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Work-Life Balance in Service Sector (Special Reference to Public and Private Sectors in Guntur Dist)
P. Venkateswara Rao
St. Martin's Institute of Business Management, Dhulapally, Secunderabad-014 Abstract : Work life and personal life are two sides of the
same coin. Creating and managing a balance between the work and personal life is considered to be a work life balance issue. Increasing work pressures, globalization and technological advancement have made it an issue with both the sexes, all professionals, working across all levels and all industries throughout the world. The corporate world today is exceedingly demanding. The services sector is one which is facing the brunt of the hazard of work- life imbalance. Work deadlines are getting tighter and the individual’s jobs are not only to match with deadlines but also to give quality outputs. Due to this work pressure, it becomes exceedingly difficult to maintain work – family life. Many a times, people, in the quest for reaching the top, work so hard, that they miss out on the real pleasures of life. While it is absolutely great to have a flourishing career, it is equally imperative to have a life outside work. Work- personal life conflict occurs when the burden, obligations and responsibilities of work and family roles become incompatible. Obligation of one can force an individual to
neglect the other. This study is a specific study of private and public services sector of Guntur district. It also examines if there are any barriers and reasons for the muted adoption of work-life balance policies in the India services sector. Therefore, this is an attempt to contribute to the literature by exploring the current understanding of and attitude towards the issue of work-life balance among employees in services sector. Managing people is so difficult than the management of other factors of production that it requires much qualitative input to preserve them to achieve organizational goals. Work-life balance is one among the various human resource concepts in the contemporary business environment. There is a need for organizations to adopt human resource strategies and policies that accommodate the work-life needs of a diverse workforce in the current business environment. So, Questionnaire is designed with the objective of collecting personal data, factors affecting work-life balance, factors affecting work balance and life balance and problems due to ineffective work-life balance policies.
I. INTRODUCTION:
The term “work” is being used here is referring to paid work or employment. The term Work life balance is a contested term, with many alterations suggested, such as
“work life integration”, Work life interface”, Work life Masonic”, Work life reconciliation”, or Work life coordination”(Mc Pheron,2007). As early as 1960‟s researchers have begun to study and find some imbalance between work and personal life. Various studies on work life thereafter finds that what happened at the workplace have significant impact on individuals and their families. Work life balance means adjusting the pattern of work so that your employees can benefit from a better fit between their work and areas of their personal life and in long run hope to achieve sustainable development and profitability (Verma, 2007). The profitability and productivity of organization depends on two factors that are interrelated performance and commitment of employees. These factors depend on workforce of the organization. But every employee has two aspects of his/her being personal life and professional life. Both of these are difficult to separate and from a source of conflict. If an organization wishes better productivity and more committed employees, then they have to be happy and satisfied. The balance is achieved when an individual‟s right to a fulfilled life inside and outside paid work is accepted and respected
as a room, to the mutual benefit of the individual business and society (Narenderanath, 2007). Work family balance is a form of inter role conflict in which role pressures from the work and family domains are mutually incompatible in some respect (Koizumi, 2000).
Work life and personal life are inter-connected and interdependent. Spending more time in office, dealing with clients and the pressures of job can interfere and affect the personal life, sometimes making it impossible to even complete the household chores. On the other hand, personal life can also be demanding if you have a kid or aging parents, financial problems or even problems in the life of a dear relative. It can lead to absenteeism from work, creating stress and lack of concentration at work.
Work-life balance is a phrase used to describe an individual's feelings of satisfaction with the participation in job-related activities and his or her personal life. This state is achieved when an individual feels the amount of time spent making money to provide for one's household and advancing career goals is adequately balanced with the amount of time spent in independent and personal pursuits, such as friendships, family, spirituality, hobbies, and leisure activities.
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Failure to maintain work-life balance may result in significant emotional distress and reduction of productivity. In many cases, spending more time at work may actually lead to a decrease in productivity. Some individuals feel that their workplace creates too many pressures to maintain a work/life balance, and they may feel a reduction in their feelings of satisfaction and enjoyment of life. Some individuals feel as if there is not enough time for other aspects of life. In general, individuals who work more than 60 hours per week are colloquially called workaholics.
Many a times, successful people, in the quest for reaching the top, work so hard, that they miss out on the real pleasures of life. While it is absolutely great to have a flourishing career, it is equally imperative to have a life outside work. Work-personal life conflict occurs when the burden, obligations and responsibilities of work and family roles become incompatible. Obligation of one can force an individual to neglect the other.
