CHAPTER-I

INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY

INTRODUCTION
The project about “Work Life Balance” deals with any activity,
which takes place at every level of organization, which seeks greater
organizational effectiveness through the enhancement of human dignity
and growth.

This helps to determine better for themselves what actions, changes

and improvements and desirable and workable in order to achieve a
balanced work life for the employees.

In this rapid evolving world Everyone faces the issue of time

management at one point or another, but as more and more people deal
with working at one or more jobs, fighting long commutes, managing a
household, attending school or other training, raising one or more children,
responding to increasing work and time pressures of the shrinking
workplace, and dealing with aging parents, the days often seem to last long
into the night and vacation and leisure time seem to be consumed with
issues other than relaxation and personal fulfillment.

It can be difficult to find a balance between our work and personal

lives sometimes. Whether you’re experiencing the end of a relationship,
the disappointment of plans falling through or conflicts with loved ones,
the urge to allow your emotions to control all aspects of your life can be
overwhelming. While sometimes working can bring solace and a

1
distraction from problems, other times you simply can’t concentrate. Your
attention just isn’t there.

It can be difficult to find a balance between our work and personal

lives sometimes. Whether you’re experiencing the end of a relationship,
the disappointment of plans falling through or conflicts with loved ones,
the urge to allow your emotions to control all aspects of your life can be
overwhelming. While sometimes working can bring solace and a
distraction from problems, other times you simply can’t concentrate. Your
attention just isn’t there.

During those times, it is important to remember that you work in

order to have a good life, not the other way around. It is acceptable to have
days where you don’t feel 100% and can’t give your best. On the other
hand, though, it is important not to be so preoccupied with your feelings
that you are unable to come out of them and move forward after a bit of
time has gone by. Fortunately, there are ways that you can help yourself
balance your emotions and your commitments during hard times.

Randall. S. Hansen says that how much of your work invading your
personal life and how much of your personal life is affected by the stress of
trying to balance all the responsibilities in your life is termed as work life
balance.

STEPS FOR BETTER BALANCE:

 Slow Down: Life is simply too short, so don’t let things pass you in
a blur. Take steps to stop and enjoy the things and people around
you. Schedule more time between meetings; don’t make plans for

2
 every evening or weekend, and find some ways to distance yourself
from the things that are causing you the most stress.
 Learn to Better Manage Your Tim Avoid Procrastination: For
many people, most of the stress they feel comes from simply being
disorganized -- and procrastinating. Learn to set more realistic goals
and deadlines -- and then stick to them. You’ll find that not only are
you less stressed, but your work will be better.
 Share the Load: Even though we may sometimes feel we’re the
only ones capable of doing something, it’s usually not the case. Get
your partner or other family members to help you with all your
personal/family responsibilities. Taking care of the household.
 Explore Your Option Get Help: If you are feeling overwhelmed
with your family responsibilities, please get help if you can afford it.
Find a sitter for your children, explore options for aging parents, and
seek counseling for yourself. In many cases, you have options, but
you need to take the time to find them.
 Take Charge, Set Priorities: Sometimes it’s easier for us to allow
ourselves to feel overwhelmed rather than taking charge and
developing a prioritized list of things that need to get done. You
need to buck the trend. Develop a list. Set priorities. And then enjoy
the satisfaction of crossing things off your list.
 Simplify: It seems human nature for just about everyone to take on
too many tasks and responsibilities, to try to do too much, and to
own too much. Find a way to simplify your life. Change your
lifestyle. Learn to say no to requests for help. Get rid of the clutter
and baggage in your house -- and your life.

3
FOUNDATIONS OF WORK LIFE:
Strong Relationships:
There may be nothing more important to a balanced, fulfilling
life than strong relationships. Relationships are how we experience
ourselves. These are the mirrors in which we observe ourselves being who
we are. Research studies confirm that strong relationships are important to
happiness, longevity, and good health.

Meaningful Activities:
When the activities we engage in are meaningful to us, we engage
ourselves with passion, energy, and purpose. It's important that we take on
roles and responsibilities that feel "worth doing." What is meaningful is
unique to each individual, based on purpose and values.

Interesting Activities:
We each have certain unique strengths and competences which set
us apart from others. When we engage these strengths in our daily routines
we are interested, engaged, and involved. Life feels balanced when our
activities are meaningful and interesting.

