My work life balance эссе

Introduction

We all know that Work plays an important role in everyone’s life whether it is paid or unpaid, but it helps us to shape our identity, allows us to structure our time and brings us in contact with each other. In today’s fast paced society, people in the workforce often move from one task to the next, only to find themselves coming up for air on Friday afternoon. Unsatisfied by their weekend and not accomplishing all they hoped, they begin to dread another week of work, and the never-ending cycle it has become. With some simple rearranging and prioritizing, there is a fix to this solution for the majority of people. Work/Life balance is a serious topic of discussion in the workplace, and the ideas are becoming more popular by the week. CEOs and managers all over the world are being faced with this issue, and constantly implementing ways to resolve it. With the vast amount of research and studies to date, majority of evidence shows the importance of work/life balance from both the standpoints of an employer, as well as an employee, as being critical in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. So, that’s why I have taken this topic to learn about the management of our personal and professional life.

Meaning of Work-Life Balance

Work-life balance doesn’t mean an equal balance. It is the power to control and stay competitive at work while maintaining a healthy and happy lifestyle at home as well as work with enough leisure. The main motive of work-life balance is to create balance in each and every area of life, which in turn increases self-fulfillment as well as helps to maintain safe from self-injury like depression and stress. A well-balanced life is when we put equal efforts in both areas. It encourages employees to divide their time on the basis of their own significances and maintain a balance by giving time to their family, health, vacations, and so on along with business travels and career. The field of Human resource management is developing day by day and the innovative techniques are developed for the improvement of the atmosphere at the workplace so that the employees can give their best and come up with a successful life and career. Moreover, it is an important concept which helps in increasing their loyalty towards the company or business.

Importance of Work-Life Balance

Work-life balance is an important aspect of a healthy work environment. Maintaining a work-life balance helps reduce stress and helps to prevent burnout in the workplace. Long-term pressure is one of the workplace’s most common health issues. It can lead to physical symptoms such as diabetes, digestive disorders, chronic pain, and heart problems. Chronic stress can also have a negative impact on mental health as it is associated with an increased risk of depression, anxiety, and insomnia.

Excessive pressure over a long period of time leads to burnout in the workplace. Employees who work a lot of overtime hours are at a high risk of burnout. Burnout can cause fatigue, mood swings, irritability and a decrease in work performance. By creating a work environment that prioritizes work-life balance, employers can save money and maintain a healthier, more productive workforce.

You cannot let your business consume you completely. Focusing on your company 100% of every waking hour will ruin your life, your relationships, and your ability to sleep. This is especially true for married entrepreneurs. While your family is likely to depend on your success, they need to be able to spend quality time with you as well. If your relationship gets to the point that you are in trouble feeling more like roommates and less like a married couple. The worst situation for an entrepreneur to be in is that things at the workplace are rough and there’s a lack of support at home because the wife feels depressed.

Causes of Work-Life Imbalance

There are some moderators that are linked to work-life imbalance, like:

• Time: Spending long hours at work due to ‘inflexibility, changing work requirements, overtime or work duties at night’ may lead to inconsistency with work and family duties. It has been shown that ‘time spent at work was positively correlated with work interaction with family and work involvement, but it was not related to cross-domain satisfaction.’
• Gender differences: According to the distinct understanding of role identity, gender differences may contribute to a job-life imbalance. It has been shown that men prefer their work duties to provide financial support to their families over their social responsibilities, whereas women prioritize their family life.

Besides these regulators that could contribute to a disparity, most people are exposed to unsolicited stress at work as they enjoy high social recognition. This aspect of life may also be the source of a mismatch. Certain workplace activities. however, it could also contribute to such an imbalance, such as contributing to house and garden duties, preserving and supporting family members or voluntary tasks. The strong pressure of time leads to increased psychological strain, which in turn affects health. Psychological strain is also affected by the complexity of the work, increasing responsibilities, long-term existential protection concerns, and more. The stresses and strains mentioned could lead to irreversible, physical signs of wear and negative effects on the cardiovascular and immune systems in the long term.

Work-life Balance Programs

To maintain the proper balance in life, the Employer should be aware of these responsibilities to balance work-life as well as personal life.

• Scheduling their time: It is one of the main components that the employer should take care of. They can schedule their time by following these steps-
• Telecommuting: An employee can also work online at home with the help of innovative technology. It is one of the easiest ways for computer-based job employees.
• Compressed workweeks: Some companies also offer 10 hours a day, to give an extra day off as well as offer some amenities like onsite meal preparation and concierge services and so on, to make the home life a bit easier.
• Health and Wellness: We all know that Health and medical insurance is the most widely offered benefit in most of the companies. In most places, there are onsite gym or discounted gym premiums for the employees as well as some wellness programs like diet and fitness workshops.

