Work Life Balance of Women Employees A Literature

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Work life balance of women employees: a literature review
Article in International Journal of Services and Operations Management · January 2018

DOI: 10.1504/IJSOM.2018.10009105
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100 Int. J. Services and Operations Management, Vol. 29, No. 1, 2018
Work life balance of women employees:

a literature review
A. Vasumathi
VIT Business School,
VIT University,
Vellore, 632 014, Tamil Nadu, India
Email: vasumathi.a@gmail.com
Email: avasumathi@vit.ac.in
Abstract: The review of literature on work life balance of women employees

has been outlined up in view of its increased popularity with the major
objective to have prosperity of society. WLB is a major concern for women
employees in today’s scenario, as extended work hours in the organisation pulls
women employees’ productivity and time which they actually meant to devote
to their family sphere. The researcher has reviewed the literature on work life
balance (WLB) of women employees with regard to significance of WLB,
theories of WLB, determinants of WLB, facilitators of WLB, coping strategies
of WLB, WLB and performance and finally, consequences of WLB. In this
article, the researcher has dealt the various aspects of work life balance through
the review of existing literature. The sources referred include various journals,
books, doctoral thesis, working papers, reports, magazines, internet sites, etc.,
and has been reflected as references at the end.
Keywords: work life balance; WLB; significance; theories; determinants;

facilitators; coping strategies; performances; consequences.
Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Vasumathi, A. (2018)

‘Work life balance of women employees: a literature review’, Int. J. Services
and Operations Management, Vol. 29, No. 1, pp.100–146.
Biographical notes: A. Vasumathi received her PhD from the Department of

Statistics of University of Madras. She is an Associate Professor at the VIT
Business School of VIT University, Vellore, India. Her current research
interests are in the area of human resource management.
1 Introduction
The main purpose of this paper is to review the existing literature on work life balance
(WLB) of women employees with the identification and description of WLB with
number of sections, first with introduction of WLB, Section 2 describe meaning and
definition, significance of WLB, Section 3 reveals to theories of WLB which includes
traditional and contemporised approaches, Section 4 examines determinants of WLB,
Section 5 assesses barriers constraints of WLB, Section 6 explores facilitators of WLB,
Section 7 identifies coping strategies of WLB, Section 8 deals with WLB and
performance, Section 9 discusses on consequences of WLB and lastly draws conclusions.
Copyright © 2018 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Work life balance of women employees 101
Research over the past three decades established that, WLB has increased
considerable attention and concern among employers, trade unions and scholars (CIPD,
2003; Dex and Bond, 2003; DTI, 2003; Felstead et al., 2002; Taylor, 2001). Indian
economy is undergoing rapid changes in role of women from traditional culture to current
modernised culture due to monetary pressures that influence women to enter into
workforce with the notion to support family with financial benefits and to lead a stress
free life and maintain a positive balance between work and life. WLB is broadly defined
as an equally satisfied level of involvement or ‘fit’ among the multiple roles in a person’s
life (Hudson Resourcing, 2005). In simple words, WLB is all about people having a
control over the work when, where and how they do (Purohit, 2013). An effective WLB
helps a person in achieving both personal and professional goals (Dubey et al., 2010).
Kapur (1979), in his study has shown the dual roles of women (family and work life) that
cause tension and conflicts due to her social structure which is even more dominant. In
the literature cited about work-family spheres, researchers have paid distinct focus on the
negative outcomes of balancing work and family domain (Barnett, 1998; Greenhaus and
Parasuraman, 1999; Haas, 1999).
Increase in market rivalry drives organisation and employees to be more acclimatise,
flexible and responsive to changes such as extended working hours, work overload, job
stress are the characteristics of most of the jobs. These changes have an implication on
family responsibilities, child care, elder care and domestic chores which hampers
individual efficiency to fulfil the obligations in family sphere (Bhowon, 2013). Sherwani
(1984) observed that Indian working women still work under the various limitations of
creation and hardship. One common problem faced by them was the dual role; they had
to play to balance work and family. The married working women having small children
found difficulty in playing dual roles and responsibilities involved in family and work
environment. They could feel a greater source of mental and physical strain. Working
mother is found to be an institution in herself, aiming to attain a successful career with
financial independence, she also has a greater responsibility to achieve motherhood to her
growing child. Both the jobs are challenging and require an equal importance, doing
justice to these two jobs without neglecting the other is a formidable task. Several
employed mothers struggle to find better ways to balance their two important domains
such as work and life and are always confronted with this guilt and pressure from
husband, family and friends. WLB acts as a boon for employed mothers (Sahana and
Baggali, 2014). When an individual is not capable to juggle the balance between work
and family sphere, imbalance is said to occur. Imbalance is formed when a person
performs extremely well in one role and gives up in other role which is equally
indispensable (Anwar et al., 2013). Work life imbalance generates numerous problems
which motivates organisation to implement WLB policies such as integration of women
into participative work force, employee looking for greater quality of work and family
life, need to take care of child, dependents and elderly people, issues related to
work-family conflict (WFC) and problems faced by dual earner couples (Canovas et al.,
2005; Hughes and Bozionelos, 2007).
The bureau of labour statistics projects reported that women entry into labour market
will continue to increase due to financial need of the individual to lead a quality of family
life. During the past five decades, the economic empowerment of women created a
benchmark revolution across worldwide. This benchmark is due to the tremendous
change in the culture, i.e., women who are once dependent upon men has taken up a step
102 A. Vasumathi
to face the economic challenges. If the economic empowerment of women is one of the
superior changes in the ancient times, then dealing with social penalty is considered to be
the highest challenge in the upcoming years. The proportion of income between men and
women has grown dramatically from 1979 to 2012. In 1979, the proportion of income
earned by women is 62% of what men earned and by 2012; the proportion of income
earned by women is 81% of men’s earnings. So this clearly states women plays a vital
role in today’s economy (US Bureau of Labour Statistics, 2014). Researchers established
an empirical evidence stating that work is more vital for men while family responsibility
is more essential for women (Cinamon and Rich, 2002; Maunno and Kinneunen, 2000;
Parasuraman et al., 1992). Women’s presence in the work place has now become a global
phenomenon. Women’s participation is increasing day by day and it has brought
immense economic benefits to organisations and nations. Working women have also
reported benefits such as their involvement in decision making, increase in quality of
living, social standing and upsurge in their sense of competence (Cleveland et al., 2000).
Due to stable increase in women entry into the workforce, diminishes the traditional
notion about men and women and more equal notion begun to rise about both the gender
(Botkin, 2000). Vinita (2004) revealed in the study that women working in cities and
towns were constituted to a small proportion of total workers, out of which majority of
women workers were engaged in low status job. Suchitra and Rajasekhar (2006) found
that women working in constructions were unskilled and paid wages lesser than the male
workers who were also unskilled.
Researchers showed greater curiosity in finding out the work and family conflicts
practiced in women labour workforce due to increase in employment opportunities and
escalation of dual income earners. As present focus of the economy is on dual income
earners as they are in a position to fulfil the demands and obligations arising from work
and the family spheres (Allen et al., 2000; Bond et al., 1998). In today’s labour market,
especially women, struggles to balance more complicated work and family issues than
men (Favero and Heath, 2012) and due to managing multiple roles, work life imbalance
came into scenario.
Women participation in the workforce represents a contribution of their part in the
total workforce. The role of employed women are love, caring mother and wife, the
responsible daughter in law to the professional women executive (Chincholkar and
Krishna, 2012). As men looks for job autonomy, economic incentives, prestige,
recognition, independence, management responsibilities in the work place, they do not
devote more time to fulfil family obligations, while women looks for more interesting
and complex jobs, expects support from colleagues, job content, socio emotional aspects,
they feel satisfied with their and it will have a positive spill over effect on family life
(Imran et al., 2011).
Due to organisational pressures women and men are in a situation to devote plenty of
time in work role such as work overload, long working hours which is unstructured social
hours. These pressures experienced by both the genders significantly affect quality of
family life. Many studies reveals that women pressurised in work finds it difficult to take
care of their children and dependents and their major source of satisfaction is balanced
work and family life while for men, their main focus is on work responsibility,
recognition and they feel more satisfied at work at the cost of ignoring family (Doble and
Supriya, 2010).
2 Review of literature
2.1 Work life balance

