Work-life balance can also be helped through the use of other flexible arrangements within the work place, such as career breaks. This is an agreement between the employer and employee for them to take a break from there contracted job for a set period of time. With an agreement in place for them to return to their job (Price, 2007).This could allow employees to focus on other goals within their life, even maybe undertaking further training in their given field of work, returning a more experienced employee. This is good for the employee as their work-life balance has been improved. But this also creates the problem to the employer of having to find a temporary replacement for that employee, but again this could also bring benefits into the organisation by maybe allowing them to have a more diverse workforce for the period and the temporary staff may bring new ideas and skills to the organisation. Extra days off during the year could also improve work life balance allowing staff to take longer holidays and spend more time with families can all be advantageous, increasing moral and productivity as studies have shown(CIPD). Whilst the government provides statutory maternity and paternity leave the employer has the option to extend this offering an employer more time than the law stats will have benefits, employee/employer relations will be improved and again the work life balance is helped. (Beardwell, Holden, Claydon, 2004). Maternity leave will attract more women into the workplace especially if this is extended, allowing employers to achieve a more diverse workforce.
The main benefits that the employee will gain from work life balance are the opportunity to work flexibly which will lead to a fall in stress levels. Also workers may become increasingly focused in their roles and more motivated, being able to juggle the demands of work and life will lead to greater job satisfaction. With employees understanding the need for the balance and incorporating this into the workplace employees will feel greater job security, knowing their employee understands their responsibilities or interests outside of the work place. Understanding that employees do have a life out of work and are not machines or a statistic will achieve greater employee employer relations. Recognised benefits for employees are reduced stress levels, increased focus motivation and job satisfaction/security. [http://www.docep.wa.gov.au][09/01/09]
By introducing work-life initiatives employers can reduce absenteeism, achieve greater staff retention and lower staff turnover. Absenteeism can be reduced along with lateness of staff. Overall moral of staff will be increased, and stress reduced allowing for more productivity. They will achieve an overall more flexible workforce. Though these improvements they may also raise their corporate image, and have an increased ability to recruit staff. [http://www.docep.wa.gov.au][09/01/09]
The employer can also gain rewards from showing them self to be a work-life orientated organisation. By actively advertising this publicly they may attract a more applicants which may also be more diverse in nature. This may reduce recruitment costs and also aid in retention of the current workforce.
There are allot of benefits to having good work-life initiatives, but we must not forget that there can also some negative effects to both the employee and employer. Mainly and most obviously employers may incur costs in starting these initiatives. An increase in time away from work could also cause life out of work to spill into work.
Benefits that may be specific to the employer may include the following. By reducing stress levels within their workforce they may experience higher productivity and competitiveness.
By introducing flexible working they may find that they have staff to cover for absenteeism, and a reduced rate of absenteeism. They may also have raised moral, motivation commitment and engagement.
Whilst there are many benefits to creating a successful work-life balance (WLB), there are also some disadvantages. Along with these disadvantages there are also a number of barriers that can that can have an effect on an employer or employee achieving the right work-life balance. ‘’Barriers may be defined as obstacles or hindrances to the implication and ongoing implementation of WLB strategies.’’
(Ciera, Holmes, Abbott, Pettit, 2002)
I am now going to discuss some of the main barriers to achieving a work life balance and the affect that this may have on an individual. Parents may have a lack of access to childcare affecting their ability to gain suitable work and may be forced to work around there children. Employees may find it difficult to support their families on low wages, so may be forced to work long hours to earn enough money to get by. Jobs which have long hours whilst also being physically or mentally tough may require more recovery time before starting work again. This can limit and individual’s ability to strike a good work-life balance as most of their free time is spent recovering so as they are able to work again when required.
[][15/01/09]
There could also be a lack of awareness, within the work place, of the flexible working practises that are offered or have been put in place. Better information and education of the workforce would help to eliminate this. It could also be the case that many employees do not have access to some of the flexible working practices that are offered. For example for an employee to work successfully at home that would need computer office equipment and the internet. Some lower income employees may again find this difficult, and it could also be the case that training may need to be offered in order for an employee to successfully set up, so as to be able to work from home. Again staying along the lines of education and training within the work place, another barrier, could simply be that there is a lack of understanding of the benefits that can be achieved with a successful balance of work and life. Successful integration of on and off site workers could also prove to be difficult.
There need to be sufficient services and resources in place to support staff and managers when they are creating flexible working arrangements. Without the resources in place to start with, the flexible working practices cannot be created and offered to employees. This brings me on to another potential barrier, cost. Implementing flexible working practices can be time consuming and costly. In order for flexible working practices to be successful then the cost must be budgeted for.
