Impact of Work-Life Balance on Employee and Organizational Performance - Coursework Example

Impact of work-life balance on employee and organizational performance Name Professor Institution Course Date Impact of work-life balance on employee and organizational performance According to Eikhof, Warhurst & Haunschild (2007, p.326), the present economic conditions have been blamed for resulting in longer working hours, intense stress and income loss in the places of work all over the globe. Because of this, currently, employees are challenged to create a sense of balance between family and work life (Pedersen & Lewis 2012, p.469). Individuals are overburdened by the careers that are demanding, a slow economic growth and demanding families among others. This has left employees with limited time for family time and leisure, hence resulting to increased stress. It most cases, women are highly affected by both work and family demands compared to men. Even though men also face the same fate, women face a more intense schedule both at home and at the place of work. However, in Australia, significant changes in lifestyle and relationship between family and work life in the recent years have resulted to an increased number of women making into the labor force (Balnave et al 2009). The Overloads and Pressures and work demands bring the question the work commitment and organizational performance. In light of that, this essay investigates the impact of work-life balance on employee and organizational performance in managing. Work-life balance is defined as the concept of the appropriate prioritizing between work or career and lifestyle consisting of pleasure, leisure, family, health and spiritual development or meditation (Pedersen & Lewis 2012, p.471). It is a reality that career and family life is inseparable; both operate together and a line of separation of work and family life cannot be created. Smith & Elliot (2012, p.681) argues that as times change, social arrangement and working patterns are in continuous change and organizations are anticipated to operate and offer better services in 24 hours arrangement. Owing to the fact that people run of the organization, they are required to devote their time and work for longer hours to provide services which as a result affect their personal life and results to work-life imbalance. Therefore, a manager and an employee need to strike work-life balance to make employees feel valued, motivated, and their rights respected (Moore, Johns & Johnson 2006, p.71). This will make them ready to work to improve the performance of the organization. The main goal of work-life balance can be said to be success with pleasure. If a person continues working at their place of work but does not enjoy the work, happiness and satisfaction cannot be realized. Success can be perceived as drive of life whereas enjoyment acts as the energy that propels that motive. Pedersen & Lewis (2012, p.469) contends that today, there are tighter deadlines because of stiff competition and employees’ responsibility is not just to meet the set deadline but also to provide a quality product or service. Owing to this work demands it becomes very difficult to keep up a family life. It turns out to be very tricky to have both mind and body engagement. To evade such cases, one must always attempt avoiding this work-life imbalance. The shift from work-life imbalance to work-life balance has clear gains to employees and the entire organization. Balanced sense of work ensures increase in efficiency and productivity of employees (Balnave et al 2009). For manager to ensure that the organization remains effective, they must encourage work-life balance. This can be done through introduction of flexible work practices such as flexi-time, working from home and job sharing among others. According Eikhof, Warhurst & Haunschild, (2007, p.306), flexible work practices are work agreements that allow workers to remain productive at work and still satisfy family demands. A recent research involving 16000 managers across the globe demonstrated that flexible work practices enhance productivity, performance and also employee contentment (Balnave et al 2009). Not just does the choice of working remotely increase output it also actually has to do with the manner in which the employees feel. Balnave et al (2009) state that in the services and consultancy industry, 86 percent of participants admitted that flexi arrangements had made them feel satisfied, more energized and motivated—in a nutshell, led to higher performance. Going up the organizational ladder frequently needs employees to work for longer hours and manage tricky and complex matters (Metz 2011, p.289). While at the workplace, some days will probably be positive and full of fun and others will be stressful and have tension. A common problem for several employees is how to manage all of the competing needs in life and work and avoid allowing any negative impacts of work run over into their private lives. Research has actually demonstrated that workforce who believes they are not given enough time for their personal life feel worn out and preoccupied while at the workplace (Metz 2011, p.291). Additionally, the run over of negative effects of work into a staff’s individual life may result to job fatigue, relationship’s disruption with family and acquaintances, increased stress and loss of pleasure (Pedersen & Lewis S 2012, p, 377). Managers must understand that employees are important part of the organizations and hence it is critical that their happiness is given the first priority. Several employees who work longer hours have stated this has affected them negatively in terms of their job performance, health and relationships. To deal with these, managers need an elaborate plan to ease work demands and encourage flexible work practices (Eikhof, Warhurst & Haunschild 2007 p.327). Rewards in terms of incentives, leisure activities and job sharing can help motivate employees and feel their personal life is also catered in the job agreements. According Pedersen & Lewis (2012, p. 468) creating an efficient work-life balance approach is not just concerned with adhering to the regulation, but is also concerned with establishing employee’s priorities and needs and takes into consideration how to meet those demands including fulfilling the organization’s demands all at once. There are numerous reasons why organizations employ flexible working practices. First, this could be to assist them retain the employees they currently have and to fulfill the demands of some staff that require to