Work-Life Balance at BORG Holdings - Case Study Example

Individual Research Report: Work-Life Balance at BORG Holdings Executive Summary The purpose of this report is to provide initiatives to enable BORG holdings review and revamp its work-life policies and practices. BORG Holdings must embrace change resulting from such a dynamic business environment to realize their vision, mission and objectives/goals, and adapt to the prevailing business environment to gain competitive advantage. In so doing, people resources play a critical part. However, they also face significant work-life balance related challenges. This report shall begin by providing brief background information on the concept of work-life balance. The report shall then critically analyse the implications of work-life balance in organizations from which conclusion shall be drawn. Recommendations and learning points to enable BORG Holdings deal with issues resulting from work-life balance shall be provided. The underlying theme of this report is that for organizations to successfully manage their human resources, they must ensure initiatives which foster employee work-life balance. Contents Executive Summary 1 Contents 2 Introduction 3 Background Information 3 Implications of Work-Life Balance 5 Conclusion 8 Recommendations 8 Learning Points 9 References 11 Hay Group. 2013. “Rising Work-Life Balance Concerns Tied to Employee Turnover across the Globe, New Hay Group Research Finds”. The Wall Street Journal. Accessed May 31, 2013, http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20130416-908394.html 11 Sturges, Jane, and David Guest. 2004. “Working to Live or Living to Work? Work/Life Balance Early in the Career.” Human Resource Management Journal 14(4): 5-20. 12 Introduction Concerns regarding employees’ work-life balance are on the rise across the globe. Issues of work-life balance revolve around such concerns as employees ‘doing more with less,’ few workers available to complete the required work, as well as poor work conditions and environment among others. Hay Group (2013) conducted a study/research to investigate how the rising concerns on the balance between work and personal life were tied to the overall employee turnover around the globe. The results of the study/research indicated that 27 percent of employees at organizations perceived not to support employees’ work-life balance plan to resign from their organizations in the next two years. BORG Holdings is one such organization which has significantly lost valuable employees due to work-life balance concerns. The purpose of this report is to provide initiatives to enable BORG holdings review and revamp its work-life policies and practices. Background Information The contemporary business environment is changing at a rate that is an unprecedented and characterized by stiff competition; technological advancement, innovation and change; privatization, downsizing and restructuring; deregulations, scarce resources, politically-oriented shifts towards neo-liberalism, and globalization. Organizations must embrace change resulting from such a dynamic business environment to realize their vision, mission and objectives/goals, and adapt to the prevailing business environment to gain competitive advantage (Agboola and Salawu 2011, 235). People resources in organizations such as BORG Holdings are at the centre of all these new developments. In order to efficiently carry out their work obligations, organizations must put in place appropriate initiatives to facilitate and enhance the balance between employee work and life. The concept of work-life balance or rather work-family balance has recently gained much attention from the academic literature. The concept is concerned with work, family and personal responsibilities and is regarded as the absence of conflict resulting from work, personal as well as family roles and responsibilities. Balance and conflict with regard to work, family and personal roles are distinct construct. However, they coexist and employees often experience can concurrently experience high levels of both constructs. According to Bell, Ranjendran and Theiler (2012, 26), work-life balance can thus be regarded as the degree to which an employee can balance the time, emotional and behavioural demands for work, family and personal responsibilities. Work-life conflict arises when involvement in one domain for example work, family or personal life jeopardizes/interferes with the involvement in the other. When organizations such as BORG Holdings fail to put in place initiatives and measures which enable their employees to balance between work and life, they may opt to resign, engage in absenteeism, or resist organizational change. The reality of the contemporary working life is characterised by the fact that employees juggle their work and personal/private lives. In the course of trying to create a balance between the two, it is the implication of one on the other with reference to interference or influence which generate either positive or adverse ‘spill over’. Various studies have demonstrated that it is difficult to avoid work work-life conflict due to a variety of reasons. For instance contemporary organizations such as BORG Holdings are faced with the challenges of market driven globalization, demand for efficient operations and growth, downsizing, restructuring, stiff competition as well as organizational change which increase job stress. As a result, there is increasing need for employee work-life balance in order to meet these objectives (Bell, Ranjendran and Theiler 2012, 25). Implications of Work-Life Balance Bell, Ranjendran and Theiler (2012, 26) postulate that work-life balance issues are crucial for organizations such