Work-Life Balance

The continuously changing landscape of the modern business world has made it imperative for them to shift their focus from the earning of an enhanced amount of revenue to other related aspects of the processes of business itself (Goodwin & Graebe, 2017). Furthermore, the changes in the demands of the customers and at the same time the increased amount of competition that the business enterprises that the business enterprises need to deal with in the business market has forced them to take the help of the diverse traditional strategies (Goodwin & Graebe, 2017). It is pertinent to note that in the latter segment of the 20^th century because of the improvements made in the technological sectors and others the focus of the business enterprises shifted from the diverse aspects of the business processes solely to the ways in which they can earn a higher amount of revenue (Caesar & Fei, 2018). It was a reflection of this particular fact that the diverse organizations had to resort to the use of innovative as well as modern strategies of business (Caesar & Fei, 2018). However, in the present times the diverse organizations realizing the fact that the employees form the core entity of the entire business process focus on the concept of employee performance as a way to improve the financial prospects of the entire organization and this particular fact accounts for the popularity gained by the concept of employee performance and in turn the concept of work life balance (Deery & Jago, 2015). This report will discuss about the concept of work life balance and its related aspects.

Individuals or the employees of the present times generally like to keep their personal as well as work lives apart and thus work-life balance has become important (Direnzo, Greenhaus & Weer, 2015). In the present times this has emerged as one of the most needs of the employees and the employees perform in a much better in the organizations which take into effective consideration this particular need of the employees (Direnzo, Greenhaus & Weer, 2015). The concept of work life balance can be defined as the time which a particular individual requires for personal or recreational purposes from the time that has been allocated for their work related activities within the organization that they work for (Haar et al., 2014). The concept of work life balance is a fairly nascent one and first gained popularity in the nations of USA UK and others in the 1970s and 1980s (Haar et al., 2014). However, in the present times it is seen that the majority of the nations of the world like Australia, Germany and others are trying to effectively integrate this particular concept within the diverse organizations of their nation (Jones & Taylor, 2017). Recent researches have shown that the organizations which take into effective consideration this particular need or requirement of the employees in the most effective manner have been able to derive better performance results from the employees in comparison to the ones which does not (Caesar & Fei, 2018). Furthermore, it is seen that the effective integration of this particular concept within the organizations not only provides the much needed recuperation time as well as family time to the employees but also enables them to reduce the level of work related stress that they feel. Work life balance is important from the psychological perspective as well since providing this particular since the management team of a particular organization by effectively integrating the concept of work life balance makes the employees realize the fact that they are willing to take into effective consideration their needs in the most effective manner and this in turn enables the organizations to enhance the performance level of the employees (Cahill et al., 2015). Thus, it can be said that the effective integration of work life balance helps a particular organization to not only fulfill the needs of the employees but also helps them to improve the performance level of the concerned employees as well.   

Theories of Work Life Balance

The concept of employee performance refers to the individual performance or the productivity level of the diverse employees of a particular organization (Michel, Bosch & Rexroth, 2014). In other words, the concept of employee performance refers to the effectiveness as well as the efficiency with which the diverse employees related to a particular organization are being able to perform the diverse job roles or the tasks that has been allocated to them (Michel, Bosch & Rexroth, 2014). This is important since the diverse employees are the building blocks of a particular organization and the entire performance as well as the efficiency of the concerned organization depends significantly on the individual performances of all the employees of the concerned organization. The diverse organizations of the present times make use of different kinds of strategies for the improvement of the performance level of the different employees who are a part of the concerned organization in the most effective manner (Perrigino, Dunford & Wilson, 2018). Work life balance is one of the effective strategies, which is being used by the diverse organizations for the improvement of the performance of the employees. Recent researches have shown that the major difference between some of the most successful companies of the world like Microsoft, Woolworths Limited, Wesfarmers and others in comparison to the less successful ones of the world is the fact that they take into effective consideration the factor of work life balance within their organization (Russo, Shteigman & Carmeli, 2016). Thus, it becomes all the more important for the various organizations to take into effective consideration work life balance since it is directly related to the concept of employee performance.

In the light of the growing significance that the concept of work life balance has gained within the various organizations diverse theories related to this particular concept have emerged in the recent times which not only try to explain the effective manner in which the diverse organizations can integrate this particular concept within their organization but at the same time derive the maximum benefit from it. The Structural Functionalism Theory which gained popularity towards the end of the 20^th century segregates the lives of the individuals into two entities, namely the emotional life and the productivity life (Wadhwa & Shetty, 2017). The emotional life refers to the personal as well as the social life of the individuals which is related to the family, friends and societal life of that particular individual (Wadhwa & Shetty, 2017). The productivity life, on the other hand, refers to the productive actions of the concerned individual within the organization for which he or she works (Wadhwa & Shetty, 2017). Furthermore, the theory at the same time states that the performance level of an individual within a particular organization depends to a large extent on the balance between the emotional life and the productivity life of a particular individual and herein the process of work life balance gains significance (Wadhwa & Shetty, 2017).

