VELAMMAL ENGINEERING COLLEGE

(An Autonomous Institution, Affiliated to Anna University, Chennai)

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT SCIENCES

ASSIGNMENT

Name of the student : HARITHA.H Registration No: 113220611014

Degree/ Branch : MBA Semester : II No. of pages: 20 Date of submission : _7_ .5.2021
Subject code & Title: 19 BA 6112 T HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
Topic :WORK LIFE BALANCE

Content Exceeds Meets Fails to Meet Total

Minimum Minimum Standards Marks
Standards Standards (<50%)
(>75%) (51-74%)
Introduction– 20 points
Background - Meaning - Definition - Origin
Account of the topic in detail-– 60 points
Characteristics - Objectives – Principles-Role -
Importance –types-functions – Problems-
Challenges -statistical data -Recent
Developments - Government Initiatives- Critics -
etc,.
Conclusion– 10 points
Present final thoughts or statement on the
subject at hand.
Reference – 10 points
Document where you obtained the information
Evaluated by (Name & Sign) Total
 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

WORK LIFE BALANCE

INTRODUCTION:

The term work-life balance was coined in 1986, although the usage in everyday language was
random for a number of years. 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. Related, though broader, terms
include lifestyle balance and life balance. Factors such as global competition, renewed
interest in personal lives/family balance and aging workforce has contributed to interest in,
and the importance of serious considerations of work-life balance. This has resulted in work-
life balance becoming an increasingly topic in sectors such as educational and the health
sector in general.

Work and personal life were once considered to be two separate priorities. But with the
changing times due to globalization and ever-increasing work pressures, maintaining work-
life balance has attracted the attention of the organizations and employees as well. The
employees, who devote a crucial period of time of their entire day at work or sometimes work
for extended hours, are faced with the challenge of balancing their personal lives with the
demands of their profession.
ORGIN OF WORK LIFE BALANCE

The origin of the term Work-Life Balance took place in early 80's, because of a sharp rise in
the number of working women professionals having children in tender age-groups dependent
on them. The demand for maintaining a work-life balance has risen unprecedentedly among
the employees and the management has also acknowledged its importance in the current
scenario. In future, work life balance will be one of the hot topics of debate in the
boardrooms and is going to be a major area of concern for the management and HR
professionals which they will be faced with.

Work-Life balance refers to an effective management or striking a balance between the work
which is remunerated and the personal or social responsibilities which an individual is
expected to perform. Work life can influence organizational productivity and also wellbeing
of the employees in different ways.

MEANING

Work life balance is a method which helps employees of an organization to balance their
personal and professional lives. Work life balance encourages employees to divide their time
on the basis on priorities and maintain a balance by devoting time to family, health, vacations
etc. along with making a career, business travel etc. It is an important concept in the world of
business as it helps to motivate the employees and increases their loyalty towards the
company.
It refers to the level of prioritisation between personal and professional activities in an
individual’s life and the level to which activities related to their job are present in the home.
Work-life balance is a topical issue due to the increased amount of technology that removes
the importance of physical location in defining the work-life balance. Previously it was
difficult or impossible to take work home and so there was a clear line between professional
and personal. Stress is a common feature of a poor work-life balance. In the information
economy mental stress has been identified as a significant economic and health problem,
causing by a perceived need of employees to do more in less time.

DEFENITION

Conrad (1990) defines balancing work and life as the “successful orchestration of career,
family, recreation, studies, hobbies and other commitments that promotes a sense of self-
actualization”. The ability to make choices and find something that can be enjoyed doing as a
career will enhance the probability of establishing a balance between life and work.

Owen, Heck & Rowe (1995) explain that WLB refers to “families or individuals who
combine lifestyle, well-being and income generating work under the same roof”. Good WLB
is defined as a situation in which workers feel that they are capable of balancing their work
and non- work commitments.

