Abstract
This paper appraises literature on the concept of work-life balance, which has emerged as a challenge for employers and employees over the recent past. This literature review addresses three conceptual issues related to the study topic. Specifically, it covers the meaning of work-life balance by exploring working definitions and the origin of the term. In addition, the paper reviews extant literature to report the importance of work-life balance to individuals and their employers. Lastly, the scope of the paper addressed concerns of the relationship between work-life balance and economic outcomes by analyzing the same literature on its possible advantages and disadvantages on economic productivity. The review of literature finds positive relationships between effective work-life balance with employee and employer outcomes such as improved productivity, improved morale, and improved corporate image. The findings of the literature review are then synthesized to give recommendations for managers who would like to transform the experiences of their employees with their workplace.
Introduction
Work-life balance is a term that was coined in 1986 even though its usage within daily language was being developed for several years before this official coinage (Robelna and Tokarz-Kocik, 2016). It is interest to note that programs of work-life were in existence by as early as the 1930s. the procedures and policies that organizations establish with the intentions of empowering their employees to perform their duties efficiently while at the same time offering flexibilities to deal with individual problems or concerns at their family levels constitutes the idea of work-life balance. A balanced life and work should exist upon the existence of proper functioning at home and work with as little role conflict as possible. For this reason, the incompatibilities between the work and non-work domains’ demands result in conflicts and consequently, individuals realize they have no work-life balance (Parkes and Langford, 2008). It is widely reported that individuals that are entering the contemporary workplace are laying much emphasis on the criticality of work-life balance more than did their predecessors (Lazar, Osoian, and Ratiu, 2010). In fact, it is reported within the later cited study that contemporary work-seekers are being drawn to circumstances in which they are required to work for longer periods, which results in an unsatisfactory work-life balance. Therefore, work-life balance is of critical significance to modern employers and employee alike.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
In this essay, there is an extensive review of extant literature on work-life balance in which the following research questions are answered:
What is the working definition and conceptual framework of work-life balance?
What does literature report on the importance of work-life balance for employers and employees?
What are the possible implications of work-life balance on the economic progress of individuals and organizations?
Answering these questions is critical since they give insight into the areas of management that employers must focus if they have to revolutionize their employee job experiences. It means, therefore, that the findings of the literature review should be analyzed according to their significance in management practice because they are best practices for positive employee experiences with their workplaces.
Literature Review
On the Conceptual and Definitive Terms of Work-Life Balance
People have work life and family life, and there is all the probability that they have forgotten how to deal with each of them effectively. Ascending the organizational ladder has always demanded that employees show their commitment by working for long hours and handling complex and difficult issues within their workplaces. Some of the days on duty have been smooth while others have been filled with tension, which results in stress. For such reasons, most people have been confronted by a dilemma concerning the manner in which they should manage all the competing demands at their work life while avoiding allowing any negative outcomes of the spillover of work into their individual lives (Lazar, Osoian, and Ratiu, 2010). Research reveals that those employees who hold the believe that their time for personal live is limited feel distracted and drained while on their duties at the workplace (Hughes, 2007). Additionally, the spillover of the detrimental element of work into the individual life of employees may result in increased levels of stress, reduced levels of enjoyment with their jobs, restrained relationships with their families and friends, and job exhaustion (Hughes, 2007, p. 241). For this reason, literature reports that work-life balance concerns the creation and sustenance of healthy and supportive environments of work that will allow the employees to have a balance between personal and work responsibilities, and thus; strengthen their productivity and loyalty (Pandey and Khare, 2013). There has been extensive research on the issue of work-life balance because of its significance to contemporary management outcomes. For example, according to Lesna-Wierszolowicz (2014), one out of every four employees has an experience with considerably high levels of conflict between family and work, which suggests the real significance of the issue to management.
Reviewed studies indicate that no single definition of work-life balance is enough to capture its conceptual framework e.g. (Pandey and Khare, 2013). However, there is a consensus on the fact that work-life balance results in satisfaction of the entire life of an individual in professional and personal terms, and that it could be attained even while employees are forced to work for long hours (Pandey and Khare, 2013). First, it is important to consider what literature reports as not being the definition and concept of work-life balance. In this regard, the following are not what the concept implies:
It does not imply equal balance since it is reported in studies such as Lazar, Osoian, and Ratiu (2010) that trying to schedule an equal amount of time for family and work could be unrealistic as well as unrewarding. It means, therefore, that work and life needs to be more fluid than that.