as BORG Holdings. These issues are important to organizations not only at organizational level, but also at employee level. Organizations which emphasize long term work-life balance initiatives/culture for their employees create positive attitudes among their employees towards work as well as employee loyalty to the organization. In addition, work-life balance initiatives indirectly benefits organizations through minimized job stress, increased employee wellbeing, and decreased employee burnout. Good work-life balance initiatives are directly associated with employee job satisfaction, organizational citizenship and commitment, increased equity and diversity, increased organizational performance and productivity, as well as lower turnover intention. In addition, satisfactory level of balance between work and life at employees’ level are linked to family, life, leisure and marital satisfaction, and family performance (Bell, Ranjendran and Theiler 2012, 26). Various studies have linked the absence of work-life balance to various adverse implications not only at organizational levels, but also at individual employee levels. The absence of employee work-life balance generates work-life conflict which is directly associated to decreased job satisfaction, reduced organizational commitment, lower organizational performance and productivity, minimal levels of career satisfaction and success, as well as rising levels of employee absenteeism and intentions to quit. At employees' level, the lack of work-life balance may lead to job stress, employee burnout, drug and other substance abuse, spoor psychological and physiological health, as well as reduced family functioning (Bell, Ranjendran and Theiler 2012, 26). According to Hayday (2008, 28), “until relatively recently, most organisations seem to have regarded the employees’ lives for instance in terms of their health and other personal matters as being something private to the individual”. The issue of employee work-life balance have become a thorn in the flesh for most organizations. One adversely significant implication of lack of balance between an employee's work and life is workplace absenteeism. Issues of absence are a costly affair to the organisation and the economy as a whole. In addition, it causes disruption at workplace (McLean 2007, 393). In the latter context, various studies have tried to quantify the cost involved in employee absenteeism. It is estimated that the cost of staff sickness to UK small businesses amounts to billions pounds and a cumulative of significant lost days with higher rates being during the winter. In a nutshell, this is a critical concern and thus, employee work-life balance is integral to most UK organisations. It is crucial for contemporary organizations such as BORG Holdings to put in place initiatives which enhance the balance between the work of their employees and their personal lives. Lack of employee work-life balance may also significantly jeopardize change implementation in an organization. Employee psychological resistance to change does not usually manifest itself in a standardized manner, but may be implicit, overt, deferred or even immediate. Regardless of the manner or the form which employees’ psychological resistance to organizational change occurs, the fact is that it remains a negative force despite the potential benefits or value of the proposed change. Employees’ psychological resistance to change is a significant message by both the organization and the employees regarding their attitudes towards organizational change. Employees psychological resistance to organizational change is manifested by the way the change impacts on their emotions, as well as how the change influences their work related behaviours. In addition, the implication of organizational change may also be eminent by its influence on employees’ rational thinking. Employees will resist changes which they perceive will adversely influence their work-life balance (Agboola and Salawu 2011, 235). According to CIPD (2012), work-life conflict is associated with various medical reasons. In this context, employee’s misses works as result of medical conditions which require health solutions. Organizations such as BORG Holding must put in place initiatives which address medical issues which do not require employees to be away from work. Second is stress related reasons. These are attached to medical and motivational issues. On-job counselling could be a viable initiative to minimize such work-life related pressures. Third are motivational reasons as result of poor management. Management of BORG Holdings must ensure that their operations and decisions do not interfere with the work-life balance of their employees. Fourth are domestic issues which require employee attention. To effectively handle domestic issues, an organization must ensure the psychological wellbeing of their employees. An organization must provide both short term and long term leave for their employees. Fifth are the unavoidable events associated with bad lucks. The last is the planned and agreed cause of work-life conflict. Most literatures identify sickness the highest contributor to employee work-life conflict. McLean (2007, 396) ranks these as minor and serious illness among others. These sicknesses can be categorised as self certified, medically certified, industrial accident/ injury, short term absence and long term absence. Conclusion This report sought to outline initiatives to enable BORG Holdings review and revamp its work-life policies and practices. Most organizations experience employee work-life balance issues which revolve around work, personal and family issues such as illness, vacation, family care or study leave among