Values Consistency:
Stress results when we find ourselves in a conflict between what we
value and what is asked or expected of us. A person valuing honesty will
be racked with stress if placed in a position of being less than fully honest.

4
 CHAPTER-II

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

 To study about the work life balance of the employees.

 To study about their working hours.

 To study about the support from other employees in the

organization.

 To study about their working arrangements.

5
 CHAPTER-III

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

 The study is based on employees self evaluation. So there is a

possibility of change in the attitude in relation of the original

attitude.

 The study is restricted to the employees of one company and so the

results can be generalized.

 Due to time constraint the sample size is limited to 100.

6
 CHAPTER-IV
DETERMINANTS OF THE STUDY

FACTORS AFFECTING THE WORK LIFE BALANCE

Work life balance:

Work-life balance is about effectively managing the juggling act
between paid work and the other activities that are important to people. It's
not about saying that work is wrong or bad, but that work shouldn't
completely crowd out the other things that matter to people like time with
family, participation in community activities, voluntary work, personal
development, leisure and recreation.

Flexible working – an agreed working arrangement that differs from the

‘standard’ working arrangement. Quality flexible work allows employees
to meet personal commitments, such as dropping children off at school or
working as a volunteer, while at the same time the meeting the needs of the
job and the workplace.

Compressed working week - contractual full-time hours are worked

during the week but with a variance such as working longer hours over
four days instead of a five-day week.

Managerial Support
Managers play an important role in the success of work life
programs because they are in a position to encourage or discourage
employee’s efforts to balance their work and family lives. 74 Where
supervisors enthusiastically support the integration of paid work and other

7
responsibilities, employees will be more likely to take up available work
life programs.

Working arrangements – the employer sets up services to assist

employees in managing their busy lives such as arranging for dry-cleaning
to be picked up from, and delivered back to, the business address.

Working from Home – the employee works from home either all or part
of their working week, whether full or part-time. The employer normally
provides technology in the employee’s home (such as a laptops) to allow
the employee to maintain contact with the office and clients.

8
 CHAPTER –V
COMPANY PROFILE

ABOUT TO THE ORGANISATION

The Burn standard company limited was initially started in the year
1890 by Henry Turner, a British Citizen, Later, it was handed over to burn
and company limited of martin group in the year 1973. The management of
burn and company limited and Indian Standard wagon company were
taken over by the Government of Indian and nationalized in the year 1976,
after merging then giving the name Burn standard company limited.

The Burn standard company is a gem of rare brilliance in the crown

of Refractory industry. It is an ever- expanding industry having added
many dimensions to it. The works of burn standard company are located at
Howrah, Burnpur, Jelling ham, Raniganj, Durgapur, Ondal, Gutfabari,
Jabalpur, Niwar and Salem. The Salem works of Burn standard company
limited was formed in 1890 as a subsidiary of Bharat Bhari Udyog Nigam
Ltd., (BBUNL), and its building area cover 3500 square feet. It is one of
the largest refractory complexes in India.

Burn standard company limited, Salem is one of public sector under

taking companies in India. The company has several units; Salem unit
mainly deals with magnetic mines and manufacturing of magnetic bricks.
The reason for its location can be attractive to be nearness of magnesite
deposited which is the raw material required.

9
OBJECTIVE OF THE FIRM
The result oriented marketing plan of Burn standard has established
lesion centers to facilities availability of application and other relevant
expertise at refractory consumption centers. The trained application
engineers of the company are available to the users to provide not only
technical advice and installation guidance but also for trouble shooting and
cost reduction campaign to optimize refractory consumption towards the
objective the company has following Philosophy.

 Market only high quality products

 Follow latest systems and methods to maintain constant quality

 Keep unfailing delivery schedules

 Provide complete range of support services.

PROCESS INVOLVED THE FOLLOWING ACTIVITIES:

 Drilling

 Blasting

 Spoil removal

 Crude collection

 Pressing the crude

 Sampling the crude stack

As the entire country rock contains magnesite in thick and thin

veins, the entire strata are being blasted and magnesite is recovered.

Mining is done by open cast method. Drilling is carried out both by

wagon drills and jack hammers using portable air compressor. The holes
are blasted material the magnesite is recovered by hand picking.

