Ruchita Udani - Work Life Balance

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A

COMPREHENSIVE PROJECT REPORT

ON

Work Life Balance

A Project report submitted in Partial Fulfillment of award

of MBA Degree to Gujarat Technical University

:PROJECT GUIDE:

PROF.SUNIL MISHRA

: SUBMITTED BY:

RUCHITA .R. UDANIMANALI RAJPARA

SUBMITTED TO:

M.H. GARDI INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENTRAJKOT, (ANANDPAR).

Batch:-2011-2013


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We hereby declare that the project report entitled A study on work life

balance of the employees is the product of our own effort, to the best of our

knowledge and belief. This comprehensive Project Report is being submitted by

us, at M.H Gardi School Of Management, Rajkot, for the partial fulfillment of

the MBA course, and the report has not been submitted to any other educational

institutions for any other purpose.

Place: Rajkot

Date

(Signature)

Ruchita .R. Udani

Manali .P. Rajpara


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Knowledge is power and ideas rule the world

This is the result of research into the work-Life Balance of the employees.

This research is aimed to support employees to balance work and personal life,

by systematic balancing between work (career, profession, goal, and ambition)

and life (family, health, enjoyment) and vice versa. It also emphases on

perceptions of organization towards work life balance. This research was

performed in the context of the finalization of the Master of Business

Administration.

For effective work life balance satisfaction, trust, motivation, benefits are

very useful tool to measure. Organizational goal also can be achieve effectively.

The information contained in the report is illustrative and by no meansexhaustive. Any comments and suggestions for effective implementation of the

projects identified in the report are welcome.


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Expression of feelings by words makes them less significant when it

comes to make statement of gratitude

The research and this report are made in cooperation with several

persons. We would like to use this opportunity to thank them.

First of all we would like to express our regards and thanks to Dr. Sandip

Solanki, Director .With a deep sense of gratitude and humble submission We

would like to express our heartiest gratefulness to our Faculty Guide Prof. Sunil

Mishra, Professor of M.H.Gardi, Rajkot, for guiding us throughout our

Comprehensive Project.

We give heartiest thanks to all d faculty members and our classmates for

supporting us throughout project.

Finally we would like to thank our parents who helped us to make this

project. We appreciate every bit of encouragement you all gave us to make this

project successful.


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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Every man and woman in this world has to balance their life. Work life

balance itself gives very broad idea about the how work and life both are very

important and both have to be balanced. The entire project is based on research.

In this project, try to find how employees are balancing their social and

work life. This entire project talks about different factors which are important

for the balancing of life. From this research studies, we will able to know that

in organization, how employees are managing their life. What kind of support

they are getting from the organization as well as from their families. Organizationas well as family is playing very important role for balancing ones life. Different

family member plays different roles to help ones to balance life.

From this research we can easily know that employees working in the

organization can balance their life very effectively. What kind of changes they

want in their organization and how they are feeling about their organization

regarding this topic. Also organization can get information and feelings of their

employees so that they can easily change their work culture if required.


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Sr. No. Particulars Page no.

1. Introduction

2. Background of the study Ten Essential Management Actions for

Creating Work Life Balance

Importance of Maintaining Work LifeBalance

What organization does for work lifebalance?

Factors influencing the evolution ofwork-life balance

3. Objective of the study

4. Problem statement

5. Literature review

Conclusion of literature

6. Hypothesis

7. References and websites


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INTRODUCTION

Changes in the social, political and economic fabric of societies have

influenced and continue to influence both the nature of employment and its

relationship to life outside work. This project is set against a background of

changing trends in the work environment. In the 1970s the academic literature

was awash with articles assuming the continuation of trends predicting huge

increases in leisure time for the 21st century.

The following quotation sums this assumption up neatly. Until quite

recently it was widely assumed, particularly in and concerning the richer

countries, that working hours were steadily reducing, the amount of leisure timeincreasing and that these trends would continue. Many people looked forward to

a golden age of leisure (WTO, 1999: 3).

However, as national economies struggle to compete in an increasingly

competitive world economy, there are ramifications for employees. Changing

employment patterns together with changes in the demographic structure of the

workforce have resulted in a different reality for the 21st century. Instead of trying

to manage copious amounts of leisure time, many workers are instead trying to

juggle numerous responsibilities with the increased, intensified demands of work.

Such reality, and in particular, transformations in the structure of both the

workplace and the workforce imply that work practices and employers

expectations must change accordingly. The traditional assumption that

employees should be willing and able to make work their top priority in life is no

longer tenable. It is in this context that the notion of work -life balance has come

to the fore in policy debates.

Work-life balance is central to debates about quality of working life and its

relation to broader quality of life. Much has been written on the subject and this

project represents an attempt to extrapolate and synthesis the main themes

before exploring the nature of work-life balance.


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BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Work Life Balance

Worklife balance is a broad concept including proper prioritizing between

"work" (career and ambition) on the one hand and "life" (Health, pleasure, leisure,

family and spiritual development) on the other. Related, though broader, terms

include "lifestyle balance" and "life balance". Work-life Balance also referred to as

family friendly work arrangements (FFWA), and, in international literature, as

alternative work arrangements (AWA).

