Facilitator:
Role of work-life balance in management
The environment at work may hinder or develop life of an individual depending on how the individual handles the whole complexity. Clancy & Tata (2005) argues that if the reaction to the work challenges is positive, life development becomes easy which enables individuals establish an ideal work-life balance. For managers, efficiency at work motivates desire to ensure that all activities of employees run as per plans. However, personal commitments ought to exist and compete for time with the employment roles. Such competition can never be desirable as it creates a state of divided loyalties among the employees. Consequently, the employees reduce input into the firm, which demoralizes other employees. Workers leaving the place of work before the normal time can never be affirmative from the management hence efforts must come to alleviate this habit (Pedersen and Lewis, 2012). The article evaluates the need and importance of creating balance between the private lives and professions of individuals with the intention proposing initiatives that can improve employees’ productivity.
Employees benefit from a well-balanced work and life in many ways that aid management improvement and skill development. For example, access to education facilities eases when there is clear balance between work and employees’ private lives. According to Boyle & Healy (2003), work-life balance ensures that there is time on the schedule of each worker for rest, breaks, and holidays. Furthermore, creating a balance between one’s corporate and social life ensures that individuals have enough time for auxiliary activities such as furthering education (Pedersen and Lewis, 2012). This is essential considering the dynamic nature of the corporate world that demands employees to develop their skills constantly. Often, people may lack adequate education for conducting some critical assignment; however, individual who are capable of establishing an effective work-life balance can often enrol in career development plans. Workers who lack enough experience in wider and more professional fields may also use their free time to acquire the necessary experience (Eikhof, Warhurst and Haunschild, 2007). At the time when the worker is on a break, they can easily go to the section where they want to advance and learn more. The unsatisfied workers’ theory highlights that the workers are not content with the level of expertise and eventually, they seek to advance their skills (Pedersen and Lewis, 2012). This affirms the significance of ensuring that employees have a chance for developing their expertise.
Furthermore, productivity per worker increases when proper balance between work and life of an individual is established. Few organizations are keen to identify their employees’ needs even when it is clear that the workers require some time on their schedules for their private life. The needs theory of management highlights that addressing the employees’ is capable of improving their productivity making them be self-motivated (Smith and Elliot, 2012). Satisfying individual needs ensure employees are not derailed by external elements while executing the duties. Advertised jobs get more applications in institutions, which have well balanced time for work and private life because people know that they can improve their lives while still working at these firms. The number of applications for a particular job form one of the determinants of the quality of personnel selected (Boyle & Healy, 2003 p. 367). More applications guarantee that, employee selection becomes more thorough and inclusive meaning most of the elements of the employees’ surface during the selection; thus, the person selected fits the role perfectly.
Work-life balance results in the motivation of workers at the workplace. Workers do well at the workplace when they have the feeling of satisfaction and self-accomplishment. Most companies fail to understand that the workers need to expand and develop their own lives hence the job becomes no satisfying factor anymore (Bovenberg, 2005). Workers develop a feeling of complacency hence they work not at their level best but at the level, that fits the lowest requirement. Managers and strategists in organizations will favour the growth potential of the organization whenever there are traces of such behaviour tantamount with the employee contribution (Boyle & Healy, 2003 p. 367). A good environment makes employers develop effective motives and strategies for employee satisfaction and job security. Employees create constructive attitude towards their duties, which increases their performance. The companies gain motivation from satisfied employees when the organization grows and becomes larger. Organizations’ objectives revolve around growth and development thus, when the organization has the potential to grow, they stick on the resources, which will bring the growth and maximize it (Clancy & Tata, 2005). Signs of well-balanced lives among the employees manifest in employees devoting all their efforts to the firm during the time scheduled for the same. Profitability of the firms compasses on the brink of expansion and broadening because of increased input from the employees. Shareholders and management desire higher profits as it aligns with the long-term objective of shareholders’ wealth maximization (Bovenberg, 2005).
According to Maslow’s laws of motivation, the presence of employees at work rates higher than their absence irrespective of the input on a particular day. Most of the employers desire to get the utmost output from the employees so that they maximally utilize their efforts and abilities (Bovenberg, 2005 p. 399). To enhance this, management falls within the bounds of ability in understanding that employee satisfaction deems the most necessary. Furthermore, Metz (2011) argues that, a proper balance between private lives of individuals and their lives at the work proves the ultimate tool to regulating absenteeism at the place of work. Regardless of the cost of balancing work and private lives for employees, employers maintain well-balanced aspects of the two thus, employees keep at work all the time they are required to consequently increasing their output. In the end, increased job satisfaction and reduced absenteeism lowers conflicts between the management and private families (Pedersen and Lewis, 2012).
Smith and Elliot (2012 p. 684) highlights that the public forms an increasingly important part of the business. From the general public, several parties emerge which contribute to the business in diverse ways. In most cases, the customers form the greatest part of the public for desire and utility by the management and shareholders (Anderson, 1997 p. 201). Corporate social responsibility (CSR) requires that the public should view the business as good and relevant to the institution for the ultimate completion of the responsibility of the business to the society socially (Clancy & Tata, 2005).
Management needs to have an oversight eye so that all the aspects, which aid in the development of the employee, meet ultimate satisfaction to eliminate situations of revolutions. Ensuring a balance between private lives of people and their employment gives the ultimate taste for the business. Consequently, establishing a good work-life balance is essential for the employees’ wellbeing that could result to increased productivity.
Reference list
Anderson, D. 1997. "Balancing Act: Motherhood, Marriage, and Employment Among American Women", Industrial & labor relations review, vol. 50, no. 4, pp. 700-701.
Bovenberg, A.L. 2005. "Balancing Work and Family Life during the Life Course", De Economist, vol. 153, no. 4, pp. 399-399.
Boyle, M.V. & Healy, J. 2003. "Balancing mysterium and onus: Doing spiritual work within an emotion-laden organizational context", Organization, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 351-373.
Clancy, M. & Tata, J. 2005. "A Global Perspective on Balancing Work and Family", International Journal of Management, vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 234-241.
Eikhof, D., Warhurst, C. and Haunschild, A. 2007. ‘Introduction: What work? Whatlife? What balance? Criticalreflections on the work-life balance debate‘,EmployeeRelations, 29(4), 325-333.
Metz, I. 2011. ‘Women leave work because of family responsibilities: Fact or Fiction?’,
Pedersen, V. & Lewis, S. 2012. ‘Flexible friends? Flexible working time arrangements, blurred work-life boundaries and friendship’, Work, Employment & Society, 26(3), 464-480.
Smith, A. and Elliot, F. 2012. ‘The demands and challenges of being a retail store manager: ‘Handcuffed to the front doors’’, Work, Employment & Society, 26(4), 676-684.
