Work Life Balance In The Workplace

My beliefs and view on the gender ideology towards work and family is more weighed on one side (Masculine) and partly on the other (Feminine). It is evident that the ‘Masculine’ gender is more dominant in our society and because of this; there is more expectation and responsibility for the masculine gender. However, there is a continual inclusion trend in which we are witnessing the feminine gender assume some roles of the masculine gender. But overall, the masculine effect is still dominant. I personally feel that there should be a good balance of work and family responsibility by the men. It is necessary that the ‘Men’ are mostly responsible for taking the role of the breadwinner of the family therefore, the working hours of the men would have to be met as required by the employer. For example, working 40 hours a week is the minimum in the US but varies in some other places. In a case whereby the man has to take an overtime shift just to meet the needs of the family.

Many studies show that women are more likely than men to miss work to tend to their family’s needs, and that women are more likely to put family needs ahead of work than their husbands (National union of Public and General Employees. This burden to be carrying family and work life responsibilities all at once is not recognized by employers and leading women to risk promotions and pay advancement. Hence, the inequality between male and female workers in Canada and who’s role it is to tend to the family needs is leading to unfair pay wages (National Union of Public and general Employees). According to the National Union of Public and General Employees the amount of women who are taking time off or missing work for family matters comes in at around 76% of women, who participated in a study across Canada representing the past six months of work for an average mother in the workplace. This idea that women need to be running all the domestic needs of the family as well as working a full time career is outrageous, especially when women are making far less than men while managing two jobs at the same time.

The overall purpose of this project is to investigate if a work environment in which work life balance is anticipated and supported will provide positive impact on employees’ performance and attitude. In addition, this research will examine the current understanding of attitudes toward the concerns of work life balance across the gender roles. This review of qualitative data will provide answers to the following questions. First, would implementing a work life balance provide employees with a happier and

Thirty-eight percent of Americans report some tension between their work and home lives. Today’s highly publicized work/life balance conflicts are multiple, and their nature differs significantly depending on the jobs individuals have and on their family situations. Tensions between work and family life clearly have implications for the well-being of individuals and their children and ramifications for society in general. Yet because the personal needs, desires, motivations, and economic circumstances of Americans are so varied, there appears to be no single way to resolve these tensions, no universal best practices with regard to work/life balance. For example,

Strategies that can be done to support the families are first, “employment training programs that are geared to traditionally higher paying jobs, second, offering employment training programs for jobs that gain higher wages, such as employment in office administration, health services, trades, etc. should be explored” (R.A. Malatest & Associates LTD, 2006. p. 56). In addition, employment and training programs should be increased to better meet the needs of families. Lastly, flexibility in working schedule “organizations should provide formal supports such as family-oriented policies and benefits (e.g. parental leave, ability to take time off and make it up later, flex-time, job sharing, sick child care, and flexible work arrangements), which give employees autonomy over their hours and their absence from work. Second, the organization can supply a number of informal supports such as a family-friendly organizational culture (e.g. flexibility around hours and location of work) and supportive managers, which may help employees, deal with work–life conflict” (Higgings, Dusbury, & Lyons, 2008. p. 31). If these strategies are being implemented, it will help single parent balance their work place and family domain and reduce the risk of unhealthy living among lone-parent families. In addition, it will increase the level of commitment they utilize for the organization and their families in a healthy

Robert Dorment’s summary from his article talked about that women always complained about men did wrong but men who worked so hard for their family and work-life balance. Richard used that word “castigate” for men that means women scold men, but they did not realize men worked so hard. Other quote about the castigation of men, “…person whose husband, by her own admission, sacrificed much in his own academic career to do other heavy lifting with their children, all so she could pursue her dream job and then complain about it, bitterly, in the pages of a national magazine” (Dorment 708). Anne-Marie Slaughter explained that women who get promotion from other positions that they realized they do not have spent time with their family and some women who leave their jobs because of their family reasons. The quote said, “It is unthinkable that an official would actually step down to spend time with his or her family that this must be a cover for something else” (Slaughter 682). Third article called Women, work and work/life balance: Research roundup talked about the wage inequality and unequal responsibilities between men and women. Women have more family responsibilities than men do because some women are staying at home while taking care of their kids. Last article, Work-Life Balance – An integrated Approach: The case for joint and several responsibility talked about the

With the focus on the working American parent with benefits such as a flexible working hours paid parental leave for the men and women will achieve a better working life balancing and keep employees happier and more engaged at work. Not only should flexible schedule benefit the women but the men should also receive the option. The division of household labor has changed a lot in the last few decades, with many fathers taking primary caregiver role for their kids. Over 50 percent of fathers said they find it difficult to juggle work responsibilities and family life.