The ever-increasing working hours leave the individuals with less time for themselves and to pursue his hobbies or leisure activities. This hinders the growth of the person as an individual in terms of his personal and spiritual growth. Professionals working in the multi- national corporate such as BPO industry, doctors and nurses IT, banking industry professionals are the few examples who are facing the brunt of the hazard constantly.
A decade back, employees used to have fixed working hours. The boundary between the work and home has disappeared with time. With globalization people working across countries are realizing that the concept of fixed working hours is fading away. The technological blessings like e-mail, text messaging and cell phones which were thought of as tools to connect them to their work being away from their workplace, have actually integrated their personal and professional lives. Now professionals find themselves working even when they are on vacations. The ever-increasing working hours leave the individuals with less time for themselves and to pursue his hobbies or leisure activities. This hinders the growth of the person as an individual in terms of his personal and spiritual growth.
Professionals working in the banking industry are facing the brunt of the hazard constantly.
There are a number of highly contentious issues associated with flexible working. For example, government policy may favor a reduction in the legal restrictions on the hiring and dismissal of workers, which would most certainly increase flexibility.
However, this could have significant, often harmful, consequences for many groups and individuals. This is a key issue for many developing and advanced economies.
Many countries have a legally enforceable minimum wage, but the consequences may be higher unemployment levels among Low-skilled, particularly young, people. In many countries governments are considering age discrimination legislation, in particular
to prevent discrimination in the employment of older people. Although it is recognized that government has a role to play, the impact of often unintentional consequences of government intervention, can be damaging. Getting it „right‟ is rarely straightforward. It is evident that this real or perceived need for flexibility is increasingly influencing employment conditions.
Within organizations, people are both the most vital and the most costly resource. Traditionally, however, people have often been seen, rightly or wrongly, as being prone to inflexibility and inertia. As a consequence many organizations have sought to achieve greater flexibility in employment conditions in recent decades. Both employers and employees lead the trend, with governments often regulating, sometimes supporting, and developments via legislation. That said, „flexibility‟
often means different things to individuals as opposed to business. The corporate world of today is exceedingly demanding. Today the deadlines are getting tighter and an individual‟s job is not only to match that deadline but also to give quality output. Due to this work pressure, it becomes exceedingly difficult to maintain a family life.
It becomes very difficult to have the engagement of mind with the engagement of body. In every individual‟s life there are four stakeholders- own personality, job, family and society.
Thus, it is assumed that work-life balance can bring a huge transformation at the organizational and individual levels. It helps an organization to inherently build a strong value system, which is attributed to the work life balance. This will help people realize what they want to do, which in turn will lead to stronger organizations based on stronger values, orientations and ethics.
There is no „one size fits all‟ pattern of work-life balance practices. It is important for employers to offer practices that appeal to all employees. Employers may incur additional costs in adopting policies to support work-life balance, including increased managerial workloads.
Such costs are however generally outweighed by the gains in achieving strategic objectives:
• Increased flexibility and customer service, for example to cover for absence and holidays
• Raised morale, motivation, commitment and engagement
• Reduced absenteeism
• Improved recruitment and retention of a diverse workforce
• Wanting to become an „employer of choice‟
• Meeting legal requirements
II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE:
There is no single universally acceptable definition of work-life balance; a lot will depend on the frame of reference scholars are using. The meaning or interpretation of the term varies with the age, interest, value, personal circumstance and personality of each
individual (Torrington, Hall and Taylor, 2009). This resonates with Lee, Elke and Dobson (2009), who argue that an employee's 'age, life style and environment' play an important part in the individual's discernment of work-life balance. From the foregoing, the definitions can assume social, economic and legislative forms.
According to Karatepe and Uludag (2007), WLB can be described as employees having the ability to fulfil both work and other responsibilities. Their definition is based on social issues associated with individuals 'irrespective of marital, race or gender' to attain an improved suit between paid work and personal life.
Freeman (2009) suggests that extant literature has identified four key problems which affect the implementation of WLB. This includes organizational culture, which rewards long hours and results in neglect of other areas of life. It also includes attitudinal problems, in the sense that sometimes middle management and supervisors resist policies on WLB issues.