balance their hours of working (Smith & Elliot 2012, p.680). Applying flexible working arrangements can also assist recruit new employees for the organization and adhere to rules simultaneously. Even though there may be some extra costs in implementing the work-life balance policies, one biggest hurdle to this transformation is convincing line managers to adopt more flexible working practices (Smith & Elliot2012, p. 683). Because majority of the line managers appear to consider that flexible working practices will result into problems. The advantages which come to organizations when integrating policies regarding work-life balance are competitiveness and higher performance. It can also enhance the customer service and flexibility to compensate for holidays or absence. Employees may be more committed, feel valued and motivated by the company (Moore, Johns & Johnson 2006, p.75). According Eikhof, Warhurst & Haunschild (2007, p.331), flexible working arrangements would lead to the improvement of work-life balance and a better work-like balance would lead to a higher contentment of the workforce. The level of satisfaction of the workforce would go up and a more contented workforce would develop. More contented and satisfied employees also imply a highly motivated workforce which would be very effective for the company and would demonstrate consistency towards enhancement of the performance (Eikhof, Warhurst & Haunschild 2007, p. 339). Their organization will in fact gain from the contented employees since they normally work more and display higher performance. As mentioned before women are affected most by work and family demands. At first, work was regarded as the only duty of male in the society whereas women were charged with the domestic duties (Eikhof, Warhurst, & Haunschild, 2007). This practice has existed ages and it was extensively believed and made a tradition that the breadwinners of the family were only men. Although as change takes place in the family settings, and in order to earn an extra income and have better family lifestyles, female workforce in the job market began to rise, the conservative belief of male being bread winner began to change and currently women also plays an equal and significant role in boosting income of the family (Moore, Johns & Johnson 2006, p.69). For women who are working, getting engaged in work and life balance continues to be a big challenge (Metz 2011, p.387). Careful individual effort and planning remain the advice from people who have established a sense of balance in both job and family life. At the level of an organization, balanced concept of work facilitates improvement in efficiency and productivity of the employees. Managers also play a role in creating policies that ensures women are relieved the hook of stress from work involvement and family life (Balnave et al 2009). Apart from work life, women have social roles like motherhood and home chores which if not balanced leads to increased levels of stress. The manager must encourage communication in order to allow women to discuss their plight; what affects their performance both at work and at home. Metz (2011, p.306) argues that the manager must also facilitates team work so that when a female member of the group feel stressed by work and family roles another member of the group can cover up until the female member resumes work. There are cases where women have been sacked for taking maternity leave because some managers consider it unprofessional and lack of work commitments (Metz 2011, p.294). This issues as been contested and have raised the question of social roles of a woman. To maintain a happy female workforce who can deliver quality service they must feel appreciated and part of the organization (Metz 2011, p.288). As such their maternity leave must be granted in good faith. According Moore, T, Johns & Johnson (2006, p70) The manager must understand that transition to motherhood have emotional and practical consequences, therefore women must be allowed to take break from work to discharge the right to motherhood. The imbalance as always worked negatively on women. Due to traditional women roles, the number women at the managerial positions are still low (Moore, Johns & Johnson 2006, p.73). This is because managerial positions are said to require work commitment such as work related conferences, workshop, seminars and tours making it hard for women to perform well and work and also attend to family roles. Even though there are several women desiring to realize career development with meeting other family duties, their organizations have failed to understand that motivated and brilliant women can be dedicated to careers. These women can do better at middle management yet organizations are unwilling to provide flexibility practices that can reduce pressure on them (Metz 2011, p.304). In conclusion, work-life imbalance have negative effects on the organizations and when the workforce are not contented with the responsibilities, it will reflect on the performance at place of work. Therefore, the manager must create policies that create work-life balance such as flexible work practices, motivations and rewards, leisure activities and leave. Collision in work-life leads to reduced job satisfaction level, reliability, organizational commitment, work performance and effort; while increasing the degree of employee’s turnover and absenteeism. References Balnave, N, Brown, J, Maconachie, G & Stone, R 2009, Employment relations in Australia, 2nd edn, John Wiley & Sons, Australia. Eikhof, D., Warhurst, C & Haunschild, A 2007, Introduction: What work? What life? What balance? Critical reflections on the work-life balance debate, Employee Relations, vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 325-333. Metz, I 2011, Women leave work because of family responsibilities: Fact or Fiction? Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, vol. 49, no. 3, pp. 285-307. Moore, T., Johns, R & Johnson, C 2006, Work-life balance experiences of women in the construction industry, International Employment Relations Review, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 67-78. Pedersen, V & Lewis, S 2012, Flexible friends? Flexible working time arrangements, blurred work-life boundaries and friendship, Work, Employment & Society, vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 464-480. Smith, A & Elliot, F 2012, The demands and challenges of being a retail store manager: ‘Handcuffed to the front doors, Work, Employment and Society, vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 676-684. Read More