Introduction
In the day of technological revolution when technology has enabled people to bring work home, the fine line between work and personal life has increasingly diminished. Highly sophisticated and easily affordable technologies "have made it more feasible for employees to keep contact with work" through emails, mobile phones and computers that transcend the physical boundaries of their workplace (Olson-Buchanan and Boswell, 2007). Workaholic employees who deem their professional growth as an important part of their identities are more prone to make use of these communication technologies by responding to work related emails or voice mails even after work-hours or on holidays. Resultantly, the physical division between work and personal life is heavily compromised adding stress to the life of the employees. Harris Interactive conducted the third annual Work Stress Survey in 2013 by polling 1,019 Americans by phone, and the result showed that more than 8 out of 10 American employees are stressed owing to something related to their job (Huffington Post, 2013). Poor remuneration, unreasonable workload, poor work life balance and the fear of being laid off are some of the main reasons for the employees to feel stressed out. In the survey, 7% employees reported about feeling stressed due to the difficulty faced in balancing work and life. The stress related to the imbalance between work and personal life is more prevalent among people aged between 30-44 as opposed to other age groups; divorced or separated employees as opposed to married, widowed and unmarried employees; and employees with a Bachelor or a higher degree as opposed to employees with high school diploma and less than high school education (Alterman, Luckhaupt and Ward, 2013). This paper would discuss the causes of work life imbalance, the difficulties faced by both working mothers and fathers and the initiatives being undertaken by organizations to improve the situation.
Causes of Work Life Imbalance
There are many factors contributing to the work life imbalance. First of all, evolution of technology like smartphones and laptops have made it feasible for employees to stay connected to work during after-hours. 50 years ago, work life imbalance was not a problem for employees because in the absence of highly sophisticated gadgets, employees could not remain in touch with the workplace even if they wanted to. Secondly, there has been an increase in long working hours (Williams and Boushey, 2010). Most of the employees involved in professional jobs are required to pull long working hours, about 50 or more hours weekly, at the workplace. Thirdly, the growing economic uncertainty has necessitated both the male and female partner to contribute financially to the family. Women cannot take a break from their career even upon having a baby for a few years due to the financial necessity. The recent recession has snatched stable jobs from many people, forcing both men and women to juggle two part time jobs. The survey results of the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that 5% of the workforce of US holds multiple jobs and 17% others plan to take another job to meet the financial requirement to pay for the education of their children (Marsteller, 2011). This number of people thinking of doing multiple jobs is constantly on the rise. With two jobs, it becomes all the more difficult for people to balance work and personal life.
Then organizations and their policies are much to blame for the imbalance between work and personal life. In order to boost up the performance of employees, many organizations have created the concept of an ideal employee who values his work above all else. Employees who are dedicated to their work more than their family are assumed to be hard-working and considered for promotion. There are many managers who consider their employees as a pair of hands rather than human beings who might have responsibilities outside the work life (Gautam, 2012). They expect their employees to stay connected to work even during after-hours or on holidays over smart phone. Employees promptly replying to emails even while they are at home or spending late hours at the workplace are valued highly by an organization (Alterman, Luckhaupt and Ward, 2013). Naturally, employees with family find it difficult to fulfill the expectations of the management, and work life conflict happens.
Difficulty faced by Working Mothers and Fathers
Though it is reported that both working fathers and working mothers encounter the same difficulty in balancing work and family; in reality, however, it is the working mothers who face a greater amount of discrimination and stress both at the workplace and at home due to the gender-based social norms and stereotyped mentality. USA is one of the few countries in the world that does not offer paid maternity leave, forcing new mothers to returns to work weeks after giving birth to their children. It shows how much less value organizations give to the importance of female employees spending time with their newborns. Besides, the concept of an ideal employee does not conform to family life style because of the necessity of spending long hours at the workplace with utter and sole devotion to professional life. It is challenging for working mothers to remain connected to work during after-hours and work late into the night at the workplace. Therefore, working mothers are often "inaccurately perceived to have less commitment to their organizations than their counterparts" (Alterman, Luckhaupt and Ward, 2013). They also face regular discrimination at the workplace in terms of getting jobs or getting promotions.
