"Work-life balance".

University Degree Business and Administrative studies

Module Title : Human Resource Management

Module Code: BCD1H05

Assignment:

The management of the "work-life balance" has become an increasingly important issue in the UK and the whole of the world in recent years as a result of various changes in the social and economic context. The pressures associated with dealing with the increasing demands of work and personal responsibilities have increased worker interest in "employee-friendly" working environments and deals. Employers, meanwhile, have begun to pay increased attention to the management of the work-life balance in response to recruitment and generally employee problems, in an economy that is moving towards full employment.

Work-life balance is about adjusting working patterns to help combine work with other aspects of life such as caring responsibilities, studies or even a hobby. Employers are developing a wide range of work-life balance options, covering flexible working arrangements and flexible benefit packages for every type of people. Examples include flexi-time, job-sharing, working from home, time off in lieu and breaks from work. Employees and employers benefit from being happier at home and at work at the same time.

There are many benefits for employers from a well organized work life balance, plan that have been observed the last few years. Some of them that are obviously not the same easy to achieve as others that come easily, are listed below:

The potential for increased service coverage if some employees arrive earlier and others stay later at their job place.
The possibility that employees (especially those in sales and service functions) may be closer to their customers’ offices, thereby reducing necessary traveling time.
Greater in employee schedules may help meet customer demand ...

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The potential for increased service coverage if some employees arrive earlier and others stay later at their job place.
The possibility that employees (especially those in sales and service functions) may be closer to their customers’ offices, thereby reducing necessary traveling time.
Greater in employee schedules may help meet customer demand more profitably for companies.
Increased employee commitment, satisfaction and resiliency that will give the business a better customer service value.
More effective workload management, reduced interruptions and distractions in the workday.
Increased capacity to meet work targets and make customer needs their top priority and so on the business successful..

Of course on the other side there are benefits for the employees as well. Of course the most obvious benefit is that each person will have some free time to spend wherever they want, doing whatever they want. Some other more specific benefits are listed below:

Greater responsibility and a sense of ownership at their workplace.
Better relations and communication with the management.
Improved self-esteem, health, concentration and confidence.
Loyalty and commitment to the company or person they work for.
Not bringing problems at home to work, and vice versa.
The time to focus more on life outside work.
Greater control of their working lives.

In the last year the British prime minister and the government decided to change the legislation about the work life balance. They want to give people the opportunity to work to live and not live to work, as they say. So they have changed the previous legislation in a few ways, so it is more flexible to the public. The changes that were done are: 1.Changes to maternity rights. Existing maternity rights are being changed to extend the period of maternity leave and pay and to increase the rate of maternity pay. Women whose expected week of childbirth begins on or after 6 April 2003 will benefit from the new maternity leave and pay rights. 2. New right to paid paternity leave. A right to paternity leave and pay is being introduced. Eligible employees will be able to take up to two weeks’ paid leave to care for their new baby and support the mother. The right will be available to employees whose children are expected to be born, or are born, on or after 6 April 2003. 3. New rights to paid leave for adoptive parents. A right to adoption leave and pay is being introduced. The new right will be available to individuals who adopt or one partner of a couple where the couple adopts jointly. 4. Rights to parental leave and time off for dependants. Employees – both mothers and fathers – who have completed one year’s service with their employers are already entitled to 13 weeks’ (unpaid) parental leave to care for their child. All employees are also entitled to take a reasonable amount of (unpaid) time off work to deal with an emergency or unexpected situation involving a dependant.

Autocratic leadership is dead; it doesn't work in today's reality, it may have never really worked according to some people. Building a sense of team work in your organization will help you win and perform. A human resource manager in a medium sized enterprise is very important to keep the staff together and have no problems between them in or out the workplace. A business with approximately 400 members of staff, which approximately 45% are female, I believe should have 2 human resource managers. A man and a woman that will be able to communicate very often with all the employees of the company and find out and solve all the problems of the employees. This could be difficult but achievable by 2 people. Another difficulty is that people might not want to talk about it, so human resource managers have to find ways of communication. The most important job for human resource managers is to make the employees understand, that life is not work and work is not life.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

The Employee Recruitment and Retention Handbook
by Diane Arthur Published by AMACOM, Apr 2001
Harvard Business Review on Work and Life Balance Published by Harvard Business School Press, Jul 2000
Human Resource Management by H T Graham & Roger Bennett Financial Times, Prentice Hall, Ninth Edition 1998
A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice by Michael Armstrong 8th Edition July 2001
Core Management For Students and Practitioners Peter Winfield, Ray Bishop, Keith Porter Butterworth-Heinemann Edition 2000