10
 When all the possible magnesite has been picked from such blasted
material, the left over spoils are removed using machineries. Spoil removal
is done with the help of pay loaders and dumped far away at the spoil
bunks using tippers. For mining machineries like loaders. Dozers,
dumpers, compressors and drillers are used.

Dressing is done usually to remove the extraneous impurities

sticking to the surface of magnesite by breaking and chipping. Before
stacking the material, he workers break the big lumps into smaller lumps
and dress them by chipping.

The stracks are then sampled and analysis for grading it as refractory
grade and non-refractory grade before dispatching.

Sampling involves tow methods. One method is representative

sampling is done from properly sized and stacking material. This gives the
true representative of the material for analytical purpose. Random
sampling is picking up of pieces randomly from stracks and it gives an
apparent idea of the quality on analysis.

The sample after preparing according to standard procedures is

analyzed for knowing the chemical composition.
MARKET
 The major customer are:

 Major steel Plants-All sail Steel plants

 Mini Steel plants-Essar Steel, Wheel Axle plants,

 GK Alloys, Etc.

 Iron producers- Vikram ISPAT, Bihar Sponge ISPAT, and SISCOL

11
 Ferrous industries- As above

 Copper industries- Hindustan copper limited

 Sterilities industries-Sterilities industries, tuticorin

 Zinc industries-Hindustan Zinc

 Glass industries- My sore lamps

 Cement industries- Madras cement. Konoria cement (Karnataka)

 At present the company is exporting our products to countries like

Japan, gulf countries, Egypt, Srilanka, Bangladesh and Qatar.

THE MAJOR COMPETITORS

 Orissa industries limited

 Tata Refractory

 Bharathi Refractory’s

 Mithon ceramics

 SKG Refractories

 Sarvesh Refractories

 Associated ceramics limited

 Orissa Refractories

“Marketing is Burn standard company is committed to market only high

quality produced”

PRODUCT PROFILE
In BSCL they are producing ceramics. The ceramics are used in high
temperature places. In this product these are two types.

They are:
 Shaped products and

 Unshaped products.

12
SHAPED PRODUCTS
A shaped product contains 100 % magnesite, magnesia chrom 10 %,
90 % magnesite graphite. The next process in the shaped products is
processing.

 Here the product is shaped according to the requirement of the

customer.
 Hydraulic presses are to change the shapes.

UNSHAPED PRODUCTS
This is otherwise called as monolithic product. The three categories
in unshaped products is

 Ramming mass

 Gunning mass

 Patching mass.

TURN OVER
The yearly turn over is 50 cores. They are producing 40 tons per day.
Unshaped products production is about 800 tons to 1000 tons per moth.

APPLICATION
The ceramic product is used in:
 Steel plants

 Cement industry

 Copper smelters

 Glass industry.

ABOUT THE INDUSTRY

13
 In Tamilnadu these are 4 or 5 major industries. But the basic
refractory is Dalmia and burn standard company. Mostly these are used in
high temperature places, like cement industries and steel plants, i.e., more
than 10000c. The raw material are from Orissa and Salem and also the
imported to China and Israel.

COMPANY
BSCL is gem of rare brilliance in the crown of the refractory
industry. It is sprawled over a picturesque of 1500 acres about 5km away
from Salem city. The arson for its location can be attributed to the
proximity of magnate deposits which is the raw-material requires. It is one
of the largest refractory complexes in the world, processing a wide range
of refractory goods. It is engaged in the production of dead burned
magnetite, firebricks, metal gold bricks, mag carbon, bulbs, calcium
products and unfired bricks. It is an ever-excepting industry having added
many dimensions to it. Hendry turner a British citizen incorporated this
company in 1890.

PRESENT FACILITY
The present facilities of the command include captive mine of
magnesite, largest deposits of the unit, Modern earth moving equipment
expansion of state of act technology such as 150 TPD rotary Kiln for Dead
Burning Magnesite, 1750 high temperature turned Kiln and high capacity
Hydraulic pressure with a latest addition of 2500 tons vacuum Assisted
hydraulic press. The activities are guided by vibrant research and
development set up to keep pace with rapid changes taking place world
wide in the field of refractories.
BANKERS

14
 United bank of India and bank of India are the bankers to B.S.C.L.,
if company gets the funds for refractory aspects.

