What role do you play?

Employee, Employer, Boss, parent, Spouse…

Each of these roles demands that required time, energy and commitment. Conflicts occur when the demands of work and non-work roles are incompatible in some respect or the other hampering their participation in other roles. Work Life Balance is different for everyone; you just need to understand what is important to you. It depends upon your relationships with the ones you are close to and your priorities in life. If you concentrate more on your personal life your professional life will damage and on the contrary if your life is dominated by work/profession your loved ones may feel neglected or you could damage your physical and mental health. Hence, you need to make radical changes in your life by negotiating day’s hours or week hours that call for a balanced work -life.

How to manage…?

There is continuous increase in the number of working women, dual income and single parent families, increased responsibility of seniors/ old people and changing demography. Many organizations feel that helping their employees to balance both competing work and non-working demands is their responsibility.

A school of thought says, ‘You can have it all’. It’s true. It just depends on what ‘all’ means to you. Remember, Balance is a negotiation between yourself and those around you. It should be effective negotiation. Many fail to negotiate effectively with their employers as they are unclear on what they want or their expectations are unrealistic. In today’s competitive world prioritizing between work and personal life can be very challenging. Studies show that poor work life balance can result in unhealthy levels of stress, unhappiness, dissatisfaction and reduced productivity.

What is Work-Life balance?

In theory, the concept of W-L-B seems to make sense – splitting your days and weeks between a collaborative and connected working life while also enjoying personal activities and leisure time with family, friends, pursuing hobbies, exercise, etc.

If you are finding it more challenging than ever to juggle the demands of your job and your personal life, you are not alone. Many people are putting in extra hours at work or using their smart phones to be on call when they are physically at work.

Robert Brooks, a famous psychologist in his book, ‘The Power of Resilience: Achieving Balance, Confidence & personal strength in your life’ says, “a lot of people are having a more difficult time finding balance in their lives because there have been cutbacks or layoffs where they work. They are afraid thinking it may happen to them too. Hence, they are putting in extra hours of work’. Brook also says, ‘but, even if you don’t have much control over the hours you have to work, focus your time and attention on things you can control”. The idea behind ‘WLB’ is to offer a connected social work environment that fosters creativity and career fulfillment and also allow for a well-rounded personal life outside the professional responsibility.

Traditionally, we see work and life as competing activities fighting for our time. There is work first and then if any free time think of other things implying that work is not free. More work means less life. But we all should remember that we have only one life- we just happen to live some of it while working and some of it engaged in other activities.

Modern concept of Work Life Balance is focused on offering the employees the flexibility to work anywhere and anytime—leaving fewer fixed hours and more project driven or service level deadlines and opportunities for innovation.

Enterprise Mobility and Work force flexibility:

Though the explosion of enterprise mobility and remote workers and work places have enabled a new era of productivity and collaborations, it can have a darker side if the employees do not know how and when to disconnect from work. ‘Enterprise and work force flexibility’ is beneficial to the rapidly expanding enterprises with increasingly mobile work forces and those looking for opportunities to grow across the world and will continue to adopt this emerging business trend. But this concept of mobility can disturb the concept of work life balance for those who are not prepared or unable to disconnect whenever necessary. Its true and great that workers are adequately supported by advanced technologies like virtual desktops, mobile technology, cloud-based computing, etc. Use of such technology is on the contrary blurring their professional and personal life. Hence, to prosper and grow in any industry, especially the ever changing always growing IT sector, employees need to carefully command work and life so as not to lose themselves, their family and friends or their focus on work/ work place / enterprise success and that is a fine line to walk.

How to maintain balance.?

Many believe in ‘More hours of work means better work’. This Cult of over work is reinforced by the executives who themselves put in 60 – 80 hrs. per week and seem to expect other employees to do the same. This just creates everyone also to do the same; many employees feel they do not dare leave while the light is still on in boss- room. Executives and managers must remember that the success of the business doesn’t depend on many hours people work but it is all about the results. Balance is beautiful Achieving balance in both your work and personal lives allows you to perform optimally in both areas. Today’s senior executives will tell you ‘Work/life balance is at best an elusive ideal and at worst a complete myth’. By making deliberate choices about which opportunities they’ll pursue and which they’ll decline, rather than simply reacting to emergencies, leaders can and do engage meaningfully with work, family, and community. They’ve discovered through hard experience that prospering in the senior ranks is a matter of carefully combining work and home so as not to lose themselves, their loved ones, or their foothold on success. Those who do this most effectively involve their families in work decisions and activities. They also vigilantly manage their own human capital, endeavoring to give both work and home their due over a period of years, not weeks or days.