WLB is a significant predictor of employees’ health and well-being, a major research has
been undertaken to check the ancestor of this construct (Chawla and Sondhi, 2011).
Women often neglect to take concern about their own health and personal deeds because
of work surplus and time limitations (Mathew and Panchanatham, 2011). Health
problems such as psychological health, gynec health, digestive problems and physical
health are negatively correlated with WLB (Sujata and Singh, 2011). Organisation
implements WLB policies and flexible work arrangements that enable women employees
to make use of policies and engage more efficiently to contribute to organisation success.
Work life programs such as employee assistance programs, child care and elder care
programs, fitness and recreation programs, counselling programs (Cascio, 2000; De Luis
et al., 2002) and other personal support programs can help employees to manage and
balance their work life and personal life effectively (Wang and Verma, 2012). Women
make use of flexible work arrangement as a source because women tolerate greater
responsibility for domestic chores than men (Davis et al., 2007).
Child care responsibility is still a constraint for working women as well as it has an
influence on labour market assessment of parents, specifically mother with younger
children (Wattis et al., 2013). Women without children where significantly higher in
occupational commitment compared women with children; contrary to this, women
having younger children outperformed women having older children. The work related
stressors was evidently greater than that of family function associated stressors (Balaji,
2014). Women employees perceive WLB policies as organisational support to
employee’s family life and create a WLB supportive culture in the firm which leads to
affective commitment.
The goal of understanding and observing various aspects of WLB has been mostly
accomplished by the Western European and the Anglo Saxon countries (Chandra, 2012)
followed by the Eastern European countries (Shaffer et al., 2011). Gradually, researchers
from other nations have recognised the importance of examining the work-family
domains (Poelmans et al., 2005). The Asian countries have just started focusing on the
work-life interface (e.g., Hassan, 2010; Cooke and Jing, 2009; Verma et al., 2009;
Bhatnagar and Rajadhyaksha, 2001).
Employees today spend most of their time on their job than ever before (White et al.,
2003). They are working the equivalent of an extra month per annum. Being overworked
can lead to work-home conflict, in which the pressures from work and family domains
are mutually incompatible (Bacharach et al., 1991). Such conditions propose concerns
over well-being and WLB issues (Jennings and McDougald, 2007). Workers now are
questioning the amount of time and energy devoted to work (Maxwell and McDougall,
2004). Having imbalanced life, strained relationships and passionless life leads to
ineffective performance in life both at work and at home (Bobdey, 2010). Many now
value the idea of WLB and consider it to be an important criterion of success (Jennings
and McDougald, 2007).
In contemporary times, women are as professionally qualified as the men and the
incomes they earn are equally significant. Their working hours as well as the stress and
strain of work is in no way less than a man (Parmar, 2010). Economies across the world
104 A. Vasumathi
have begun to treat women as a precious segment of human resource that contributes to
development and progress (Batra, 2011; Kumar, 2011). With the rise in the number of
working women and mothers the demographic foundation of the stay-at-home mothers
evaporated (Shapiro et al., 2007). They are now equal bread winners and they work out of
home like men (Bedi, 2008). Therefore, their working hours, stress and strain of work is
in no way less than men folk (Parmar, 2010). WLB and job satisfaction are positively
correlated which leads to organisational commitment. Work life imbalance is caused due
to social, psychological factors, type of job, job satisfaction, working environment,
schedule at home and life phase.
Women perceive their role in family domain as social identity because societal
perceptions differ from one individual to another individual (Bem, 1993; Haar and
O’Driscoll, 2005).
Women socialisation of emotional differences at an infant age makes them to feel low
in self-confidence and less in perceived self-efficacy. These problems are manifested
within women and it lacks to identify communal and ideological issues (Adkinson, 1981;
Betz and Hackett, 1997). Women who can able to juggle the balance between work and
personal life can contribute to organisational success and drive towards their goals
(Nirmala, 2013).
According to Vinokur et al. (1999), family domain is considered to be important for
women lives and importance of work is considered as a central domain for men, so as
these two domains are facing steady growth in the economy, the role played between
these two domains is considered to be the potential sources of conflict. Women
experiences stress, mental health and physical well-being get affected when role of
women changes in the workforce. These changes will have a negative spill over effect on
family, work and dependants (Bielby, 1992; Matthews and Rodin, 1989; Menaghan,
1991; Repetti et al., 1989).
WLB did not achieve substantial consideration until the commencement of
21st century and was observed as less demanding for the organisations to concern about
WLB as contrast to current perception. It is mainly due to two assumption, i.e., many
employment opportunities is restricted to male rather than female and the traditional
culture of women, basically known as care takers who cares, fosters and take
responsibilities for domestic chores (Crompton, 1999). Due to the existence of these
gender and traditional differences, WLB is considered to be less focussed by the
organisations. The origin of issue regarding WLB is originated in demographic tendency,
specifically low birth rates which decrease manpower in the labour market (MacInnes,
2006). Research over the past three decades established that, WLB has gained
considerable attention and concern among employers, trade unions and scholars (CIPD,
2003; Dex and Scheibl, 2002; DTI, 2003; Felstead et al., 2002; Taylor, 2001) due to entry
of women and dual income earners into the workforce. This rising level of employment
opportunities for women is not only a cause but also drastic changes in attitudes,
behaviour and worth of the employees. WLB is deemed as a core area of concern to
many employers and scholars as they focuses on the factors affecting WLB and may
impinges on employee’s achievement and job satisfaction (Chawla and Sondhi, 2011).
Work and family roles are distinct constructs and yet dependent on one another. As work
and family roles are vital constituents in every individual’s life and thus stipulate for
longer time and enormous energy. Balancing these incompatible roles has a greater effect
on physical and mental well-being (Kossek and Ozeki, 1998; Schultheiss, 2006;
Schwartzberg and Dytell, 1996) of employees which in turn result in higher levels of
stress and anxiety. Therefore, accomplishing right level of balance will have a positive
effect on work, family and life satisfaction (Carlson and Kacmar, 2000). Guest’s (2002)
delineated, the major concern of WLB arises due to stress and amplification of work,
quality of home and community life and stance and people worth. Researchers explored
different and enormous ways of how work and life roles have impact on each other
(Barling and Sorensen, 1997; Greenhaus and Parasuraman, 1999).
In the work life literature it is cited that, numerous studies came out with factors
affecting WLB which is a negative sign for the employees to have a proper balance
(Barnett, 1998; Greenhaus and Parasuraman, 1999; Haas, 1999). Even though research on
positive outcomes of WLB is scanty, still it gains a considerable attention among
employees in order to have a right balance. It is pertinent to add to this fact, employees’
physical health and well-being is dependent on the balance they have between work and
personal life. Therefore WLB is found to be a forecaster to find the antecedents of this
construct (Chawla and Sondhi, 2011).
Women are obliged to take over the responsibilities of both professional and personal
lives, which is a herculean task for the women professionals. During the past recent
years, the responsibilities of women professionals have changed vividly and they places
increased emphasis on their work roles rather than the familial roles which blurs the
traditional culture practised by every women (Barnett and Hyde, 2001; Schultheiss,
2006). It is supported by the literature cited by (White and Rogers, 2000), most of the
American families are dual-income households and places a greater importance for their
professional lives rather than their personal lives. It is evident from the literature that,
American women are looked forward to employ in the workforce for a maximum period
of 30 years which creates a negative sign in managing work and family roles, i.e.,
WFC, instead of viewing them in a positive aspect.
2.2 Meaning and definition

In recent years, the term ‘WLB’ has replaced ‘work-family balance’ (Hudson
Resourcing, 2005; Omar, 2010). WLB is a proper prioritising between career and
ambition on one hand, compared with family, leisure and spiritual development on the
other (Nath and Patra, 2010). This semantic shift arises from a recognition that childcare
is by no means the only important non-work responsibility and the issue can be applied to
any non-paid activities or commitments and to a diverse range of employees such
women, man, parents and non-parents, singles and couples. Other life activities that need
to be balanced with employment may include study, sport, travel, voluntary work,
personal development, leisure or eldercare. From the very beginning, it is important to
understand that WLB does not mean to devote an equal amounts of time to paid work and
non-paid roles; it is a satisfactory level of involvement or ‘fit’ between the multiple roles
in a person’s life. Although definitions and explanations may vary, WLB is generally
associated with equilibrium between the amount of time and effort devoted to work and
personal activities, in order to maintain an overall harmony in life (Clarke et al., 2004).
106 A. Vasumathi
Table 1 Definitions of WLB
Year Authors Definition

1993 Kofodimos Work life balance is “a satisfying, healthy and productive life that
includes work, play and love”
1994 Pittman Work life balance is “achieving satisfying experience in all life
domains”
1996 Marks and Role balance is “the tendency to become fully engaged in the
MacDermid performance of every role in one’s total role system, to approach every
typical role and role partner with an attitude of attentiveness and care.
Put differently, it is the practice of that even handed alertness known
sometimes as mindfulness”
2000 Kirchmeyer Living a balanced life is “achieving satisfying experiences in all life
domains, and to do so requires personal resources such as energy, time
and commitment to be well distributed across domains”
2001 Clark Work life balance is “satisfaction and good functioning at work and at
home with a minimum of role conflict”
2002 Rapaport Propose “Work-personal life integration” instead of balance to
et al. encompass different parts of life and their integration depends on one’s
priorities, which not necessarily need to demand equal amount of
personal resources.
2003 Greenhaus Work life balance is “the extent to which an individual is equally
et al. engaged in-an equally satisfied with-his/her work role and family role”.
Propose 3 components of work-life balance: 1. time balance; 2.
involvement balance and 3. satisfaction balance
2003 Frone “Low levels of conflict and high levels of inter-role facilitation represent
work-family balance”
2006 Greenhaus “The extent to which an individual’s effectiveness and satisfaction in
and Allen work and family roles are compatible with the individual’s life-role
priorities at a given point in time”
2007 Grzywacz “…as accomplishment of role-related expectations that are negotiated
and Carlson and shared between an individual and his/her role partners in the work
and family domains”
2007 Fleetwood “Work life balance is about people having a measure of control over
when, where and how they work”
2008 Kalliath and “Work-life balance is the individual perception that work and non-work
Brough activities are compatible and promote growth in accordance with an
individual’s current life priorities”
2008 Parkes and “an individual’s ability to meet work and family commitments, as well
Langford as other non-work responsibilities and activities”
2010 Smith “People spending sufficient time at their jobs while also spending
adequate time on other pursuits, such as family, friends, and hobbies”
There has been much debate over a formal definition of WLB. Most of the major reviews
of WLB articles either do not mention WLB per se, or when it is mentioned it is not
explicitly defined. Moreover, in studies where WLB or related constructs are explored,
researchers seem to have used several approaches to operationally define and measure the
construct (Greenhaus et al., 2003; Potgieter and Barnard, 2010).
2.3 Significance of WLB

