Causes of Work-life Imbalance for Employees
Issue of Work-Life Balance faced by the Employees of a Company
One of the biggest problems that the employees of both private and public sector is facing right now is the disruption in the work life balance of the employees. With the advent of globalisation and the competitive nature of the companies, the employees are forced to work more than their capacity resulting in less personal life and more professional working hours (Jones, Burke and Westman 2013). The effect of this totally hampers the work life balance of the employees that in turn poses a number of problems in the personal lives of their employees. Work life balance is defined as the balance achieved between the professional and personal life of the employee effectively and with ease giving full attention to each and every aspect of both the sectors. The employees are forced to work under pressure that reduces their productivity largely and in turn affects the overall profitability of the company in the longer run (Deepika and Rani 2014). The importance of work life balance is of extreme importance as more and more people are engaging in monotonous work activities and are concerned about the personal life which has been lagging behind. If proper work life balance is being maintained, then the workers can achieve both their professional and personal goals within the stipulated period (Kim 2014). The report deals with the issue of work life balance and the various factors associated with it including the causes, effects and strategies associated to make the concept work. The following paragraphs highlight the analysis of work life balance through SCAMPER technique.
A number of problems have denoted to the fact that nearly 25% of the work population in USA has suffered from a lack of work life balance, which has given rise to a number of issues at both professional and personal level (Boxall and Macky 2014). The causes behind the growth of this issue are as follows –
- Less Salary:
One of the most probable causes that has led to a work life imbalance is the amount of salary received by the workers in a particular organization. With time, expenses have increased manifold but salary structure has not increased at such a great extent that has led to a number of issues and mental frustration in the minds of the workers. The workers work hard even beyond their shift hours to get the maximum benefits out of their job and to remain in the good books of their boss. This has influenced the work life balance largely.
- Long Shift Hours:
Another issue that has led to the work life imbalance is the long shift hours of the people. The companies in order to gain competitive advantage of the companies in the same or different genre often request their workers to do overtimings and even two shifts at the time (Galea, Houkes and De Rijk 2014). Because of this long working hours, the employees face tremendous issues in the work life balance.
- Competition from other workers:
The amount of competition from other workers in the same firm also enables a person to work for long hours giving up their personal and emotional goals. The fear of lagging behind others in terms of salary and other benefits impress the worker to work for long hours sacrificing their family life and also making room for frustration.
- Target:
Importance of Work-Life Balance
Most of the companies experience a target set goal which they assign to their workers for their benefit and output. The target often make the employee robotic and influence them to work for long hours even after their regular timings so that they can achieve and even overshoot their target within a considerable time (Chimote and Srivastava 2013). The target often set is inhumanly but the employees in order to prove themselves as a true professional give up all their wishes for achieving it.
- Incentives:
Money is the prime motivating factor of any employee working for an organization and with the introduction of incentive, the use of money in making the employee work for the organization for a considerable amount of time is common (Boxall and Macky 2014). The people leaving their private and public life on the side engage in earning incentives which ultimately lead them to a better financial state without any healthy state of mind.
- Expenses:
It is true that expenses have increased considerably since the last few decades and so with the increase, people are also facing the wish and dire need of earing more amount of money within a time period. The expenses control the amount that has to be earned in order to get the kind of life they have always desired for. Desires for luxury and something out of the box than their regular lifestyle have forced the employees to work for a long period of time sacrificing their work life balance.
- Responsibilities:
Responsibilities are one of the major causes that help a person to work for long hours without wasting time to get monetary benefits at the end of the month. In certain cases, this affects the work life balance of the employees in a hard way. The responsibilities also make the people prone to getting more work, often out of the capacity just with the thought of getting some extra amount at the month end.
The employees are always on the end of mental collapse as they do not find any respite from their monotonous work that the persons are always doing on a regular basis. There is no fixed size of the issue and is generally defined as being of a single size all over the world. The definition that No size fits all is well applicable for the concept of work life balance of the employee. The issue has become so huge in the arena that there is an exclusive discussion on the various parts of the world regarding the concept of work life balance in the life of the individuals. The world is on a burning stage in this issue as more and more employees are facing the heat of the misbalance that is affecting both their personal lives but also their motivation to work for the organization and earn profit for the concerned. The employees are forced to serve the organization and work for prolonged working hours, which have made their motivation to work and also their engagement a big issue. It has been estimated that around 25% of the people of United States of America suffer dramatically due to the misbalance in the work and life scenarios (Spykman 2017). The size of the problem is ever increasing and has definitely lead to a number of problems in the overall life of the individuals.