Moreover, there is one another benefit that can help employers to keep their personal issues under control is the Employee Assistance Program. The most common benefits that are provided in this program are mental health care, elder care, alcohol or drug treatment, and so on.

Personal Development and Care

In many small businesses, just one person handles the human resources function, and sometimes it is the owner of the company. Empowering employees to take responsibility for their own professional development is, therefore, a priority. Internally the company paid training and formal mentoring programs can help the employees to gain the skills to improve their growth in their current roles or help them to move further to the higher roles or positions. Moreover, some companies also offer tuition reimbursement for the employers who want to obtain a degree, certification or specialized training, so this is very helpful for the employees who never attended college or did not complete their degree requirements.

Vacations

So many companies have different norms of vacations. They provide vacation pay to their employees so that they can live their life to the fullest and enjoy their life and quality time with their family and friends. Moreover, seniors receive more vacations in some places as well as there are some of the vacation trips that are given to the employees as a reward for their good work.

Practices towards Work-Life Balance

• An employer should learn to say NO when you are assigned a task that does not fall under your job description and could be easily accomplished by the person who is asking it. It’s important to say no at work because it earns you respect.
• An employer should work out to be de-stress because stress is one of the main problems that can create so many issues in life. We know that there is so much workload, which can put so much pressure on us. That’s why a person should give some time every day to do Yoga, Meditation or deep breathing, which will help in de-stressing and make you feel much better and fresh.
• An employer should also try to share the load with their co-workers. Each and every person in a company should share their feelings, workload or problems with others so that they can help you if you need it. In this way, you can also feel stress-free.
• Each and every person should have a positive approach always, which will help them to be positive and more punctual regarding their work as well as the company.
• A person should always focus on whatever they are doing. However, we should always put our best effort even if its not our core competence. We should maximize our productivity at work and make sure that the unfinished work should never come over in our personal time.
• Moreover, you can have a second phone with you because if you receive phone calls and emails from clients and colleagues on one phone, then you can use another phone for the family and friends. Whenever you leave work you can off the work phone and use another one. So, in this way you can balance your time with family and work.
• An employer should set SMART goals in their life which stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely.
• The last and important step to maintain work-life balance is to be organized always because we should manage our day properly instead of having the day to manage you.

Components of Work-life Balance

There are six main components of work-life balance as following:

Self-Management

It can be difficult to maintain one’s self properly, particularly to get proper sleep, exercise and food. Self-management is the understanding that it is important to use spaces wisely in our lives and that the money, energy and life available are limited. It means being our own ship’s captain; no one will come for us to guide.

Time Management

Effective time management means making the best use of your day and the tools that can be mobilised to help you–you keep pace as the resources exceed the challenges. Time control is improved by clear priorities and the discernment of what is important and immediate, as opposed to important or urgent. This involves knowing what you are doing best and when and getting together the appropriate tools to support you.

Stress Management

In the period of time, societies tend to become more complex. Stress on the person is inevitable, in front of increasing uncertainty. More people, distractions, and noise require each of us to be able to maintain quietly and work out of situations that are full of pressure. Basically, most ways of multi-tasking raise the pressure as opposed to focusing on one thing at a time.

Leisure Management

The most neglected of the work-life balance that encompasses professions, leisure management recognises the importance of rest and relaxation— that one can not cut recreation, and that ‘time off’ is a critical component of human interaction. Curiously, however fun, too much of the same leisure activity will result in monotony. Good recreational planning thus includes a variety of activities

Technology Management

Good innovation leadership means ensuring that you are served by software rather than abussing you. From the first walking stick, flint, knife, and drum, engineering has always been with us. The rate of change is now rising, fuelled by vendors seeking to expand market share. There is often no alternative but to keep up with the Joneses technologies, but innovation must be regulated, not vice versa.

Change Management

Shift is essentially the only constant in our fast-paced world. Adopting new methods on an ongoing basis and adapting others is key to a successful career and a happy home life. Effective change management involves regular and concerted efforts to ensure that you are not overwhelmed or defeated by the volume and rate of change at work and at home.

Importance of Work-life Balance in Human Resource Management

Work-life balance is about creating and maintaining inclusive and stable work environments so that work and personal responsibilities can be managed, and employee satisfaction and performance can be improved. Today’s employees have many overlapping commitments such as school, youth, housework, fundraising, partner and elderly parent care, and this puts stress on the people, households, and neighbourhoods they live in. Conflict in work and life is a major issue that affects employees, employers and societies. Extended hours of work and highly stressful careers not only hamper the ability to harmonise work and family life but are also associated with health risks such as increased consumption of smoking and alcohol, weight gain and anxiety. There have been many physical and mental health effects associated with work-life dispute.

