Chapter - 3

Conceptual Discussion
3.1 About the Topic

3.1.1 Work Life Harmony

We all have heard about work-life-balance but there is a concept which is work-life-
harmony that is different from the former. Work-life-balance refers to how people
manage the time they have to spend on other activities while Work life harmony
suggests how a person incorporates work into their lives which promotes happiness on
both personal and professional fronts. Time outside work comprises of Family
responsibilities, relationships, studies, hobbies etc. The method or the way by which a
person integrates these two domains and completes his duties on both the fronts is
called work life harmony.

Although it seems pretty simple most of the working population finds it difficult to
strike a balance between them. Disruptions in working out this balance can happen
because of many reasons like working at odd hours, stress due to overload of work,
meeting deadlines etc. while all these are a part of in office work culture since
pandemic this gap between professional and personal life has widen a little bit.

Although most organizations know the importance of promoting work life harmony
as it increases job satisfaction still there are very few companies who actually
promote it. Organizations that constantly tie their employees to their job deal with
burn-out among employees and this leads to the employee becoming less sociable,
difficult to work with and more likely to become sick/absent.

To ensure a healthy environment it is the responsibility of the Human Resource

Department by standing in this gap and putting all organizational policies in place to
treat the employees rightly. Some of the most common practices include flexi-time
policies, organizing trainings for employees to make them aware how to ensure
harmony in their work life balance, ensuring digital downtime to give their minds a
much needed rest.
How employers can promote the idea of harmony in work life:

 Leading by example- Prescribing solutions and actually putting them into

practice are two different things, therefore the employers should ensure that
those who are in leadership positions take steps towards the different measures
and opportunities directed towards maintaining work-life-balance and this will
give employees a view that one can manage both the fronts with ease and
encourage them to follow in the same footsteps.

 Creating awareness- Through various programs one can teach employees

about the importance of maintaining harmony in work and personal life. These
programs will not only create awareness among people but also will inscribe a
thought in mind of employees that this issue has a separate place in the eyes of
organization which is taken care of duly.

 Helping employees to find balance- Team members and old employees

already know how to maintain the balance and harmony, therefore an
environment should be created in the workplace so that employees can have an
easy access to their seniors and fellow colleagues to discuss these kinds of
problems with them.

Above we discussed how employers could contribute towards helping employees

to maintain the balance. Now we would discuss about what employees can do on
their behalf to tackle this issue.

 Choose a company that values work-life-harmony- Before accepting a job

offer one should check all the aspects of an organization because an
organization which truly cares for its employees will not punish its
employees for giving importance to work-life-balance.

 Structure your day- structure your day and prioritize your tasks in such a
way that it allows for timely completion of them all. Finishing high
priority items before other commitments. Also while working one should
avoid personal distraction and keep your professional life away from
 personal life. Some ways to do this are not checking mails outside of
office, giving time to families and other personal commitments.

 Be a leader in your workplace- employees can suggest ways to the

management which can help other employees establish balance and
harmony between their work and personal life.

Since we had discussed about the ways in which employees and employers
can promote work-life-balance but sometimes due to work pressure or other
circumstances people tend to become lazy in adopting these methods and
return to their normal routine where they strive hard to maintain harmony
between work and life.

Here are some ways to regain control over these:-

 Accepting your limits as to where and when to stop and when to take
help from others and solving near term problems first.

 Learning how to say no when feeling overwhelmed from work and

sharing your concerns with your superior regarding feeling
overburdened and also letting go of some social events when you feel
not to attend.

 Adjusting your schedule comprising of your personal and professional

commitments so that one doesn’t feel stressed or overwhelmed from
their commitments which were lined up and scheduling specific times
for every domain of your life.

 Lastly is taking care of one’s health both mental and physical. Trying
to get good sleep, exercising daily, proper rest. These are some basic
but important things which one can do.

Working of Aashman foundation has always been online, hence it gives us an

advantage of flexi-timings which is one of the ways by which an organization
promotes work-life-harmony. Through these flex-timings a person can work
 according to the timings in which he/she is comfortable which in turn enables the
employees to give time to their relationships, families and take-out time for their
hobbies, personal commitments etc.

S.NO. Topic of Research Year Objectives Result

1 Difference between 2014 This study was aimed at This study provided
work life balance investigating differences empirical evidence which
and work life between work life balance validates the difference
harmony and its and work life harmony and between work-life
impact on creativity assessed its impact on balance and work-life
at work. individual creativity and harmony. The results
work. These was done proved that the
through cognitive participants under work
dissonance technique, in life balance condition
which candidates falling experienced increased
between 18 to 32 years with cognitive dissonance than
at least 6 months of working people who participated
experience and were asked in work life harmony.
to complete both pre and Also the latter approach
post intervention measures had shown positive
of individual creativity. impacts on individual’s
creativity at their work.
2 Work and Life 2013 The aim of this study was to The findings tell that they
harmony: an explore how entrepreneurs have been able to achieve
exploratory case from Philippines harmonize harmony between their
study of Entrepinays their work along with their work and personal life
(Filipina personal needs and family through effective
entrepreneurs) responsibilities and lead a personal time
contented life. Since it’s an management and
exploratory study it was delegating day-to-day
done on nine participants it work to trusted people
includes multiple case usually family members,
dimensions. It takes into since they are their own
 account spillover effects, boss this helps them to
proper time management, manage work flexibly
flexible work schedules etc. also the support of family
and spouse also plays a
crucial role to help them
maintain a harmony
between personal and
professional fronts.
3 Outcomes of work- 2014 Using a sample of 1,416 The results showed that
life balance on job from seven different high levels of work-life-
satisfaction, life populations to investigate balance were more
satisfaction and the effects of work life positively associated with
mental health: a balance on several cultures. individuals in
study across seven Their main aim is to solidify individualistic cultures
cultures the relationship of work life rather than those in
balance with individual collectivistic cultures. In
outcomes such as job gender egalitarian
satisfaction, life satisfaction, cultures high levels were
anxiety, depression and also positively linked to job
the impact of cultures on and life satisfaction and
this relationship. negatively with
Individualism/Collectivism depression and anxiety.
and gender egalitarianism in Overall it gives strong
cultures acted as a support for work-life-
moderator in this balance being beneficial
relationship. for employees from all
cultures.
4 Measuring the 2021 This study examines that The results tell us that
Mental Wellbeing of how e-working promotes increased organizational
E-Workers and its coping up with family and trust on employees can
impact on E-Work working responsibilities increase the mental well-
Life Balance during during this pandemic. A being of others and it can
COVID-19 study was conducted on 142 get degraded when there
Pandemic e-working professionals in is higher work life
different positions. This inference. Work life
study attempts to determine inference is affected by
the factors required for e- marital status, sector in
work life balance and to which they work and
mitigate mental wellbeing in their qualifications.
a manner.