Work-life balance is not static since the best personal work-life balance will vary with time, usually on a daily basis. The circumstances that cause the best outcomes of the work-life balance will vary with time, which points at the dynamism of work-life balance.
The size of work-life balance is not the same for all people since it varies with the needs of each person, defined by such circumstances as their marital statuses among others.
While the above three issues do not encompass the concept and definition of work-life balance, reviewed literature reports different definitions of the same term. For example, according to Strong et al. (2013), work-life balance refers to the amounts of time that individuals spend on their work duties compared to that they spend on doing things they enjoy such as being with their family or taking vacations (Eckermann and Howard, 2008). In addition, the concept is still defined as the proper prioritization between lifestyle and work, which is a product of the work-leisure dichotomy (Robelna and Tokarz-Kocik, 2016). While could be other definitions of the same term, analyzing the two most appealing ones indicates that work-life balance concerns an assessment of what individuals need to achieve from both sides of their living. It also suggests that a happy life results from a careful consideration of the objectives that people need to accomplish.
On the Importance of Work-Life Balance for Employers and Employees
Appraised literature reports a variety of benefits of the work-life balance, which ranges from improving moral among the employees to building a positive image for the company. Most of the reviewed studies report positive effects of the concept of work-life balance for the employers and employees alike. For example, the usefulness of work-life balance in improving time management among the employees is reported in Taiwo, Catherine, and Esther (2016) and Strong et al. (2013). They posit that by allowing workers to report to their duties at specific times when they are more productive allows them to maximize their output and to accomplish their tasks within the specified timeframes. It is further posited within these studies that such scenarios will allow the employee to devote more of their time in initiating new tasks that would have otherwise been done later. The concept also follows a conceptualization that allowing employees some time off duty will result in positive outcomes when they are asked to work for longer hours during which they will manage such time effectively.
Reviewed studies associate work-life balance with positive outcomes on employee morale, which is effective for their work experiences (Shankar and Bhatnagar, 2010; Stephenson, 2005; Ross, Intindola, and Boje, 2017). The issue of employee morale appears to have capture the attention of management more than the rest of the factors reported in the studied literature. In this line or research, the relevant studies report that work-life balance allows for personal growth of the employees, which occurs when organizations allow their employees to choose their schedules on and off duty (Eckermann and Howard, 2008). Such arrangements, according to the cited studies, allow them to exercise their decisions on what is important in terms of their life and work. The studies further associate this scenario to positive outcomes of employee confidence, which translates to improved morale. Improvement in employee morale is also associated with an improved focus of the same group on their work duties as Robelna and Tokarz-Kocik (2016) assert. This latter cited study indicates that workplace environments with the best practices in work-life management allow the workers to concentrate on their duties because they let them engage in such duties when they could be most productive.
Lastly, the issue of employee morale and work-life balance relates to another finding in extant literature that connects best practices in the relationship with positive outcomes of employee wellbeing (Heckerson and Laser, 2006). Specifically, the cited literature suggests that effective work-life balance allows the employees to free themselves of the pressure that builds during their interactions at the workplace. It is imperative to note that the wellbeing of employees has also attracted much attention by scholars. While it is not possible to ascertain from the reviewed studies why this trend is existing, it can be argued in relation to the perception of the managers about the criticality of their human resources in attaining business objectives. In fact, each of the reviewed studies had a specific concern for management and the relationships that they build with their workforces. Managers want to address this issue since they are concerned with such issues as their retention and others.
The reviewed pieces of literature do not associate effective work-life balance with employee outcomes alone. Rather, they find strong positive correlations between the concept and employer outcomes. The first positive outcome of the relationship concerns the development of employer (organizational) reputation (Parkes and Langford, 2008). The path to this outcome, however, takes many turns, which start with improving the focus of the workers to the duties assigned to them as reported above. The fact that improved improved levels of employee focus on their jobs means that the workers will be able to improve their productivity, as Strong et al (2013) report is also worth mentioning. On further elaboration, literature finds improved employee productivity to be connected with reduced levels of employee turnover and high levels of employee job satisfaction.