However, it is very important part of an organization because when employees are balanced, then everything is balanced. A more positive mood develops as stress is controlled and has been shown to help protect physical and mental health. A healthy, satisfied community is becoming more positive and productive. In response to the strategic aim of organization, work-life balance is about creating and maintaining inclusive and stable work environments that will allow for a balance between work and personal responsibility. Employers are increasingly aware of the financial effects of overworked practises such as operational and production expenses, absenteeism, timeliness, dedication and efficiency. There are five main reasons that companies engage in work-life balance programmes: high investment gains, recruitment and retention, policy, expenses, and labour rules. So, in these ways it plays a very important role in HR as well as a company wellness and growth.

Work life can influence organizational productivity and the well being of the employees in different ways. Given below are some of the areas in terms of opportunities and concerns on which work life issues can have an impact:

1. Employee Engagement at Work and Quality of Customer Service

A work-life disparity would adversely affect the workers ‘ full participation in the workforce and hamper the quality of the services provided to consumers. On the other hand, the quality of service will be reliable and consistent if the workers believe that the leadership appreciates their contributions, or their involvement and that the organisation is dedicated to both personal and professional success of the employees.

2. Impact on the Profitability and Growth

Excessive pressure to achieve the goals of efficiency and development creates stress, hampers workers ‘ overall productivity and disturbs their work-life balance. A well-planned and executed work-life balance approach will significantly alleviate the work burden on both the workplace and perceived work pressure, which in effect can encourage productivity for workers and lead to a career. A well-planned and executed work-life balance approach will significantly alleviate career pressure as well as potential workforce stresses, which in turn can positively improve employee productivity and lead to a good return on investment.

3. Rising Cost of Health Care and Medications

A large percentage of workers are faced with lifestyle-related diseases and major health issues due to an increase in the rate of job stress and never changing demands. This has become a serious concern for companies due to rising health care costs and a drastic reduction in the worker productivity rate. Such questions prompted the management to give the importance to work-life balance priorities and creating a healthier workplace by executing many developmental initiatives.

So, I think that Work-life initiatives is not a choice but an imperious component for the management. It is because the staff look forward to the management’s guidance and care about issues related to their work-life.

Steps that I Want to Take in Future to Enhance my Knowledge on this Topic

According to me, I think that Work-life balance is one of the main parts of our life because balance is a key toward success and we should manage our time properly. I want to enhance more knowledge on this topic in future because I need to develop and prioritize realistic goals. By working on this topic, I learnt to manage my time effectively at work when it is difficult and busy as well as I can’t delegate most of my tasks. That’s why I want to learn more about work life balancing so that I can be stress-free and happy in my personal as well as professional life.

Conclusion

Work-life balance is a best elusive ideal and useful in everybody’s life. Through work life balance the individual will feel relaxed and organized as well as the productivity of the person increases which will lead to accomplishing tasks efficiently as well as to attain greater success. It will improve relationships with families and friends. Moreover, there will be better mental and physical health as well as enough leisure time.

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There used to be a time when the domain of work and personal life were clearly distinct. But with globalization becoming the norm of the day the chances of work encroaching into one’s personal life and vice versa has become alarming.

If you think one day you will be lucky enough to get everything set and then relax, you are bound to be disappointed. Life will be always demanding and may not slow up any time soon.  Learning to strike a balance between work and life is an ongoing art. Despite the never ending quest for ‘Work-Life Balance’ it has been cropping in our mind what does it actually mean.

Work–life 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. It is also related to «lifestyle balance» and «life balance».

Sadly, there is no perfect ‘one-size fits all’, balance you are looking for. It is different for each of us because we all have different priorities and different lives. Trying to schedule an equal number of hours for each of your various work and personal activities seems unrealistic and robotic. Life is and should be more fluid than that.

The paradox is that right balance for you today will probably be different tomorrow say when you are single or when you get married, or when you start a new career or are nearing your retirement. Work-life balance is a two-pronged approach. The other prong of work-life balance, which many individuals overlook, relates to what individuals do for themselves.

Similarly, the right work-life balance is different for an MBA aspirant, a graduate, a corporate or a women executive. Our haphazard lifestyle has put us in the paraphrase of “I am running all the time.”

At the core of an effective work-life balance are two key concepts that are relevant to all of us. They are daily achievement and enjoyment. Why do you want a better income, a new house, a good MBA college or a dream job? Achievement and Enjoyment are the front and back of the coin of value in life. Trying to live a one sided life is why so many «successful» people are not nearly as happy as they should be.

Engraining a fuller meaning of these two concepts is like half the battle won to define a positive ‘Work-Life Balance’. Most of us already have a good grasp on the meaning of achievement. But enjoyment is not restricted to simply ha ha. It means pride, satisfaction, happiness, celebration, love, a sense of well being, in a nutshell it means all the joys of living.

Being an MBA aspirant or student you need to know that you have to crack the competitive exams, cope up with the increasing exam pressure, submitting thesis on time as well as taking a good care of your health and enjoying time with your friends.

