Work-life balance has become a popular concept in the modern business world because it has a direct influence on employees’ performance. It has also influenced organisational development in terms of the employees’ job satisfaction and productivity.
This article identifies the concept of work-life balance and the different attitudes prevailing when it is applied to real work-life situations.
Organisations need to realise that people have needs other than pure economic ones. For example, everyone has their own individual social life, even though they work with other people in the same environment and share common routines and schedules. As well as their role at work, workers have another role to play: maybe as a partner, as a parent, as a carer for an elderly parent, etc. Therefore, people’s perception about their work-life balance seems by its very nature to be very subjective.
People are different by nature, in terms of what they need. Some people want a balance between work and their normal life in order to manage their child-caring responsibilities while others need time to engage in more leisure activities. Child-parent interaction and elderly parental-care functions are important family factors that can influence work-life balance.
People who have reached a proper balance between work and home life are more likely to be able to overcome the problems that arise in the working environment than the people who do not have that balance. Absenteeism, reporting late for work, conflicts with colleagues and a less effective production outcome can be considered an indication of problems related to a lack of balance between work and personal life.
Developing a work-life balance benefits both employees and employers. Organisations can enhance their return on investment (ROI) by organising a work-life balance programme. Many researchers point out that work-life balance programmes can be considered part of a company’s compensation and common culture. They can use this as a positive phenomenon to develop their recruitment process in attracting candidates. Effective work-life programmes can be an effective marketing method in the company. If companies implement an effective recruitment process that appeals to the different needs of people, they will be able to recruit the best candidates on the market.
Work-life balance in Maltese organisations
The Foundation for Human Resources Development (FHRD) is a leading voluntary organisation, the aim of which is to promote the importance of effectively managing and promoting the competencies of people at work.
Chief executive Joe Gerada points out that work-life balance should be an integral part of good management practice and he prefers to call it “integrated work and life responsibilities”. It is more one whole working in harmony than two halves put together in the hope of achieving a balance. Mr Gerada is very familiar with the concept of work-life balance and believes that an organisation will not operate efficiently without it.
Talking about perceived organisational culture and facilitation of workers to work-life balance in terms of work policies, Mr Gerada emphasises the fact that FHRD employees tend to take some of their vacation leave together in order to eliminate undue pressure on the remaining staff. Other vacation leave is taken as people please, while they also work flexible hours to accommodate the organisation with its out-of-hours activities but also using the extra hours to attend to personal errands and personal needs during office hours. FHRD also allows staff to work from home, a limited facility that benefits the individual and enables the business of the Foundation to function without interruption.
Benefits and advantages
There are certain factors that can favourably affect the employee’s work-life balance. Employees can have their time for leisure and manage their time to keep up with the cleaning, laundry and shopping and many other daily activities. Working time is therefore an important factor in work-life balance.
According to an EU Directive, workers have the right to work a maximum of 48 hours a week. Therefore, working hours are important as this affects workers’ desire to work and to maintain the level of motivation to work. Moreover, time off from the working environment and flexible vacation planning ensures that staff have more free time for their personal life and their desire to accrue more vacation time can be considered a positive factor in the sense of duration of work, thus reduced resignations or being away from work due to ill-health.
Unlike other factors in the organisation, work-life balance has two sides. Problems that arise in the working environment can affect family life and problems in the family can likewise affect the work life. There may be many other positive and negative spill-overs simultaneously affected by these factors. For instance, positive or negative effects on an individual’s working life that affect their personal life, family life or any other life matters, could be considered as spill-overs of work-life balance. Work-family enrichment can be considered as a positive spill-over of work-life balance, whereas work-family conflict represents negative a spill-over.
Telecommunicating facilities (Skype, email) in terms of electronic media which is capable of connecting employees with families can be considered as a timely and popular method used by many organisations in order to develop a balance between work and life. Employees can adapt to situational changes such as overtime work or occasional assignments by using such methods. Vacation plans are helpful in developing a work-life balance.
There are many cultural ways of facilitating work-life balance. For instance, the EU has different viewpoints and practices from the United States. Asian culture has different viewpoints from Western Culture.
In conclusion, it is obvious that work-life balance is an essential concept for organisations wanting to enhance flexibility and employee satisfaction in a dramatically changing and demanding global framework of work environment.
Asanka Bulathwatta wrote this article on behalf of the Foundation for Human Resources Development (FHRD)