Overall, the factors described in the above paragraph suggest that work-life balance has a positive relationship with the retention of employees, which is further connected to improved organizational image (Parkes and Langford, 2008). For instance, the argument in this case suggests that companies that have high levels of employee retention have a reputation of treating their employees fairly, which is why they are likely to continue attracting a continuous pool of skilled job seekers. One of the reviewed studies (Pianezza, 2015), found that effective work-life balance has a positive association with the creation of strong competitive advantages for firms using their human resources.
On the Possible Implications of Work-Life Balance on the Economic Progress of Individuals and Organizations
Effective work-life balance is reported to have a positive effect on the reduction of stressful events that would result when individuals are unable to deal with the demands from both sides of the divide. To avoid repeating what has been described in the previous section, it is effective to consider what the appraised literature reports on the relationship between ineffective work-life balance and employee and employer outcomes and determine their connection to economic statuses. First, it should be noted that only four studies reported such outcomes. Concerning the relationships, the researches indicate that poor work-life balance results in health risks for the employees such as escalated irresponsible drinking and smoking, depression, and weigh gain (Robelna and Tokarz-Kocik, 2016). The same conflict is reported in literature as being related to several mental and physical health problems. To this, Shankar and Bhatnagar (2010), report that women are more probable than male to feel high levels of role overload. This factor, as the study posits, is related to the fact that women dedicated more time than men do on non-work activities such as elder care, childcare and other activities as well as other responsibilities of unpaid labor that may include domestic chores.
In the events of occurrence of all the identified negative outcomes of improper work-life balance, the productivity of the employees is likely to be affected drastically. This conclusion draws from multidisciplinary studies on the effects of the state of wellbeing on the productivity of employees. According to such studies, people are most productive when they are well in terms of their mental and physical health (Parkes and Langford, 2008). Such condition, according to the cited author, allows the employees to concentrate on their work and avoid turnover. Therefore, effective work-life balance is associated with positive economic outcomes for both the workers and the employers since the element of economic wellbeing is associated with improved productivity, improved motivation to work, reduced rates of turnover, improved employee focus on their work, and job satisfaction.
Conclusions and Recommendations for Managerial Practice
The appraisal of literature presented above gives several findings about work-life balance. Specifically, from the definitive and the conceptual framework perspective, it is found that work-life balance does imply fixed equal time between work and off-work activities. Rather, work-life balance is a flexible program in which the affected individuals must assess their situations to determine what is useful for them. When approached in manner, work-life balance is defined as the amounts of time that individuals spend on their work duties compared to that they spend on doing things they enjoy such as being with their family or taking vacations. This balance is of critical importance to organizations since as the literature review has reported, it has several positive connections with employers and employees. However, the different categories of relationships between the employees and their employers can be categorized into two broad ones.
First, work-life balance is effective in improving work satisfaction of the employees. This element appears to be the most fundamental for contemporary managerial focus since most of the studies. The fact that this outcome is a broad one suggests that it is contributed by a series of factors, which the reviewed studies amply report. For instance, employee satisfaction starts from their improved wellbeing because of the effective management of their work and life conflicts. The process proceeds to their improved commitment to the accomplishment of assigned tasks at their workplaces. This element also means that they will be able to realize an improvement in their productivity that is attained through proper time management and other factors. Overall, the employees are able to deal with negative issues of workplace stresses and interferences from their personal lives, such as mental and physical health risks among others. This framework constitutes a happy workforce, which is their job satisfaction.
