WORK LIFE BALANCE ORGANISATIONAL STRATEGIES FOR SUSTAINABLE GROWTH

Introduction
In todays context, the pressures of work have been intensifying and ther is a growing among employees that the demands of work begin to dominate life and a sense of work-life imbalance is felt. The challenge of integrating work and family life is a part of everyday reality for the majority of employees. Organisations have to continually innovate and come up with programs that provide scope for employees to balance their responsibilities at workplace and interests they have outside work. Work life balance initiatives fall under this category. This paper offers various strategies to be adopted by the organisations to ensure work-life balance for their employees.

Business organisations face the problem of declining employee morale and exhaustion. This cane be attributed to the syndrome of work-life imbalance. The prevailing corporate atmosphere poses several new challenges and problems for employees in the form of willful, constant change, wide variety of job responsibilities and uncertainties with increasing pressure from the top hierarchy to increase productivity. These changes in the internal and remote environments disturb the balance between the two halves of life of the employees, i.e., work and home, bringing in dichotomy and confusion.

In the Book Greeks and Geezers, Thomas and Bennis mentioned how attitudes towards work and life balance differ from generation to generation. Baby boomers are no longer ready to give their lives to the company they work for. Whereas the Generation Xs and Vs are more committed to meeting the demands of both work and family life; in turn, they seek a newly defined and restructured way of getting jobs assigned to them. Researchers have pointed out that a balance between work and life is maintained, when there is no conflict between work and family demands. According to 1998 American @ Work (SM) study conducted by Aon consulting worldwide Inc., an HR consulting they work for, only if the management recognizes the importance of ther personal and family lives.

Striking a balance work and life is as difficult for thecorporate as it is for the employees. However, the burden of maintaining this is more on the corporate because, as pointed out by the famous Hawthrone experiment, individuals primarily focus on their place

of work. So, a careful scrutiny of the working patterns and scheduling of job will be one of the first steps to be taken in designing work schedules that can balance life and worl. What is Work Life Balance? Work Life balance is an employment practice that is concerned wit providing scope for employees to balance their work with the responsiblities and interest they have outside work. It enables them to reconcile the competing claims of work and home by meeting their own needs as well as those of their employees. As Kodz et al., (2002) explain, the principle of work-life balance is that ther should be a balance between an individuals work and his life outside work and that this balance should be healthy. As defined by the Work Foundation (2003b), the concept of work life balance is about employees achieving a satisfactory equilibrium between work and non-work activities (i.e., parental responsibilities and wider caring duties, as well as other activities and interests). Work life balance initiatives are not the modern day extension of the traditional social security measures such as sick leave, maternity leave, erc., They are far more fundamental in nature, when it comes to understanding and responding to employees individual, professional, familial and societal needs. Research has shown that better work/life balance leads to better productivity, positive work culture, etc., Such people are also better citizens more responsible, more socially conscious. In the context of work life balance programs, apart form employee satisfaction, linkages to the simultaneous business outcomes is very critical. Enhanced employee productivity, providing better flexibility to the customers, building diverse workforce are some of the tangible benefits of these programs. But organsiations ongoing faith and support to such initiatives is sustainable only if there is evidence to show that the predefined measures of success are being tracked favorably. In the early 20th Century, for the first time corporate bodies like Edison Illuminating company, ford Motors, erc., realized the need to introduce recreation centers for employees to reduce the monotony of assemble line manufacturing and minimizing employee turnover.

CORPORATE IMBALANCE

STRATEGIES

TO

TACKLE

WORK

LIFE

Many corporate bodies have recognized the importance of work-life balance and are attempting to incorporate novel means and method to dals with it.

The most indispensable prerequisite is to create conditions that will provide organizational dissemination of the culture of work flexibility, HR policies and other organizational regulations that allow that employees to maintain a good blend of personal lives with their careers. There is a need to clearly chalk out the link between maintaining this flexibility and the corporate goals. The top management of the company must claearly communicate its keenness and willingness to reorganize the woek schedules in such a manner that it can balance the work and life of th employees. This will require clare declaration from the company that it values the personal lives of its employees.

