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.

Enhancing Psychological Wellbeing in Industry 4.0: The Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence, Social Connectedness, Work-Life Balance and Positive Coping Behaviour

Abstract: Rapid advancement in technology has expedited the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). Such advancement is changing the way organisations create value for their stakeholders and for their employees, who must work, communicate and behave in a different manner than before. The increasing use of technology to complete tasks and communicate may lead to poor interpersonal relationships and potential negative consequences in terms of employee engagement, organisational commitment, work-life balance and wellbeing. Employees can actively deal with stressors that arise in the twenty-first-century world of work by developing positive coping behaviour (PCB). Although literature indicates that positive coping behaviour leads to improved psychological wellbeing, it is not clear how the emotional intelligence (EI), social connectedness (SC) and work-life balance (WLB) of employees influence their coping behaviour. Therefore, the purpose of this chapter is to theoretically contribute by providing an overview of current research on emotional intelligence, social connectedness and work-life balance and conceptually clarify its relation to positive coping behaviour. Based on the theoretical relationships found, human resource practitioners and industrial psychologists can identify and develop interventions that could contribute to the positive coping behaviour of employees dealing with change and occupational stress in Industry 4.0.

Strengthening of work-life balance while working remotely in the context of COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Recently, quite a number of employees have been asked to choose remote work or even have been forced into it as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Notwithstanding the benefits suggested by remote working, e.g. saving on commuting time and expenses working from home generates numerous challenges for employees, including the blurred line between the roles of working and private life. While, previous studies have demonstrated that work-life balance, which refers to the ability of every individual to coordinate work and family obligations successfully, has a significant impact on employee well-being and organisational performance, ways for maintaining the balance under crisis remain underexplored. OBJECTIVE: Trying to narrow the gap, the paper aims at revealing the antecedents of work-life balance while working remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: A quantitative survey has been conducted in Lithuania (pilot study). The data have been collected from the employees working only remotely. RESULTS: The results provided evidence that employees struggled with work-home balance while working remotely. In line with the results, work and family demands served as detrimental factors for work-home balance, while manager support, co-workers support, job autonomy, and job control increased work-home balance. CONCLUSIONS: Thus, the research results expand the knowledge on the antecedents of work-life balance in a crisis situation. Moreover, the findings have significant implications for employers demonstrating that organisations need to carefully plan and implement new strategies and practices for work-home balance improvement for the employees who work from home.

Quality of Work Life Balance: One Lives to Work or Works to Live

Abstract: Having a measure of control when, where and how individuals work, leading to their being able to enjoy an optimal quality of life. Work /life balance is achieved when an individual‘s right to a fulfilled life inside and outside paid work is accepted and respected as norm, to a mutual benefit, of individual, business and society. Quality of work life and Work life balance cannot be seen as two independent entities. Both depend on each other. Nowadays Managerial personnel feel frustrated because of alienation over their conditions of employment. The factors contributing to the problem are that the workers themselves are changing. They are more educated, more independent and they began reaching for higher –order needs, which is more than psychological needs. Therefore, employers now have to redesign jobs for a better quality working life i.e. work life balance. The purpose of this paper is therefore to quantify the effects of quality of work life on women employees, as well as work-life balance issues. Recommendations to management are presented for both government and organisational consideration to accelerate the implementation of a very successful work-life strategy within organization.