To maintain work and life balance is the critical issue now a day for the

every employee. Work (career, profession, goal, and ambition) will be

counterweighted by the life (family, health, enjoyment) and vice versa. So

maintaining the right balance between two is the major task of an employee

because both are an important part of the life.


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Work-life balance is about people feeling satisfied with the way they divide

their time and energy between paid work and all the other things they need and

want to do. Work-life balance is important for people of all ages and stages of

life. It is important for individual employees who may have family responsibilities

or are active in their communities, for those who are keen to study, to keep fit, to

play sport and to enjoy life. It is also important for employers because employees

who are satisfied with their work-life balance are more likely to bring enthusiasm,

energy and commitment to their work.

Work-life balance is an important area of Human Resource Management

(HRM) that is receiving increasing attention from government, researchers,

management and employee representatives and the popular media.

Factors contributing to the interest in work-life balance issues are global

competition, renewed interest in personal lives/family values and an aging

workforce.

Other factors include increasing complexity of work and family roles, the

increased prevalence of dual income households and the expanded number [of

women entering the workforce. Though work-life balance was initially construed

as the concern for working mothers, it has been recognized as a vital issue for all

classes of employees.

Despite increased interest in work-life issues, the organizational

philosophy towards work-life concerns is varied. Many organizations still see

them as individual not organizational concerns. Some organizations resonate the

sentiment 'work is work and family is familyand basically, the two do not mix'.

Other organizations view work and personal life as competing priorities

in a zero-sum game, in which a gain in one area means a loss in the other

(Friedman et al, 2000). Hence, it would be interesting to study organizational

perspectives on work-life balance.


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Work-Life Balance does not mean an equal balance

Trying to schedule an equal number of hours for each of your various work

and personal activities is usually unrewarding and unrealistic. Life is and should

be more fluid than that.

Best individual work-life balance will vary over time, often on a daily

basis

The right balance for you today will probably be different for you tomorrow.

The right balances for you when you are single will be different when you marry,

or if you have children; when you start a new career versus when you are

nearing retirement.

There is no perfect, one-size fits all, balance you should be striving

for

The best work-life balance is different for each of us because we all havedifferent priorities and different lives.


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Ten Essential Management Actions for Creating Work Life

Balance

1. Positive Work life Balance thinking treating staff as adults who are

balancing their work commitments with their family/personal responsibilities, and

being positive about making changes to create a more flexible workplace in all

aspects of employee relations. The importance of modelling best practice work

life balance from the top cannot be underestimated.

2. Work Life Balance policy have a clear policy statement which

announces that the WA Health is committed to providing a flexible responsive

workplace, which enables all employees to balance work and family/personal

responsibilities, which is incorporated into core values statements and corporate

plans, and supported by policy guidelines outlining what that means for everyone

in the workplace.

3. Work Life Balance employer - WA Health be promoted as an employer

who respects and cares about its employees, who recognizes that they will have

family and personal responsibilities, and who provides flexiblebilities. Factors

shown to impact the most upon staff trying to balance work and life include

required hours of work, a lack of flexibility in being able to alter their working

hours, time off or leave arrangements, a lack of access to suitable childcare

arrangements, and undue stresses and tensions in the workplace which make

working life more difficult and/or even unpleasant.

4. Awareness of entitlements - increase awareness of employees entitlementsto access flexible working arrangements, and what assistance and services are

available to them directly or by referral.


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5. Work Life Balance survey conduct a survey to identify staff needs in

balancing work and family/personal life responsibilities, current awareness of

flexible work options, and suitability of current working arrangements. Incorporate

results into the human resource management plan and staff work planning

arrangements.

6. Implement flexible work practices this will provide greater flexibility to all

employees, including supervisors, managers and other senior staff, and will

ensure flexible working hours schedules, rosters and leave arrangements to

accommodate their family and personal responsibilities, without detriment or

penalty.

7. Willingness to pilot or trial initiatives all managers and supervisors to

demonstrate commitment to creating a flexible workplace that supports work life

balance by considering employees needs and requests, and be willing to pilot or

trial new initiatives and implement more flexible working arrangements.

8.Management accountability

managers to be responsible and accountable

for implementing work life balance arrangements, reducing staff turnover rates

and increasing retention rates in their work area. Managers to be made

accountable for decisions to refuse employees requests for more flexible

working arrangements


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9. Management Training training and development programs for managers

should include human resource management skills, the benefits of creating work

life balance, and how to manage a more flexible workforce.

10.Pre-exit interviews pre-exit interviews that include questions such as

whether difficulties in balancing work and family/personal responsibilities were a

contributing factor to the employee leaving, to be conducted prior to the

employee leaving. This data to be collated analyzed and reported to senior

management. Where possible, alternative working arrangements should be

offered to assist employees remain with a better work life balance.