CHARACTERISTICS OF WORK LIFE BALANCE

Effective work-life balance policies are valuable to businesses and

organizations for a number of reasons, including:

➢ IMPACT ON PROFITABLITY AND GROWTH:

Excessive pressure of achieving the profitability and growth targets builds stress, hampers the
overall productivity of the employees and disturbs their work-life balance. A well planned
and implemented work-life balance strategy may greatly ease the work pressure both on the
job and perceived work pressures, which in turn will favourably propel employee
productivity and contribute towards a positive return on investment.
 ➢ EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT AT WORK AND QUALITY OF CUSTOMER
SERVICE:

An imbalance in the work and life front will adversely affect the complete engagement of the
employees at work and hamper the quality of services delivered to the customers. On the
other hand, the quality of service will be reliable and consistent; if the employees perceive
that their efforts or their presence is valued by the management and also that the organization
is committed to ensuring both personal and professional success of their employees.

➢ TALENT AQUISATION STRATEGY AND THE CHALLENGES RELATED:

Increase in the composition of the baby boomers and relatively a young pool of working
professionals; have increased their expectations for a favourable work life culture. They
expect that apart from their work responsibilities they need to attend to the personal/social
responsibilities of their life. In the present scenario, issues with work-life balance are
considered to be the prime reasons for a high rate of employee turnover which definitely is an
imposed cost on the organization. Research reveals that, Johnson & Johnson was able to
achieve a reduction in the rate of absenteeism by almost 50% by introducing flexi-work
options and employee welfare policies.

➢ RISING COST OF HEALTH CARE AND MEDICATIONS:

Due to a rise in the level of work pressure and never ending expectations, a major percentage
of the employees are faced with lifestyle related diseases and major health problems. This has
become a serious issue of concern for the organizations because of the mounting cost of
health care and drastic reduction in the ratio of employee productivity. Such concerns have
compelled the management to pay importance to work-life balance priorities and creating a
healthier workplace by implementing several developmental initiatives.

Work-life initiatives are not a choice but an imperative for the management in the present
scenario. It is because, the employees look forward to the support and concern of the
management towards their work-life related issues. HR today, holds the extra responsibility
of implementing a gamut of initiatives for making their organization an attractive place to
work for the employees.
TYPES OF WORK LIFE BALANCE

Work life balance is the goal of being satisfied with both of your work and your life. The
term is associated with a desire to maintain a strong work ethic while still having time for
things that improve your quality of life such as sleep, rest, health, exercise, family, friends,
hobbies, interests, peak experiences and personal reflection. The following are the common
types of work life balance.

➢ WORKING CONDITIONS

Working conditions include the responsibilities, accountabilities, schedule, work hours,

commute, hygiene factors, organisational culture, salary, benefits, autonomy, controls ad
terms associated with your job or business. Some jobs are simply too demanding and
inflexible to allow an individual to achieve the type of lifestyle they want.

➢ OBJECTIVES

Knowledge workers may have significant leverage in shaping their objectives and roles. For
example, an IT manager may take on work that makes their team valuable without
overcoming. This requires careful estimates, prioritization and negotiation to agree to a
reasonable set of objectives with your stakeholders.
 ➢ MANAGING EXPECTATIONS

Communicating your objectives and what is currently out of scope of your work.
Stakeholders may push unreasonable, low value and high risk tasks at you that will disrupt
your productivity and work life balance.

➢ TIME MANAGEMENT

Viewing time as a precious resource and finding ways to use it productivity or rewardingly.

➢ PRODUCTIVITY

Increasing the amount of value you create in an hour of work with techniques such as
automation, process improvement and innovation.

➢ TIME BOXING

Setting a time limit for an activity or work day. For example, a lawyer who works diligently
for 9 hours each day and then goes home at 6pm. Each evening as a matter of principle, even
if issues are unresolved.

➢ QUALITY TIME

Completely devoting yourself to an activity without distraction. For example, a manager who
doesn’t accept phone calls or read messages while on a family vacation.

