Contemporary HR issues Blog #9 - What are the most important HR issues facing your organization today?

Merits & negatives of Work-life balance (WLB) concept

CIPD (2017) stated that the concept of flexible working is getting more popular in work-life balance (WLB) policies now days. They define flexible working as giving opportunity for employee to choose the place, time & duration of their work.

As Wasay (2013) stated having proper WLB strategy in organization can be considered as win-win situation for both employee & the employer since it can help employee to effectively handle their personal & professional life & also it can help employer to retain skilled employees. Eventually employees will be more attracted toward the organizations that offer higher attention for employee personal needs. Employees those who have flexible working opportunities are generally more satisfied, has more initiatives & highly engaged to their job that other employees. (Galinsky & Johnson, 1998)

As there are benefits for both parties by having proper work-life balance policies, it can also lead to adverse situation if the organization manages the work-life balance in a poor way. There are several negative effects of poor work-life balance such as; family conflict, work stress, health & mental problems. Further it can also decrease the creativity, moral & the productivity of the employee. (Hitt et al., 2009)

CIPD (2017) recommend several points to consider in order managing proper WLB policies.

• Resources & working style – Home workers should facilitate with required resources to carry out work. To make this concept success employee should be self-motivated, flexible & should be able to work without close supervision.

• Communication with others –Most of the time in work-life balance job environment employee’s job will be task oriented; they will be often invisible & work in non-standard time. Hence the proper communication is essential.

• Trust – Since the employees in WLB job background have lesser interaction with superiors trust is essential.

• Employee rights – Since home workers in WLB concept are not in same environment like office based staff they might lose opportunity to get equal benefits as office based employees. If the organization is having a Trade union, employer required to consult them as well to maintain the equal access to all employees.

• Health & safety – Same as above matters since these employees will work in different locations other that the standard office environment employer has the responsibility to ensure their work health & safety at their work location as well.

If an organization failed to manage WLB effectively it may give negative results to the organization & also it may lead to employees & their productivity.

References

CIPD, (2017). Flexible working practices: Explores the benefits of flexible working, the types of arrangements commonly used and practical tips on implementing flexible working practices.

Available at https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/fundamentals/relations/flexible-working/factsheet

(Accessed: 24^th June 2018 at 1.30AM)

Galinsky, E. and Johnson, A.A. 1998. Reframing the Business Case for Work–Life Initiatives. New York: Families and Work Institute.

Hitt, M., Miller, C. and Colella, A. 2009. Organisational Behaviour 2nd edition. New York: Wiley.

Wasay, B. 2013. An investigation of the relationship between work–life balance and employee engagement, Strategic HR Review, 12(4).