On the other hand corporate world today has become exceedingly demanding. The changing economic conditions and social demands have changed the nature of work throughout the world. Within the ramped up competition of a 24/7 business cycle, ‘work-life’ balance is becoming unbalanced. The imbalance also has a negative impact in the personal life of working people- increasing number of divorces, infertility due high stress levels, advent of nuclear families etc.

While we strike for a work life balance, we are not merely balancing our profession and family, we are also balancing our mental and status quo and thereby balancing our emotional intelligence, which is the worldly ability to manage you and to handle others. This benefits the company in the long-run.

Similarly, women work force now constitutes a significant percentage of the total work force in any organization today. Women executives have to deal with- running a home, doing daily chores like cooking/cleaning, raising family and handle the tight deadlines at home and work. The society over the years has recognized women’s need to legal and financial independence. But the transition to motherhood still continues to have practical and emotional consequences. It also affects their professional stature when they return to work.

Organizations today to some extent have realized the importance of the employee-work-life balance and its importance in the efficiency of the employees. They can help facilitate work-life balance for their employees through work-life programs and training. In offices also, efforts are being made to provide friendly work atmosphere for the employees by providing all sorts of refreshments available for the employee.

The employees are given the freedom to have their own ways of doing the work. They are given the assignments with deadlines and they can have their own schedule as far as they are meeting the deadlines. Some organizations have gone to the extent of involving the families of the employees by introducing maternity leaves / paternity leaves and various holiday packages and insurance schemes. Organizations now focus on grooming their employees who are now not considered merely a work force but regarded as the ‘Human Capital’ of the organization.

To maintain work-life balance is an arduous task. But still it is within one’s reach, if one follows the simple tips listed here:

1.Plan your agenda: Start your day by taking care of the little things you have to do at home. A little planning is essential. Taking care of home needs in advance will help you to be less tensed during working hours. Strike a work-life balance by evaluating your work-home relationships like listing out the amount of time you are spending at work and home.

2.Organize: Everything in your business should be set up using logical systems so anyone needing anything can find it when they need it.

3.Prioritize ruthlessly: The secret to booking your time effectively boils down to knowing what’s important and what can wait. Ask questions that help you determine the level of urgency.

4.Don’t overbook: Things rarely go according to a prearranged agenda. Don’t try to plan on doing too many things. Assume that only 50% of the things you plan on doing today will actually get done. If you don’t, you’ll just waste valuable time trying to find out why things didn’t happen.

5.Be Productive: Switch on to the work mode when you are at work. Be sure that you shut off the part of the brain that makes you worry about your home life. Remind yourself that it is work time and you need to be most productive.

6.Learn to say no: One of the biggest land mines to effective time management is recognizing you don’t have to agree to everything and with everyone. Use your priority criteria to identify requests that simply aren’t worth your time.

7.Everything is not perfect: Time management isn’t an exact science. Do what you can and enjoy whatever time you spend more pleasantly or productively.

8.Focus on Home Life: While you are enjoying your home life, try to avoid intruding into work life by checking emergency e-mails or answering work- related phone calls. The best way to focus on home life will be crumbled to pieces if you intrude into your work life while at home.

Hence, the concept of ‘Work life balance’ is becoming more and more relevant in a never-dynamic working environment. The role played by the individual is as important as that of the organization in managing this tumultuous see saw. One of the best approaches to this is by the use of one’s emotional intelligence. 

Be sure to remember that striking a work-life balance is a continuous process, rather than a one-shot deal. Work and home life should be balanced. If there is a tilt in the balance there are chances of soaring stress levels.

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Introduction

The author analyses the theories of work life balance, flexibility and human resource management and its effect on society and global environment. The author analyzes various theories on the work life balance and flexibility to solve the problems given in case study. The author identifies and discusses how work life and personal life can be balanced what are the things that managers should do during the recession. The essay also reflects the ill impacts of working for extra hours on health and the personal and work life. The main aim of the managers in an organization should be to satisfy employee along with the customers. For this the management unit should ensure that the employees get an equal opportunity to maintain their career and personal life. Work life balance means prioritizing the balance between work and lifestyle (Smeaton et al., 2015). 

Body

Management of the employees and the human capital and assets of the organization is known as human resource management. The main responsibility of the human resource department in an organization is to recruit the right people for right job, training and development of employees, evaluating their performance, motivating the employees to achieve the goals of the firm and also solving the problems that employees face in the organization. The responsibility of human resource department is also to maintain and ensure that no employee in pressurized for work and the employees are able to maintain a balance between work life and personal life (Bratton & Gold, 2015).

Maintaining a balance between career and personal life is known as work-life balance. Since humans work to earn a standard of living the lifestyle of people often changes when they enter the corporate field. The time that they spend with their family reduces. So it is essential for the employees to maintain balances as it will not only benefit society but also the organization in which it is working. The research shows that working extra hour accounts for a total of seventy one billion dollar unpaid work each year. When the employees in an organization have to give an extra working hour in an organization they have to compromise the hour that they could have given to their family and leisure activities (Allen, et al., 2013).