However, this also places such women at a higher disadvantage when divorced, when they can no longer afford childcare and must balance their career and taking care of their children. And even among professional couples, the husband's career tends to come first. The couple invests more heavily in the husband's career, because it is the unspoken assumption that, even if women have a career, their primary duties lie in childcare and supporting her household/husband. Again, we circle back to the concept of women's labor being more intensive and undervalued than men's. Even when they have careers outside of the home, they are still expected to perform (unpaid) emotional and physical labor in the

Sometimes men and women find it difficult to live together because of the different ways they handle responsibilities. Going to work and being there on time is a responsibility detrimental to almost every aspect of a relationship. It affects not only the relationship with each other, but also the relationship with an employer. As an example if a situation was to arise without warning, an employee who is late or never comes to work is less likely to be excused with pay, as someone who is at work at their scheduled time. Another responsibility commonly discarded is housework. To have a good functioning home life there should be a schedule of chores that each partner should know and do. Women should not be the only person responsible for; cleaning, cooking, and doing laundry, but by the same token men shouldn’t be the only person

The role of work has changed throughout the world due to economic conditions and social

Work and Life balance has become a consequential topic about a few decades ago up until today. Work-life balance was originally derived in the 1970’s to refer to the balance that exists in one’s professional life and personal one (Newman & Matthews, 1999). In the past decade or so, there has sparked a curiosity in the work-life balance realm. More and more studies and research came about on the topic and attracted the attention of scholars, the government, press, etc. This increase in curiosity could be driven by the worry that a lack of adequate work-life balance could spillover into health and even lower productivity for organizations. Today, we see that most people are working harder and longer than they ever were which makes it nearly unimaginable to attain that crucial work-life balance. Having a sustainable work-life balance means that there occurs adequate work functioning as well as the home with there being little to no role conflict (Sturges & Guest, 2004). Sturges and Guest (2004) also discuss that there are graduates that are pulled into situations where they have to work lengthy hours which inevitably leads to a poor balance in the work and life aspect. At the core foundation of this, work-life balance characteristics are contingent upon the various communication methods that occur in one’s organization. Having both formal and informal forms of communication, are crucial for both mentally and physically in order to be happy in the workplace. This paper focuses

In this present day, individuals are constantly faced with challenges that cause conflicts between their working life and their personal lives, which ultimately has an effect on productivity at work (Naithani 2010). Work life balance strives to strike an equilibrium between the professional and personal/social life spaces available to an employee with support from top management/employers and governments. Consequences of effective and ineffective work life balance techniques result in improved employee retention, improved quality of life, employee satisfaction, low level of morale, low productivity level and ultimately impacts on organisational performance (Kumar,Harish 2013).

A good professional person is one who is able to maintain the gap between his/her personal and professional life. S/he does face problems in both the roles of life, but they know how to cope up with that so that their work as well as that personal life may not get disturbed. There was a time when the link and boundary between the personal life and professional life was vivid, but due to the growing challenges that are faced by the organizations, the workload is highly increased. Employees started working for late hours and targets achievement became more important than any other thing. This made the organizations to become more rigid in terms of achieving goals. Especially those people, who have their families and kids, are facing much difficulty in managing their work and their families. Organizations now expect more work from their professional people and believe on the fact of "lean and mean" (Hall & Richter, 1989).

Working mothers face a whirlwind of responsibilities. The working mother struggles between both her family obligations along with her work obligations creating a constant clash between which obligations are considered more important. A healthy balance between both spheres is hard to develop without the help or give of the other. Work-life balance or work-family culture, as defined by Chang, Chin and Ye is the, “shared values and assumptions regarding the extent to which a company supports the integration of employees’ work and family lives” (2014). Work-life balance and work-family culture are interchangeably used to demonstrate the same desired affect of balancing both demanding obligations. Various studies have been

The arrangement of the staff has different affectedly in recent decades all over the world. In the year 2000, 61% of all married women over age 16 in the US were in the workforce, compared to just 41% in 1970 (US Census Bureau, 2001); More employees are now engaged in a dual- earner lifestyle where both partners work and share responsibility for family care-giving (Greenhaus et al., 2000). In fact, recent research indicates that 85% of employees report having some day-to-day family responsibilities (Bond et al., 1998). These changing demographic trends, coupled with greater family involvement by men (Pleck, 1985) and heightened interest of employers in employee’s quality of life (Zedeck & Mosier, 1990) prompted a proliferation of research on the relationship between work and family roles. Interest and concern in the interface between work and non-work life, especially family life. Numerous scholars (e.g. O ' Driscoll, 1996; Edwards & Rothbard, 2000; Frone, 2003; Grzywacz & Marks, 2000) have observed that changing social demographics, altering family-role expectations, shifting family structure, aging workforce, as well as recent technological developments, increasing globalization, and international business competitiveness have contributed to a blurring of boundaries between the domains of employment and family and to greater permeability between these domains. For example, globalization may require key employees to travel or