WORKPLACE FLEXIBILITY
Workplace flexibility is considere to be the most practical solution for maintaining an effective work life balance. For stressed employees in search of balancing work and personal lives, time is nearly as important as money:more important for some. Thats why more employees are requesting flexible benefits, including telecommuting from home, flexitime and a compressed work week. When competition for highly skilled employees is intensifies, workplace flexibility can be a key strategic facotr for organizations in attracting and retaining the most talented employees. According to a nation-wide survey of the US workers released bu the Gallup Organization and Carlson Mrketing Group, there is a strong statistical correlation between employee satisfaction and inccreases company profits. Benefits claimed of a flexible workplace include increase productivity, improved recruitment and retention of employees and enhance company reputaion. It covers flextime, a compressed work week, job sharing, telecommuting, part-time work and modifies retirement. Work life programs also include child care, elder care facilities and special leave schemes which provide employees with the freedom to respond to a domestic crisis without jeopardizing their employment status. According to the survey of Best Employers in India, HP India was ranked the third best employer in 2002, because of consideraiton of personal needs of its employees and the policy of flexible work options implemented by the company. HP India extended all types of flexible work options to its employees. While Procter & Gamble,, India was positioned as the second best employer for initiating flexible work options 1999, ICICI was ranked as the fourth best employer, since a majority of its employees are women, it allowed them to work part-time, keeping in view their responsibilities at home.

FLEXTIME
This is the practice of permitting employees to choose their own working hours, within certain limitations. Fifty-five percent of the firms responding to the 2003 SHRM. SHRM Benefits Survey indicated that they use flextime. In a recent Harvard study that asked employees to list their most important job component, the first priority on the list was having a work schedule that allows me too spend time with my family. Flextime is a scheduling policy in which full-time employees may opt for starting and ending times within the prescribed guidelines of the organization. The flextime policy may need employees be at work between certain hours, say, 10.00 a.m. and 3.00 p.m. Employees may work additional hours before or after this period in order to work the full day. One employee might arrive early in the morning in order to leave at 3.00 p.m. to pick up children after school. Another employee might be a noght owl wishes to arrive at 10.00 a.m. and work until 6:00, 7:00 or even later in the evening. A flextime policy also may permit employees to adjust their work hours in order to utilize time for doctors appointments, childrens activities, hobbies, or voluntary work.

According to a

study conducted by Watson Wyatt Worldwide, flexible work

arrangements actually boost the bottom line and resulted in increased productivity because of the following reasons: Short tem abstentions are reduced because of greater control over schdules. Tardiness is reduced since the workday begins when the employee arrives. Morning coffee breaks are reduced due to staggered hours. Employees are more likely to work during their most productive hours: mornings for early birds, evenings fornight owls. Workers are more focussed on going the job as opposed to spending time in the office. Businesses can offer more flexible service to customers. Supervisors are forced to communicate more effectively since employees are not always in the office. In addition, Watson Wyatts Huam Capital Index, in 2002, revealed that a collegial and flexible workplace was associated with a 9% increase in overall market value of a firm.

Flexible work schedule enables the employees to fulfill family, community and social commitments. It may be easier for employees to continue their education than with a conventional work schedule. The public will also be benefited form flextime. Transportation services, recreational facilities, hospitals and other services can be better utiliaed by reducing competition for service at conventional peak hours.

THE COMPRESSES WOR WEEK

It is an agreement of work hours that allows employees to complete their task in fewer days than the usual five-day work week. A common compressed work week is four 10-hour days. For example, instead of working eight hours a day for five days, he employees could complete 40 hours of work in four 10 hour days. This alternative is most common, but some organizations use other alternatives, such as scheduling 80 hours over nine days (with a three-day weekend every other week) or reducing the work week from 40 to 38 or 36 hours. A recent survey revealed that 31% of responding firms report using this plan. Employers in some instances have cited advantages such as increased productivity, extended hours of service to customers, reduced employee turnover and absenteeism.