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Importance of Maintaining Work Life Balance

Balance is the key to lead a successful and beautiful life which includes

everything but in balance. It is important in everyones life be it in the life of anentrepreneur, student or a housewife to maintain a balance between various

aspects of their daily routine. A student must know how to balance between his

studies and curricular activities; otherwise he will fail in one or the other thing. It

is equally important that we maintain our balance between materialistic and

spiritual or religious life as well.

In our everyday life, it is the work which occupies the major part of our life

and many people get so occupied with their work that they end up neglecting

other important things of their life. In corporate world where there is huge

pressure on employees to meet their deadlines and long working hours, people

really have lost balance in their lives. There is no denial that one can not survive

without work because this is what ultimately gives you the money which is the

source of everyones survival but along with work other things are also

necessary. Sometimes some goal or target grabs so much of our attention that

we forget everything else and devote all our energy in accomplishing that goal.

Achieving goal or target is not bad but leaving everything else behind for that one

particular goal or target can be harmful for an individual.

Time management is the solution to most of our problems. Everybody is

provided with twenty four hours only but it depends upon us how we utilize them.

And within these limited hours only we have to accomplish all our tasks along

with giving rest to our bodies and minds. And to manage the time, it is very

important that we set our priorities for our life. When we set our priorities, then it

becomes easy to divide our attention according them. For some people its their

work which is a priority, so they spend more time with their work. When we divide

our time according to our priorities, then there are very few chances that we will

not be leading a balanced life.


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In the end what matters is that we live a life in which we are happy and

does not hold any regret that we are missing out something because we dont

have enough time. When we will manage our time wisely according to our

priorities, then it will never be so difficult for us to maintain balance in our life.


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Economic change

Usually, when we think of work-life balance we automatically picture

examples of work encroaching upon our personal time and space. But now, the

tables are turning the scale is tipping. The pressures and stresses of our

personal lives are overshadowing our ability to be productive and focused while

at work. Economic changes like globalization, Knowledge-based economy,

deregulation, Labour shortages etc are changed.

Family and Demographic change

Changing demographics in the labor force in developed countries such as

the United Kingdom (U.K.), together with a recruiting crunch in some

organizations, have encouraged an increasing number of employers to consider

the work-life balance of their employees. At the same time, recognition of work

family disconnects, especially for working mothers, is growing. Organizations are

responding by introducing flexible work arrangements.

.

Social and Institutional Changes

If there are more number of members in the family then it will require more

attention to his/ her personal life, their Medical care and also education of their

children even he/she can not be able to treat their children equally.

Emerging Employment Relationships

Employee Relations involves the part time and contingent workers, self

employed, sub contracting, the body of work concerned with maintaining

employer-employee relationships that contribute to satisfactory productivity,

motivation, and morale. Essentially, Employee Relations is concerned with

preventing and resolving problems involving individuals which arise out of or

affect work situations.


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Changing Organization of work

Today, most of the organizations are diversified into many businesses and

due to this workload is increased even organizations does not offer flexible work

time. so, Its difficult to manage work life balance

The present world might be characterized by revolutionary innovations and

accelerated growth and development in every possible field but the other side of

the coin relates to the extended working- hours. Compounded to that are gadgets

like the web enabled mobile technology which makes one accessible to the work

environment 24X7. As a result, the one area of life which most individual's

neglect is maintaining a balance between work and family.


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What organization does for work life balance?

Work-life balance means different things to different people and different

things at different stages of life. However, any definition for anyone must

include the problems of lack of time and exhaustion. Research indicates that

failure to achieve the correct balance of effort and rest is linked to a feeling of

lack of control over your workload, plus lack of energy to fulfill personal goals

and commitments. If the balance is wrong, the result may include fatigue,

poor performance and a poor quality of life.

The organization offers a range of flexible working arrangements to help

staff achieve work/life balance.

Parental leave

Parental leave is a right for parents to take time off work to look after a young

child or make arrangements for the childs welfare. Parents can use it to spend

more time with children and strike a better balance between their work and family

commitments. This right is also open to staff who adopt children.

Staff can take from one to six months of leave all at once or month-by-

month after having a child and up until the childs 5th birthday, or within

five years of adoption.

Prior approval by hierarchy is required.

Parental leave is a right and cannot be refused but may be Postponed by

up to six months in agreement with the directorate.

Staff receives half their salary for the first month and a fixed allocation for

subsequent months.


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Part-time work

For staff who would like to work part-time, priorities other than work can assume

more importance. Part-time workers reduce their working week for various

reasons including attending to family (children and the elderly); pursuing personal

hobbies; voluntary work; studying; and many others. Staff wishing to work part-

time may benefit from this policy if their directorate gives its approval, or they

may apply for a part-time vacant post.

May work 20 or 30 hours on a daily, weekly, monthly or yearly basis.

Need approval by hierarchy.

Authorization to work part-time must be requested at least every two

years.

Family Leave

Staff may take leave for the serious illness or incapacity of immediate

family on the provision of a medical certificate.

Immediate family defined as spouse, registered non-marital partner,parent or child.

Every staff member has a right to Family Leave, which cannot be refused

or postponed.