FUNCTIONS OF EFFECTIVE WORK LIFE BALANCE

By understanding the importance of maintaining a healthy work-life balance, anyone will get
motivated to take the necessary steps for achieving this balance. Work-Life balance is
advantageous for the employees and organization as well. A balance between the work and
personal life helps in improving the employee productivity, morale and health condition. In
fact, work-life balance should be a priority for all of us. An imbalance in any of the front will
make the life difficult and pose several hazards or challenges in terms of health, happiness
and emotional stability.

The benefits of work-life balance are given below

 ➢ FULFILMENT

People who maintain a balance between work and personal life experience a sense of
fulfilment and contentment in their life.

➢ HEALTH

A balanced work-life will help in reducing health related complications and the risk of
various serious diseases of heart, hyper-tension, stress or life-style related ailments.

➢ IMPROVED PRODUCTIVITY

Greater work-life balance will improve the employee productivity and performance at work.

➢ STRENGTHEN RELATIONSHIP

Work-life balance facilitates collaboration in professional and personal relationship. Conflicts

are better tackled or addressed when there is a balance between both.

PROBLEMS THAT ENHANCED THE DEMAND FOR WORK LIFE

BALANCE

In 21st century our lifestyle has been changed drastically. Joint family becomes nuclear
family where both husband and wife are working. Their responsibilities also increase. They
have to take care of their children and elders.

Following are some reasons that enhanced the demand for work life balance practices

➢ Increasing number of women in the work place

➢ Dual career families
➢ Need of employees to balance their work and non-work lives
➢ Working mothers:- WLB was considered mainly an issue for working mothers in the
1960s &1970s as they struggled with the demands of their jobs & raising children.
Single parent families: for single parents managing work & personal life( taking care
of children & other dependents) becomes very difficult, which results in stress,
absenteeism, poor health etc. So companies are taking initiatives by giving maternity
benefits, flexi time, compressed work week, day care facilities to help their
employees.
 ➢ Employee health and wellbeing: For good health and stress free life, many
organizations are giving free health check-up, healthy breakfast, yoga classes etc to
their employees.
➢ Legislation:- According to Indian Law every organization has to give basic benefits to
their employees. Benefits include maternity benefit, 48 hrs of work in a week, crèches
for children where 30 or more women are working, safety for women employee.
➢ Public image of the organization: work life balance has important consequences for
employee attitude towards their organizations as well as for the lives of employees.
Organizations having good WLB practices have good image in the market & people
want to join with the organization.
➢ Cost benefit analysis: - researches prove that keeping new parents happy is cheaper
than finding new employees, which can cost between 50 & 200% of TCO. Therefore
company like Google has increased its maternity leave from 3 to 6 months.

ROLE OF WORK LIFE BALANCE

➢ Reduced staff turnover rates

➢ Becoming a good employer or an employer of choice
➢ Increased return on investment in training as employees stay longer
➢ Reduced absenteeism and sick leave
➢ Improved morale or satisfaction
➢ Greater staff loyalty and commitment
➢ Improved productivity.
PRINCIPLES OF WORK LIFE BALANCE

The idea for maintaining balance between private and professional life was born between the
70s and 80s of the 20th century in the United States. Human resources specialists have
noticed that workers take advantage of medical leaves more and more often, are reluctant to
changes, less efficient, and lack creativity. A response to such behaviour was creating a
mechanism which prevents disharmony between private life and work.

➢ BE ASSERTIVE

If you haven’t yet set the boundaries of your responsibilities at work, it’s about time to do so.
You are aware of your own capabilities, so properly calculate the time needed to execute
tasks and don’t allow anyone from the team to give you more responsibilities. Learn to say
“no”. Thanks to this simple principle it will be easier for you to control work time. You have
too much on your head? Remember that when executing a project you are not alone – you
can always ask for help or report the need to hire an additional employee.