others. The undeniable reality is that employees are one of the critical elements in the success of an organisation. The premise behind this is based on the fact that they are points of innovation, they are the actual implementers of organisation’s strategic goals, form contact point with customers and are critical in daily operations of the business. Hence, if an employee is not able to perform his/her duties due to work-life balance issues, the organisation loses economically and in terms of disruption. This is an indication of ‘low morale or wider organizational problem’, which needs crucial consideration. Recommendations This paper recommends some human resource management approaches to enhancing the balance between employee work and life include the following. First, it is essential that organizations put in place initiatives which facilitate job sharing between and among employees. Second, organizations such as BORG Holdings need to make employees working hours more flexible. This will create a significant amount of time for employees to engage in other non-work activities. Third, organizations may also compress employees working hours to enable them engage and attend to personal and family responsibilities. Fourth, providing employees with assistance such as telecommuting and child care significantly motivate employees and positively shape their attitudes towards job. Fifth, stress management techniques such as providing planning and time management, meditation, physical exercise/gymnasiums and good food classes. Such approaches to enhancing work-life balance for employees will ultimately benefit BORG Holdings in the long run (Bell, Ranjendran and Theiler 2012, 25). Learning Points Realizing a reasonable balance between the personal and work life is crucial for professional, personal and health development of employees. However, most organizations have ignored the significant importance of putting in place initiatives which enable employees to achieve a reasonable level of balance between their work and personal life. Human resource is a significant factor in growth of organisation in order to deliver services, create value and gain market leadership. Apart from rendering their human power, employees are critical in innovation, driving change and acting as contact person between organisation and the clients. There are two critical skills required of an employee so that they can be able to deliver beyond expectations. The first is the technical skills which are related to one's profession and include factors like planning, organizing and controlling among others. On the other hand soft skills are related to interpersonal or people’s skills which allow one to navigate his or her work place. The argument behind this later statement is based on the fact that the workplace is made of people and relationship among these individuals is important. As such, to effectively function there must be a high level of balance between the work and life of employees. Lawrence and Robinson (2007, 378) posit that a survey had indicated that between 33% and 75% of employees had manifested their resistance to organizational change by engaging in adverse workplace behaviours/deviance such as organizational sabotage, vandalism, theft, as well as unwarranted/unreasonable workplace absenteeism among other negative workplace behaviours. Other ways through which employees psychological resistance to organizational change manifest itself include fraud by employees; and the adverse implication of workplace deviance with regard to organizational productivity and performance. Employees’ psychological resistance to organizational change takes various forms of which non-compliance to organizational procedures, core values and policies is an integral part. According to Agboola and Salawu (2011, 235), employees’ psychological resistance to organizational change through delinquency and deviance workplace behaviour by employees is aimed at truncating the organizational change process or deterring its implementation. Conflicts amongst workouts as well as managers, and employee’s resignation, and poor customer services are other forms of employees’ resistance to change. References Agboola, Akinlolu Ayodeji and Rafiu Oyesola Salawu. 2011. “Managing Deviant Behavior and Resistance to Change.” International Journal of Business and Management, 6(1): 235-242. Bell, Amanda S., Diana Rajendran and Stephen Theiler. 2012. “Job Stress, Wellbeing, Work-Life Balance and Work-Life Conflict among Australian Academics.” Electronic Journal of Applied Psychology 8(1): 25-37. CIPD. 2012. Absence Measurement and Management Factsheet. CIPD. Accessed May 31, 2013, www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/factsheets/absence-measurement-management.aspx. Hay Group. 2013. “Rising Work-Life Balance Concerns Tied to Employee Turnover across the Globe, New Hay Group Research Finds”. The Wall Street Journal. Accessed May 31, 2013, http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20130416-908394.html Hayday Sue. 2008. “The fine line of absence management.” Strategic HR Review 7 (2): 28-33. doi.org/10.1108/14754390810853147 Lawrence, Thomas B. and Sandra L. Robinson. 2007. “Ain’t Misbehavin: Workplace Deviance as Organizational Resistance.” Journal of Management, 33: 378-394. DOI: 10.1177/0149206307300816 McLean, A. D. B. 2007. “The management of absence: why it matters: An analysis of absence management issues, with a case study based in a UK academic library”. Library Management 29 (4/5): 392- 413. doi.org/10.1108/01435120810869147 Sturges, Jane, and David Guest. 2004. “Working to Live or Living to Work? Work/Life Balance Early in the Career.” Human Resource Management Journal 14(4): 5-20. Read More