Johnson Roxanna (2008) in his research on “An analysis of equity perception related to family-friendly work-life balance of female employees without dependents” finds companies have initiated family-friendly work-life balance programs to improve retention, recruitment, job satisfaction, and productivity, and to reduce absenteeism and stress of employees with dependents. Results of this study suggest that developing work-life balance programs that are more equitable for all employees will increase perceptions of organization justice, thereby increasing perceptions of value to the organization for employees without dependents.
Industrial/Organizational psychologists who work for, or with, organizations and others in leadership positions may want to more closely attend to the equity of work- life balance programs. Ideas are provided based on suggestions participants gave for making work-life balance programs more equal for all employees.
Vijay Laxmi (2008) in her research on “working spouses fine with their work life balance” explores getting married is no more a reason for dissatisfaction in the work life. Married working couples in India appear to manage the work-life tightrope well. The continued difficulties for women looking to re-enter the workforce after a child break and the high unwillingness to move cities to follow their spouses' careers are the challenges for women spouses in the Indian workplace. There is evidence that such programs are not a significant drain on company profitability. Since firms similar to those in this study can expect to realize gains in retention of employees and continued profit growth, it would benefit them to adopt certain types of work/life balance policies.
„Work–life balance‟ is, however, a contested term. For some, the term „balance‟ suggests that work is not integral to life, and implies a simple trade-off between the two spheres. It encourages quick-fix solutions that do not address fundamental inequalities, and that therefore shift responsibility for balancing work and
home life onto individuals (Burke, 2004; Lewis et al., 2007). Where employees‟ needs are not met, employees are expected to experience work–life stress, although it may be that, particularly for those without caring responsibilities, time stress is partially or wholly offset by other factors, such as material rewards or job enjoyment. European surveys suggest that unmet demand for work–life balance (especially a mismatch between desired and actual hours) is increasing (Gallie, 2005; Green and Tsitsianis 2005), with possible adverse consequences for employees‟ wellbeing and performance at work.
General Social Surveys in the USA Kiekolt (2003) found continuous differences in women and men work opportunities, career patterns and family responsibilities.
Over time work-family programs have spread, but they still remain unsystematic, weakly institutionalized and underutilized as they often lack manager‟s support.
Lalaitha Kumari (2012) in her study emphasized that each of the work life Balance factors on its own is a salient predictor of job satisfaction and there is significant gap between male and female respondents with job satisfaction with reference to various factors of Work life balance. The result of the study had practical significance for human resource managers of especially banks to improve staff commitments and productivity along with designing recruitment and retention of employees.
III. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The present study is carried with the following objectives, these are
To study the demographic profile of employees working in Service sector
The study aims at finding challenges associated with managing professional life of the employees of the private and public service sector.
To identify the correlation between Work and Life conflict.
To identify the correlation between targets set in organization and Work Life Balance.
To identify the Correlation between hours of work and Work Life Balance.
To identify the correlation between Travelling and Work Life Balance.
To identify the correlation between Starting time and Finishing time or work and Life.
IV. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The sample was taken from private and public service sector like Education, Medical, Railways, Telephone Department, Hotels, Banks sector, Mee Seva, TRANSCO and APSRTC, of Guntur city. The paper as carried out on the basis of primary and secondary data.
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An effort will make to collect the actual response about
“work life balance.
V. DATA COLLECTION TOOLS
Primary Data
The primary data, for this purpose of structured questionnaire was developed to collect the responses from the employees working in private and public service sector.
The major dimensions which have been used to measure Work Life Balance (WLB) are namely- gender bias, demographic structures of families of employees, level of hierarchy in the organization, welfare policies of the organization and family and societal commitments of the employees.
Secondary Data
And the secondary data was collected from Literature reports, statistical figures and such other data are collected from books, journals, magazines and other published data. Websites are also visited to collect the secondary data.
Sampling Technique
Simple Random Sampling Technique would be used in order to collect the primary data.
Sample Size
180 samples have been taken both from private sector and public service sector of Guntur city. Sample comprises of supervisory and subordinate staff of public
sector and managerial and executive staff of private sector. Samples has been taken from the public and private sectors with the specific study of Education, Medical, Railways, Telephone Department, Hotels, Banks sector, Mee Seva, TRANSCO and APSRTC of Guntur city.
Methodology
The sample survey conducted on both government sector and private sector, with 180 respondents. Among 180, 75 are female respondents and 105 are male respondents. A structured Questionnaire and in depth interview was conducted to understand the Work Life Balance in service sector. A non – probability convenience sampling techniques was adapted to selected sample from the population.