➢ PLACE YOUR BET ON OFFLINE

Find some time to forget about responsibilities. Don’t answer your work phone at home and
don’t browse through e-mails. Wi-Fi has a negative impact on private life and definitely does
not work in favour of the work-life balance idea. Trust us, officiousness and perfectionism in
some fields of life may result in more harm than profits.

➢ TAKE CARE OF YOUR REST

Allow yourself time to rest. Plan a longer vacation at least once a year and travel with your
close ones. Allow yourself a weekend outside the city. Once in a while it is worth to forget
about responsibilities and let it go. Remember, when you’re tired – you are not efficient.
Apart from that, lack of rest may have a negative impact on your health and harm the immune
system.

➢ HAVE TIME OF PLEASURES

Learn to spend your time after work. Do you have a passion? Great! Develop it. A hobby will
allow you to take a break from the responsibilities, and the mind is going to rest from all the
information with your endorphins skyrocketing. A perspective of minor daily pleasures will
make you organize your time better, and the motivation to act is going to appear on its own.
 ➢ DEVELOP RELATIONS

Don’t forget about your family and friends. Even if you’ve changed your work, started a new
project, or have a lot of responsibilities. Cherish relations with close ones, and meet them
regularly. Going out for coffee, to the cinema, or talking during a walk are especially
important for your mental health. Sociable people are better at work and less often suffer
from depression.

Remember that life is not only about working. Cherish your free time. Learn to celebrate it
with friends and family. Set priorities. These simple principles, absolutely supported by
Solutions. Rent, will allow you to maintain the work-life balance.

IMPORTANCE OF WORK LIFE BALANCE

Working on a job for a company and making a career can be an extremely time consuming
duty for any employee. Employees are busy at their offices throughout the day and
sometimes even on weekends. This gives them very little time to interact with their family.
Because of high pressure of work, often family members get neglected. Also, stressful jobs
cause the health of employees to deteriorate.. Work life balance concept allows an employee
to maintain a fine balance in the time he or she gives to work as well as to personal matters.
By having a good balance, people can have a quality of work life.

➢ Work life balance increases the motivation of employees and helps them perform
better at job.
➢ It helps people to relieve their stress as they can spend leisure time with their near and
dear ones.
➢ Companies can maximise productivity from an employee who is rejuvenated and
refreshed as compared to an over worked employees.
➢ Healthy lifestyles can be maintained by having a work life balance. This includes a
good diet, regular exercises etc.
➢ Employees who are highly motivated can help the business grow as they are more
attached to their job and careers.
CHALLENGES/ PROBLEMS FOR WORK LIFE BALANCE

➢ Increased competition due to globalisation, liberalisation and privatisation enhanced

work pressures on employees.
➢ Increase in stress levels of employees due to high demands of jobs in terms of targets,
high productivity, high quality, customisation and better customer relationship
management.
➢ Increase in personal ambitions for higher level salary, status and power.
➢ Increase in pressure of family obligations to the accelerating pace of living standards;
➢ High performance culture eroded the long-term loyalty and a “sense of corporate
community.
➢ Managements expect more and more from their employees yet offers little security in
return.
➢ Job targets and attractive performance-based pay results in spending of more than 18
hours a day by employees on the job and neglecting the normal family life including
interpersonal and sexual relationships.
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS FROM EFFECTIVE WORK LIFE
BALANCE

There are specific guidelines by the government to how an individual can maintain a proper
work life balance, some of which are:

➢ CREATING A WORK LEISURE PLAN

Where an individual has to schedule his tasks, and divide time appropriately so that he has
allocated appropriate time to his work and his career development goals and at the same time
allotted time for leisure and personal development. Employees also use a compressed work
week plan to build a balance.

➢ LEAVING OUT ACTIVITES THAT WASTE TIME AND ENERGY

Individual should judiciously avoid wasteful activities which demand large time and energy
and in return not produce output for either the work life or the leisure life. Effective time
management can help an employee be less stressed.

