In recent years, the work-life balance of employees has been much more contemplated. Experts insist on the importance of achieving and maintaining work-life balance. Who does this concept apply to? The concept of work-life balance can be applied to all employees within the organization both locally and globally.
Various pressures in life will bring stress. Many of the stressful life events are connected to the work environment. Employees who start to feel the pressure to perform are likely to get caught in a downward spiral of increasing effort to meet rising expectations but no increase in job satisfaction.
Many organizations are trying to promote work-life balance by including initiatives such as flexible working hours, part-time work and childcare facilities. However, various studies show that most employees can not balance their professional and personal lives. Few people manage the balance of work and life well (Tewathia, 2014).
In Asian countries, work and family problems have only recently begun to attract attention. A long working culture has exacerbated the pressures of rapid social change and increasing global competition, particularly in countries like China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, and South Korea. In addition, female workforce participation increases, more and more Asian workers are now trapped between the needs of work and family life (Luo and Cooper, 2015).
European countries dominate and ranked highly for work-life balance. According to the analysis made by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD), following are the best-ranked countries for Work-Life Balance as of November 2017:
Various pressures in life will bring stress. Many of the stressful life events are connected to the work environment. Employees who start to feel the pressure to perform are likely to get caught in a downward spiral of increasing effort to meet rising expectations but no increase in job satisfaction.
Many organizations are trying to promote work-life balance by including initiatives such as flexible working hours, part-time work and childcare facilities. However, various studies show that most employees can not balance their professional and personal lives. Few people manage the balance of work and life well (Tewathia, 2014).
In Asian countries, work and family problems have only recently begun to attract attention. A long working culture has exacerbated the pressures of rapid social change and increasing global competition, particularly in countries like China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, and South Korea. In addition, female workforce participation increases, more and more Asian workers are now trapped between the needs of work and family life (Luo and Cooper, 2015).
European countries dominate and ranked highly for work-life balance. According to the analysis made by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD), following are the best-ranked countries for Work-Life Balance as of November 2017:
Figure 1: Top 5 countries with the better Work-Life Balance (Oecdbetterlifeindex, 2017)
Luo, L. and Cooper, C.L. (2015). Handbook of research on Work-Life Balance in Asia. Edward Elgar Publishing.
OECD, (2017). Work-Life Balance. [online]. Available at: http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/
topics/work-life- balance/ [Accessed 27 November 2017].
It is true that its hard to balance work with your personal life. Some organizations give flexible work hours and organize various out-door fun activities to keep the employees happy. But, still with the busy schedules, people fail to balance work and their personal life. One point which I personally noticed was that, even though employees are given casual leave, annual leave and sick leave, employees dont make use of them to focus on their personal life. They feel bad thinking that its "not nice" or "not ethical" to make use of their leave. Due to this reason, they keep on working day by day and ultimately lose personal satisfaction. Hence, it is wise to use the given days of 'leave' to focus on a persons personal life rather than working until you get completely exhausted.
ReplyDeleteIn the present world, work-life balance can look like an unfeasible achievement. Technology has made employees reachable at any given time. Uncertainties of job losing one's job loss encourage people to work long hours. Specialist consent to the fact that the pressure associated with an inexhaustible day to day work is harmful. It can damage interactions in family life, well being and generally cheerfulness.
ReplyDeleteI think everyone should work to live but not for live to work but there are some occasions where employees have to work extra mile to achieve something for betterment of their family.
ReplyDeleteWork Life balance is becoming more and more important for both organizations and employees.
ReplyDeleteFlex hours, out door activities, trainings, coaching ... etc will help to refresh the people. I believe managers can play a major role with regards to work life balancing through on time decision making, establishing proper communication channels within teams, identifying work duplications in process and taking corrective actions, work load balancing among employees as these also creates a stressful work environments.
Work life balance is a critical factor for everyone in any organisation in this rapid development of technological and competitive era. If employees do not maintain a work life balance, it could lead to stress, family problems and isolated from social activities. This in turn affects the performance in the long run and health. In practical life we've seen many people ignore work life balance due to various reasons. I believe HR leaders in organizations should pay more attentions towards maintaining work life balance of the employees.
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