen before however, as the society is changing and organisations are massively empowering their employees, the work life balance policies have become a career consideration for the people. Companies have started branding themselves as an employee friendly organisations rather than focusing on job security and tenure. After identifying the major areas where the impact of work life balance policies is significant, in this section, I would analyse the actual practices of the organisations. Yasbek (2004) describes certain predicators of work life balance policies such as firm size, nature of employees hired by a firm and gender of major employees in the firm. He finds that large firm has more generous work life balance policies than SMEs, which usually have more informal and individually negotiated policies. Moreover, the firms hiring more professionals than technicians better provide work life balance policies and the companies with a greater proportion of women also provide more work life balance policies. The association between gender and work life balance as highlighted by Yasbek is actually shown by various organisations. British Telecom is pursuing work life balance policies to attract more women workforce. According to the statistics of British Telecom, the company saved about £3 million in recruitment and induction because 98 percent of women returned to the company after maternity leave because of work life balance policies (The Management Lab). Yasbek (2004) shows that business performance is widely affected by work life balance policies. When the market structure is competitive, work life balance policies provide more opportunities to the firms to attract employees. Importantly, all companies cannot pursue standard work life balance policies and job seekers cannot expect the similar work life balance policies. For example companies such as Cap Gemini Ernst, Young and Goldman and Sachs may introduce flex hours and Starwood may offer flex hours at its head quarters, however, Starwood at its hotels or the companies with more administrative and front line dealing cannot practice flex hours. Since the nature of business plays a very significant role therefore, companies may incur various problems whilst designing work life balance policies to remain competitive in the market (Hansen, 2002). This point also supports Yasbek suggestion that as business cases for work life balance policies are always specific therefore, they cannot be generalised. Yasbek (2004) highlights that work life balance policies enhance staff retention rates. TDA has made work life balance policy a part of its HR strategy because the company believes that work life balance policies do bring benefits to the organisation (TDA, 2008). The company also believes that the effectiveness of the staff increases if the organisation takes interest inside and outside of work environment of staff. Therefore, the company has developed work life balance policies that assist then in fulfilling their professional, personal or domestic responsibilities. Similarly, Mazda Motors Corporation has always promoted work life balance practices and on August 2008, the company announced it would implement 10 policies to increase such practices and the personal system of the company would ensure the implementation of the policies. Because of such policies, Mazda is known as ‘Family Friend Company’ and it has been winning the awards such as Excellence award of Japan in 2003 and Kurumin certificate 2007. It means that work life balance orientation of an organisation also enhances its recognition as people’s friendly organisation. Because of this reason, Mazda has been always able to attract skilled and professional people (Hiroshima, 2008). Yasbek (2004) also highlights the positive correlation between work life balance policies and productivity with reference to various theoretical models. The study of Health Canada 1999 highlighted more than 40 percent of the working Canadians face conflicts between work and family life and their organisations consider long working hours and bodies in seat for a long time as high productivity of organisations (HRSDC, 2004). On the other hand, productivity is the amount of input per unit of output, which means the fewer will be the number of hours to complete the work, the more productive will be the organisation (Investor Words). The literature also shows that either a positive or negative correlation has not been identified between productivity and work life balance. Moreover, although the concept of flexible hours may not increase the productivity of the employees however, it does have a positive impact on employee health and well being. Another issue raised here is that although there is no positive relation identified between work life balance and productivity however, a significant relationship exists between poor work life balance policies and productivity. Basically poor work life balance results in the lack of motivation, accidents, higher absenteeism and poor quality work (Ameen). According to Yasbek (2004), work life balance policies contribute to the safety and health of individuals and reduce fatigue and chances of accidents. Clear evidences have been also provided by Yasbek (2004) to support the positive impact of work balance policies on overall organisation performance. In an online survey of 115 organizations from 15 countries across Europe, it was found that leading European companies seek to offer work life balance policies however, their desirable benefits are not fully utilised because of the insufficiency of the companies to promote the measures. Secondly, out of the total companies interviewed, less than two third agreed that their employees are encouraged to select the options available for work life balance programs (Stuber). Recommendations In order to avoid discriminatory practices, the organisations should consider the total compensation provided by work life balance policies to every employee. For example, if an organisation is offering children care programs, then it can introduce some other programs for the people without children. Therefore, options can be given to the people to select the best suitable programs for themselves. Future Research Although a lot of work is being done on work life balance however, there is a huge gap which has been also identified by Yasbek. As the work balance policies are more specific for the companies and they cannot be generalised therefore, for convenience, the researchers should conduct a research on work life balance practices based on the nature of industries. The research based on kinds of industries will to some extent help to understand the differences between work life practices across different industries or nature of businesses. Moreover, it will also help to generalise the implications of work life programs to some extent. Conclusions Therefore, based on the above discussion, it can be concluded that work life may or may not have a positive impact on a firm’s productivity however, introducing and practicing such policies is socially desirable. Organisations pursuing these practices are actually not suffering from decline in their productivity and they are attracting and retaining skilled people successfully. Moreover, it has found that work life balance policies are practices are very important for the workplace well being of the employees. When the employees are provided a good working and friendly atmosphere, they are more motivated to achieve their tasks and they are more satisfied with the organisations. However, poor work life balance practices may have huge negative impacts of the organisation, therefore, implementation of work life balance policies is as important as their development. Bibliography Amble, B. (2006, February 1). Work-life balance becoming critical to recruitment and retention. Retrieved June 10, 2010, from http://www.management-issues.com/2006/8/24/research/work-life-balance-becoming-critical-to-recruitment-and-retention.asp Ameen, S. (n.d.). Work Life Balance and its Impact on Employees and Businesses. Retrieved June 10, 2010, from http://community.tradekey.com/article-74/Work_Life_Balance_and_its_Impact_on_Employees_and_Businesses.html Asadullah, M. N., & Fernández, R. M. (2008, July). Work-Life Balance Practices and the Gender Gap in Job Satisfaction in the UK: Evidence from Matched Employer-Employee Data. Retrieved June 7, 2010, from IZA: http://ftp.iza.org/dp3582.pdf Bird, J. (2006). WORK-LIFE BALANCE DOING IT RIGHT AND AVOIDING THE PITFALLS. 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