The research focusing on work and family has been documented since 1930s (Marshall,
1992a, 1992b). The work culture has undergone quite a few changes giving rise to the
issue of work life interface. These changes in work-cultures lead to an imbalance between
work life and non-work life. The change in the work culture is due to increased pressures
at work, advances in the information technology such as extensive use of internet and
constant need of being in touch, information overload, and pressure of delivering quality
service. Such changing work culture demands influence the non-work life negatively that
is working long hours, working intensively and working in tight deadlines to meet the
demands causing imbalance between work life and personal life (Guest, 2002). The
changes in the work culture have affected the vacations and leisure time that play an
important role in unwinding oneself from work (Geurts and Sonnentag, 2006). The
vacations have lost importance when weighed against work (Rao and Indla, 2010).
According to Guest (2002), long working hours, time pressures at work result in higher
stress levels for the individual and increase the weekend and evening work leading to less
quality time with the family members. The changing work cultures in Europe show that
there is a growth in the intensity of work that is determined through working with a high
speed and within strict deadlines. In the intensity of work the UK stands first followed by
Ireland, France and some other European nations. In the case of India, very often life has
been taken over by work and there is a need to deal with the work-life imbalance
resulting thereof (Rao and Indla, 2010).
In the Indian context, changes in the family structure are evident. The traditional joint
and extended families are replaced by the nuclear families. A nuclear family is a small
unit that includes spouse and children only whereas a traditional joint family is where
family members from 3–4 generations live together. All the changes indicated above in
the work and life spheres have significant effects on how work and family life relate to
each other (Rajadhyaksha, 2004).
In the Indian context, the interest in WLB gained thrust with the women’s increased
participation in paid work. The research on WLB has been a given priority in India only
recently. The reason for this is that the Indian society has distribution of work and family
roles according to the gender (Bhalla and Kaur, 2011). There is a consistent increase in
the women’s participation in the labour force in India leading to increased number of
dual-earner couples giving rise to nuclear families. Hence, an increase in the demands of
Indian employees to balance work and family lives (Sekaran, 1992; Bharat, 2003;
Komarraju, 1997; Ramu, 1989). Jain (1992) records that the Indian women’s role in the
Indian society underwent a change in 1970s. During that time, Indian women started
becoming more conscious about their personal needs, demands of equality, their status at
work and in the family. Indian women entered the work force in huge numbers during the
1980s registering 40% growth and the numbers were constantly increasing until 2000s
(Census of India, 2001). In case of the work related changes, with regard to the impact of
globalisation on work-life roles, constant innovation related to technology that allows
employees to work 24 × 7 crossing the work and life borders rapidly has changed the
work characteristics (Chandra, 2012). The rapid changes in the work characteristics have
a negative impact on time allocated for the family (Rao and Indla, 2010). The
Factories Act 1948 has prescribed the working hours for an adult worker not exceed
48 hours in a week (Baral and Bhargava, 2011). Many employees work on Sundays too
showing a change in work schedule. India shows the highest number of worked hours,
108 A. Vasumathi
2400 hours in a year (Chandra, 2012). This reveals that Indian employees seem to be hard
working but this may be achieved at the cost of their WLB. Rao and Indla (2010) have
remarked on the concept of ‘ideal worker’ in the Indian context that needs to be changed.
According to the ‘ideal worker’ concept, it is in the best interest of an employee to work
long hours, try to give more than what is expected out of him or her, and fulfil the
employer’s expectations at all costs. It is likely that a person who does not go on long
vacations and is contactable beyond office hours is perceived as an ideal worker (Rao and
Indla, 2010). Baral and Bhargava (2011) described four types of leaves that are available
for employees under the Factories Act, 1948; Industrial Employment (Standing Orders)
Act, 1946 and the Employee State Insurance Act, 1948, they are earned leave (mostly
easily taken by employees), casual leave (for family related purposes), sick leave (with a
medical practitioner’s certificate) and compensatory leave (taken as a compensation for
extra work hours). If there are more than 30 female employees in a work unit, under the
Factories Act, 1948 (Section 40) the work unit must have crèches so that the children of
these employees are taken care (Baral and Bhargava, 2011). The paternity leave is not so
common in Indian organisations, but the female employees in India are entitled to a fully
paid maternity leave of 12 weeks before or after the child birth under the Maternity
Benefit Act, 1961 (Chandra, 2012). Under the Employee State Insurance Act, 1948, if the
employees are insured by the employer, a cash benefit is granted to the employees (and
their counterparts) to cover the medical expenses (Baral and Bhargava, 2011).
Research affirms that WLB programs offered in the Indian organisations are lesser
when compared to those offered in the western nations (Buddhapriya, 2009; Poster,
2005). It should be noted that the family-friendly policies such as flexibility with working
time, work from home and family counselling are designed to facilitate the WLB process
but unfortunately, these initiatives are mostly functional in the service organisations in
India. There is a general impression of the Indian employees that or the widespread
utilisation of such policies, benefits and work-family programs, organisations are
recommended to create a more family-friendly culture (Baral and Bhargava, 2011).
It is imperative to also take into consideration the demographic changes in the Indian
family system. The traditional Indian family viewed a family in hierarchies. The
hierarchy applies to age, gender and ordinal position of each member of the family
(Chitnis, 1988). The striking of WLB may be different for Indian men and women as the
man’s career has a priority against the woman’s career (Chandra, 2012). In the traditional
Indian family man is the head of the house and he had the ultimate power of decision-
making. In the present context, the husbands, who have grown up in a traditional Indian
family, will view the status of their wives differently than the ones, who grew up in a
nuclear family. Compared to the husbands from the nuclear families, the ones grown up
in the traditional families may find it difficult to allow decision making by their wives
and likewise have traditional expectations from their wives that the wives perform family
duties and not engage extensively in paid work (Ross, 1977). The traditional families
dominate the family structure in India, but nuclear families are more common in urban
India (Roy, 2000). The new families that are emerging today has got three notion. First,
they depict family relations in a more egalitarian form; second, they endorse equal
distribution of household labour and finally are more equal in the decision-making and
gender free perceptions. In spite of the new families’ concept, the traditional male bread
winner models a reality in the Indian context (Bharat, 2003).
Indian women are seen playing a dual role in shouldering domestic responsibilities
and work place responsibilities (Bharat, 1992; Ramu, 1989; Taj, 2011). The Indian
familial relations are embedded in both traditional and modern gender role expectations
(Aryee et al., 2005). Institutional support is weak in the Indian context, as family
members especially, parents, in-laws other relatives are seen as sources of support in
child care and upbringing (Rajadhyaksha, 2004).
An important aspect of work-family balance is the distribution of domestic duties and
for the Indian women it is very difficult to not engage in the household labour as she is
adequately traditionally socialised for two purposes; firstly, to become a wife and
secondly, to become a mother (Ross, 1977). On this note, Nath (2000) describes the role
of an Indian wife as ‘being devoted, obedient, subordinate and dutiful’ towards her
family. The traditional picture of an Indian woman has not changed completely; on the
other hand, education, income and occupation of parents have played an important role in
women securing positions in workforce. There is no doubt that being a professional
woman has positive repercussions on a woman’s ‘self’; that is recognition from
significant others in the family and her social circle, self-confidence, and high self-esteem
(Liddle and Joshi, 1987). Gender differences regarding observations of WLB for Indian
male and female employees reveal that 95% of women against 83% of men believed that
part-time work would improve their balance. 92% of women against 74% of men
affirmed the fact that their organisations should provide child-care facilities to improve
WLB (Doble and Supriya, 2006).
The explanation provided above reveals that WLB is a necessity, if one wants to stay
away from the ill-effects of WFC such as high stress leading to physical and emotional
exhaustion and deteriorating the quality of family life. As stated earlier, having a balance
means having satisfactory experiences in all the domains of life that ultimately lead to
physical and emotional well-being and better performance. The research in the field of
work-life interface has outlined some indicators of WLB. They are high self-esteem,
psychological well-being, satisfaction, success and a harmonious living (Clarke et al.,
2004; Marks and MacDermid, 1996; Clark, 2000).
3 Theories of WLB
3.1 Traditional approach

While researching WLB, one comes across several theories that try to explain the notion
of the work-life relationship. Edwards and Rothbard (2000), Zedeck and Mosier (1990)
and O’Driscoll (1996) have reviewed various literature on work-life relationship and
have contributed to the understanding of this dynamic association of work and family.
These researchers have noted that there are five main approaches that are also termed as
linking mechanisms (Edwards and Rothbard, 2000) to explain the relationship between
work and family. The last two approaches have individual contributors.
3.1.1 Spillover
The spillover approach proposes that the experiences in one role affect the experiences in
the other role. The skills, behaviour, mood and values from one role can spillover to the
other role. Spillover may occur in two situations. First, when there is a similarity between
work and any other domain, e.g., if an individual is satisfied with the quality of work
done on a particular day may result in satisfactory experiences at home. Second, spillover
110 A. Vasumathi
occurs as a result of transference, e.g., stresses at workplace spills over to the family
domain and the individual display an irritable mood in the family. Hence, spillover can be
both positive and negative (Edwards and Rothbard, 2000).
3.1.2 Congruence
The congruence approach is to a certain extent similar to spillover. Congruence is
achieved through a positive linkage between work and family experiences; wherein it is a
result of a third factor that influences both work life and family life (Edwards and
Rothbard, 2000). For example a positive work-family culture in the organisation may
affect both work life (e.g., flexibility with working time) and family life (child care
facilities at work) positively and hence congruence between work and family is possible
(Frone et al., 1995).
3.1.3 Compensation
The compensation approach refers to an attempt of making up for shortcomings in one
role through a higher involvement in another role (Edwards and Rothbard, 2000; Zedeck,
1992; Lambert, 1990). These shortcomings could be the demands or satisfactions that can
be fulfilled in another role. The sense of doing something worthwhile and gaining
positive energy in non-work life is achieved through higher engagement at workplace
(Guest, 2002).
3.1.4 Segmentation
The segmentation approach theorises that work and family are two distinctive domains
and that there is no relationship between the two domains, indicating work and family to
be separate spheres that does not influence each other (Edwards and Rothbard, 2000;
Zedeck, 1992; Zedeck and Mosier, 1990). The early conceptions of this approach
proposed a natural separation of work and family domains because both the roles involve
distinct meaning, tasks and behaviours and hence maintain a physical and a temporal
separation (Blood and Wolfe, 1960). As the research developed a new perspective
regarding segmentation approach emerged. This separation is conceived as a boundary
between work and non-work that is considered to be impermeable (Nippert-Eng, 1995).
Segmentation is also seen as an active psychological process that is used as managing a
boundary between work and family (Kossek et al., 1999; Rothbard et al., 2005).
3.1.5 Integration
The integration approach postulates that work and family domains can be integrated as
they are very closely associated as if woven together. Therefore, it is impossible to
differentiate between the two domains (Edwards and Rothbard, 2000).
3.1.6 Work-family border theory

Another theory that partly shares the notion of the segmentation theory is the
work-family border theory. The difference between the work-family border theory and
the segmentation approach is that in the border theory, the individuals cross this border
between work and non-work daily and they move in and out of the border. While in the
classical conception of the segmentation approach boundary of work and family is

impermeable (Clark, 2000). The work-family border theory postulates that the border
between the work and family is permeable and that they can influence each other (Guest,
2002).
3.1.7 Role conflict versus role accumulation