Unpaid leave

The organization recognises that staff may at some point wish to take a

break from their career to address other priorities. The authorisation

may be for personal or professional reasons. Staff remain

bound by the EIBs Staff Regulations (see Article 31) throughout

their leave and must obtain the prior permission of the Bank if

they wish to take up professional activities during their leave.


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Time off to care for sick children

In the case of a sick child and on presentation of a medical certificate

staff may take time off to look after the child. Time off is also

authorised if a staff member is called by the crche or school to

fetch a sick child. The first day of the certified period is credited

in full and the rest of the time 50%.

Flexi-time

Staff may take up to a maximum of 4 half days a month (which

can be taken any day during the working week without being

able to use 2 half days on the same day) providing the normal

functioning of work is assured.

Crche facilities

The EIB has its own crche where you can enroll your pre-school

Children. There is a lot of demand for places and staffs are invited

to give as much notice as possible if they need a place.


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Factors influencing the evolution of work-life balance

People have always integrated the different parts of their lives and work-life

balance has long been of concern to those interested in the quality of working lifeand its relation to the broader quality of life. Indeed, the literature provides many

examples from hunter-gatherer societies through the Industrial Revolution era to

the present time.

As mentioned in the introduction to this project, recent rapid changes in the

nature of employment and its relationship to life outside work have catapulted the

issue of work-life balance to the forefront of policy debates and it is possible to

identify a number of levers of change that have brought this about. Some of the

most important of these levers are outlined briefly below.

Demographic and labour force change

one of the key factors in the promotion of flexible working arrangements has

been the increasing participation by women in the workforce. There are several

reasons for this increase including later marriage and childbirth, the ascendancy

of the dual earner family, a propensity for women to return to work after having

children, the growth of the services sector at the expense of the traditionally male

dominated manufacturing sector, and social pressures for equal opportunities for

men and women.

A consequence of this trend is that employers have started to pay greater

attention to the needs of employees with caring responsibilities, a trend that is

further reinforced by the increasing number of lone parents in the workforce. In

the Irish context of high levels of economic growth and consequent labour market

shortages, employers need to retain female employees and also need to attract

women returnees to work.


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Developments/increasing pressure at work

Analysts maintain that the pressures in work, for those in work, have been

intensifying over recent years. The rising information load, the need for speed of

response and the importance attached to quality of customer service and its

consequences have all been cited as reasons. People are working longer hours

and under greater pressure. Intensity is taken to refer to the proportion of time

spent working at very high speeds and to tight deadlines.

Developments/increasing pressure in life outside work

There is growing concern in communities that the quality of home and community

life is deteriorating (Guest, 2001). Various explanations associated with affluence

have been put forward: the growth of single parent families, the privatisation of

family life and the lack of local resources and facilities. There is a higher

proportion of women than ever before from all social classes participating in the

workforce (in Western industrial society). Added to this is the increased pressure

of work which is reflected in longer hours, more exhaustion and the necessity of

evening and weekend work. The result is a decrease in quality family time.

The consequences, according to Guest (2001:2) include increases in juvenile

crime, more drug abuse, a reduction in care of the community and in community

participation and less willingness to take responsibility for care of elderly relatives

and for the disadvantaged. While steps to redress these concerns transcend

work and employment, it is nevertheless argued that the demands of work

contribute to a reduced participation in non-work activities resulting in an

imbalance.


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Changing attitudes and values of people in work

It is sometimes argued that the issue of work-life balance has been stimulated by

management writers such as Tulgan (1996) who advocated the arrival of

Generation X6, a cohort of workers who give greater priority to seeking a balance

between work and the rest of life. Furthermore, it is suggested that this

generation of workers are not as willing to show unlimited commitment to the

organisation. One reason put forward for this is the decline in availability of

secure, progressive careers as a result of instability in organisations. There is

less justification therefore for employees to be committed.

A further reason, it is argued, is that Generation X workers have a more

independent mindset and are therefore more willing to change. 6 Generation X

(those born between 1963 and 1977) now form the core of the workforce.

Generation Y or the net-generation is coming on-stream fast. Research by Bruce

Tulgan on Gen-Xers has shown that they have a significantly different approach

to employment: they see themselves as free-agents, are impatient with old-style

hierarchical structures, are willing to negotiate and move jobs in order to achieve

their goals.

And his research shows that this free-agent mindset is migrating to workers from

different generations. All of the writings on managing your own career and the

ending of the life-time contract of employment merely increase the spread of the

free-agent mindset.


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Trends in Human Resource Management (HRM) practice

The development of Human Resource Management (HRM) within organisations

has also played a role in the promotion of flexible working arrangements,

particularly in the context of best practice and employer of choice concepts.

Equality, equity and diversity concerns/meeting legislation requirements

The introduction of equality legislation and the increasing need in Ireland, for

example, to comply with EU legislation, requires greater cognisance by

employers of employee needs.

