Human Resource Management and Employees Work-Life Balance - Coursework Example

Do human resource policies designed to improve employee’s work-life balance confer benefits to the organisation? Student Name: Course: Tutor: Date: Studies in work-life balance have mostly advanced the notion that organisation that offer flexible working conditions have less stressed employees with minimal workload and high levels of job satisfaction and organisation commitment. The organisation will therefore benefit from a workforce that is more productive and committed to the organisations objectives. The benefits can only be realised if employees are facilitated to take advantage of the flexible benefits (Beauregard & Henry, 2009; Deery, 2008; Gregory, Milner, & Windebank, 2013). Work-life conflict has emerged as a major human resource issue that has far-reaching implications in the productivity and success of organisations. Jobs and professional duties have become very demanding for the 21st century worker. However, family and personal lives of the employees have remained as important part of employee lives that cannot be assumed by human resource practitioners (Greenhaus & Powell, 2006). Work-life balance policies have been in the recent past been advanced by researchers and policy makers as a practical approach to achieving employee satisfaction, motivation and productivity at work (Hobson, Delunas, & Kesic, 2001; Sturges & Guest, 2004). There is little research evidence though, as to whether policies intended to improve employee’s work-life balance confer benefits to the organisation. The main focus of this paper will be to highlight the arguments advancing the contention that work-life balance benefits the organisation. Contradicting views regarding the contention that work-life balance benefits an organisation will also be discussed in this paper. Talent management and retention One of the main responsibilities of human resource managers in organizations today is maintenance of a stable and talented workforce. Managing talent in organizations is directly linked to the strategic management in organizations since the people within an organization play an important role in strategy implementation (Deery, 2008). While research on employee retention strategies has largely focused on factors such as job satisfaction, job design and remuneration, work-life balance is emerging as a critical factor in retention of highly talented employees. The business environment today has become more competitive and demanding than it was five decades ago (Pocock, Charlesworth, & Chapman, 2013). Globalization and technological development in different sectors has opened new markets and competition for businesses (Lewis, Gambles & Rapoport, 2007). According to (Gregory et al, 2013) balancing between personal life and professional duties is becoming very difficult for employees due to the changing nature of organizations and business environment. When there is a conflict between personal life and professional life, an employee is likely to develop job dissatisfaction and ultimately consider leaving the organization (Deery, 2008). If the employee decides to stay and handle the tough balancing act between personal life and professional life, he/she is likely to cause conflict with family members. The demanding professional situation will definitely have a negative impact on both professional and personal aspects of employees’ lives as noted by De cieri, Holmes, Abbott, & Pettit (2005). Organizations can benefit greatly in retaining talented and experienced employees if they develop policies that promote work-life balance amongst their employees. If employees have adequate time and support to attend to their personal affairs, they will be more satisfied with the quality of life they have and develop greater job satisfaction (Greenhaus & Powell, 2006). An employee will most likely stay with an organization that guarantees greater emphasis on work-life balance. With improved retention rates, an organization will minimize the costs involved in recruitment and training of new employees. The organization will also be able to develop and grow an effective organizational culture with employees that develop close attachment to the business (Emslie, & Hunt, 2009). Job satisfaction and organizational commitment Employee job satisfaction is directly attributable to the attitude he/she has towards the job and the workplace. An employee who is satisfied with his/her job will most likely be committed to the organization’s goals and objectives (Pocock, Charlesworth, & Chapman, 2013). Research by Beauregard & Henry (2009) indicates that jobs that offer more flexibility to employees are more satisfying than jobs that are demanding and offer limited flexibility. Women are more likely to prefer a flexible job than men. Women are the most involved in taking care of family matters than men. However, an emerging trend of men demanding more family time is presenting a challenge to human resource managers in organizations today. Both genders now prefer to have more family time to raise children and relieve themselves of work related stress (Emslie & Hunt, 2009). Allowing employees flexible working hours, family friendly working hours and working at home arrangements gives them freedom and ability to plan their personal lives. With enhanced freedom and control over personal and work lives, employees will be more satisfied with their jobs as they don’t view the job as an impediment to quality life. Satisfied employees are less likely to leave an organization due to work-life balance issues (Deery, 2008). Apart from high retention of employees and enhanced commitment, job satisfaction in employees impacts greatly on organization’s success in terms of high productivity and improved interpersonal relations (De cieri et al, 2005). It is fair therefore, to hold the contention that, better work-life balance policies in organizations enhance job satisfaction and commitment levels in employees. Organizations should use work-life balance strategies to ensure employees are happy about their work and the complementary relationship between their professional and personal lives. Improved performance Work-life balance policies are designed to allow employees have more freedom and autonomy to plan their personal and professional lives. The emphasis then shifts to assessing employees’ productivity and not for their presence at the work station (Deery, 2008). Work-life balance policies focus on ensuring employees have less work and life related stress that may reduce their productivity. Employees who can plan their lives and work in a manner that is suited to their situation, develop