WFC results from the fact that workers have dual roles as paid work role and family role
simultaneously. These roles conflict with one another. As the requirement of work and
family life increases, work-family balance of the worker is disturbed and WFC occurs
(Barnett et al., 2009). Sieber (1974) defines a role similar to that of Merton (1957) and
Gross et al. (1958) as a “pattern of expectations which apply to a particular social
position and which normally persist independently of the personalities occupying the
position”. Tiedje et al. (1990) have suggested a typology on role involvement and they
have founded their typology on role conflict (Goode, 1960) and role accumulation or role
enhancement theory (Marks, 1977; Sieber, 1974). Role conflict occurs if an individual
engages in multiple roles with unlimited demands causing role strain and role conflict
because the demands and expectations the individual has to fulfil are scarce and limited
(Goode, 1960; Green et al., 2011). On the contrary, the role enhancement or role
accumulation theory recommends that there are four basic types of benefits or rewards
for engaging in more than one role, they are role-privileges; security; resources for status
enhancement and role performance; enrichment of the personality and ego gratification
(Sieber, 1974).
The traditional approaches to WLB have been described for the purpose of
understanding the mechanisms that operate within the relationship of work and
non-work. It was empirically proved that all these linkages exist and many a times, these
mechanisms are into action simultaneously (Lambert, 1990). These approaches are not
sufficient to understand the work-life interface completely. The contemporary approaches
to work-life interface may help in further understanding of the work-family balance issue
(Frone, 2003).
3.2 Contemporary approach

3.2.1 Identity theory
An individual’s identity is closely linked with the role that he/she plays (Stryker and
Serpe, 1982). A closer identification with the family role lead to higher investment of
time in the family and a closer identification with the work role result in higher time
investment at workplace (Rothbard and Edwards, 2003). Dumas (2003) also examined
the relation between identification with work and family roles. She examined two types
of groups, one that identified with both roles equally and the other that identified
unequally with both the roles. Her research revealed that the participants who identified
equally with work and non-work roles encountered a higher WFC, as they integrated
these two roles. But the participants who segmented work and family roles encountered
less WFC comparatively.
112 A. Vasumathi
3.2.2 Overall appraisal approach and components approach

According to, the modern perspectives of work-life interface can be divided into overall
appraisal approach and components approach (Grzywacz and Carlson, 2007). “Overall
appraisal is conceived as an individual’s general assessment concerning the entirety of his
or her life situation” (Rantanen et al., 2011). This approach considers the whole view and
tries to understand the work-life interface on a global level. Consistent with this approach
is the definition of work-family balance by Voydanoff (2005). The components approach
considers WLB as being multi-faceted and that these facets pave the way for balance
defining it (Grzywacz and Carlson, 2007). Consistent with this approach is the definition
of work-family balance given by Greenhaus et al. (2003), where work-family balance
refers to time balance, involvement balance and satisfaction balance between the two
domains.
3.2.3 Conflict versus facilitation

WFC and work-family facilitation are two components of work-family balance (Frone,
2003). WFC is defined by Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) as “a form of inter-role conflict;
in which the role pressures from the work and family domains are mutually incompatible
in some respect. That is, participation in one role is made more difficult by virtue of
participation in another role”. The conflict is bi-directional having a negative
interdependency may exist in work to family or family to work direction. Work-family
facilitation represents the extent to which participation in one role is made easier by the
experiences, skills, and opportunities gained or developed in another role (Frone, 2003).
Frone (2003) has put forth a four-fold taxonomy of work-family balance that defines
work-family balance as ‘low levels of inter-role conflict and high levels of inter-role
facilitation’. It is theorised that work-family balance can be achieved following two
directions namely from family to work domain and work to family domain. To have a
complete understanding of the work-family balance the four components that is WFC,
family-work conflict, work-family facilitation, family-work facilitation have to be
measured.
3.2.4 Conflict versus enrichment

The concept of work-family enrichment blurs the boundary between WFC and FWC and
it gives potential affirmative outcomes for balancing multiple roles from both domains.
Work-family enrichment is defined as knowledge in one role ameliorates effectiveness,
positive emotion and satisfaction in other role. Work-family enrichment encompasses
work to family enrichment in which experience in work domain will have a positive spill
over in family life, i.e., it can improve the quality of one’s family life and family to work
enrichment which is defined as experience in family sphere will have a positive spill over
in work domain, i.e., it can improve the quality of one’s work life (Shankar and
Bhatnagar, 2010). Researchers have found several concepts such as enrichment, spill
over, enhancement and facilitation to expose optimistic synergies that occurs between
professional and personal spheres (Carlson et al., 2006; Greenhaus and Powell, 2006).
Research on work-family enrichment is scanty and it is theoretically and empirically
underdeveloped. The positive aspects of balancing incompatibilities between work and
family roles are distinct constructs (Grzywacz and Marks, 2000a, 2000b; Wayne et al.,
2004). WFC and work life enrichment is merely connected but research has to be
undertaken to check whether the connectivity exist.
Conflict has been defined as the “simultaneous occurrence of two or more sets of
pressures in the work place such that compliance with one would make compliance more
difficult with the other” (Bacharach et al., 1991). Conflict is experienced when time
pressures are incompatible with the demands of the other role (Williams and Alliger,
1994). There are three major forms of WFC viz., time-based conflict, strain-based
conflict and behaviour-based conflict (Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985). Time-based conflict
is competition over time spent in different roles, such as work schedules, marriage,
children and spouse employment patterns may all produce pressures to participate widely
in the work role or the family roles (Gilbreath, 2004). Strain-based conflict are work
stressors that can produce strain symptoms such as anxiety, tension, depression,
fatigue, apathy and irritability, these symptoms of strain exist when stress in one role
affects the performance in another role (Higgins et al., 2010; Bacharach et al., 1991).
Behaviour-based conflicts are specific patterns of in-role behaviour that may be
incompatible with expectations regarding behaviour in another. If a person is unable to
acclimatise, then they are likely to experience conflict between the roles (Greenhaus and
Beutell, 1985).
The conflict approach posit the negative interdependencies of work and family while
the positive interdependencies of work and family are sought in the enrichment approach
(Grzywacz and Marks, 2000b). There are various constructs that are used to define the
positive interdependencies of work-family interface. The first construct is enrichment
(Rothbard, 2001; Kirchmeyer, 1992a). The second positive linkage is known as
facilitation (Wayne et al., 2004; Frone, 2003; Tompson and Werner, 1997). The third
positive construct is enhancement (Tiedje et al., 1990; Ruderman et al., 2002) and the
fourth construct is positive spillover (Crouter, 1984b; Kirchmeyer, 1992b, 1993, 1995;
Stephens et al., 1997; Grzywacz, 2000; Grzywacz and Marks, 2000a, 2000b; Sumer and
Knight, 2001; Grzywacz et al., 2002; Hammer et al., 2002; Hanson et al., 2003;
Voydanoff, 2001). Work-family enrichment is defined as “the extent to which
experiences in one role improve the quality of life in the other role. Work-family
enrichment occurs when work experiences improve the quality of family life; whereas
family-work enrichment occurs when family experiences improve the quality of work
life” (Greenhaus and Powell, 2006). Work-family enrichment is notably positive
experience that apparently contributes to positive emotions (Carlson et al., 2011).
3.2.5 Work-family fit

Voydanoff (2005) from her study has described the linkage between work and family, as
being a result of an interaction between work demands and family resources. Her
conceptual model is based on the person-environment fit theory and occupational stress.
The person-environment fit theory postulates that a misfit between person and
environment lead to stress, that arises from both the sides rather than only from one side
(Edwards et al., 1998). Voydanoff’s notion is supported by the ecological systems theory
(Bronfenbrenner, 1989) and the boundary theory (Ashforth et al., 2000). The ecological
systems theory observes work and family as microsystems; wherein various interactions,
processes take place between work and family; which comprises of a microsystem
(Bronfenbrenner, 1989). The boundary theory hypothesises that the boundary between
work and family domains is flexible and individuals keep crossing these borders and
114 A. Vasumathi
hence work and family influence each other. Work demands-family resources fit is a
result of work demands and family resources and family demands-work resources fit is a
result of family demands and work resources. Fit can be of two types and they are
demands-abilities and needs-supplies. Work-family fit can be a reality, if an individual
possesses the abilities to meet the environmental demands. The individual also has
psychological or physical needs that can be fulfilled by the resources available in the
environment leading to needs-resources fit (Ashforth et al., 2000).
3.2.6 Typology of WLB

Rantanen (2008) has put forward a four dimensional typology of WLB (Figure 1).
Rantanen et al. (2011) has empirically supported this typology. They suggest that the
individuals, who balance work and life, are supposed to belong to beneficial, harmful,
active or passive types. This typology is applicable to both work-family and family-work
directions. ‘Beneficial balance’ implies the absence of work-life conflict and the
simultaneous presence of work-life enhancement that improves psychological functioning
and well-being. ‘Harmful balance’ is just opposite of beneficial balance that implies the
absence of work-life enhancement and presence of work-life conflict threatens the
psychological functioning and well-being. The engagement in work role and family role
is represented by ‘active balance’ and ‘passive balance’. ‘Active balance’ signifies that
role engagement is a result of a choice of the individual and/or the necessity for the
individual to highly engage in the role. ‘Passive balance’ reflects low engagement in role
resulting in simultaneous absence of WFC and work-family enhancement.
Figure 1 Typology of WLB
Source: Adapted from Rantanen et al. (2011)

4 Determinants of WLB
Work and family inter linked domains of human life (Edwards and Rothbard, 2000).
Often, meeting the demands from both work and family can be very challenging and can
lead to issues with WLB (Md-Sidin, et al., 2008). There are many personal factors that
contribute to an imbalance between work and life. They include: gender, age, education
level, marital status, parental status, family responsibility and personality differences.
Issues such as age, gender, marital status (Gunkel, 2007), priorities of life citizenship and
child care arrangements play a significant role in determining WLB among the
employees (Lockwood, 2003; Valcour and Hunter 2005; Wallace and Cousins, 2004;
Jager, 2002). Age, gender, and commitment are not related to satisfaction with WLB.
Being married is positively related to WLB (β = 0.95, p < 0.05), indicating that married
employees are more likely to indicate satisfaction with their WLB than non-married
counterparts. Working hours are not related to satisfaction with WLB. Job stress
(β = –1.13, p < 0.01) is adversely related to satisfaction with WLB; the more job stress is
indicated the less likely employees are to indicate being satisfied with their WLB (Mills
et al., 2013).
4.1 Gender and WLB