Flexibility is one of the elements of work life balance. Being flexible means choosing a career and office of its own choice and it also includes changing the shift timings and giving leave arrangements to the employees during the time of emergency. Flexible work arrangement is the situation or schedule that is different from the traditional schedule. Work life policy programs in Australia includes flexible hours, part time work, job sharing, work from home, employee assistance program, relocation service and granting casual laves so that employees can invest time for personal needs and family as well (Healey, 2008).

According to Juliet Bourke, the work life balance suffers negativity than spreading positivity. However, the basic original paradigm of work-life balance approach is to enhance the profit maximization principle than cost minimization principle. Although, this paradigm is not able to prove flexibility because there is pressure given on the employees to perform better and for longer hours but only a fewer people are able to meet up to the capabilities of the work management (Cooney, et al., 2016). The work management is now focusing to reduce the week’s work to retain the employees. The pressure build up on good employees is more as extra workload is given to them. Therefore, this results in increase in the workload pressure on the employees by hampering their balanced life (Noon, Blyton & Morrell, 2013).

The work life balance not only hampers the social well-being but it also influences the personal well being because with increased workload will give more responsibility (Nayak & Pandey, 2015). Although, this will become a never ending cycle of work that only deals with concerns and pressures. The work and time are inverse relationship as the work increases; the time will seem to be less. Nonetheless, it is not beneficial if employees are more stressed because this will result in more cost for the organization as well as the employees who are working from home. The teleconference will ultimately result in more cost, time and money wastage. However, to get maximum benefits, the organization needs to formulate a policy that deals with more out of less such that the efficient employees are not properly absorbed on the organization. As a result, flexibility has moved from the original paradigm making it unavoidable as well as necessary. As originally explained, should possess a proper coordination with efficient work-life balance approach (Jones, Burke & Westman, 2013).

The change makes it difficult for the organization to function properly, which not only results in conflicts between different working groups but also results in the challenges faced by time. However, there is a need to establish a proper policy system. Even more, if managers write policies then there will be extreme wastage of time, as the policies need to be re-written in correspondence with the employees demand in the organization. Today’s work-life scenarios are inflexible in nature as there is too much pressure. Nevertheless, there should be more flexibility in the work life balance of work management. According to the recent study conducted by Janssen (2013), after analysing Net survey’s database, only 28% of the working people have good work –life balance rest 72% are not entirely happy with their work.  However, to combat the the rising percentages, many organizations have adopted work-life flexibility working hours, starting with boosting the morale of the employees. The work-life flexibility is important in any organization as it involves a critical path management of the employees as well as employers. On the other hand, flexibility deems to be important for the employees because it reduces cost and provides employees to spend more time with their immediate close ones and family. Inflexibility is involves more working hours and many people avoid regular holidays even (Riley, 2012).

As the saying goes, “excess of everything is bad”, highlights the proficiency that there is a negative impact on the managers and employees. Long working hours after the normal office working hours can prove to be detrimental for both the employees as well as the managers. Moreover, the immediate sufferers are the family of the employees and the managers that need to suffer along with them. It also proves detrimental on the ability of the performance, which creates unwanted deviations like health issues, sleeplessness and fatigue (Nitzsche, et al., 2013). Increased working hours has following impacts. Firstly, it causes an increased likelihood of illness and injury among the employees such as high prevalence of back disorders, hypertension, less physical and ultimately results in job dissatisfaction (Darcy, et al., 2012). However, there is extreme positioning of the fact that other than employees harmful effects, it also leads to increase in cost of the organization. Moreover, as the working hour’s increases, there is less of productivity and increase in risks of safety. However, there are various studies conducted, this study shows that more than 60 hours a week leads to decrease in productivity as well as dissatisfaction of the customers.

A study was conducted on the workers who rode a truck, which revealed that the company had told them to work for more than 40 hours per week. As a result, the study states that with 60 more hours of work lead to indicators of productivity outcomes with injury rates and the moderate employee workers did not face any situation. The productivity outcomes laid two brief results, one followed physical, and the other followed to be non-physical presenters as in both the cases they were affected by the scenario (Golden, 2012). The other affect that highlights the cause is tiredness in which employees avoid doing any task such as their productivity falls and unproductive time increases. Working for longer durations also resulted in absenteeism, which not only hampered the productivity of the person as that of the organization. The silent sufferers had been the communities and the society in which the one person has born to live (Pencavel, 2015).

The organization should give reward and recognition to the ones who give extra labour in their work by giving their valuable time and energy than required. On the other hand, time management is one factor that needs to be focused always (Lunau, et al., 2014). Conversely, some techniques should be applied that not only mitigates the effect of health and productivity but also studies the impact on the horizontal and vertical communication. If a job requires work, then the employee needs to be ready for the consequences ahead such that there is motivation for the extra hour one sits on the office and completes its work. However, the employees who work extra time will be rewarded with either cash or kind (Maalik, Ahmed & Nazir, 2015).