JOB SHARING
Here tow part-time employees carry out the tasks associated with a singlenjob. Such arrangements can facilitate an organisation to attract or retain valued employees who require more time to attend to child-care responsibilities. For example, HP India allowed job sharing whereby any two employees could work on the same job for 20-40 hours per week. A survey by SHRM/SHRM Foundation revealed that 20% of the respondents offered job sharing. 33% of firms with more than 500 employees offered this benefit. Job sharing has potential benefits that include the broader range of skills the associate brings to the job. For job sharing to work successfully the associates must be compatible, have good communication skills and have a bond of thrust with their manager.

TELECOMMUTING
This is a work arrangement through which employees are able to perform their work using computer and other electronic equipment that connect them with their officers. Modem communications and information technology facilitated people to work from anywhere. Telecommuters are generally more informative and they can accomplish jobs that require

analysis, research, writing, budgeting, data entry, or computer programming. They can perform their job duties and can be trained without losing either efficiency or quality by usinf the Intenet. Dtudies found that the cost savings from telework programs can top $80,000 per employee annually in the form of eliminating the need for office space. Organisations can also hire the best talent located virtually anywhere in the world form many jobs. In a survey of 551 organizaitons, 37% of the responding firms reported telecommuting on a part-time basis and 23% offer it for full-time work. HP India introduced telecommuting, which permitted its employees to come to the office for half a day and work home for the rest of the day. Ford Motor Company and Delta Air Lines are currently providing personal computers to their employees to work from home. IBM initiated a program through which it provides each teleworker ThinkPad note bookcomputer, printer and extra home phone line. Marketing emplyees alwo were supplied cell phones, pagers, faxes and personal copiers. These employees could use the equipment when they work from home or at a customers site. The company found that teleworkers productivity was higher than that of traditional workers, primarily because of the savings in commuting time and avoidance of distractions from coworkers. In addition, treleworkers were able to choose their most effeicient times to work and were better able to fit work around personal obligations such as caring for a sick child. However, some teleworkers reported difficulty in maintaining the same lvel of teamwork and in separating home and work roles. Given the benefits, the evidence suggests that telework is a growing trend. According to the Institute form the Study of Distributed Work, the number of corporate employees who work outside the office at least two days a week has risen from 6.3 million in 1995 to 10.4 million in 2002. The institute predicts that 13.7 million, or over 9% of the workforce, will be teleworkers in 2005. The researcher IDC found that telecommuting rose significantly, perhaps as a way for workers to avoid the risks of working in skyscrapers. Another factor promoting telework is technology. Satellite communications and the Internet make it easier to work from any part of the world. Bob Long, a global fieldsales support managers for Dow Chemical, spends only 10% of his time at headquarters in Michigan, and the rest is divided between his New Jersey home office and trips to his customers.

PART-TIME EMPLOYMENT
In this arrangement, employees are permitted to meet both job and personal needs. According to two studies conducted by Hewitt and Rewards Plus, a majority of employers

provide vacation, holiday and sick leave benefits and that more than 70% offer some form of healthcare benefits. At seats, for example, any employee working over 1,000 hours per year is entitled to a full range of benefits, including medical insurance and tuition reimbursement. Employees who work less than 1,000 hours retain some benefits. There is an increase in the number of part-timers due to an increased desire to balance their lives between work and home.

MODIFIED RETIREMENT
This is an option that permits the aged employees to work for a few hours in a day for a certain period preceding retirement. This option allows them to keep away from an abrupt change in lifestyle and move gracefully into ritement. It also gives employers the opportunity to take the advantafe of needed experience and skills at a relatively low-cost.

In addition to the above mentioned initiatives, some organisations, in order to ensure work life balance for their employees, are not allowing them to work after usual working hours. At the same time, they are also not permitting them to work after usual working hours. At the same time, they are also permitting them to work on holidays, asking the employees to go for compulsoty holidays by availing in the form of getting an appointment of doctors for their kids and aging parents. They are also assisting them in their personal travel by reserving tickets and booking accommodation.

CONCLUSION
In summary, work-life balance programs can provide significant benefits to the employees as well as to the organizations, provided they emanate from the organisations core belief in the philosophy behind it and the programs are designed such that the employees see value in them.