Gender is a topic that has been extensively reviewed within the WLB literature. Women
with domestic responsibilities have taken on part-time jobs as a beneficial way to
maintain their labour market skills, as a source of income and sustain interest outside of
the home (Warren, 2004). Yet, there is also a resulting conflict between their work and
family commitments and responsibilities (Drew, 2005; Innstrand et al., 2010). The reason
is that women typically assume the majority of childbearing and child caring
responsibilities (Porter and Ayman, 2010). This responsibility can influence both the role
stress and the negative attitudes at work like role conflict, job burnout and dissatisfaction
and are positively associated with interruptions at home (Bacharach et al., 1991).
Men and women prioritise work and family roles differently. Women have more
barriers in their jobs than the men (Lyness and Thompson, 2000). Having a spouse and
children provide positive conditions for the men’s advancement but negative ones for the
women. Hence, the process of combining work and family seems to be different for the
women and the men. Age, life stage and career stage seem to be influential individual
factors as well (Ragins and Sundstorm, 1989; Shockley and Singlia, 2011). Women
probably combine work and family while on the contrary, men would mentally separate
these domains (Andrews and Bailyn, 1993). They also differ in the way they utilise the
resources in both the domains to integrate work and family (Wayne et al., 2007).
Men typically sacrifice more at home and women tend to sacrifice more at work for
home commitments (Haworth and Lewis, 2005; Jennings and McDougald, 2007). It has
been proved that women’s level of involvement at work did not differ from men’s,
however they did admit to a certain level of concern with home issues at work (Hall and
Richter, 1988). Women’s job performance and job satisfaction is negatively affected by
WFC throughout their lives whereas men show adverse effects only later in their career
(Martins et al., 2002).
116 A. Vasumathi
4.2 Marital status

Married individuals give more priority to their personal lives comparatively (Martins
et al., 2002). Employees with families often experience a lack of separation or difficulty
in keeping separation between work and home boundaries (Hall and Richter, 1988),
which can negatively influence both work and family life. Individuals who are married
experience more work-life conflict than those who are unmarried (Md-Sidin et al., 2008).
Married women who are professionals would not be able to succeed without family
support (Dixit and Motwani, 2011). The married faculty members perform less at home
and in working environment compared to the unmarried faculty members (Vasumathi,
2015).
4.3 Parental status

The presence or absence of children in the family makes a significant difference in the
degree of balance that individuals experience (Tausig and Fenwick, 2001). Parental status
is found to be a determinant of parents placing increased importance on the family role
(Blau et al., 1998). Family responsibilities such as household time demands, spousal
support, family responsibility level, household income, and life course stage have been
found to be sources of work-life stress (Jennings and McDougald, 2007). Dual earner
couples with no children have greater WLB, while both single and married parents have
significantly lower levels of perceived balance compared to single, non-parents (Tausig
and Fenwick, 2001). Lawton and Tulkin (2010), in their research on the relationship
between employer policies and family structure have found that the presence of children
in the household was the most important family structure factor that increased the
WFC.
4.4 Age and lifecycle

Age and lifecycle have been found to be determinants of the extent of WLB (Wang et al.,
2010). There is a change in lifestyle preferences between recent generations.
Those born after 1969, or ‘Generation X’, are said to prefer a lifestyle that includes
non-work time, irrespective of other responsibilities, hence may actively look for
employers who offer WLB arrangements (Maxwell, 2005). Older adults have a greater
success with WLB (Tausig and Fenwick, 2001). In later life when individuals have
reached a plateau in their careers, they will not be as tolerant of WFC because putting in
the extra work does not seem worthwhile (Bardwick, 1986).
4.5 Personality
Certain personality differences predispose individuals to WLB issues (Jennings and
McDougald, 2007; Hurtz and Donovan 2000). The tendency to feel guilty, to be loyal
towards others, a lack of sensitivity towards others and the need and desire to be for
family members and being unable to manage a new situation has been suggested to
influence the level to which an individual experiences WLB issues (Bekker et al., 2010).
A person’s emotional response to a role is a critical factor influencing their interpersonal
availability and psychological presence in diverse roles (Rothbard, 2001). Individuals
with high negative affectivity experience more negative interaction between work and
family (Bekker et al., 2010).
Intrinsically oriented individuals focus on developing and actualising their inherent
potential. They are likely to satisfy their basic psychological needs for autonomy,
competence and relatedness and therefore function optimally (Van den Broeck et al.,
2010). Intrinsic work values express openness to change; the pursuit of autonomy,
interest, growth and creativity in work. Pursuing intrinsic life value orientations
positively predicts well-being and optimum functioning. Extrinsically oriented
individuals, on the other hand, adopt an outward oriented focus and try to impress others
by acquiring external signs of importance. Extrinsic work values focus on how job
security and income provide workers with general security and maintenance of order in
their lives. Holding an extrinsic work value orientation an employee can be associated
with lower job satisfaction, job vitality, job commitment and higher exhaustion
(Van den Broeck et al., 2010).
4.6 Education level

It has been found that higher education and more working experience could instill more
confidence and increased self-efficacy. WLB is greater among those with a high school
degree or less, while it is lower among those with an undergraduate degree or with an
advanced university degree (Tausig and Fenwick, 2001). Mukhtar (2012), in her study
among the family members at Iowa State University reported that the respondents were
satisfied with their work and home factors regardless of their academic disciplines.
4.7 Life demands

Many individuals find they are highly isolated from family and leisure activities in an
ever-increasing climate of long work hours and intensity (Haworth and Lewis, 2005).
There are over 170 life demands that have been identified as work, financial resources,
leisure, dwelling and neighbourhood, family, friendship, social participation and health
(Warren, 2004). Many individuals who experience issues balancing life demands also
experience emotional exhaustion caused by psychological and emotional demands made
on people that is when an individual is facing seemingly overwhelming demands on their
time and energy (Boles et al., 1997).
4.8 Organisational factors

In the work context, the demands may be high or low as expectation of long working
hours and over-time. The work culture reflects the organisational culture and the support
it provides to the employees in balancing their work and family. This may include the
family-friendly policies or WLB initiatives and trusting and caring atmosphere (Guest,
2002).
If the individuals have a negative emotional response to work related stress, they
often self-regulate their response. In doing so, individuals are more likely to experience
depleted energy levels and fatigue that can negatively influence the performance of the
individual (Rothbard, 2001). A person experiencing stress due to an imbalance between
118 A. Vasumathi
work and family life may have a tendency to withdraw from potentially supportive
people and/or influence the willingness of others to provide support (Adams et al., 1996).
5 Barriers/constraints to WLB
5.1 Managerial support

Research has confirmed that work interference with family is more prevalent than family
interference with work and is more likely to be influenced by workplace factors and
supportive supervisor behaviours (Major and Lauzun, 2010). Managerial support is
consistently emphasised as a factor influencing WLB. Managers play an important role in
the success of work/life programs because they are in a position to encourage or
discourage employees’ efforts to balance their work life and family life. Where
supervisors enthusiastically support the integration of work and other responsibilities, the
employees will be more likely to take up available work-life programs. On the other
hand, even in family-friendly organisations, managers may send negative signals
indicating that the use of flexible benefits is a problem for them, their colleagues and the
organisation as a whole (Hudson Resourcing, 2005). The employee turnover will
increases if there is mismatch between management and employees (Dawley et al., 2010).
Employees cannot perform better if they are working with tactless and inflexible
manager. Concerns about fairness can affect the attitudes and behaviours of the
employees and lead them to doubt their ability to cope with work demands. When
employees feel that they have experienced injustice, they report higher levels of distress,
resentment, ill will, hostility, and outrage (Judge and Colquitt, 2004).
5.2 Organisational time demand

Profitability is the focus for organisations. Although many of them have mission
statement supporting values relating to the importance of their human resources, only few
do proactively assist employees in managing work and family balance. Individuals push
themselves harder with the organisations proving little support for a balanced life style
(Fletcher, 1988). Working for long hours at the work place is seen as a sign of
commitment, loyalty, competence and high potential (Beauregard and Henry, 2008), it is
a major barrier to achieving work/life balance. Employees who do not give the maximum
amount of time possible to the organisation are often defined as less productive and less
committed, and are less valued than those employees working for longer hours. The shift
to evaluating performance on the basis of performance rather than time spent physically
at the workplace is, an essential part of developing a culture that supports WLB. It is very
difficult to implement flexible work arrangements in organisations that focus on hours
rather than output, and presence rather than performance. This means that organisations
that want to increase WLB need to introduce new performance measures that focus on
objectives, output and performance (Lazar et al., 2010). Organisational time demand
refers to the expectations of the superiors that for their employees, work should precede
family duties. It also includes the number of hours the individual should work, how time
is used for work, and if employees are encouraged to take work home. If the superiors are
too stringent the employees have to go by the expectations of the superiors resulting is
work life imbalance (Schriber and Gutek, 1987; Bailyn, 1993).
5.3 Work demand

The new technologies and working practices are consequently demanding greater
flexibility in response to the pressures of competition, performance and success (Haworth
and Lewis, 2005). Dex and Bond (2005), in their study in Britain found that weekly hours
of work was a very important determinant of WLB along with their occupations,
gender, age and caring responsibilities. Additional work hours deduct home time thus
high work intensity or work pressure resulting in fatigue, anxiety or other adverse
psycho-physiological consequences that that has its adverse effect on the quality of home
and family life (White et al., 2003). Many employees take their work to home with them
that has often blurred the boundary between work and family (Baral and Bhargava,
2010). Flexi-office engagement provides the woman with a WLB, which over a period of
time prepares them to take up higher responsibilities on a full time basis (Majumdar,
2011). An empirical study conducted among hundred employees selected from two
insurance companies identified that the employees mostly suffered stress due to heavy
work load and unattainable targets that created work-life imbalance and anxieties
(Budharaja, 2008). Inadequate resources, work overload, low salary and high
responsibility pull down the performance of the employee (Agolla, 2009).
5.4 Technology
Technology can help and as well as hinder WLB. With the technological developments
the employees have become more reachable. Improvements in technology have made
working 24 hours a day, seven days a week more accessible to employees (Maxwell and
McDougall, 2004; Kumar and Shivakumar, 2011). This change has made the employees
working more outside regular office hours as well. Working more outside of regular
office hours has resulted in an increased interference with the employees’ home life.
Individuals are expected to take whatever time is required to complete their job and hence
they are always on the job. Changes in technology have increased the expectations of the
employers from employees and not always respecting employees’ personal time (Seron
and Ferris, 1995). Technology not just makes one’s life easy and simple, but also brings a
WLB. Many working couples constantly stay connected on mobile internet-using e-mail,
social networking websites that fosters their WLB (Rego, 2010).
5.5 Co-worker support