AUDITORS
Chartered accountants, Calcutta were appointed as auditors of the
company for the year 1993-94 by the department of company affairs,
ministry of law, justice and company affairs on the advice of the Controller
and Auditor General of India as per provision of sec, 619(2) of the
Companies Act, 1956.

EXPORTS
The current phase of exports consists Magnestic gunning Mass and
induction furnace ramming Mass, basic bricks specially Magnestic and
Lightly calcined Magnestic power to countries like Japan, Srilanka Egypt,
and Bangladesh etc.

MISSION STATEMENT
 Scientific and systematic exploration of mines and judicious
management of mineral resources.
 Maintain strict quality control standard.

 Eco-friendly mining.

 Continuous up gradation of technology for mining quality control

measures and Mineral processing.

15
VISION STATEMENT
 Market only high quality product.

 Follow latest systems and method to maintain constant quality.

 Keep unfailing delivery schedule support service.

 Provide complete range of support service.

OBJECTIVE OF THE FIRM

The result oriented marketing plan of Burn standard has established
lesion centers to facilitate availability of application and other relevant
expertise at refractory consumption centers. The trained application
engineers of the company are available to the users to provide not only
technical advice and installation guidance but also for trouble shooting and
cost reduction campaign to optimize refractory consumption towards the
objective the company the following philosophy.

 Market only high quality product.

 Follow latest systems and method to maintain constant quality.

 Keep unfailing delivery schedule support service.

 Provide complete range of support services.

KINDS OF DEPARTMENT
 Purchase departments

 Production department

 Marketing department

 Sales department

 Account department

 Personnel department

16
 CHAPTER-VI
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

METHODOLOGY
The data collected from the employees are the primary data. To
support the primary data, required particulars have been gathered by
referring to reputed magazines, books and websites. The data so collected
from both primary and secondary sources have been edited and presented
in the appropriate places.

RESEARCH DESIGN:
The researcher has used descriptive research. It is the research on
existing present environment and can report that what happens and what is
happening. It is used for the purpose of describing the association of the
variable.

SAMPLING UNITS:
The sampling units constitute 2 branches of “BURN STANDARD
COMPANY LIMITED” branches in Salem district only.

SAMPLE SIZE:
Sample size of 126 employees was chosen in convenience basis to
represent the total population.

DATA COLLECTION TOOLS:

 The task of data collection begins after a research problem has been
defined and plan chalked out. There are two types of data collection
tools to be used.
 Primary Data

17
PRIMARY DATA:
Primary data are those which are collected a fresh and for the first
time and thus happen to be original in character. Primary data are collected
through a questionnaire designed for the survey.

INSTRUMENTATION:
The questionnaire was specifically designed for collecting the
primary data from the respondents. The questionnaire consisted of 24
structured questions.

STATISTICAL TOOLS:
Data collected through the questionnaire are analyzed and tabulated
using SIMPLE PERCENTAGE ANALYSIS.

18
 CHAPTER-VII
DATA ANALYSIS

DATA ANLAYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA

In this chapter the information collected with the help of
questionnaire are tabulated and analyzed using simple percentage.

SIMPLE PERCENTAGE METHOD:

The ratio are very often expressed as percentage in the calculation of
percentage, the figure is taken as base and is represented by 100. The other
figure is expressed as ratio of this base. The simple percentage refers to
special kinds of ratio. Percentages are used in making comparison between
two or more series of data. Percentages are used to compare relative items,
the distribution of two or more series of data. Simple average method is
one of the statistical tools used to calculate the percentage.

No of respondents
Simple average method = x 100
Total no of respondents

19
 TABLE- 7.1
TABLE SHOWING THE GENDER OF THE EMPLOYEES

GENDER NO.OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

Male 44 44

Female 56 56

Total 100 100

Interpretation:
From the above table we can reveal that female employees are more
than the male employees.

20
 CHAPTER-VIII
FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS

FINDINGS
 Majority (56%) of the respondents are female.
 Majority (72%) of the respondents are married.
 Majority (64%) of the respondents have children.
 Majority (40%) of the respondents agree that they have flexible
starting time.
 Majority (40%) of the respondents agree that they have flexible
finishing time.
 Majority (42%) of the respondents agree that they flexible working
hours.
 Majority (56%) of the respondents strongly agree that they have for
family emergencies.
 Majority (44%) of the respondents agree that they have reduced
working hours.
 Majority (53%) of the respondents agree that they have a time off in
holidays.
 Majority (46%) of the respondents agree that they have compressed
working hours.
 Majority (43%) of the respondents agree that they have support form
managers.
 Majority (43%) of the respondents agree that they have support from
colleagues.
 Majority (37%) of the respondents agree that they have support from
team members.