Increase in certain types of sickness and disease

Lewis et. al (2001) point to an increase in certain types of sickness and disease

as another possible lever for change. This may take the form of an increase in

sick leave absences from work. In other contexts it is the spread of HIV/AIDS

which affects many workers.

Furthermore, this disease has wiped out whole generations of carers, leaving

grandparents or extended family to raise children. Workplaces have to respond

to these trends.


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Objective of the study

We come across individuals who let off their frustration at work, either by

criticizing their friends, colleagues or family members. This kind of behavior

not only wastes valuable time, but also our energy. Balancing work with life

will help in enhancing focus on positive side of all things. It tries to avoid

criticism. It concentrates on the simple principle of doing what should be done.

Maintaining such balance can improve the overall performance of an

Individual Work is but one dimension of life and should not distort our personal

life.

The vice-versa is also true as work is means of livelihood. The concept of

balancing work and life is important in more than one way. The concept is

gaining prominence since it helps in leading a balanced life, at the work place

as well as at home. Maintaining balance encourages the optimum working

hours that ultimately enhances the overall efficiency


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PROBLEM STATEMENT

Work-life balance is an increasingly hot topic in boardrooms and government

halls today. Over the coming decade it will be one of the most important

issues that executives and human resource.

In this we want to study that how working women and men balance their

working and personal life.

This Research aims to identify work life balance of employees

The research emphasizes on importance of work life balance as an

important area of Human Resource Development in the present day

competitive world.

The research provides suitable suggestions to evolve meaningful, relevant

and effective maintaining work life balance that will help to industry for

future actions.

From the study we will come to know about the actual scenario of work life

balance.


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LITERATURE REVIEW

Review of related literature is an important step in undertaking research. It helps

in clarifying and defining the problem, stating objectives, formulating hypotheses,

selecting appropriate design and methodology of research as well as interpreting

the results in the light of the research work already undertaken. In this chapter,

an endeavor has been made to provide an overview of various aspects of this

study through the review of existing literature. The sources referred include

various journals, books, doctoral theses, working papers, reports, magazines

related to human resource, internet sites, newspapers etc.

Bardoel et al. (2008) identified the major themes and research methods that

have dominated work life research in Australia and New Zealand between the

period 2004-07. The identified themes were grouped in eight categories, i.e.,

organization approaches to work life and work family issues, work characteristics,

Occupations/industries, government policy and legislation, health outcome issues

related to work life, family structure and children, gender and other additional

themes. With regard to the research methods, out of the total 86 papers

examined, 73% of the papers were empirical while 27% were conceptual.

Majority of the empirical papers used quantitative methodology. As many as 51%

used survey method for data collection while the remaining 49% were fairly split

among case studies, focus group and interviews. Out of 63 empirical papers, 20

were classified priori with variables identified and relationships proposed before

any theory was apparent. The remaining 43 articles were classified as post hoc

as there were no specific relationships proposed before data collection and

analysis.


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In order to have a justified and in-depth review of the literature, the studies have

been classified under the following headings:

Work family conflict/work life balance studies

Individual related variables and Work life balance/work family conflict

Family related variables and Work life balance/work family conflict

Work related variables and Work life balance/work family conflict

Family and Work related variables and Work life balance / work family conflict

Individuals strategies for work life balance

Organizations strategies for work life balance.

Organizations initiatives and programmes for work life balance

WORK FAMILY CONFLICT / WORK LIFE BALANCE STUDIES

Some researchers like Gutek et al. (1991), Frone et al. (1992a), Williams andAlliger (1994), Eagle et al. (1997), Frone et al. (1997), Hammer et al. (1997),

Hsieh etal. (2005), Wesley and Muthuswamy (2005), Kinnunen and Mauno

(2007) and Rajadhyaksha and Ramadoss (2010) have focused on assessing

work family conflict/work life balance among employees in various settings and

also identified the direction of spillovers. Gutek et al. (1991) conducted a study

using two separate samples of employed people with families, a systematically

selected sample of psychologists and a volunteer sample of managers. The

findings indicated that the two types of perceived work family conflict (work

interference with family and family interference with work) were clearly separable

and relatively independent of each other. The people perceived less family

interference with work than work interference with family. However, when Frone

et al. (1997) developed and tested an integrative model of work family interface


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using a sample of 372 employed adults who were married and/or parents, the

findings supported the indirect reciprocal relation between work to family and

family to work conflict. Family to work conflict was found to have indirect

influence on work to family conflict via work distress and work overload. Work to

family conflict had indirect impact on family to work conflict via increased parental

overload. Rajadhyaksha and Ramadoss (2010) tested the model given by Frone

etal. (1997) on a sample of 405 women in India and found that Indian data

moderately supported within and cross domain relationship hypothesized in the

model.