[Www. Adilade.edu.au/staff/balance/barriers][12/01/09]
Employees may find a number of factors that may discourage them from using the flexible working opportunities that are available to them. A study carried out by the institute of employees studies looked in to the difficulties that may be faced by employees. They found that employees may worry that by seeking to improve there WLB that they could harm their career prospects. Long hour organisational cultures, and unsupportive attitudes of senior and line managers along with colleagues could also act as a barrier. With demanding job roles and large workloads employees may find it hard to see a different way of working being successful. They too found that employees may lack the knowledge of the available flexible working practises and that employers relied on the employee to be able to identify solutions for themselves, and that organisations may not have the technology and info structure available so as to make initiatives such as working from home feasible. Again they also found that employees may be concerned with the affect on their earnings, as flexible working practices can result in a reduction in pay. For example part-time work and career brakes, low income employees may not be able to afford to do this.
[http://www.employment-studies.co.uk/pubs/summary.php?id=384][12/01/09]
Employers can also find difficulties when trying to implement WLB strategies and policies. Line managers may find it difficult when having to decide which employees are entitled to each option, and will have to do this in a non discriminative way. The study found that managers would like guidance in this area and also on how deliver workloads with reduced or differently organised resources. Problems can also arise with co-workers who may feel that they are left to carry the burden and extra work load when their peers take up WLB initiatives.[http://www.employment-studies.co.uk/pubs/summary.php?id=384][12/01/09]
We need to implement work-life balance initiatives due to our long hour’s culture, a growing feminisation of the workforce, men acting more as fathers, intensification of work, to help family relationships and elder care. Through my research it seems clear that work-balance initiatives bring several benefits to employees and employers. Although there are barriers that in some cases must be overcome. With the increasing pressure of working life and our long hour’s culture it is important to have protection in place for employees. Previously it was thought by employers that these policies could be detrimental to productivity, but the recognised benefits for the employer introducing work-life balance initiatives, include, lower staff turnover, reduced absenteeism and lateness, improved employee morale and reduced stress. It can provide a more flexible workforce; increase ability to attract staff, fulfil equal opportunity objectives and enhance corporate image .Also recognised benefits for employees include reduced stress, increased focus motivation, job satisfaction and job security. [http://www.docep.wa.gov.au][09/01/09].
A CIPD survey in 2003 found that long hours can affect their life and work, more than one in four reported a negative impact on health, and two out of five reported a negative impact on relationships and most reported that it affects their job performance. [http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/wrktgtime/wrktmewrklfbal][11/01/09]. This survey shows that the long hour’s culture can affect work and life and a work-life balance is needed.
There are many benefits to work-life balance initiatives for both employees and employers and are increasingly needed in today’s world and the government ensure that employees are given access to these initiatives with the legislation they have put in place over the past few years. But there are barriers that organisations will need to work though to be successful in implicating the initiatives, in most cases better, training, support, and resources will help to overcome these.
WORD COUNT: 2346
References
Beardwell, I, Holden, L, and Claydon, T, 2004 (4th Edition) Human Resource Management – A contemporary approach, Pearson Education Limited
Heery, E and Noon, M, 2001, A dictionary of Human Resource Management, Oxford University Press
Edited by Brian Towers, 1996 (2nd Edition) The Handbook of Human Resource Management, Blackwell Publishers Limited.
Price, A, 2007 (3rd Edition) Human Resource Management: in a business context, South-Western CENAGE Learning.
Muller-Camen, Croucher & Leigh, 2008, Human Resource Management – a case study approach. CIPD.
Ciera, H, Holmes, B, Abbott, J, Pettit,T, 2002, WORK/LIFE BALANCE STRATAGIES: PROGRESS AND PROBLEMS IN AUSTRALIAN ORGANISATIONS. Monash University
Unison, “The case for work-life balance” [] [12/01/09]
CIPD – ‘’Work-life Balance’’ [] [11/01/09]
Department of Commerce - Work-life Balance [] [09/01/09]
The University of Adelaide – Work-life Balance Barriers
[www. Adelaide.edu.au/staff/balance/barriers] [12/01/09]
Institute for Employment Studies –‘’ Work-Life Balance Beyond the Rhetoric ‘’
[http://www.employment-studies.co.uk/pubs/summary.php?id=384] [12/01/09]
Department of Labour ‘’Kiwis have their say on work-life balance ‘’ [][15/01/09]