Employees who make use of work-life practices suffer negative perceptions from
colleagues and superiors. An experiment found that employees who used WLB practices
were perceived by co-workers as having lower levels of organisational commitment that
was thought to affect the allocation of organisational rewards such as advancement
opportunities and salary increases. Some staff that use flexible arrangements have
reportedly experienced resentment from co-workers (Beauregard and Henry, 2009)
5.6 Genders perceptions

Barriers to men’s use of family-friendly employment provisions arise from three major
sources. First, the culture of many workplaces provokes doubt on the legitimacy of men’s
120 A. Vasumathi
claims to family responsibilities. Second, the business environment, imposing

competitive pressures to sustain market share and increase earnings. Third, the domestic
organisation in employees’ own households often precludes men from taking up available
work/life options.
Some work-life provisions, such as paternity leave, are intended specifically for men,
to foster a greater sharing of responsibilities between men and women. Encouraging men
to use opportunities for flexible work is important but this requires a supportive work
environment as well as changes in attitudes and expectations in the wider community
(Lazar et al., 2010). Workplace flexibility is no longer just about women and child care
rather, it is more about enhancing the quality of life for all employees (Prayag, 2011).
5.7 Competitive environment

The global economy and corporate life are structured to be competitive and this
competition always lead to work pressures. This is a two-fold reality. The best way to
balance work and life is to choose the work that rejuvenates rather than the one that
drains energy. This means balance has to be embedded in work itself and it is to be not
seen as something separate from it. But it does not mean that one has to be deprived of
restorative sleep or abandon annual vacations with spouse and family (Jagannathan,
2010). Competition relates to the nature and extent of forces that threaten the success of
an organisation. While competition is often considered in positive terms for it encourages
innovation and discourages complacency, it can also make working life more difficult
(Bloom and Van Reenen, 2006). Competition can be negative and it can create
high-performance practices that lead to negative spillover (White et al., 2003). In an
organisation with high turnover, the excess burden is often put on remaining employees
to cope with the prevailing competition (Porter and Ayman, 2010). Staying competitive
and managing career can be difficult in a challenging economy still against the odds a
public sector organisation can attract and retain a high quality workforce in a highly
competitive market (Curson and Skidmore, 2010).
5.8 Work stress and work life imbalance

Personal or family lives that interfere with work are associated for fewer hours but work
that interferes with personal or family life matters (Reynolds, 2005). Employees’
attitudes towards their hours of work, their perceptions and complaints about work-life
imbalances actually deals with working time and complaints about time pressure which
are unrelated to hours actually worked (Roberts, 2007). A well-balanced integration of
professional and private life is an essential goal for the new generation
(Buddeberg-Fischer et al., 2008) moreover, informal arrangements and managerial
decisions are important in realising work and life balance (Burgess et al., 2007).
Definitions of stress include an event or stimulus itself, the psychological and
physiological process of stress, and/or the stress responses (Kang et al., 2010). Most
stress research has examined the relationship between stressors (e.g., role conflict, role
ambiguity, lack of perceived control) and outcomes (e.g., job dissatisfaction, anxiety,
psychosomatic symptoms, absenteeism, and job performance) (Jex and Guadonowski,
1992). Managers and employees besides coping with day-to-day societal stress also cope
with an increasing pressure at work. Demands of higher performance and greater
productivity cause stress and strain the life of the employees and they suffer from
self-inflicted life style diseases such as, frequent headaches, heart attack, hyper tension
and depression (Murphy, 1984). In a study among 135 bank employees conducted by
Jiang et al. (2004) revealed that gender, age, education and marital status had no
significant effect on the score of stress and burnout. It was also found that work load
positively predicted emotional exhaustion, role ambiguity and role conflict positively
predicted professional effectiveness and irritations and managerial role negatively
predicted professional effectiveness.
5.9 Work-family conflict

WFC is a bidirectional construct which encompasses work to family conflict and family
to work conflict (Netemeyer et al., 1996). Work demands intruding into family life is
termed to be as work to family conflict and family demands intruding into work life is
termed to be as family to work conflict (Aldous, 1969; Piotrkowski, 1979; Staines, 1980;
Crouter, 1984b). Research explores that bidirectionality of problems evolving from both
work to family conflict and family to work conflict have different causal effects (Frone
et al., 1995; Kelloway et al., 1999; Mesmer-Magnus and Viswesvaran, 2005).
WFC is defined as a type of inter role conflict in which role pressures from work and
family domains are incompatible with each other (Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985). Women
experiencing work life imbalance affects both the family as well the organisation. WFC
proposes a model which includes:
a time-based conflict
b strain-based conflict
c behaviour-based conflict.
This model emphasis that, any role characteristic which have an impinge on a person’s
time, strain and behaviour within the role can generate conflict between one role and
another (Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985). Work life conflict is associated with work linked
variable and family work conflict is related with family associated variable (Kinnunen
and Mauno, 1998).
WFC and family work conflict are interdependent constructs and are considered to be
the sources of WLB (Grant-Vallone and Donaldson, 2001). Research suggests increased
level of stress, depression, turnover intention, lower job satisfaction, emotional
exhaustion, lower life satisfaction, poor quality of work and family life, burnout and
lower energy levels are considered to be the outcomes of WFC.
Work life conflict leads to negative health and well being oriented outcomes such as
stress and burnout (Bacharach et al., 1991), horrible moods (Williams and Alliger, 1994),
poor job and life satisfaction (Perrewe et al., 1999), lower family and professional
welfare (Kinnunen and Mauno, 1998) and Frone et al. (1992) augmented psychological
costs and physical complaints (Frone et al., 1992). Women do come across work life
conflict in day to day life when compared to men (Hammer, et al., 1997; Lundberg et al.,
1994; Williams and Alliger, 1994). Studies reveal WFC acts as a moderator between
conditions at work, family and outcomes. It also acts as a moderator between work,
family role pressure and individual well being (e.g., Aryee et al., 1999b; Frone et al.,
1992, 1997).
122 A. Vasumathi
Quality of work and family life are distinct constructs. Quality of work life solely
depends on family factors which will have a positive effect on work life and employee
attitudes developed over a period of time. Women receiving societal support from
non-work domain (such as spouse, children) feels motivated towards their organisational
goal and are committed to the work (Kang and Kochar, 2013). This in turn enhances
productivity and result in reduced absenteeism, lower turnover intention and reduces
withdrawal behaviour.
In a society filled with conflicting demands, roles and responsibilities crop up from
work and family domains vary significantly for both men and women. As far as society is
concerned, it is the men who has to fulfil the demands at work are known as
Breadwinners while women has to take care of domestic activities which include child
care and elder care responsibility, household activities when participating in paid work
and are known as child carers (Gatrell and Cooper, 2008). Women managing multiple
roles and taking care of children and family will have consequences on physical, mental
health and family relationships (Perry-Jenkins et al., 2000).
Researchers have found that, not many studies reveals, managing multiple roles leads
to negative outcomes in work and family domain. Expansion theories states active and
proactive chipping in managing multiple roles can have merits that prevail over demerits
(Barnett and Baruch, 1985; Barnett and Hyde, 2001).
Women receive lack of societal support from both work and personal life which in
turn may lead to emotional exhaustion (Lee et al., 2013). Societal support includes peers,
supervisors, subordinates support and family support has a reducing effect on work to
family and family to work conflict in same domains (Aryee et al., 1999a; Nielson et al.,
2001).
Married and working mothers are likely to experience more WFC than unmarried and
non-working mothers (Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985). Women experience more family to
work conflict as they primarily take cares of family responsibilities and child care
activities (Kollinger-Santer and Fischlmayr, 2013).
Family work conflict arises due to low spousal support, age of elderly people and
number of children which will spill over into work domain. As WFC and FWC are
bidirectional construct, when women employees can able to balance between WFC and
FWC it leads to healthy WLB. WLB is defined as satisfaction and good functioning at
work and at home with a minimum level of role conflict (Clark, 2000). WLB emphasises
a higher connotation for women as they perform dual roles – one at work and home.
Lakshmipriya and Neena (2008) have suggested that women workers should train
their family members to share their traditional responsibilities. Women’s responsibilities
in a family have a direct impact on their achievements at work place. Women should
carefully balance work and home demands; skilfully entwine the roles and
responsibilities so as to potentially perform in all stages of work and family life
(Sundaresan, 2014). WLB among women is an assessment of job autonomy, perceived
work overload, WFC, emotional exhaustion, fairness of rewards and organisational
commitment (Chawla and Sondhi, 2011).
The concept of WFC came into picture when an individual finds it difficult to manage
between multiple roles and struggle to juggle the balance between work and home
demands. WFC and family work conflict are interrelated and distinct constructs but takes
up a form of inter role conflict which is considered as a source of WLB (Greenhaus and
Beutell, 1985; Kahn, 1981; Kahn et al., 1964; Pleck et al., 1980). Many studies examine
WFC and FWC in different aspects but it fails to examine the reciprocating relationship
between this construct (Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985). Researchers have generated
different antecedents and predictors of WFC across many sectors but none of the
literature has examined the antecedents of FWC which plays a vital part in every
individual’s life (Frone et al., 1992). In addition to this, many studies have scrutinised the
affirmative relationship between WFC and work stressors (Bacharach et al., 1991;
Bedeian et al., 1988; Burke, 1988; Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985; Kopelman et al., 1983;
Parasuraman et al., 1989; Voydanoff, 1988) which are indispensable for the organisation
to understand the stressors causing WFC and enable the organisation to formulate work
life initiatives to overcome the problems. In contrast, none of the literature predicts out
the relationship between family-oriented stressors and FWC (Frone et al., 1992).
The terms stress and burnout connected to the workforce changes in the past recent
years and argue around WFC (Lewis et al., 2007). Welford (2008) from his survey on
WLB in Hong Kong states that high percentage of respondents point out that work is the
main cause of health problems, particularly stress and lack of exercise. Health problems
results in lower productivity and effective performance of workers. Literatures related to
work, state that working conditions are becoming increasingly stressful (Judge and
Colquitt, 2004). Unfortunately, stress in known to have adverse impact on health issues;
stressfulness can alter an individual’s immune system, causing hypertension,
inflammation, high blood pressure and sometimes cardiovascular issues (Kang et al.,
2010). Employees these days are spending too much of time at work than ever before;
White et al. (2003) reports that employees are working equivalent to an extra month per
annum. Being overworked or working for long hours can lead to WFC, a inter-role
conflict in between the work and family domains that are mutually incompatible
(Bacharach et al., 1991; Innstrand et al., 2010). WFC is dramatically increased and gains
an attention in the past recent years due to changes in the globalised economy which
consecutively pressures up organisation as well and increase in dual income earners into
the workforce (Noor, 2002).
6 Facilitators of WLB
Work life practices are defined in the literature as ‘any employer sponsored benefit or
working condition that helps an employee to balance work and non-work demands’.
Hence, WLB practices allow employees to enhance their autonomy in the process of
coordinating and integrating work and non-work aspects of their lives. Individuals’ need
of balance between work and personal lives has become one of the pivotal concerns of
work and family academics (Felstead et al., 2002).
6.1 Motivation
It is a prerequisite to have operational motivation of employees in the workplace (Bansal
and Sharma, 2012). Motivation includes the combination of two personal variables:
tendency to approach success and tendency to avoid failure (Atkinson and Feather, 1966).
It is identified that masculinity-femininity dimension affect motivation (Bansal and
Sharma, 2012). Men tend to use WLB measures to spend time with the families to
increase their sense of entitlement (Gregory and Milner, 2011) and a voluntary approach
to WLB may only deliver positive benefits to women (Doherty, 2004). Herzberg et al.
124 A. Vasumathi
(1959) developed two distinct lists of factors; one is task-related that cause good attitude
within the worker and Herzberg called these as motivators. They are:
• recognition
• responsibility
• achievement
• possibility of growth
• advancement
• work itself.
The other were not directly related to the job itself but related to the conditions that
surrounded to perform that job. Herzberg named it as hygiene factors:
• salary
• job security
• factors in personal life
• status
• interpersonal relations – supervisor
• interpersonal relations – subordinates
• interpersonal relations – peers
• supervision – technical
• company policy and administration
• working conditions.
Individuals can be motivated both intrinsically and extrinsically (Meyer et al., 2004).
Intrinsic motivation is the inherent tendency to seek out novelty and challenges, to extend
and exercise one’s capacities to explore, and to learn. Under intrinsic motivation, the
work itself becomes an enjoyable one. Extrinsic motivation refers to the performance of
an activity in order to attain some distinguishable outcome (Meyer et al., 2004).
Motivation is an important factor in an individuals’ decision-making process. The
interaction between motivation and perception of constraints determines the participation
of an individual in an activity (Alexandris et al., 2002).
6.2 Organisational culture