21
 Majority (44%) of the respondents agree that they have
encouragement to use paid leave.
 Majority (44%) of the respondents agree that they are satisfied with
seeking other men at work.
 Majority (38%) of the respondents agree that they satisfy working
from home.
 Majority (60%) of the respondents agrees that technology such as
laptops and mobiles are useful for their work.
 Majority (45%) of the respondents agree that they are able to bring
their children into work on occasions.
 Majority (46%) of the respondents agree that they have long
working hours.
 Majority (46%) of the respondents disagree that they don’t have
compulsory over time.
 Majority (41%) of the respondents disagree that they don’t have
weekend work.
 Majority (52%) of the respondents agree that they have timing of
work.
 Majority (60%) of the respondents agree that they can balance their
work and family life.

22
SUGGESTIONS

 The management can give some recreation facilities to the

employees.
 The management can give stable working hours for the employees.

23
 CHAPTER – IX
CONCLUSION

BURN STANDARD CO, LTD. provides its employees with a good

organizational culture and working conditions. This has leaded the
employees to feel that they are a part of the family and they look upon the
company as their own.

The employees have high working arrangements, flexible working

hours; they also have a good support from their managers and their team
members. The involvement and commitment of the employees to the
company is very high.

The key word is balance. You need to find the right balance that
works for you. Celebrate your successes and don’t dwell on your failures.

24
 CHAPTER – X
BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Kothari.C.R., [2001] “Research Methodology Methods & Techniques”,

2nd Edition, Vishwa Prakasham.

2. Ashwathapa.K., “Human Resource Management” [Third Edition], Tata

Mc Graww Hill Publication Company ltd.,

3. Prasa. L.M., [2001] “Human Resource Management”, Sultan Chand &

Sons, Reprint 1998.

4. Tripathy.P.C., [2001] “Human Resource Development” Sultan Chand &

Sons, New Delhi.

5. Web Source :
a. www.scribd.com
b. www.citehr.com
website : http://burnstandard.com/company.html

25
A STUDY ON WORK LIFE BALANCE OF EMPLOYEES IN BURN
STANDARD CO., LTD (UNDERTAKEN BY CENTRAL
GOVERNMENT) AT SALEM

QUESTIONNAIRE

I am conducting this study as a part of my curriculum. I kindly

request you to fill in the questionnaire completely. I assure you that all
information collected will be kept confidential.
1. Gender
a) Male b) Female

2. Age

3. Marital status
a) Married b) Unmarried

4. Have children
a) Yes b) No c) Not applicable

Working Hours
Q. Strongly Strongly
Question Agree Neutral Disagree
No Agree Disagree
Flexible
5. starting
time

Flexible
6.
Finish time
 Q. Strongly Strongly
Question Agree Neutral Disagree
No Agree Disagree
Flexible
working
7.
hours
generally
Time off for
8. family
emergencies
Reduced
9.
work hours
Time off in
10.
holidays
Compressed
11. working
hours

Support from others

Q. Strongly Strongly
Question Agree Neutral Disagree
No Agree Disagree
Support from
12.
managers/supervisors
Support from
13.
colleagues
Support from team
14.
members

Q. Strongly Strong
Question Agree Neutral Disagree
NO agree disagree
Encouragement
15.
to use paid leave
Seeking other
men use
16.
work/family
policy
Working Arrangement
Q. Strongly Strongly
Question Agree Neutral Disagree
No Agree Disagree
Overtime work
17. allowed with
extra pay
Company pay
double wages if
18.
you work in paid
holidays
Company permit
to allow any
specialized men
19. in a particular
filed to work, if
you are not able
to do it.
Company give
20. job satisfaction
for you
Compulsory
21.
over time
22. Weekend work

23. Timing of work

24) Do you agree that you are able to balance your work and family life?
a) Agree
b) Strongly Agree
c) Neutral
d) Disagree
e) Strongly disagree

25) Give your suggestion to improve work life balance?