A study, conducted on women involved in professional jobs, came up with the finding that working mothers had 79% less likelihood than childless women to get hired. The moment a woman becomes a mother, she is looked upon in a different manner by her managers and supervisors than her childless counterparts. In comparison, a man is not regarded as less competent if he becomes a father. The glass ceiling held against working mothers prevents them from career advancements. This explains why only a small percentage of 1.4% women make it to the list of Fortune 500 CEOs, and a considerable lot of them are childless compared to their male counterparts (Earp, 2007).
On the home front too, women face much discrimination compared to men. A man attending a football match with his son is considered to be a devoted dad while no matter how much work a mother does for home and her children, a little oversight in duty is looked upon as sheer negligence. Therefore, many women while juggling home and career feel stressed because of the roles expected of them.
However, all is not hunky-dory with men either. Men taking paternity leave or time off for taking care of their children face the same damage as women in career growths. Research shows that men who take paternity leave are likely to suffer low salary increment and fewer promotions (Efron, 2014). They are also socially looked down upon as men being dominated by their women.
Initiatives undertaken by Organizations
In an era of cut-throat market competition, it is essential for employers to understand both the intrinsic and extrinsic needs of their employees and provide them with various programs of assistance to help balance work and family because a poor work life balance is not only likely to affect employees but also employers. Studies show that happy employees are more spirited and productive (PBHCS, 2008). An employee who has difficulty juggling between work and family is stressed out to the extent that neither he can focus completely on work nor on home. The increasing amount of stress is likely to cause various health issues in employees. The growth in the number of unhealthy employees will add to the expense of the company in paying premium for their health insurance programs. Furthermore, unhealthy employees with poor work life balance are not productive as well. If employees feel dissatisfied with the work policies of an organization, they will have difficulty staying loyal to the company which would add to the attrition rate. Organizations that ignore the significance of proper work-life balance of employees are, therefore, likely to suffer from high turnover rates, unhappy employees and low morale (PBHCS, 2008).
In view of the growing stress among employees in balancing work and family, many organizations are, therefore, taking initiatives to help employees cope up with both the organizational and family responsibilities. They are offering different options like flextime, working from home, special arrangement for employees to take care of children and elderly, paternity leave, career development leave and even in-house child care programs. For instance, the Yamaha Group has taken measures to enlighten employees about the importance of balancing work and family life through different seminars and intranet. In order to reduce the total amount of work hours, the Yamaha management along with its labor force has chalked out guidelines for preventing overtime. On the basis of these guidelines, employees are encouraged to change their work styles, utilize their paid holidays and take special leave. In order to prevent overtime, Yamaha has introduced a program called 'Go Home at the Same Time Day' in 2011 so that employees can leave the workplace by a certain time. Yamaha has also introduced a system allowing employees to take all of their accumulated paid vacation time all at once. Indubitably, these programs have proven to be very successful with the Yamaha employees (Yamaha, 2014). Yamaha is not alone; Mazda Motor Corporation too offers various benefits to its employees including flexible work hours, maternal care paid leave, child-rearing paid leave, nursing care paid leave, challenging career leave and go-home-early option. It also offers the option of an onsite daycare center for the children of its employees (Mazda Motor Corporation, 2014).
Conclusion
The work life imbalance has become a growing concern for families in which both the partners are working. Due to the advent of highly sophisticated gadgets, the physical boundary between work and family life has blurred. Besides, the growing economic uncertainty, heavy work load and the work policies of different organizations have contributed altogether to the difficulty of work life balance. The difficulty faced in managing work and family is not gender-specific as both men and women suffer the consequences. However, research shows that women, especially working mothers, are more likely to face the hardships of work life balance than men. Since poor work life balance affects the interests of both the employers and employees, it is important for organizations to offer their employees with more work-friendly options like flextime, working from home option, paid maternal care, child care leave and so on. If both the employers and employees work together in reducing the stress of work, then a semblance of balance between work and life can be reached.
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