Analysis of Work-Life Balance through SCAMPER Technique
There are a number of attempts made to make sure that every employee gets the required work life balance of the organization in the longer period of time. The attempts can be listed as follows:
- Being gentle to the work:
One of the easiest ways to achieve the target of work life balance is to make the work appear gentle and be not engrossed in the work with all soul. The work should be taken very lightly and is to be done according to needs and requirements (Deery and Jago 2015). Being gentle to oneself surely relives a huge burden of work pressure from the minds of the workers.
- Determining priorities:
Priority determination is one of the major arena that needs to be addressed to make work life balance feasible for the employees of a particular firm. The priority should be taken on a basis of interest and should be considered according to the needs of the hour.
- Setting goals:
Setting up goals is another way of determining the work life balance of the employees. Goals should be set by the employee’s right from the beginning and should be accomplished within a set deadline given to oneself. No outer pressure should have the capacity to influence an individual.
- Health:
Health is one of the vital components of the work life balance of the employee and without proper health, no access to work can be done. Pressure should be taken as per the needs and as per the amount of pressure one can sustain (Todd and Binns 2013). Excessive pressure can lead to a number of health issues like diabetes and heart problems which can lead to a number of health hazards of the people.
- Boundaries:
Boundaries should be set by the employee as to the amount of work which is to be done on a regular basis. No employee should set an inhuman target for him/herself which is not attainable within a fixed time period. Even the companies should be aware of the employees potentials and set the target accordingly on the basis of their capacities.
- Keeping work to office:
Keeping work to office and not carrying it to home is another point that needs to be considered while evaluating the work life balance of the employees. The employees while on their way to the home often bring laptops which again they use at night to finish the pending work. In such a circumstance, they lack their personal time with family and friends leading to a disrupted work life balance.
- Set calendar and time schedules:
Setting up calender and time schedules should be done accordingly so that the work pressure is to be distributed proportionately among the employees on different dates and no employees should feel the pressure on a stipulated period.
- Reduce stress at home:
Stress is one of the prime factors affecting the work life balance of the employees. Personal and professional stress should be avoided at the earliest so that the employees lead a stress free life away from the work hassles that are faced on a everyday basis.
- Positive attitude:
Positive attitude is one of the major components that is to be bought in the minds of the employees to get access to distressed environment at work place (Coelho, Marchante and Sousa 2015). If an employee produces a positive attitude then that employee would get all the reaps of the work without being stressed for the same.
- Achieve targets right from the first:
If targets are set and achieved from the very beginning then they would not face the heat of the work pressure at the very beginning. If targets are not achieved from the beginning of the month then the worker is likely to face heat at the end due to incompletion of target set at the beginning. Both the work of the employee as well as the company comes to a standstill and the employee faces mental frustration at the time.
- Less money minded:
Being less money minded is one of the basis of achieving a complete work life balance of the employees. Money, though is a motivating factor of the employee is bound to be one of the principle means of achieving targets but at the end of the day, it is the life of the employee that matters the most and without which no employee will ever be able to sustain inspite of having a huge amount of money.
Substitute: Substitution means to replace one piece of thing for other. In the method of SCAMPER technique, the substitution should be done between the misbalance of work and life attitude and replacing it with a sustainable life balance that is easy to achieve and maintain in the real time situation of the world (Friedman 2014). Substitution of the stress at workplace with the fun and good family times is surely one of the main focus for the substitution techniques.
Combine: Combination should be done between two components of the technique as well as the life goals. In order to maintain the work life balance of the employee, the things which are to be combined is health and balanced work. Work should be balanced according to the needs and wants of the organization and should be done in accordance to the time of the year when the organization needs the most. Combination at the right amount of both the family and professional life help to achieve a great work life balance of the employee.
Adapt: Adaptation of the work life balance is really important in the life of the employees as they are always to the verge of fulfilling their targets. If they can make sure that they adapt the healthy ways of living along with timely and regulated work done by the employees, they get the opportunity to maintain a very basic work life balance which in turn helps in greater production and good life at the personal level.
Modify: Modification of lifestyle is another way of achieving work life balance of the employee. If the employee engages in a work where they make boundaries and seat personal deadlines for the task then it becomes really easy for them to maintain their proper work life balance which in turn has some positive effects on the life of the employees in the longer run. The modification should be done on a positive basis and should be followed accordingly.