Organisational culture refers to the assumptions, values, attitudes, and beliefs that are
shared among significant groups within an organisation (Van Beek and Gerritson, 2010).
Organisational culture gives employees identification, direction and motivation (Martel,
2002). There are many benefits related with a strong organisational culture. They are:
attract and retain star performers, guide and inspire employee decisions, provide fixed
points of reference and stability, a more personal connection with employees and align
employees with diverse interests around shared goals. Organisational culture is an

important aspect in the achievement of employees’ attaining WLB (Maxwell, 2005).
The foremost way that companies can help facilitate WLB for their employees is
through work-life practices, that are usually associated with flexible working time and
reductions in working time or family-friendly policies. Even if many companies have
extensive work-life programs, most of them have not yet changed their organisational
culture to support employees and managers to use work-life options (Lazar et al., 2010;
Porter and Ayman, 2010). The results of Kim (2014) among 293 Korea workers have
proved that the lack of organisational support hinders employees’ WLB. Commitment to
worthwhile objectives evokes moral motives that can instil satisfaction even in the
absence of economic or relational benefits (Meyer and Parfyonova, 2010).
To minimise employees’ WLB issues, organisations have turned to policies such as
flextime, on-site childcare, and other mechanisms to ensure that family role does not
interfere with the work role (Rothbard, 2001). The research work of Shier and Graham
(2011), has proved that the subjective well-being of the employee is influenced by the
characteristics of work environment, interrelationship at work and the specific aspects of
job These policies and programs may assist in alleviating difficulties in managing
multiple roles, thereby enhancing employees’ quality of life (Haar and Roche, 2010). The
success of such policies appears to be associated to the front line supervisor (Cinamon
and Rich, 2010). An understanding and supportive supervisor can increase an employee’s
confidence, provide valuable resources, flexible, be understanding and support the
employee (Thornhill and Saunders, 1998). Supervisory leadership is the most important
factor that fosters positive psychological contracts, work satisfaction, felt excitement at
work and loyalty to customers, colleagues and supervisor (Purcell and Hutchison, 2007).
Studies empirically have proved that a flexible and supportive environment at workplace
is positively linked with family-related behaviours and outcomes (Friedman and
Greenhaus, 2000; Frone et al., 1997; Haas, 1999; Parasuraman et al., 1996; Voydanoff,
2001). Employees who perceived their organisational culture to be supportive have lower
WFC (Thomas and Ganster, 1995).
6.3 Efficacy of the superior

Managing WLB is not just about working fewer hours, it also includes how long people
work (flexibility in the number of hours worked), when people work (flexibility in the
arrangement of hours), where people work (flexibility in the place of work), developing
people through training so that they can manage work-life better, providing back-up
support and breaks from work (Maxwell, 2005). Within the literature there have been
many tactics explored that individuals use to manage WLB, they are flexibility, social
support and access to resources. The role of the supervisor is an important one in
expanding these strategies. Supervisors are in daily contact with employees and are in a
position to coach, manage and mentor, conveying the culture, spirit, and pride of their
organisations (Martel, 2002). Support from supervisors has been stated to reduce work
role conflict, role ambiguity, and resultant WFC (Major and Lauzun, 2010). It has been
proved that a supervisor’s support increases individual’s psychological resource base
such as confidence that enhance performance in the family domain as well (Baral and
Bhargava, 2010). It has been vouched that WLB programs allowed supervisors the option
126 A. Vasumathi
to help staff and made the management role less difficult (Maxwell and McDougall,
2004).
6.4 Flexibility
Flexibility is the ability to respond effectively to the emerging changes (Van den Broeck
et al., 2010). The dimensions of cost, quality, time, and flexibility are not to be traded off
against one another but need to be simultaneously prioritised (Kara et al., 2002). Porter
and Ayman (2010) reported that when employees were asked, they opted for flexibility as
the most desirable attribute of a work environment.
There are many different forms of flexibility. Job flexibility relates to the ability of
the system to cope with changes in (or the mix of) jobs to be processed by the system
(Kara et al., 2002). Porter and Ayman (2010) further divided job flexibility into place
flexibility, where an individual works, time flexibility, how long an individual works, and
timing flexibility, when an individual works. Functional flexibility refers to employees
ability to work on different tasks, under diverse circumstances and the cost and time
needed to mobilise employees into new duties or jobs are low (Beltrán-Martín et al.,
2008). Work-group flexibility is the group’s ability to adjust its activities to changing
conditions without these adjustments resulting in disorganisation (Kara et al., 2002).
Porter and Ayman (2010) found that if employees believe that they have sufficient
flexibility in when, what, and where work is completed, they can have higher levels of
WLB.
6.5 Social support

Studies link performance with a positive environment at home, marriage, child rearing
practices, and child outcomes (Friedman and Greenhaus, 2000; Grimm-Thomas and
Perry-Jenkins, 1994; Haas, 1999; Perry-Jenkins et al., 2000; Voydanoff, 2001). It is also
empirically proved by many researchers that there is a positive relationships between
social support received from the family and career success, career development, work
satisfaction and work performance (Adams et al., 1996; Friedman and Greenhaus, 2000;
Frone et al., 1997; Voydanoff, 2001). Researchers have observed the relationships of
work satisfaction with family satisfaction, positive parenting, or positive child outcomes
suggest that there is a positive influence of work-related affect on family life (Barling,
1986; Friedman and Greenhaus, 2000; Greenhaus and Parasuraman, 1999; Stewart and
Barling, 1996). If an individual is less willing to seek social support, then that can lead to
more negative interaction from home to work (Bekker et al. 2010). The study done by
Christo et al. (2008) on the impact of social support on the role stress experienced by the
executives of public and private sector banks revealed that the stress and strain was
highest when social support was poor and it was lowest when the social support was
excellent and it was at the medium level when the social support was good.
7 Coping strategies of WLB
The way in which an individual manages stressful events, as threatening appraised

external demands can help an individual overcome WLB issues. There are three types of
coping styles: problem-focused (activities aimed at dealing with solving problems),
emotion-focused coping (focusing upon the emotional consequences of a situation