➢ OUTSOURCING WORK

Delegate or outsource time consuming work to other individuals.

 ➢ SET ENOUGH TIME FOR RELAXATION

Relaxation provides better work life balance, and tends to improve productivity on the
professional or the work front along with providing ample scope to develop the life part of
the balance.

➢ PRIORITIZING WORK

Often employees do not give priority to work and end up doing a lot of work at the last
minute. Better planning can help employees save unnecessary time delays, which can be
utilized by employees for personal work.

STATISTICAL DATA:

According to the survey findings,

➢ 98% of respondents feel that that being on good terms with bosses and colleagues can
improve productivity. Comparing workplace relationships, 77% regard colleagues as
friends versus only 43% who consider their managers as friends.
➢ Mobile devices such as laptops, smartphones and tablets provided by companies boast
a positive impact. Nearly 37% spend time in the office scrolling through their social
media feed.
➢ As per the survey, an average 92% spend less than an hour on personal matters at
work. 65% employees say they chat with family and friends on messaging apps and
27% send personal emails at the workplace.
➢ Nine out of 10 respondents feel a flexible work environment is very important. 60%
indicated it gives them better work-life balance, while 34% claim it increases
professional productivity.
➢ “Several companies in India have started modifying their employee policies for a
healthy work-life balance and controlled attrition rate.
➢ Communication is a key aspect at workplace, and the results of the study have
verified that the better relationships are in the office, the happier and more productive
employees can be. One in 2 reportedly speak with colleagues daily on personal
matters of which economy and politics (46%) are the most common topics of interests
followed by entertainment (26%).
 ➢ The survey also showed that the longer the commute to work, the lesser is the time for
family, friends and wellbeing. Nearly 65% of the study state they spend an hour or
less travelling to work daily and 76% believe work commute time is an important
factor when considering a new job.
➢ Seven out of 10 executives surveyed felt that issuing devices which allow for remote
working has a positive impact on work-life balance. About 93% claim to receive a
mobile device from work and 55% also use these for personal matters.

CRITICS FOR WORK LIFE BALANCE

➢ 94% of service professionals spend over 50 hours working each week.

➢ 80% of Baby Boomers report that they are stressed.
➢ About 190 billion dollars per year is spent to address the psychological and physical
effects of burnout.
➢ 66% of workers feel they do not have work-life balance in their lives.
➢ Only 23% of companies believe they are promoting work-life balance.
➢ 79% of employees believe flexibility promotes work-life balance.
➢ Companies that promote work-life balance record two times more productivity than
those that do not.
➢ 72% of respondents consider work-life balance an important factor for selecting a job.
➢ Workers spend 40.1% of their day multitasking.
➢ 40% of employees said that their job was extremely stressful.
➢ Burn out is a common issue in the workplace as well, with 26% of employees
experiencing it at work.
➢ 75% of workers believe that they are more stressed about the job compared to the last
generation.
➢ 80% of employees report that they feel some sort of stress at work.
➢ Also, over half of employees say that they need help managing work-related stress.
➢ Additionally, around 42% say that their colleagues need stress management help.
➢ 25% of employees felt like screaming or physically expressing their stress.
➢ Almost 19% had quit their jobs due to extreme pressure and stress.
➢ Lastly, around 25% have been in tears because of the stress.
 INITIATIVES TAKEN BY ORGANIZATIONS FOR WORK LIFE
BALANCE

WORK LIFE BALANCE PROVIDED BY

INTEL INDIA

➢ Compressed workweeks (5 working days)

➢ Flexible working hours
➢ Alternate work schedules
➢ Telecommuting
➢ Work from home
➢ Part time employment
➢ Childcare assistance (site care approach to childcare)
➢ Hospitalization insurance policy (covers employee & nominated dependants). Group
term life insurance
➢ Maternity leave: paid maternity leave for 84 days to women employee
➢ Annual leave: 15 days for initial 2 years & 20 days after 2 years per calendar year.
➢ Resource & referral services
➢ Health & wellness benefits
TATA MANUFACTURING

