Work–life balance

About: Work–life balance is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2252 publications have been published within this topic receiving 36240 citations. The topic is also known as: Work Life balance & work-life balance.

Work and family programs in Australia: what are the impliations for work-life balance?

Abstract: Australia stands out as having few statutory arrangements in place that facilitate work and family balance. The main mechanism for achieving such a balance is through non-standard employment arrangements and the negotiation of arrangements at the workplace between employer and employee. In order to examine the contemporary workplace issues that challenge the achievement of work life balance, this paper examines the programs and policies that exist in Australia that are aimed at facilitating a reconciliation of work and family responsibilities.

The effect of supervisor characteristics on subordinates' work-life balance: A dyadic analysis in Japan

Abstract: INTRODUCTION Since the change of economic situations and social norms drives diversification at the workplace, the needs for work style also become diverse. This changing situation makes it difficult to manage employees using traditional methods, which rely on male employees to work full-time as comprehensive workers. In response to this situation, work-life balance (hereafter, WLB), which comes from the civil rights and women's movements in the US in the 1960s, receives much attention in Japan. Given employees' needs and the governmental support for WLB, the number of WLB benefits, such as short-time work systems, flexible schedules, parental leave, and family care leave have been offered by organizations for decades. However, many work organizations have implemented WLB benefits, while these benefits are not fully utilized. For example, parental leave is granted to both women and men according to the Child Care and Family Care Leave Law, but according to the Basic Survey of Gender Equality in Employment Management of 2014, the acquisition rate of parental leave by men was only 2.30% in Japan compared to 86.6% for women. Against this background, there still remains a gender-specific attitude towards roles: a husband's job is to earn money, while a wife's job is to look after the home and family in Japanese society and the workplace (Nakazawa, 2007). Sato and Takeishi (2004) articulated that the low acquisition rate of men's parental leave cannot be explained through assuming that men do not prefer to take parental leave, and therefore there must be other factors that prevent men from taking parental leave. Though this example is specific to the case of parental leave, almost all the same issues can be found through other WLB benefits, specifically that individual preference is not the reason for underexploited WLB benefits. WLB is currently widely known, and the interest of WLB studies has shifted from what kind of effect results from WLB to what is needed to achieve WLB. It is often pointed out that informal support from the organization is necessary to achieve WLB (Allen, 2001). More studies, especially quantitative researches, are necessary for revealing the relationship between WLB and the workplace to achieve employees' WLB as too few studies focus on the internal work environment in Japan. Previous studies have revealed that long working hours prohibit employees from achieving WLB, especially in Japan (Ogura, 2008; Sato, 2008). However, it is difficult for employees to manage their working hours to establish a healthy WLB. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate other factors that have effects on the achievement of WLB in the workplace. In this study, I focus on the presence of supervisors in the workplace as supervisors are frequently the key gatekeepers for subordinates in setting organizational practices in the workplace (Carlson, Ferguson, Kacmar, Grzaywacz & Whitten, 2011). The effect of supervisor characteristics and the crossover effect of immediate supervisors' own practices of WLB on subordinates' WLB are investigated. LITERATURE REVIEW Supervisor characteristics Allen (2001) contended that the implementation of WLB benefits can help employees manage multiple work and non-work responsibilities, while the availability of these benefits alone does not address the fundamental aspects of the organization that can inhibit employees from successfully balancing career and family. For example, WLB programs often do not affect original norms and values that dissuade employees from using benefits (Allen, 2001; Lobel & Kossek, 1996). Moreover, employees often perceive that the organization encourages workers to devote themselves to their work at the expense of other life domains (Allen, 2001; Lobel & Kossek, 1996). This belief causes employees to believe that the organization's environment does not change to facilitate WLB (Allen, 2001). Additionally, the use of WLB benefits is not enthusiastically embraced by employees because they perceive that utilizing such benefits may have a negative consequential effect on their career (Allen, 2001; Frye & Breaugh, 2004; Judiesch & Lyness, 1999). …

Work-Life Balance of Women Bank Employees in Kumbakonam Municipal Precinct

Abstract: Objectives: Work/life balance refers to generating and retaining compassionate and robust work atmospheres in which the employees balance their formal duties with household tasks and thus strengthens employee commitment and efficiency. This study has been made to find the factors influencing the work life balance of women bank employees in Kumbakonam in India. The focus of the study is on both the public and private sector employees positioned as clerk, cashier and manager. The bank employees deal with a heterogeneous population daily in their working schedules and pursue a risky and crucial job. Methods and Analysis: Simple random sampling method has been used to collect the primary information from the married women bank employees with the help of administering a questionnaire. Primary data were collected from 150 bank women employees and the data collected has been analyzed with the help of statistical tools like percentage analysis, ANOVA, Chi-square test, by using SPSS package. The Cronbach Alpha of 0.8 confirms the reliability, relevance and consistency of the questionnaire used for the study. Findings: The study reveals an existence of substantial relationship between spousal status and personal factors like education, physical and mental health, emotional balance, number of dependents and the like. The study concluded that married women employees are mostly affected and finding difficult in managing their work-life. Applications/Improvements: This study can be applied to the institutions where women predominately employ themselves and strike to balance between work and family life.

The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Egyptian Women Psychological Empowerment and Work-Life Balance

Abstract: The main objective of this study is to examine the impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Egyptian Women Psychological Empowerment and Work-Life Balance. The study was conducted on (107) Egyptian working women in different sectors and located in the Greater Cairo region. An online survey link was sent directly to these respondents to answer. They were selected using the non-probability judgmental sampling method; the only criterion for inclusion was that these respondents were working women operating in the Egyptian business context. Research hypotheses were tested using correlation and multiple regression analysis. After testing the effect of Egyptian working women’s psychological empowerment dimensions on the perceived work-life balance, it was concluded that competence and self-determination dimensions were the two main psychological empowerment dimensions that positively affected the perceived work life balance. The other three dimensions: meaning, impact, and trust dimensions, had an insignificant effect on the perceived work-life balance. This research will help in designing a practical roadmap showing how to empower women psychologically while preserving their well-being and balancing their work-life duties and responsibilities. In addition to implementing work-life strategies and HR policies that will support working women in Egypt. Most of the studies have tackled the positive benefits of women empowerment and ignored its consequences on women’s emotional and psychological well-being. Besides, few researches have been empirically administered on working women’s psychological empowerment especially in Egypt.