INDIVIDUAL RELATED VARIABLES AND WORK LIFE BALANCE/WORK

FAMILY CONFLICT

A number of individual variables, viz. gender, age, marital status, emotional

intelligence, etc. affecting/ related to work life balance/work family conflict have

beenstudied. Studies by Gutek et al. (1991), Williams and Alliger (1994), Higgins

etal.(1994), Loscocoo (1997), Aryee et al. (1999b), Grzywacz etal. (2007),

Rajadhyaksha and Velgach (2009) reported gender differences with respect to

work family conflict. Gutek et al. (1991) indicated that women reported more work

interference in family than men, despite spending about same number of hours in

paid work as men. Although women spent more hours in family work than men,

they reported the same level of family interference in work. Williams and Alliger

(1994) found that spillover of unpleasant moods occur both from work to family

settings and from family to work though evidence for the spillover of pleasant

moods was weak.

Both family to work and work to family spillovers were stronger for women than

men. Further, it was found that extent to which work interfered with family for a

given day was found to be positively related to self reported job involvement for

that day. Extent to which family interfered with work on a given day was found to


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be positively related to distress in family roles during the day, family intrusion into

work during the day and self reported family involvement for that day.

Higgins et al. (1994) examined the impact of gender and life cycle stage on

three components of work family conflict (i.e. role overload, interference from

work to family and interference from family to work). The results indicated

significant differences for gender and life cycle. Women reported experiencing

significantly greater role overload than men. Again women were found to

experience greater work to family interference than men. Interference was

highest when the children were young, and lowest in families with older children.

Further, women reported significantly higher levels of family interference with

work than men in early years, but interferences levels were comparable to mens

in the third life cycle stage (i.e. children 10 to 18 years).

FAMILY RELATED VARIABLES AND WORK LIFE BALANCE/ WORK

FAMILY CONFLICT

Family related variables such as spouse support, spouse work hours, couples

employment status, number of children, parental responsibilities, home

responsibilities have been studied in relation to work life balance/conflict. Suchet

and Barling (1986) in a study of interrole conflict, spouse support and marital

functioning found that support from ones husband may assist employed mothers

cope with their own interrole conflict, as husbands supportive behaviour and

attitude might help in reducing the opposing role demands on, and unrealistic

role expectations of employed mothers.

Loerch et al. (1989) examined the relationships among family domain variables

and three sources of work family conflict (time, strain and behaviour based) for

both men and women. Family domain variables examined included time based

(number of children, spouse work hours per week, couples employment status)


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strain based (conflict within family, spouse support, quality of experience in

spouse or parent role) and behaviour based antecedents, family intrusions

(parental, marital, home responsibilities) and role involvement. The results

indicated that the time based antecedents (number of children, spouse work

hours, couples employment status) were not significantly related to any form of

work family conflict for men or women. Strain based antecedent, conflict within

family, was found to have a positive relationship with work family conflict.

However, the negative relationship of other strain based antecedents (spouse

support, quality of spouse and parental experiences) and work family conflict was

not supported. The behaviour based antecedent, role congruity, was not

significantly related to any form of work family conflict. The variable of role

involvement significantly predicted only the time based conflict for men.

Adams et al. (1996) developed and tested a model of the relationship between

work and family. The results suggested that higher levels of family emotional and

instrumental support were associated with lower levels of family interfering with

work.

WORK RELATED VARIABLES AND WORK LIFE BALANCE /WORK FAMILY

CONFLICT

Relationship between work related variables, viz. task variety, task autonomy,

task complexity, role conflict, work schedule flexibility, number of hours worked

andwork life balance/work family conflict have been studied.

The studies by Greenhaus et al. (1989), Voydanoff (2004), Butler et al. (2005)

found task autonomy to be associated with work family conflict. Greenhaus et al.

(1989) examined different types of work domain pressures as sources of work

family conflict among two career couples. The results showed that work role

stressors (role conflict and role ambiguity) accounted for a significant portion of

the variance in time based and strain based conflict for both men and women.


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The task characteristics (autonomy and complexity) were found to be associated

with work family conflict and were somewhat stronger for women than for men.

Work schedule characteristics were found to be generally unrelated to work

family conflict. Among women, it did not explain significant portion of variance in

either time based or strain based conflict and among men, it was related to only

strain based conflict.

Voydanoff (2004) used a differential salience-comparable salience approach to

examine the effects of work demands and resources on work to family conflict

and facilitation. The data was obtained from the 1997 National Study of Changing

Workforce (NSCW) and consisted of 1,938 employed adults living with a family

member. The model includes within domain work demands and resources and

boundary spanning resources as sources of work to family conflict and

facilitation. The results showed that time based demands (work hours and extra

work without notice) and strain based demands (job insecurity and time pressure)

are positively associated with work to family conflict. It was found that enabling

resources (autonomy and learning opportunities) and psychological rewards

(respect and meaningful work) were positively related to work to family

facilitation. These resources (except learning opportunities) showed negative

relation with work to family conflict. Time based family support policies (parental

leave and time off for family) and work family organizational support (supportive

work family culture and supervisor work family support) showed negative

association with conflict, and positive relationship to work to family facilitation.

tendency to work long hours outside the home might find that home life is even

further marginalized by work life.