During the time of economic downturn or recession the working hour of people reduce due to reduction in the workload. This is the time where the employees get the maximum time to spend with their family. The salaries and wages depend on the performance of employees during the recession. But in organizations where the corporate culture is strong managers realize that firms will not benefit by reducing the working hours instead they lay off the workers that are unproductive and using the offices resources and wasting the time of organization. The main problem arises when the organizations are not able to handle the remaining workers in organization efficiently after the layoff (Perlow & Kelly,  2014). 

The employees that are left in the organization are then pressurized due to which maintain the balance between work and life becomes difficult for the employees. Managers can ensure that the employees are able to maintain the work life balance by providing monetary benefits to the employees who have been laid off. Extra incentives should be given to ones who are putting in extra efforts and in form of compensation, insurance policy and retirement benefits. It is essential to ensure that the remaining employees in organization are happy because they are the ones who will help the firm come out of the recession. So it is essential to preserve the interests of the employees and keep them happy by not pressurizing them for work (Vandello et al., 2013). The managers should realize the positive impact of flexible work arrangement on productivity. The organization should form a proper financial strategy to help the firm come out of recession. Proper allocation of resources is also essential be it human or capital during economic downturn. Management unit should also realize that the workers that are laid off are important part of organization. So it is essential to ensure that during the boom period the employees don’t refuse to work again with the organization. Management of time is the most essential factor to maintain work life balance. Flexibility work arrangement should be adopted in organizations so that the employees are satisfied and they can give time to their family along with work. Proper decision of work and strategy is essential for effective utilization of time and resources. Work life balance during the time of economic recession or downturn can be achieved by forming proper policies and strategies. The main responsibility of ensuring the work life balance and flexibility and flexible work arrangement is that of the human resource department (Campbell, 2015).   

Conclsion

Work life balance and flexibility at work arrangement both has pros and cons. If it is managed properly then its result will benefit both the organization and employees. With the change in tradition, the work load is also increasing. There are many ill effects of working overtime and main hamper is on productivity of employees and organization. In order to increase profitability and productivity it is essential for the workers to maintain the family as well as career. The main role of human resource manager is to manage the employees and keep them motivated so that together they can work to achieve the goal of the firm. Both the employers and employees should work together to achieve one common goal set by the organization.  

References

Allen, T. D., Johnson, R. C., Kiburz, K. M., & Shockley, K. M. (2013). Work–family conflict and flexible work arrangements: Deconstructing flexibility. Personnel Psychology, 66(2), 345-376.

B Nayak, A., & Pandey, M. (2015). Work-Life Balance And Imbalance: A Conceptual Model.

Bratton, J., & Gold, J. (2015). Towards Critical Human Resource Management Education (CHRME): a sociological imagination approach. Work, Employment & Society, 29(3), 496-507.

Campbell, K. M. (2015). Flexible Work Schedules, Virtual Work Programs, and Employee Productivity.

Cooney, L.L., Tartar, J., Murphy Esq, S., Esq, M. & Stephen, G. (2016). Video: The Balancing Act: Managing Work & Life in a 24/7/365 World.

Darcy, C., McCarthy, A., Hill, J., & Grady, G. (2012). Work–life balance: One size fits all? An exploratory analysis of the differential effects of career stage. European Management Journal, 30(2), 111-120.

Golden, L. (2012). The Effects of Working Time on Productivity and Firm Performance, Research Synthesis Paper. International Labor Organization (ILO) Conditions of Work and Employment Series, (33).

Healey, J. (2008). Work-life balance. Thirroul, N.S.W. : Spinney Press, 2008

Janssen, J. (2013). A poor work-life-balance is bad – both for employees and employers — Netsurvey. Netsurvey. Retrieved 2 June 2016

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Many people these days travel far for work or spend more hours working. Does this trend have more advantages or disadvantages? What do you think about work-life balance?

Model Essay

Long working hours are the norm these days and that is hardly surprising. In this competitive job scenario people are forced to work harder and harder. When people spend more hours working, they get less time for themselves. This is not necessarily a positive development because it can lead to health problems as well as the disruption of families and personal relationships.

For one thing, there is absolutely nothing to prove that long working hours improve productivity. In fact, when people work longer than they should, what happens is that their productivity decreases. They fail to concentrate and take longer to finish jobs. Traveling far for work doesn’t help either. In many major cities people often have to travel several hours to reach their work place. When at last, they reach home braving the traffic and a hard-working day, they have little energy left in them. In addition, studies have proved that people who spend long hours in the office are also more likely to develop major health problems like heart disease and dementia.