Components of Work Life Balance:

1. Self- Management:

Managing one’s own self can be challenging, particularly, in getting proper sleep, nutrition, exercise and EQ. It is like becoming the captain of your own ship as no one is coming to steer us.

2. Time Management:

T.M. is the optimum utilization of given time as a scarce resource. It is all about goal setting and prioritizing. in simple words, it is about what you can do and when.

3. Stress Management:

Amidst the increasing complexity, stress on individuals is inevitable. Distractions, wor pressure and multi-tasking increase our stress. Follow suitable ways and tactics to manage your stress.

4. Change Management:

In this fast moving and fast growing world, change is virtually the only constant. Continually adapting to new developments and changes is vital to our successful career and happy personal life.

5. Technology Management:

It is to ensure that technology serves you, make the best use of the advanced technology in fulfilling your goals and responsibilities in given time than being a slave to the technology that may rule you.

6. Leisure Management:

Time-off’ is a vital component of work life balance. It is about rest and relaxation. Too much of leisure affects both work and personal life. Employees must understand the importance and the managers should practice a healthy work life balance in their own lives with appropriate professional responsibility and should support their team members and subordinates in pursuit of their WLB. Balance between work and personal life begins with establishing realistic goals, prioritization, better work organization and staying focused on their goals and responsibilities. Self – management and effective Time management are the keys to Work Life Balance.

Tips on WLB:

These are designed to help you restore the balance and harmony in your work and personal lives, so you can enjoy both to the utmost.

1. Set your priorities:

Figure out what you want your priorities to be, not what you think they should be. Ask yourself, "If I could only focus on one thing in my life, what would it be?" That answer is your top priority. What would you focus on second, Third, Fourth, Fifth? You have now identified your top five priorities.

2. Track your time:

For one week, track how you spend your time. How much time do you spend doing things that don't matter to you? Or that don't align with your priorities? Eliminate these things from your life, or delegate them.

3. Concentrate on one thing at a time:

Forget multi-tasking. It's not possible to focus on two things at the same time. Instead, devote your full attention to the task at hand. When you are working, work. When you are spending time with your family, focus solely on them.

4. Respect your private time:

Keep aside some time to play your favorite game with a friend, go to an art museum, or have a massage. The activity doesn't have to be time-consuming, complicated, or expensive. Put aside an hour on your schedule to read a book, take a walk, or just to be alone. Give your own time the same respect. Once you've put private time on your schedule, protect it, unless there's an emergency.

5. Take a look at your personal habits and general lifestyle:

Lack of sleep, poor nutrition, and bad exercise habits can cause you to feel a lack of balance in your life, and can counteract any efforts you are making to achieve work-life balance.

6. Set boundaries:

Today's technology can make the line between your work life and personal life quite blurry. Turn off your cell phone and laptop when you're at your son's soccer game, and ask friends and family not to interrupt your workday unless it's an emergency

7. Evaluate your work-life balance on a regular basis:

Achieving work-life balance is a never-ending journey, and your needs will be different at different times in your life. Set aside some time once every other month or so to reflect on your current balance, what you would like it to be, and what the plan is for arriving there

REFERENCES:

1. Achieving work life balance’, http://www.health.wa.gov.au/worklifebalance/docs/Retention.pdf

2. Flexible Working and Work-life balance’, a booklet http://www.acas.org.uk/media/pdf/4/n/Flexible-working-and-work-life-balance.pdf

3. Jim Bird ,‘Work-Life Balance Doing it Right and Avoiding the Pitfalls’,http://www.worklifebalance.com/assets/pdfs/article3.pdf

4. Nick Bloom, Tobias Kretschmer, and John Van Reenen, ‘Work- Life Balance, Management Practices, and Productivity’, http://www.nber.org/chapters/c0441.pdf

5. Work-Life Balance’ https://www.ieeeusa.org/communications/ebooks/files/feb15/l2lkj8a2h/Work-Life-Balance-Book-1.pdf

6. ‘Work-life balance: Rhetoric versus Reality?’ An independent report commissioned by UNISON, ibrary.bsl.org.au/jspui/bitstream/1/799/1/Work-life%20balance.pdf

7. ‘Work-Life Balance and the Economics of Workplace Flexibility’, https://www.whitehouse.gov/files/documents/100331-cea-economics-workplace-flexibility.pdf

Received on 12.01.2016 Modified on 18.04.2016

Asian J. Management. 2016; 7(2): 153-155.

DOI: 10.5958/2321-5763.2016.00023.8