To analyze the data and to find the inferences applied statistical tools a simple frequency distribution, averages, percentages to understand the correlation among the variables. And applied one way ANOVA (analysis of variance), F – test and Hypothesis testing at 5% level of significance. To understand the work life balance, taken some valid factors, and factor / attribute wise discussion was made.
VI. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The survey reveals that, the demographic attributes and its corresponding frequencies and percentages carried out to find the correlation with work life balance.
Table 1 : A simple frequencies and percentage analysis of Demographic Attributes Demographic attribute Variable Frequency Percentage Age (in Years) Less than 30
31-40 Above 40 Total
65 62 53 180
36.11 34.44 29.44 100
Marital Status Married
Un Married Total
130 50 180
72.22 27.77 100
Designation Juniors
Seniors Total
62 118 180
34.44 65.56 100
Table 1 revels that, age groups are evenly scattered, married employees are three times of unmarried employees and senior (Sr.) level employees as almost double the Junior (Jr.) level employees. Moreover, working women ratio is good when compared with men.
Table 2 revels that, a) Hours of work per week, 48 hours / week is ideal and internationally accepted, and women working equally with men, more number of hours. And who ever are working more number of working hours they have no to balance “work” and, “life”
Table 2: Some factors to analyses WLB
Factors Male Female Total %
M F Total
a) Hours of Work
Above 60 28 20 48 15.55 11.11 26.66
48-60 38 22 60 21.11 12.22 33.33
Below 48 39 33 72 21.66 18.33 40.01
Total 105 75 180 57.33 41.67 100 b) Transportation provided by organization
Yes 30 15 45 16.67 8.33 25
No 75 60 135 41.67 33.33 75
Total 105 75 180 58.33 41.67 100
c) Leave facilities
Good 42 138 180 23.33 76.67 100
Normal 64 80 180 55.56 44.44 100
Bad 105 142 180 21.11 78.89 100
d) flexible start and ending
satisfied 41 19 60 22.78 10.55 33.33
Not satisfied 64 56 120 35.56 31.11 66.67
Total 105 75 180 58.34 41.66 100
e) support within the organization
Yes 88 56 144 48.89 31.11 80
No 17 19 36 9.44 10.55 20
Total 105 75 180 58.34 41.66 100
a) Week end work also hurdle to personal and family life, table 2 revels that, one third employees are affected with week end fever. Because of the impact of software and multinational entry, people come to know the culture. Hence, they psychologically feel and expect the same.
b) Transportation provided by concerned organization released some work stress and burden this impact to enjoy the rest of life comfortably. The day can start pleasantly and without risk they reach home comfortably.
c) Leave facilities was the strong evidence of organization to maintain work life balance policies. Job security and responsibility also reflects here. Especially women employee requires maternity leave; where as some private organizations are not supporting to provide pay leave. In addition, even government employees feel guilty to use maternity leave.
d) Flexible starting and ending hour of day are also impact on personal and family life, when both wife and husband are working in different organizations with different shifts / timings they are under stress and their
family and personal life disturbs. Not only this, shift system jobs cause of ill health.
e) Support within the organization caused more productive work, and work life balance also. The entire employee daily they have to attend duty, that atmosphere should be friendly and pleasantly with the support of senior level and peer relations. Then remaining life they lead pleasantly. But, one fifth of employees are not satisfied with these relations.
There are only few factors discussed in Table 2, but each factor there is positive and negative sides, Organizations are also taking some measure to improve better work life balance, where as employees are effected by one or two factors also they get dissatisfaction in the “work” and remain “life”. Organization policies have to be change with the current trends. But, rules and policies are not changed to support the women employees according to increasing of women emplacement. And married women also working in the organizations, they have to play dual role one is at work place and second at family role. Some supporting polices are to be implement for women.
One way ANOVA and F –test results inferences Source of variation Sum of
squares
d.f Mean squares
Computed value of F
Table value of F Hours of work
Between samples
150 1 150 3.19 5.99 accept
Within samples 188 4 47
Started and ending times Between samples
2500 1 2500 12.0218.5 accept
Within samples 416 2 416
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Work life conflict Between samples
864 1 864 1.54 5.99 accept
Within samples 2244 4 561
Children Age group Between samples
75 1 75 1.23 4.96
Within samples 608 10 60.8
Travelling Between samples
112 1 112 0.48 5.91 accept
Within samples 1393 6 232
Support from organization Between samples
3174 1 3174 2.83 5.99 accept
Within samples 4492 4 1123
Targets
Between samples
1396 3 1396 5.47 4.07 reject
Within samples 682 8 84.1
Table 3 revels that the relationship among the variable using one way ANOVA and F-test discussed as follows, a) Hours of Work on Job
H0 : There is no significance difference between men and women employees.