Put to Another Use: Work life balance is also useful as that can ensure that usage of the excess time which are not devoted to work to be put to another use. The human brain is a machine that needs to get diverted in order to perform the task of the everyday lives of the employees. If work life balance is maintained at a great level then the time can be devoted to something else, which makes the lives of the employees really easy and accessible.
Eliminate: Elimination of stress is one of the major causes that can help the employee lead the life of less stress and also makes sure that no other factors are engaged in helping the stress to climb up the ladder. The elimination process requires a huge amount of mental strength as without the cognitive mindset of the employees, no target can be achieved including the work life balance as stated here.
Reverse: The stress of the workplace should be reversed with utmost importance as without stress better work life balance can be achieved. The reversal process can be achieved by making sure that the employees devote only their stipulated time to the work and not sacrifice their entire personal life for achieving the monetary benefits that job and worklife offers.
However, work life is of utmost importance in the life of any individual it is of utmost importance to maintain the proper life balance along with the work stated. With SCAMPER technique, a very detailed analysis of the topic on Work life balance can be achieved that helps in making the life of the employee something better and also makes sure that the person gets enough exposure with all the benefits of the personal life.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be said that maintenance of work life balance is of utmost important to lead a life without any worries. Work is one of the most pivotal parts of the life of a majority of human beings as without work no animal can sustain on earth. Money is also required by the human population in order to live the life that the person has always dreamt of. However, with more stress in the work sector, it has become complicated in the scenario to maintain a proper balance and to make the whole process of achieving the desired target whole easier. There are an ample ways that help to make the process easy including some strategies and techniques. SCAMPER technique is also utilised in order to make the process easy and accessible. All the strategies and the implications have been discussed along with the cause of the action. The maintenance of work life balance is of utmost importance and so with these techniques it can be achieved at great lengths.
For the maintenance of proper work life balance a number of recommendations should be considered from the point of view of the employee as well as the organization. The recommendations are as follows:
- To maintain working hours: Maintenance of working hours is of vital importance as without the maintenance of such working hours, no employee can achieve a perfect balance. The employee should arrive at the office at time and also leave the office at a mentioned time so that other than the given time, he/she should be able to utilise their time in various other activities other than work and professional commitments.
- To make sure that breaks are limited: Breaks during a particular working hours makes the worker lag behind the whole day work, which he/she completes at the day end. This makes the whole process of reaching home late that enables a disruption in the work life balance of the employees. Breaks if taken in a limited amount of time can increase productivity within the time making time for both the professional and personal life.
- Living a healthy life: Leading a healthy life is one of the major ways of sidelining stress factors and making sure that the employee has the ability to maintain a perfect work life balance. Without the maintenance of stress, it is difficult to maintain the pressure of the work that in turn can disrupt the overall performance of the employee.
All these recommendations are to kept in mind while accessing the concept of work life balance in the professional life of the employee.
References
Boxall, P. and Macky, K., 2014. High-involvement work processes, work intensification and employee well-being. Work, employment and society, 28(6), pp.963-984.
Boxall, P. and Macky, K., 2014. High-involvement work processes, work intensification and employee well-being. Work, employment and society, 28(6), pp.963-984.
Chimote, N.K. and Srivastava, V.N., 2013. Work-life balance benefits: From the perspective of organizations and employees. IUP Journal of Management Research, 12(1), p.62.
Coelho, V.A., Marchante, M. and Sousa, V., 2015. “Positive Attitude”: A multilevel model analysis of the effectiveness of a Social and Emotional Learning Program for Portuguese middle school students. Journal of adolescence, 43, pp.29-38.
Deepika, M. and Rani, M.M., 2014. WORK LIFE BALANCE.
Deery, M. and Jago, L., 2015. Revisiting talent management, work-life balance and retention strategies. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 27(3), pp.453-472.
Friedman, S.D., 2014. Leading the Life You Want: Skills for Integrating Work and Life. Harvard Business Press.
Galea, C., Houkes, I. and De Rijk, A., 2014. An insider’s point of view: how a system of flexible working hours helps employees to strike a proper balance between work and personal life. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 25(8), pp.1090-1111.
Jones, F., Burke, R.J. and Westman, M. eds., 2013. Work-life balance: A psychological perspective. Psychology Press.
Kim, H.K., 2014. Work-life balance and employees’ performance: The mediating role of affective commitment. Global Business and Management Research, 6(1), p.37.
Spykman, N.J., 2017. America’s strategy in world politics: the United States and the balance of power. Routledge.
Todd, P. and Binns, J., 2013. Work–life balance: is it now a problem for management?. Gender, Work & Organization, 20(3), pp.219-231.
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