We have already seen that long working hours doesn’t necessarily translate into improved productivity. Another problem with this set up is the effect it has on a person’s family and social life. When people spend long hours in the office, they get little time to spend with their dear ones. Parents, who work long hours, often fail to take proper care of their young children. This can be quite a problem in families where both parents work. When children are deprived of the attention they deserve, it will affect their emotional well-being. It can also have a negative impact on their academic performance. In extreme cases, failure to strike a balance between work and life can lead to the breakup of families.

As explained above, long working hours are in nobody’s interest. They don’t improve an individual’s productivity. In fact, they make them less productive. What’s more, when people spend more time in the office, their family life suffers. In other words proper work-life balance is absolutely essential to lead a contented life. It is hoped that companies arrange their working hours in such a way that employees also get some time for themselves.

Balancing home life with a fast-paced career is often a challenge. However, if you strive to avoid burnout and dream of long-term happiness, learning how to achieve a fulfilling work-life balance is an essential objective.

Many people think that they could use a whole lot more balance in their lives — between working, mothering, writing, being a partner (a son, a brother, a friend, etc.), gardening, folding laundry, feeding a cat, and so on. How to find that happy and healthy work-life balance we always hear such good things about?

Sometimes, people who are looking for advice on how to manage their obligations both in the office and at home with their partners or family, turn to an expert who can propose professional help. Some people try to read more books about work-life balance and find helpful tools and tactics for how to get less stressful balance. This way is also actionable. So, what is the definition of work-life balance?

What is Work-Life Balance?

Work-life balance means prioritization between personal and professional activities. It is the level of an individual’s life when activities related to their job are present in the home.

Is there an ideal work-life balance? This question is rather discussable. Sometimes happiness is defined as having little or no differentiation between an individual’s professional and personal lives.

This balance has become a topical issue because of the increased amount of technology that removes the importance of physical location in defining the work-life balance. Previously the line between professional and personal was clearer so it was harder or impossible to take work home.

Actuality in 2021

The terrific Covid-19 crisis has shoved work and home duties under the same roof for many families. For some of them, finding work-life balance becomes more difficult when working remotely. 

Parents who work from home can schedule important virtual negotiations but their children can also have standing teleconferences. Actually, a virtual morning preschool meeting may be as important as your own conference calls or virtual team-building. So, you will need to make some efforts to wedge the rest of the workday into the early mornings and post-bedtime.

Fortunately, many online management tools are moving forward and offer advanced options and additional features. This is clearly seen in the example of video conferencing software, such as Zoom or GoToMeeting.

Why is Work-Life Balance Important?

Maintaining a healthy work-life balance will positively affect not only health and relationships but also employee’s productivity and performance. When team members don’t view work as a routine, then they will work harder and will make fewer mistakes.

Considering the fact of how difficult it can be to attract and retain new workers nowadays, companies that gain a reputation for encouraging work-life balance have become attractive. Let’s list some more relevant reasons why work-life balance is important for your company and employees.

Key Reasons Why Work-Life Balance is Critical

Minimizing health problems

Being in stress, you run the risk of destructing more than just your social life but your physical and mental health. A poor work-life balance usually leads to dangerous symptoms that can affect your wellbeing: from the flu to serious heart-related problems. Maintaining the balance, you significantly limit health problems and absences. This ensures that your company is more efficient during business hours.

Boosting engagement

Helping team members to find a healthy balance between work and home, you will increase their level of engagement.

An engaged workforce will lead to your team members becoming loyal advocates for your brand and product. They will more likely stay at work late if something needs to be done after the normal workday ends.

Minimizing burnouts

Everyone gets stressed from time to time. However, you can avoid workplace burnouts and make some efforts to ensure this doesn’t happen to your team. Burnouts occur when you feel overwhelmed. They can affect every aspect of your life. Sometimes it is really important to encourage your team to take time off and leave work at work.

Accelerating mindfulness

Sustaining a healthy work-life balance leads to developing greater control over our focus and ability to concentrate on the task at hand. This is about mindfulness. 

A healthy work-life balance will help to create an environment where everyone is dedicated to the task at hand. You will quickly observe improving retention rates, profit, and productivity.

Work-Life Balance and Various Generations

The essential goal of any employer is to save money and maintain a healthier, more productive workforce by creating a work environment that prioritizes work-life balance. How exactly does work-life balance look like? 

Over the years, the approach to work-life balance has been constantly evolving. For employers, it should be useful to know how to identify the difference in opinions among the different generations – Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials.

Work-Life Balance and Baby Boomers

Baby Boomers are people born between 1945 and 1960. This adult generation had experienced a lot of hardships at a very young age. Their main goal was to make a decent living. They craved stability in the workplace and valued the opportunity for employment, that is why the work-life balance wasn’t a key priority. 

Baby Boomers stayed at certain companies for longer periods of time than the following generations. Nowadays many of them have senior or director-level positions and it surely requires discipline and a high degree of responsibility.