H1 : There is significance difference between men and women employees.
Computed value of F (3.19) less than the Table value of F (5.99) at 5% level of significance. So, Assept the Null Hypothesis H0, Hence Reject the alternate Hypothesis H1
Hence, the more number of working hours on job effect on WLB of both the gender male and female. More working hours affect the personal and family life. More over Women have some additional responsibilities than men.
b) Start and End Times
H0 : There is no significance difference between the marital status and work life balance.
H1 : There is significance difference between the marital status and work life balance.
Computed value of F(12.02) less than the Table value of (18.5) at 5% level of significance. So, Accept the Null Hypothesis H0, Hence Reject the alternate Hypothesis, H1.
It reveals that both married and unmarried are facing the same problem regarding work life balance. Every one based on age group they have personal and family life, if it is convenient start and end times of office every on leas their personal and family life comfortable.
C) Hinder Wl Conflict (work life Conflict)
H0 : There is no significance difference between the negative attitude of managers, colleagues and team members and work life balance.
H1 : There is significance difference between the negative attitude of managers, colleagues and team members and work life balance.
Computed value of F (1.54) less than the Table value of F (5.99) at 5% level of significance. So, Accept the Null Hypothesis H0, Hence Reject the alternate Hypotheis, H1.
Hence, all the employees conclude that, negative, attitude impact on work only, not on the family. This is the opinion of all the employees irrespective gender.
d) Age Group Children‟s (Married With Different Age Group Children)
H0 : There is no significance difference between the married employee of male and female with different age group children and work life balance.
H1 : There is significance difference between the married employee of male and female with different age group children and work life balance.
Computed value of F (1.23) less than the Table value of F (5.99) at 5% level of significance. So, Accept the Null Hypothesis H0, Hence Reject the alternate Hypothesis, H1.
It reveals that the both male and female are effect of WLB. They have to take care of their children. If single it does not a serious problem.
e) Travelling.
H0 : There is no significance difference between the extensive travelling and rare travelling o f men, women and work life balance.
H1: There is significance difference between the extensive travelling and rare travelling of men, women and work life balance.
Computed value of F (0.48) less than the Table value of F (5.91) at 5% level of significance. So, Accept the Null Hypothesis H0, Hence Reject the alternate Hypothesis H1.
Hence, male and female are facing the problem of on duty travelling for long distance. It will effect on WLB.
f) Support From Organization.
H0 : There is no significance difference between the employees are getting support from managers, peers and team members and work life balance.
H1: There is significance difference between the employees are getting support from managers, peers and team members and work life balance.
Computed value of F (2.83) less than the Table value of F (5.99) at 5% level of significance. So, Accept the Null Hypothesis H0, Hence Reject the alternate Hypothesis H1.
g) Targets.
H0 : There is no significance difference between the high targets, low and targets and work life balance.
H1: There is significance difference between the high targets, low targets and work life balance.
Computed value of F (8.13) less than the Table value of F (4.07) at 5% level of significance. So, Reject the Null Hypothesis H0, Hence Accept the alternate Hypothesis H1.
Reasonable targets does not effect on the WLB. High targets leads unnecessary tension and disturbs family and personal life. Careful planning and personal effort is the advice from those who have found balance in both career and home life. Generally the tendency of human being they carry the effect or work life to family life and impact of family life to work life. It will disturb both, if there is a negative effect on either side. People mind set has to be change. Don‟t carry the family or personal struggles to work place and don‟t carry work place struggles to personal or family life. In addition, women employees unable to balance their work and life. As of now, organization policies framed regarding men employees, with in these polices women employee survival is difficult so now WLB polices has to frame to balance the work and family. In addition, this is the social responsibility of any organization.
Employees are expecting to balance their “work” and
“life”, they are expecting implement some more additional facilities like Compassionate Leave for Caring Responsibilities, Paternity / Maternity Support Leave, Sickness, leave, flexibility in timings, cooperation from management. It mutually benefits the individual, business and society when a person‟s personal life is balance with his or her own job.
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