➢ Adult education programmes

➢ Education about family planning
➢ Crèche facility (provided where number of female employee is more than 20)
➢ TCS Flexitime with certain mandatory hours of work
➢ Compressed work weeks
➢ Conducts regular seminar on nutrition, better living & stress management
➢ Promotes Group formation with similar interest to come together to conduct various
activities
➢ Maître is an initiative for the spouses of employees

CITI INDIA

➢ Work from home for 2 days a month if their role permits it

➢ Flexible work option e.g. flexi time, remote working
➢ Provide concierge service within the office premises, helping free up valuable time
for employees

HCL Technology

➢ flexi timing for women

➢ telecommunicating for women

PEPSI.CO INDIA

➢ free & healthy breakfast

➢ day care facilities

MARI.CO

➢ employees have flexibility to decide their work timings in discussion with their
supervisor
➢ doesn’t have strict working hours
➢ Contingency leave policy (up to 4 days without written permission) 8. Hindustan
lever ltd:
➢ flexible work schedule
➢ work from home
 ➢ opportunities for women to return after career break

ICICI BANK

➢ launched novel women centric initiatives on international women’s day ( 7th March,
2016)
➢ Work from home, allows women employees to work from home initially for a year
and then it can be extended.

The other initiative aids women managers who travel on business, by covering the travel and
stay of young children and their caregivers.

BENEFITS TO THE EMPLOYERS

Followings are the benefits that are being researched by various academicians and
researchers. Work-life balance practices

➢ Reduced staff turnover

➢ lower recruitment and training costs, due to decreased turnover
 ➢ Reduced absenteeism due to higher levels of well being
➢ Gaining a reputation as a good employer or an employer of choice
➢ Improved recruitment and retention rates.
➢ reduced stress levels amongst staff
➢ improved morale and job satisfaction
➢ greater staff loyalty and commitment
➢ improved productivity
➢ reduced absenteeism

EMPLOYEE BENEFITS

➢ being effectively manage multiple responsibilities at work, home and in the society
without any stress
➢ reduced stress levels and higher levels of well being
➢ control over time management in meeting work life commitments
➢ autonomy to make decisions regarding work life balance
➢ Increased focus, motivation and job satisfaction knowing that family and work
commitments are being met.
➢ Increased job security from the knowledge that an organization understands and
supports workers with family responsibilities
➢ Increased employee engagement
➢ Increased employee commitment
CONCLUSION

Once work-life balance has been defined and all its aspects analysed, some conclusions can
be drawn. First of all, work-life balance is not a “one-size-fits-all” type of trend; rather it is a
trend which is viewed differently by everyone because people have an unique perception of
their achievements and enjoyments. Also, work-life balance is changing on a daily basis, and
there is no universal formula on how to achieve a perfect balance between work and life.
Rather, the work-life balance is focused more on how to achieve something in order to enjoy
something. Work-life balance is all about providing employees with more flexibility when it
comes to their working hours. Employees became able to manage their time working and
‘living’ which eventually results in greater productivity

Even though, there are many benefits of work-life balance, there are few challenges that both
employees and employers face. For example, employees deal with a so called work-life
conflict which refers to an unbalanced time spent working and time spent for personal
activities with family and friends. On the other hand, an organization or an employer has to
deal with an issue of absence of employee’s.

In a nutshell, it is important to have a positive work-life balance in order to enhance

employees’ productivity at work that would affect the well-being of an individual itself, the
employer and the organization in general. Work-life balance is all about balancing out
achievements and enjoyments. An individual has to know why he/she wants to achieve
something in life, because of the satisfaction and joy of living that comes afterwards.
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