Work-Life Balance and Generation X

Gen X representatives are the children of Baby Boomers. They were typically born around the years of 1960 and 1980.

Gen X grew up observing the hard hours and poor work-life balance of their parents. Many of them were exposed to the effect of such relationships with work on their families. That’s why they put more emphasis on creating work-life balance in their own lives. 

The employees of Generation X prioritize spending time with their relatives and tend to think about work-life balance as a prerequisite to employment. They often seek perks such as adequate vacation time, telecommuting, or extended maternity/paternity time.

Work-Life Balance and Millennials

Millennials are people born between the years of 1980 and 2000. They have come with their fair share of stereotypes. One of the most essential priorities for them is to find stable employment to pay for higher education (of themselves and their children) and dealing with soaring housing costs.

In order to satisfy the desires of Millennials, many employers add special benefits, game rooms, free coffee, or beanbags to spruce up the work environment. However, many millennials say that they even don’t care about these types of perks, they only care about finding a career path that will support their lifestyle.

Final thoughts

Creating a flexible and clear work environment is one of the best ways to satisfy the work-life balance needs of most individuals. No matter what generation they belong to. 

The appropriate work environment will boost job satisfaction, decrease stress, and help team members maintain healthier habits. It is a good idea to offer flexible work hours and the ability to organize home offices to create a more flexible work environment that appeals across generations of workers.

Desperate searches of work-life balance will evolve with cultural, generational, and economic changes. Managers should be ready to try something new if individuals report poor work-life balance. This is a perfect way to retain talented employees and make them loyal.

Bonus: New Books on Work-Life Balance, Recommended by Hygger team

Work-life balance is a topic that inspires the brightest heads and international authors. The Hygger team is constantly following the latest books on this subject since each of us considers this topic important and useful for study. We are pleased to share some exciting books we have read that will help you delve into the topic of work-life balance and succeed. Here are some recommendations:

Joy at Work by Marie Kondo and Scott Sonenshein

The book was released in April 2020, therefore, probably not many know about it yet. This is a kind of transformative guide from the smart psychologists. The authors compare a workplace with a magnet for clutter and mess. They suppose that everyone once felt drained by wasteful meetings, disorganized papers, unnecessary tasks, and endless emails. These work hazards can slowly drain the joy from work and limit your chances of career progress.

Reading this book, you will get insightful stories, studies, and strategies to help in eliminating clutter and making space for work that really matters. Joy at Work is aimed to help us overcome the challenges of workplace mess and enjoy success and productivity.

Indestractible. How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life by Nir Eyal

Nir Eyal is well-known all over the world as the bestselling author and reliable expert. Perhaps, you have read his famous “Hooked”. His new book is about the hidden psychology that drives people to distraction. Nir explains why problem-solving is not as simple as swearing off our devices. He shares the secret of a four-step, research-backed model and reveals the key to getting the best out of technology, without letting it get the best of you.

In fact, Indestractible is a source that provides practical techniques to control our time and attention, helping us live the life that we really want.

Start with Your People by Brian Dixon

The full name of the book is “Start with Your People. The Daily Decision that Changes Everything”. The author of this book insists to start with your people if you want to love your work and make your dreams happen. What does it mean? In simple words, any dream is not a solo venture. You’ll need your people to realize it as well as your people will need you.

This book shares the single key to fully engage your relationships and unlock the door to passion, purposes, and profit. It’s about maximizing the most important resource to succeed in business and in life – about relationships. Dizon will make you think about why your family actually helps you succeed at work, how to see your kids as a legacy instead of a liability, and many more essential issues.

It is acknowledged, that work often occupies a privileged position in the life of modern society. But, apart from pursuing certain recognition it is important to fulfill other identities such as being decent family members, loyal friends as well as other roles associated with human well- being nowadays. The question is how to master every area of life in order to maintain the work-life balance.

Recognition at work perpetuates high self-esteem. However, complete engagement in labor results in a difficulty balancing it with other outside roles. Recent studies show that the problem is a major concern to both employees and employers. Exposing oneself to endurance at work is an inevitable way to stress and burnouts leading nowhere but to depressions and imbalance.

What may help in achieving harmony is time-management. Everyday routine becomes less daunting. Moreover, the advantage of such approach is learning how to plan daily activities evaluating the priority of tasks thus, eliminating the risk of missing deadlines. Also, it is frequently asserted that active use of one’s productivity contributes to health and mental condition which are likelihood of attaining emotional stability and stress resilience providing possibilities to perform other social roles.

It is demonstrably clear that work is the pillar of society though it is obvious that people need to disconnect. There is a variety of methods aiming at people to reach work-life balance. Of the two ways one may opt for the second accounted in the essay. Time management is deemed to be a useful technique as once it was said: ‘Until we can manage time, we can manage nothing else’.