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FAMILY AND WORK RELATED VARIABLES AND WORK LIFE BALANCE /

WORK FAMILY CONFLICT

A few studies undertaken by Pleck et al. (1980), Aryee (1992), Grzywacz and

Marks (2000), Saltzstein et al. (2001), Frye and Breaugh (2004), Luk and Shaffer

(2005), Kinnunen and Mauno (2007) examined the relationship among different

Family and work related variables and work life balance / work family conflict.

Pleck et al. (1980) in a survey study of workers found that substantial minority

of workers living in families experienced conflict between work and family life.

Parents reported more conflict than other couples. Specific working conditions,

such as excessive hours at work, scheduling and physically or psychologically

demanding were associated with experiencing work family conflict, which in turn

was related to diminished job satisfaction and contentment with life in general.

Aryee (1992) examined the impact of five antecedent sets of work and family

domain variables on three types of work-family conflict (job-spouse, job-parent

and job-homemaker) and the impact of these types of work family conflict on well

being and work outcome measures.

Antecedents studied included life role salience, family stressors (parental

demands, responsibility for household chores, lack of spouse support), work

stressors (task variety, task complexity, task autonomy, role conflict, role

overload, role ambiguity) and work schedule stressors (hours worked per week,

work schedule inflexibility). Results indicated that married professional women in

the study experienced moderate amounts of each type of work-family conflict.

It was found that number of hours worked per week rather than work schedule

flexibility affects work family conflict. Role stressors explained the most variance

in job spouse and jobhomemaker conflicts while task characteristics explained

the most variance in jobparent conflict. Task autonomy emerged as a negative


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and significant predictor of all three types of conflict. Task variety was positively

and significantly related to job parent and job-homemaker conflicts. Spouse

support showed a significant negative relation with job-spouse conflict and

parental demands were significantly positively related to job parent conflict.

However, household responsibility was not found to be related to any type of

conflict.

The three types of work-family conflict explained only modest amount of the

variance in the well-being and work outcome measures.

The study used the data from employed adults participating in the National

Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (N = 1,986). The findings

showed that work and family factors that facilitated development (decision

latitude, family support) were associated with less negative and more positive

spillover between work and family. On the other hand, work and family barriers

(job pressure, family disagreements) were associated with more negative

spillover and less positive spillover between work and family. Negative spillover

between work and family (work to family and family to work) shared some

correlates, such as pressure at work, and spouse disagreement. However,

spouse affectual support was an important correlate of negative spillover from

family to work but not negative spillover from work to family.

Similarly, decision latitude was strongly associated with both positive spillover

from work to family and family to work, whereas spouse affectual support was a

strong correlate of positive spillover from family to work but unassociated with

positive spillover from work to family.

The findings indicated that a variety of family friendly policies and practices were

used to varying degrees by these diverse groups of employees. Further, the job

related factors (job demands, job involvement) were found to be the most

significant determinants of satisfaction with work family balance and job

satisfaction.


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In addition, it was found that organizational understanding had more impact on

both satisfaction with work family balance and job satisfaction than all family

friendly policies.

It was found that the number of work hours, the use of family-friendly

policies and reporting to a supportive supervisor were predictive of work-family

conflict. Family friendly policies and reporting to a supportive supervisor were

found to have negative correlation with work-family conflict whereas hours

worked was positively related .With regard to family-work conflict, having child

care responsibility and reporting to a supportive supervisor were predictive of

such conflict. Child care responsibility showed a positive relation, while reporting

to a supportive supervisor was negatively related to such conflict. The study also

found that work family conflict was predictive of job satisfaction and family

satisfaction. However, family work conflict predicted neither job satisfaction nor

family satisfaction.

INDIVIDUALS STRATEGIES FOR WORK LIFE BALANCE

Individuals adopt strategies such as accommodation, negotiation to enhance

their work life balance or reduce work family conflict. Singh (2001) in his

qualitative study used work/life border theory to explore how British and

Swedish managers dealt with competing commitments. A sample of 35

managers (18 Swedish, 17 British ; 18 males and 17 females) ranging from

directors to project managers, aged between 28 to 59 years, was taken and

semi-structured interviews were held on site in UK and Sweden. The study

showed a tension between managers own needs for more balanced work lives

and corporate attitudes to balance - seekers and career choices.

Findings suggested that four kinds of strategies were used by the managers for

maintaining work life balance. These included accommodating family terms,


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negotiating with the family, accommodating the organization and staggering

commitments. The study showed that managers enact their work life balance

strategies with both their employer and their family, particularly their partner, who

also enacts boundaries between home and employer, so there are four parties to

the negotiation or accommodation of needs. Some managers use their own

views as reference points for dealing with subordinates need for work life

balance.

Powell and Greenhaus (2006) examined how individuals manage incidents of

work-family conflict that pose difficult choices for them. The study examines two

interrelated processes: a) the actions that individuals take to avoid conflict in

such incidents; and b) the choices they make when the conflict cannot be

avoided. First, they may try to mobilize tangible support from a role sender in

either the work or family domain to reschedule one of the activities.