The corporate side of the divide is likely to benefit from an improved corporate image. This outcome of effective work-life balance is also connected to a series of other results of the association. First, the effective management of such relationships reduces employee turnover since it allows them flexible work and off-work schedules. This way, the managers allow their workforce to report to duty when they are mentally and physically prepared to deal with the challenges that might result from workplace. In addition, this arrangement allows them to concentrate more on their tasks, finish them within the stipulated timeframes, and embark on newer ones. The fact that such factors are also related to employee satisfaction with their conditions of working, the companies have a greater chance of retaining the most skilled ones. It is useful to connect this scenario to the overall corporate productivity that results from efficient human resources. In the end, the companies are likely to improve their corporate image for proper treatment of their workforce through caring for their welfare and other issues. In the wake of a corporate scenario where companies are able to attain a competitive advantage through their human resources, managers should focus on the strategies of effective management of work-life balance such as recommended below:
The managers should master the art of effective communication with their employees, which is relevant in enabling them understand the existing options for dealing with the work-life balance (Stephenson, 2005). For instance, such communications may enable the workers to understand the probabilities of them working from their homes and the policies associated with such arrangements. In addition, such communications may be effective in allowing the workers to understand that their issues will be listened to in the events of emergencies and that they should not shy from explaining their situations.
The managers should allow their workers in organizing effective management plans through the provision of appropriate technologies that may allow them to still contribute to the productivity of their firms even while away from their working stations. For example, the use of computers may be one of such interventions since they may allow constant communication between employees and their employers in the events of circumstantial extended offs.
Companies should be averse with the methods of improving staff moral such as caring for their welfare through offering flexibilities in their work schedules. In such cases, the managers should allow their workers to take vacations and other planned activities meant to relieve them of their pressures of the workplace. Alongside such plans, the companies may award the most dedicated employees not because of how much time they work, but on the levels of their productivity.
References
Eckermann, S., & Howard, S. (2008). Health workforce crisis: How to achieve a work-life balance. Australian Journal of Rural Health, 16 (2), 117-117.
Heckerson, E. W., & Laser, C. S. (2006). Just breathe! the critical importance of maintaining a work-life balance. Nurse Leader, 4 (6), 26-28.
Hughes, N. (2007). Is life a balancing act? Industrial and Commercial Training, 39 (5), 281-284.
Lazar, I., Osoian, C., & Ratiu, P. (2010). The role of work-life balance practices in order to improve organizational performance. European Research Studies , 13 (1), 201.
Lesna-Wierszolowicz, E. (2014). The importance of work-life balance. Folia Pomeranae Universitatis Technologiae Stetinensis. Oeconomica , 77 .
Pandey, C., & Khare, R. (2013). Work-life balance practices and its impact on employee performance: A study of service organizations. Indian Journal of Health and Wellbeing, 4 (3), 531.
Parakandi, M., & Behery, M. (2016). Sustainable human resources: Examining the status of organizational work–life balance practices in the United Arab Emirates. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 55 , 1370-1379.
Parkes, L. P., & Langford, P. H. (2008). Work–life balance or work–life alignment? A test of the importance of work-life balance for employee engagement and intention to stay in organisations. Journal of Management & Organization , 14 (3), 267-284.
Pianezza, P. (2015). The importance of work-life balance. Briefings on Accreditation and Quality, 26 (11), 12.
Robelna, A., & Tokarz-Kocik, A. (2016). "work-life balance" and its importance for the work process in the hospitality industry. a perspective of generation y employees. Economic and Social Development: Book of Proceedings, , 489.
Ross, J. P., Intindola, M. L., & Boje, D. M. (2017). It was the best of times; it was the worst of times: The expiration of Work–Life balance. Journal of Management Inquiry, 26 (2), 202-215.
Shankar, T., & Bhatnagar, J. (2010). Work life balance, employee engagement, emotional Consonance/Dissonance & turnover intention. Indian Journal of Industrial Relations, 46 (1), 74-87.
Stephenson, C. (2005). Communicating the importance of work-life balance. Ivey Business Journal (Online),, 1.
Strong, E. A., De Castro, R., Sambuco, D., Stewart, A., Ubel, P. A., Griffith, K. A., & Jagsi, R. (2013). Work–Life balance in academic medicine: Narratives of physician-researchers and their mentors. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 28 (12), 1596-1603.
Taiwo, A. S., Catherine, P. M., & Esther, A. F. (2016). work-life balance practices as panacea for employee performance: Empirical evidence from river state television, Nigeria. Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review (Oman Chapter), 6 (5), 34.