without solving it) and avoidance-focused coping (evading the problem) (Bekker et al.,
2010). Coping resources can come from various life domains, individual level, work
level, couple level, and family level. The greater the number of coping resources one has
developed, the better one is able to manage life stress and thus increase adaptation and
life satisfaction. Strength in one life domain may provide resources to cope with stress in
the other life domain (Appel and Kim-Appel, 2007). Well-being is a person’s own
aspirations, based on a blend of objective reality and their subjective reactions to it.
Well-being can be assessed in each domain of health: physical, social, emotional, and
spiritual (McDowell, 2010).
The effects of introducing WLB practices on employee perceptions and attitudes
include job satisfaction, organisational commitment, job stress and turnover intention. All
of these factors, in turn, affect job performance, direct and indirect absenteeism costs,
costs associated with the loss and replacement of valued employees, and organisational
productivity (Lazar et al., 2010). Cascio (2000) defines WLB as ‘individual’s ability,
with independence of age and gender, of finding a life rhythm that allow them to combine
their work with other responsibilities, activities or aspirations’. The author also says
about HR practices that can be implemented to promote WLB among their employees.
They are:
1 the flexible use of time, which includes flexi time, annual hours, credits for hours
and compressed week
2 Spatial flexibility to workers, which includes teleworking or videoconferences
3 time reduction, it includes part-time work and shared work
4 work leave, consists of maternity and paternity leave in excess of the official amount
and leave of absence
5 counselling program and employee assistance.
Working conditions are becoming increasingly stressful (Judge and Colquitt, 2004). The
most common reasons for employee turnover is stress (Porter and Ayman, 2010).
Unfortunately, stress is known to have broad and adverse implications on health (Walters,
2011). Chronic stress can alter an individual’s immune system, cause inflammation,
higher blood pressure, hypertension and other cardiovascular issues (Kang et al., 2010).
Such conditions are inconsistent with a satisfied and productive workforce. WLB issues
have been found to affect one’s identity, well-being and quality of functioning. Feeling
drained leads to dissatisfaction with life and higher rates of burnout, depression and
ill-health (Cinamon and Rich, 2010). People need to assess the strategies they are using to
cope with their problems and make sure that they are making time for resource recovery
(McCarthy, 2011).
Two common strategies are extensively used by Indian employees to integrate their
work and family lives. Firstly, to outsource the domestic work to a paid help. Secondly,
there is a heavy reliance on spouse, parents and in-laws for help (Chandra, 2012).
Another observation that can also be considered as a coping strategy in the Indian context
is that there is less segmentation of work and family roles (Rajadhyaksha, 2012).
Leisure is frequently reported as having the most positive and significant influence on
individual’s quality of life and on a successful WLB (Warren, 2004). Trenberth and
128 A. Vasumathi
Dewe (2002) have affirmed that leisure plays a positive role in well-being and in
providing a range of health benefits, such as reducing tension and stress coping skills.
The importance of leisure for people’s lives should not be underestimated or unnoticed
by the focus on paid work throughout the life course (Haworth and Lewis, 2005).
Exercising, socialising, healthy diet, career planning and improved training reduce stress
and foster a balanced living (Agolla, 2009). The practice of yoga increased the stress
management level of the employees. Yoga has the potentiality to influence the
mechanism in various ways and it can be used as a routine medical procedure (Tiwari and
Bhanot, 2008).
8 WLB and performance
Several empirical studies have disclosed that the experience of WLB is positively related
to employees’ performance and organisational performance as well (Harrington and
Ladge, 2009; Parkes and Langford, 2008). More specifically, WLB has been shown to
have positive outcomes, such as job satisfaction, better performance and low turnover
intention (Cegarra-Leiva et al., 2012; Nelson et al., 1990; Scandura and Lankau, 1997).
Psychological well-being and harmony in life helps the employees to concentrate on their
work, resulting in better performance. On the other hand, WFC can yield a negative
impact on both personal or family performance and organisational performance
(Netemeyer et al., 2005). WLB has a positive effect on employees’ affective commitment
to their organisations that generates feelings of loyalty to the organisation (Casper et al.,
2011; Muse et al., 2008). Affective commitment is an emotional attachment to the
organisations or the employers which can cause employees to remain with the
organisations (Allen and Meyer, 1996). Employees become strongly attached to their
organisations when their expectations are satisfied (Meyer et al., 1993). It was found that
the employees’ experience of the WLB increases affective commitment and affective
commitment has a positive impact on in-role performance (Kim, 2014).
Work-family satisfaction is defined as the extent to which experiences in one role,
improve performance in another role (Greenhaus and Powell, 2006). Work-family
satisfaction is a construct that represents the extent to which work and family benefit
from each other in both directions (Carlson et al., 2006). Work-family satisfaction is
considered as one of the most significant dimensions of work-family balance (Allis and
O’Driscoll, 2008). Both satisfactions are positively related to individual’s mental health
(Aryee et al., 2005) and organisational results, such as job satisfaction, job performance
(Beutell and Witting-Berman, 2008) and organisational commitment (Wayne et al., 2006;
Van Steenbergen et al., 2007). WLB practices can impact organisational performance,
which include enhanced social exchange processes, increased cost savings, improved
productivity and reduced turnover (Beauregard and Henry, 2009).
The respondents spent less time with the family and are more productive at work
place that which hinders them from WLB was meeting after office hours (Liechty and
Anderson, 2007). The study found that the faculty members spent more time with the
family members and less productive at work place felt nothing hinders them balancing
work and family commitment (Sagaya et al., 2015). The leave policy motivate employee
ability to render services effectively and efficiently, WLB practice is an important factor
in increasing employee performance (Obiageli et al., 2015)
Kirchmeyer (2000) drafts that WLB consider two components of equality: inputs and
outcomes. The inputs are the personal resources that are applied to work role and family
role. To be balanced is to approach each role with an approximately equal level of
attention, time, involvement, or commitment. Positive balance advocates an equally high
level of attention, time, involvement, or commitment, whereas negative balance refers to
an equally low level of attention, time, involvement, or commitment. These inputs reflect
the level of individual’s role engagement in terms of time devoted to each role or
psychological involvement in each role.
Clark (2000), Kirchmeyer, (2000) and Kofodimos (1993) have explained in their
work that one outcome frequently included in definitions of balance is satisfaction – the
outcome of the other component of balance that are experienced in work and family
roles. Positive balance implies an equally high level of satisfaction with work role and
family role, and negative balance suggests an equally low level of satisfaction with work
and family role. It is difficult to picture individuals as having achieved work-family
balance if they are substantially more satisfied with one role than the other.
9 Consequences of WLB
9.1 Personal outcomes

Achieving a WLB can lead to personal satisfaction in both the domains and can take
forms of work satisfaction or life satisfaction. The overall satisfaction with life and work
can lead to a fit mental state and well-being. Dissatisfactory experiences with work and
family may result in stress and illnesses and hamper the overall well-being of the person.
A balance between work and life can enhance the behaviour and performance at
workplace and in the family. An imbalance between work-family lives can deteriorate the
performance and aggravate the negative behaviour. Moreover, both balance and
imbalance can have an impact on the people at work (colleagues and peers) and in the
family (spouse, children and friends) (Guest, 2002). WLB is positively related to
organisational and individual effectiveness (Konrad and Mangel, 2000). Greater the WLB
greater will also be the loyalty towards the organisation (Noor, 2011). Higher
work-family balance is positively associated with marital and family satisfaction and also
found that individuals with a higher balance are more satisfied with their marital and
family relations (Allen et al., 2000). Higher work-family balance also leads to better
performance in family life (Frone et al., 1997).
Regarding work related outcomes, it is documented lower WFC level results in higher
employee commitment to the organisations and satisfaction with job (Allen et al., 2000;
Tiedje et al., 1990). There is a negative relation between conflict and job/life satisfaction
(Kossek and Ozeki, 1998). Flexible and compressed work schedules are negatively
related to absenteeism and positively related to work schedule satisfaction, performance,
and job satisfaction (Baltes et al., 1999). King et al. (2009) has evinced through his
research that employees, who experience positive spillover from home to work, are the
people who most probably feel successful at work. Lyness and Judiesch (2008) also
advocate that there is a positive association between WLB and performance.
Peus and Traut-Mattausch (2008) have proved through their studies that work-family
balance is an important factor for German women’s career advancement. Consistent with
these findings are the findings from an Indian study on success factors for female and
130 A. Vasumathi
male managers; wherein WLB was found to be one of the four most important success
factors for career advancement and better performance in the Indian context (Shah,
2010).
9.2 Professional outcomes

Employers are often motivated to implement family-friendly policies centred on the
premise that economic gains will be realised from increased employee performance as a
result of such policies (Allen, 2001). Employees experience many positive outcomes
when they feel that they have WLB. WLB programs contribute to creating a trust among
the staff that can admit to home problems and get support from the management
(Maxwell and McDougall, 2004). Certain benefits with WLB programs at the
organisational level include, lower recruitment, lower training costs, improved
performance (Ulshafer et al., 2005), decreased job burnout, increased levels of
participation within the organisation (Haar and Roche, 2010), enhanced quality service,
enhanced employee capability, less absence, lower turnover, employee flexibility, skills
to succeed in rapidly changing scenario (Maxwell and McDougall, 2004), increased
organisational commitment, increased levels of organisational citizenship behaviours
(Baral and Bhargava, 2010). When an individual leads a balanced life, they are likely to
experience vigour as a component of work engagement. Vigour has been characterised as
encompassing high levels of effort, energy, resilience and persistence (Cinamon and
Rich, 2010).
There are also many adverse consequences associated with lack of WLB. Issues with
WLB have been associated to diminished organisational commitment, job satisfaction,
life satisfaction and increased stress, turnover intentions consequently poor performance
(Major and Lauzun, 2010).
10 Conclusions
The researcher has reviewed many studies have focused on working women’s stress and
strains when it comes to the balance between paid work and family responsibilities.
Women are working in all manufacturing and service sectors throughout the world. In
many developed countries, women’s are facing different issues such as sexual, mental
harassments in work place, safety issues in travelling in different modes of transport after
office hours, flexible working time, child care facility, non-cooperation from family
members, gender biasness in promotional policies and decision making. Beside these
issues many working women are balancing dual role (work and family) effectively and
solving day to day problems in both work and family life. All working women receives
the support from family members, organisation and government policies for their
problems and take proper steps to rectify their different issues to balance their work and
life, which will leads to run a peaceful life in work and family and paves way for hyper
growth and development of the country.
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Work life balance of women employees: a literature review

Article in International Journal of Services and Operations Management · January 2018

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Work life balance of women employees:

Abstract: The review of literature on work life balance of women employees

Keywords: work life balance; WLB; significance; theories; determinants;

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Vasumathi, A. (2018)

Biographical notes: A. Vasumathi received her PhD from the Department of

Copyright © 2018 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

2.1 Work life balance

2.2 Meaning and definition

Table 1 Definitions of WLB

Year Authors Definition

2.3 Significance of WLB

3.1 Traditional approach

3.1.6 Work-family border theory

classical conception of the segmentation approach boundary of work and family is

3.1.7 Role conflict versus role accumulation

3.2 Contemporary approach

3.2.2 Overall appraisal approach and components approach

3.2.3 Conflict versus facilitation

3.2.4 Conflict versus enrichment

3.2.5 Work-family fit

3.2.6 Typology of WLB

Figure 1 Typology of WLB

Source: Adapted from Rantanen et al. (2011)

4.1 Gender and WLB

4.2 Marital status

4.3 Parental status

4.4 Age and lifecycle

4.6 Education level

4.7 Life demands

4.8 Organisational factors

5.1 Managerial support

5.2 Organisational time demand

5.3 Work demand

5.5 Co-worker support

5.6 Genders perceptions

claims to family responsibilities. Second, the business environment, imposing

5.7 Competitive environment

5.8 Work stress and work life imbalance

5.9 Work-family conflict

6.2 Organisational culture

employees with diverse interests around shared goals. Organisational culture is an

6.3 Efficacy of the superior

6.5 Social support

7 Coping strategies of WLB

The way in which an individual manages stressful events, as threatening appraised

emotion-focused coping (focusing upon the emotional consequences of a situation

8 WLB and performance

9.1 Personal outcomes

9.2 Professional outcomes

Komarraju, M. (1997) ‘The work-family interface in India’, in Parasuraman, S. and

Rajadhyaksha, U. (2004) ‘Sources of non-institutional support and work-family conflict in India’,

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