The Segmentation Theory is another important theory related to the concept of work life balance and states that the professional and the personal of the individuals should not interfere with each other (Lunau et al., 2014). Furthermore, the theory at the same time propounds the fact that there should be segmentation between the professional as well as the personal lives of the individuals and the effectiveness or the efficiency of a particular individual depends on the extent to which he or she is being able to segregate the two (Lunau et al., 2014).  The Compensation Theory is another significant one which argues for the integration of the concept under discussion here within the various organizations. This theory tries to articulate the fact that the various individuals try to compensate the balance the unconstructive activities or experiences that they face within one domain of their professional life through the creation of meaning constructive activities within the domain of their personal life (Gilley et al., 2015). Thus, it can be said that from the perspectives of these theories work life balance becomes an important one for the diverse organizations to follow.

There are various kinds of issues that the effective integration of work life balance is likely to pose for the diverse organizations. For example, many organizations are of the mindset that the use of this particular concept is likely to reduce the number of hours that the employees spend within the concerned organization and this in turn is likely to reduce the productivity of the employees (Zheng et al., 2016). Furthermore, many experts are also of the viewpoint that the extra focus of the employees on their personal lives is likely to shift their focus as well as dedication from their professional lives and this in turn is likely to adversely affect the prospects of the business enterprises in a significant manner (Zheng et al., 2016). In addition to these, diverse organizations are of the viewpoint that the use of the concept of work life balance to reduce the high level of stress felt by the employees is not a sustainable option and thus these organizations are coming up with new innovative tactics like employee engagement, reward and recognition, channelizing the work performed the employees and others for the effective reduction of the high level of stress felt by the employees (Goodwin & Graebe, 2017). There are diverse factors which make it necessary for the organizations to take into effective consideration the factor of work life balance like the family commitments of the employees especially of the women employees, the personal health issues of the employees, transportation issues and others. It is seen that the organizations which do not offer work life balance to the employees had to deal with diverse kinds of issues like high rate of absenteeism, poor performance level of the employees and others.

Work life balance although emerged in the nations of the USA, UK and others however it was soon integrated within the diverse workplaces of the nation of Australia as well. The earliest regulation regarding the effective integration of work life balance within the nation of Australia dates back to the 1948 when the “Commonwealth Arbitration Court” gave the dictum that the employees within the diverse organizations of the nation needed to work for 40 works so as to devote adequate amount of time both to their professional and personal lives (McCrindle, 2018). However, as per a 2016 Census data, only 2 in every 4 workers are entitled to work for only 8 hours a day whereas the rest of the individuals need to work more than 8 hours a day (McCrindle, 2018). According to another report of the Australia’s Welfare (2017) more than 20% of the men of the nation and more than 7% women of the nation worked more than the stipulated number of work hours given by the national government of the nation. This is adversely affecting the mental health of the people of the nation in a significant and this is one of the primary reasons for the fact that the workers of the nation are demanding for the effective integration of this particular concept within the diverse organizations of the nation. However, in the recent times it is seen that the diverse organizations like Woolworths Limited, Wesfarmers and others are taking the help of this particular concept so as to provide better kind of work conditions to the employees (Forbes.com, 2018). For example, the company Woolworths Limited offers the option to the employees to work for only 8 hours as per the mandate of the national government (Forbes.com, 2018). In addition to this, the organization at the same time offers diverse kinds of recreational leaves as well as sick leaves to the employees so that they are being able to after their personal needs (Forbes.com, 2018). The company Wesfarmers also has takes into effective consideration the entity of work life balance within the fold of their organization (Forbes.com, 2018).

The management teams of the diverse organizations need to use various strategies so that they address these work life related conflicts within their organization. One possible strategy could be to enhance the efficiency of the employees so that even if they work for less number of hours they would be able to perform as per the expectations of the concerned organization (Cahill et al., 2015). Furthermore, management team of a particular organization in order to reduce the work related mental stress faced by the individuals can utilize the concepts of employee engagement, recreational activities, providing additional perks to the employees and others (Goodwin & Graebe, 2017). The creation of an effective organizational culture at the same time is likely to help the management teams of these organizations in a significant manner (Goodwin & Graebe, 2017). These are likely to not only reduce the high level of stress felt by the employees but at the same time enhance the performance level of the employees as well.   

Conclusion

To conclude, work life balance and its related aspects has become the fulcrum point of the majority of the business organizations of the present times because of the diverse kinds of benefits that it renders to the business organizations. The integration of this particular concept within a particular organization enables the employees to perform in a much better manner and this in turn helps a particular organization to improve its overall performance in turn. The emergence of the diverse kinds of theories related to the concept of work life balance at the same time confirms the prominence that this particular concept has attained within the framework of the modern day business work. Furthermore, the effective use of this particular concept enables the organizations and also the employees to reduce the high level of mental stress that they face while enabling them to improve their performance. However, there are various issues that the diverse organizations are likely to face because of the integration of this particular concept within their framework and thus they are looking for alternate means to reduce the mental stress faced by the employees.

References 

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