a positive attitude towards their job. With a positive attitude and greater job satisfaction, an employee will be able to perform better at work (Beauregard & Henry, 2009). According to Emslie & Hunt (2009), work-life balance policies are becoming popular amongst employees as they can plan their work and develop personal strategies to meet job targets. Working at home and sharing of work with colleagues for working mothers has been proved to be effective in improving their productivity and at the same time ensuring job satisfaction. When employees work long hours and have less time to rest and attend to family matters, they are likely to experience job burnout and emotional exhaustion (Pocock, Charlesworth, & Chapman, 2013) The quality and total output of an employee who is emotionally exhausted and going through a job burnout is usually low. Such employees will in many instances take the slightest opportunity to be absent from work (Deery, 2008). As a result the level of absenteeism in the affected workplace will be very high thus affecting the overall productivity of the organization. Human resource managers can always avoid high absenteeism and low productivity by allowing their employees flexible working arrangements and reducing their working hours (Pocock et al,2013). Performance should therefore be analysed from how productive an employee is and not how many hours the employee spends at the work station (Pocock et al, 2013). By developing work-life balance policies that reduce job burnout and emotional exhaustion among employees, organizations can boost overall productivity and quality of work. A lot of research in work-life balance issues has largely concentrated on the benefits of work-life balance policies to the organisation. However, there is contention amongst researchers that work-life balance policies might as well not benefit an organisation (Burke, 2000; De cieri et al, & Pettit, 2005). One of the main points of argument in such contention is that the attempt to introduce fair means of helping out an employee balance work and family life inevitably causes problems. When a working mother has to take frequent unannounced absences, another employee will have to fill in the gap left by the working mother at work. The employee who always steps is whenever the working mother is absent on a short notice may take the work place policies to be unfair and lacking equality (Hughes & Bozionelos, 2007). The implication of this is that there is a working mother who is happy and satisfied with her job and the flexible working arrangement. But on the other hand there is an employee who is dissatisfied and feels the work place is not applying equality to all. Eventually the organisation will find itself in the same problem of having dissatisfied workers it was trying to avoid by creating flexible working plans (Hughes & Bozionelos, 2007). Small private businesses have minimal resources and capacity to guarantee flexible working arrangements. Allowing such practices as part-time working for women and work-sharing may increase indirect costs of operation and put a section of employees under pressure from huge workloads (De cieri, Holmes, Abbot, & Pettit, 2005). Use of work-life balance policies might also affect career development in employees. Work-life balance arrangements may reduce the training and promotion opportunities available to an employee. As a result of reduced training and promotion opportunities, an employee may not benefit from pay increase and career growth associated with such actions. Work-life balance can in a way interfere with an organisation’s strategic human resource planning (Gregory et al, 2013). From the analysis of literature on work-life balance and its implication to organisations, it emerges that, flexible working is designed with the employee as the centre of focus. Once the employee is able to balance between personal and professional life, he/she will be more committed to the organisation and be more productive at work in terms of quality and quantity of work delivered. However, the organisation must carefully assess the implication of flexible working policies to prevent negative effects such as having dissatisfied section of workers and ineffective training and development programs. It is right therefore, to hold the contention that policies designed to improve employees’ work-life balance ultimately confer benefits to the organisation References Beauregard, T., & Henry, L., 2009. Making the link between work-life balance practices and organizational performance. Human Resource Management Review , 19, pp.9-22. Burke, R., 2000. Do managerial men benefit from organisational values supporting work-personal life balance? Women in Management Review , 15 (2), pp.81-89. De cieri, H., Holmes, B., Abbott, J., & Pettit, T., 2005. Achievement and challenges for work-life balance strategies in Australian organisations. International Journal of HRM , 16 (1), pp.90-103. Deery, M., 2008. Talent management, work-life balance and retention strategies. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management , 20 (7), pp.792-806. Emslie, C., & Hunt, K., 2009. ‘Live to Work’or ‘Work to Live’? A Qualitative Study of Gender and Work–life Balance among Men and Women in Mid‐life. Gender, Work & Organization, 16(1), pp.151-172. Greenhaus, J., & Powell, G., 2006. When work and family are allies: a theory of work-family enrichment. Academy of Management Review , 31 (1), pp.72-92. Gregory, A., Milner, S., & Windebank, J., 2013. Work-life balance in times of economic crisis and austerity. International Journal of Sociology and social policy , 33 (9), pp.528-541. Hobson, C. J., Delunas, L., & Kesic, D., 2001. Compelling evidence of the need for corporate work/life balance initiatives: results from a national survey of stressful life‐events. Journal of Employment Counseling, 38(1), pp.38-44. Hughes, J., & Bozionelos, N., 2007. Work-life balance as a source of job dissatisfaction and withdrawal attitudes: An explaratory work on the views of male workers. Personal Review , 36 (1), pp.145-154. Lewis, S., Gambles, R., & Rapoport, R., 2007. The constraints of a ‘work–life balance’approach: An international perspective. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 18(3), pp.360-373. Pocock, B., Charlesworth, S., & Chapman, J., 2013. Work-family and work-life pressures in Australia: adavancing gender equality in "good times"? International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy , 33 (9/10), pp.594-612. Sturges, J., & Guest, D., 2004. Working to live or living to work? Work/life balance early in the career. Human Resource Management Journal, 14(4), pp.5-20. Read More