If successful, this strategy avoids workfamily conflict by enabling individuals to

participate fully in both activities. If support mobilization is unsuccessful or not

attempted, individuals decide whether to participate partially in some combination

of both activities or to participate solely in either the work or family activity. It was

found that individuals use multiple cues in deciding how to respond to situations

of potential work family conflict.

ORGANIZATIONS STRATEGIES FOR WORK LIFE BALANCE

Organizations adopt strategies such as separation and integration as

responses to non-work. Kirchmeyer (1995) identified three types of

organizational responses to non work (separation, integration, respect) and used

the data collected from 221 managers, active in multiple domains, to assess the

effectiveness of these organizational responses.


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Separation was a response where employers were concerned mainly with

workers fulfilling their work responsibilities, and viewedworkers non work lives

as solely the concern of workers themselves. In the case of integration

response, employers treated work and non work as related worlds that affected

one another, and acted to reduce the gap between them in an effort to help

workers manage their multiple domains. Respect referred to the employer

acknowledging and valuing the non work participation of workers, and committing

to support it. The effectiveness of these responses was assessed in terms of

their ability to reduce the negative spillover from non-work, and to enhance both

organizational commitment and the positive side of spillover. Integration and

respect responses revealed positive correlations with organizational commitment,

whereas separation response showed a negative correlation. It was found that

the type that enhanced the flexibility of the work- non work boundary and

involved the employer in providing resources for workers to fulfill non-work

responsibilities themselves proved most effective.

ORGANIZATIONS INITIATIVES AND PROGRAMMESFOR WORK LIFE BALANCE

A number of work life balance initiatives/ programmes have been undertaken

by the organizations and various researchers like Kossek et al., 1994; Osterman,

1995 ; Thomas and Ganster, 1995; Milliken et al., 1998; Newman and Mathews,

1999; Maxwell and McDougall, 2004; and Doherty, 2004 have attempted, to

identify these programmes and to study reasons for provision of these

programmes, benefits accruing to employees and organizations as a result of

these programmes and barriers in implementation of these programmes.

The organizations make a wide variety of work life arrangements to enhance the

work life balance of employees. Kossek et al. (1994), Kirchmeyer (1995),

Osterman, (1995), Galinsky and Johnson (1998), Konard and Mangel (2000),

Guest (2002), Maxwell and McDougall (2004), Coughlan (2005), and Cieri et al.

(2005) studied and


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identified different work life arrangements. These included: parental leave,

paternity leave, maternity leave, adoption leave, sabbaticals, flexible work

timings, job sharing, job splitting, flexi time, compressed working week, annual

hours system, banking of hours, telecommuting, supervisory training in work

family sensitivity, onsite day care, emergency child care, elder care

arrangements.

A number of studies have highlighted the reasons for the provision of work life

balance programmes by various organizations. Kossek et al. (1994) forwarded

three reasons for provision of employer sponsored child care. It was argued that

child care problems interfering with work efficiency could be eliminated by

provision of child care programmes and it enhanced managements control over

the workforce. Another reason was to follow the actions of other successful

organizations and give a signal that the organization is progressive and cares

about employees needs. Yet another reason was the coercive pressures from

the government or society.

Osterman (1995) explained variation across firms in the implementation of

work/family programmes by examining how these are related to the employment

strategy of organizations. The data was collected from an original survey of

American private sector establishments and its labour force. The survey collected

data on the presence or absence of a variety of work/family programmes, as well

as on a broad range of characteristics of the establishment and its labour force. It

was found that organizations whose core employees were professional or

technical workers were significantly more likely to provide work/family

programmes than the organizations with service workers or blue collar

employees. The results also showed that the firms that wanted to implement high

performance or high commitment work systems were more likely to adopt

work/family programmes.


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Conclusion of the literature

On the basis of literature reviewed above, the following major conclusions can

be drawn:

Work to family conflict is more prevalent as compared to family to work

conflict.

No definite conclusions can be drawn with respect to the gender differences in

work life balance. However, on the basis of the studies which reported gender

differences, it can be concluded that women experience more work family

conflict.

Emotional intelligence has been found to be positively related to work life

balance.

The higher the importance accorded to work in life, the higher is the work

family conflict.

Spouse support has been found to be negatively related to family to work

conflict.

Higher the parental demands, higher is the work family conflict.

Job related variables (task autonomy and work schedule flexibility) have been

found to be positively related to work life balance.


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Since the approach of work life balance was initially conceived in terms of

work family conflict / work family balance, and work life balance concept has

come to the fore recently, hence much research is focused on work family

conflict rather than work life balance which is a broader term and includes work

and rest of the life (including family).

Secondly, much emphasis has been laid on studying the outcomes of work

family conflict or work life balance as compared to the antecedents especially in

the context of work life balance. Again, the researchers who studied the

antecedents, focused mainly on the work or family related variables; and have

not taken individual related variables into account. There are hardly any studies

to be found in the Indian context, and hence the issue of work life balance is wide

open for research in India.


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HYPOTHESIS

H0: There is work life balance of employees working in organisation.

H1: There is no work life balance of employees working in organization.


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Ruchita Udani - Work Life Balance