Work-Life Balance

Work-Life Balance

In recent times, there has been a great amount of attention given to the subject of work-life balance both locally and globally. Work-life balance is a satisfactory level of involvement or a ‘fit’ between the multiple roles in a person’s life. A desirable work-life balance consist of effectively coping between paid work and other activities which are important to one’s daily living, whether it be spending time with family and friends, participating in sports and other recreational activities, or educational purposes. This work-life balance may tend to alter over time as people have constantly changing responsibilities and commitments in their work place as well as personal lives. However, it is extremely essential to maintain a healthy work-life balance as it can reap many benefits to the employees as well as the employers; as a result it will build strong communities and efficient businesses.

An inadequate work-life balance can have detrimental effects on employee performance, retention and satisfaction. According to previous research, the flexibility of schedules and the number of working hours were found to be two of the main indicators of work-life balance. Evidence suggests that long working hours tend to risk the safety of employees, raise stress levels and impair personal health, as workers tend to be unhappy with the amount of time devoted towards work and the adverse consequences it has on their personal lives.

Work-life balance policies could be implemented by organisation s in order to enable employees to attain a proper balance between work and their personal commitments. Flexible working hours, part time and term time working, job share arrangements, working time policy and maternity leave are some examples of these work-life balance policies. However, the implementation of these policies will not be sufficient for them to successfully ‘work’. The support of the workplace culture, which reflects the values and norms of the entire organisation is essential for them to ‘work’. It is also important to raise adequate awareness of the policies and educate the managers about the significance of the policies and how to implement them.

Sources

  • http://www.centrallancashire.nhs.uk/Library/Documents/policies/WORKLIFE%20BALANCE%20POLICY.pdf 
  • http://www.hse.gov.uk/research/hsl_pdf/2003/hsl03-02.pdf 
  • http://www.genet.ac.uk/workpapers/GeNet2005p10.pdf 
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  • Last modified on Tuesday, 08 December 2015 05:37
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