Flexibility and Work Life Balance - Essay Example

? FLEXIBILITY AND WORK-LIFE BALANCE Introduction A clothing company with 80 full-time and 28 part-time staff is already a big force in this globalization age. The question is what human resource strategy to be applied to address human resource management issues. One of the effective means organizations have applied is the application of flexibility and work-life balance in the workplace. This is effective in a company that is making its attempt in a global market. Most workers now relate work with life’s fulfillment and connect their satisfaction in their jobs with their feelings and satisfaction in life and happiness with their family. Satisfaction in the workplace translates into happiness and fulfillment in life. Work and life balance suggests a balance for life and what people do. There is to be a blending equality that includes work, family, pleasure, fulfillment, and satisfaction. Some skeptics argue that there is actually no relation between life and work. What works in the workplace has no correlation with what is happening at home. But recent surveys and experiences revealed that organizations adopting family-friendly and work-life balance policies and programmes motivate workers to be more productive. Work-life balance creates satisfaction among family-oriented workers. Work-life balance has been given much attention lately because this has convinced employers of the economic benefits for organizations. There is a feeling that satisfied workers create satisfied customers. This is linked to ‘valuing’ work and value-added supply chains. But there are a lot of workers who are dissatisfied with their jobs. There are arguments and counter-arguments on the effectiveness of work-life balance which can be explained later in the following sections of this paper. Background Our first concept of work can be traced from the Bible. Work is considered a burden and a form of punishment. God imposed work to punish Adam and Eve. Our present ideas and philosophies are still linked to this punishment view. This could be one of the reasons why man continues to build, innovate, and reinvent new things, technologies, robots, etc., to give ease and comfort, to avoid the ‘punishment’, and not ‘to work’ in the process. Archeological findings tell us that mankind had learned to use rudimentary tools as far back as 2.5 million years ago. The tools were used for hunting and making art. Cave hunters were specialists in making tools. Man learned to make machines to enable him to satisfy his basic need for food, and successive inventions would tell us that there are some tasks that we would choose not to do if we had the choice and that there are some activities which we would much prefer others to do on our behalf. (Firth, 2002, p. 17) Technological breakthroughs are an outcome of this concept. Computers, the Internet, Information Technology, robotics and other inventions, permit man to be more dependent on machines and technology. The concept of work changed over time but the real meaning is still there. With complexity in the workplace, organizations formed, multinational corporations and now global organizations evolving, the concept of work remains – ‘it is really that tiresome to work’. But man has to work for money in order to buy food, clothing, shelter for his family, and to have a career in the process. The concept of work has evolved. This is where work-life balance was invented. Organizations continue to provide innovations to make life for the workers easier. Definitions and Concepts A definition for work-life balance that is widely accepted is provided in the website Actnow (2009): “Work life balance is about people having a measure of control over when, where and how they work. It is achieved when an individual's right to a fulfilled life inside and outside paid work is accepted and respected as the norm, to the mutual benefit of the individual, business and society” (Actnow, 2009). What is stressed in this definition is that the workers have a measure of control ‘over when, where and how they work’. Workers have the flexibility, they are given freedom and they are not pressured into working conditions they are not happy with. Work and life balance is achieved “when an individual's right to a fulfilled life inside and outside paid work is accepted and respected as the norm, to the mutual benefit of the individual, business and society” (McIntosh, 2003, p. 181). Studies have shown that work-family balance is linked to the quality of life of employees and managers. ‘When individuals invest relatively little of their time or involvement in their combined work and family roles, or when they derive little satisfaction from their combined roles, work-family balance is unrelated to quality of life.’ (Greenhaus et al., 2003, p. 525) Employees who work more time at work for reasons such as material return and have no valuable time for their family, do not experience a balance of work and family life. They spend more working hours which deprive them of more precious time for the family. Those who work more have a ‘time squeeze’, or in other words, they have less time for other personal pursuits, like spending time with their families at home. Some people realize that more time is needed at home with their children, but they also have to work and spend more time in order to earn. They love their family and their home, they want to have more precious hours with their families, but they also want to work, as they find satisfaction in work. Satisfaction in life inside and outside of work is important for employees and employers as well. (Burke, 2000, p. 81) The question of flexibility Employees demand benefit packages and flexibility from work. Flexible working arrangements and flexible benefit packages include time that creates no pressure or stress for workers, shorter working hours, benefit packages which allow them to have a decent life with their families, and work with the use of Information Technology or the internet which allows workers to work at home. Work-life balance first came into view in the 1970s when a great number of women started to enter the workforce. The issue of housework and childcare became one of the topics for discussion. Women employees were now turned between which one to choose first – work or home. There are the mothers reinforcing the demographic and the problem is the issue of taking care of home and the children. (McIntosh, 2003, p. 183) Flexible working arrangements mostly refer to time such as staggered hours or compressed working hours. Working from home is also possible and commendable because of the emergence of the Internet. A research on the changing demographics in labor market was conducted by IFF Research (one of the largest independent research companies in United Kingdom established in 1965) employing a telephone survey of 1,000 respondents aged 16 plus in September 2004, and found the following results: More than fifty percent were dissatisfied with their working hours and that they preferred to work fewer hours, or to work flexibly. Over two-thirds of respondents wanted their company to give them more time out or reduce their long working hours. Most respondents wanted to have part-time or full-time work depending on situations; company should allow flexible basis of work. Men and women have different expectations of their work, especially when they have children. Younger respondents would like flexible working hours until they reach well before retirement age, but those aged over 55 would like working full time until their sixties. The older generation would not want to be written off at 60. Majority of the respondents, around ninety percent, stated that employers should focus and invest money in changing working practices. (Williams & Jones, 2005, pp. 2-3) How to manage work and life balance Studies have proved that successful employees are the motivated ones. This can be explained in Maslow’s human-need theory which states that people have urges relative to the needs for achievement, affiliation, and power. Our needs are arranged like a pyramid; the needs at the bottom of the pyramid, such as physiological needs (food, water, oxygen and sex) have to be met before the need goes up the ladder. The next group of needs include security, stability, dependency, protection, freedom from fear, anxiety and chaos. (Maslow, 1943) How a firm manages human resource affects the performance of the employees. Labour unrest, absenteeism and conflict in the workplace usually result from poor human resource management, for example lack of motivation, employees benefits, etc. (Montana and Charnov, 2008, p. 123) Fathers, Family and Work Stuart Jeffries (2009) argued that majority of the working fathers today are not happy, or are unsatisfied with their work. Fathers who were interviewed in the workplace said that they liked to be at home with their kids during weekends. Sixty-two percent of the working fathers would like to spend their time with their children. Husbands would not like to be alone doing the childcare, but they loved to spend time with their children. (Jeffries, 2009) Our experience of work is conditioned largely by how we think about it (Firth, 2002, p. 23). When people think of work as a mere tool for them to live or survive, they can hardly be motivated. They will continue working for the sake of the salary they get from the company. But if they look at work the other way, they concentrate on work, they become creative in the process. Employees have to be encouraged and given resources to do their job and manage themselves. Managers should let them oversee their processes and set their strategy. Managers must allow employees to be free, because in letting them free, they think and become creative. If they are dictated of what they have to do, chances are, they become like robots, and they don’t care if business is successful or not. Suggestions for managing work life balance (Firth, 2002, p. 100-101): 1. We can’t create balance without considering the elements that we are trying to bring into balance. There are many things to be considered in balancing the equation other than home and work. We have to consider ourselves in the equation. 2. Balance is subjective and changes over time. Balance is what works for each of us at any moment. 3. Our intuition rather than our diary tells us when we’re out of balance. 4. Balance is about saying “no”. Balance is about saying no to those things we originally said yes to. 5. Balance requires us to work in those areas in which we are most uncomfortable. Balance isn’t just about time management: there could be elements of our being which are out of balance. 6. It is difficult to achieve balance without looking at the bigger context of our life. 7. Give the subject of work life balance legitimacy. 8. Personalize it. 9. Set goals. Team leaders should replace supervisors; the role of team leaders is to coach, that of the facilitator, not someone to play as Superman (Armstrong, 1998, p. 8). The way a firm manages its employees influences organizational performance. It is often easier to see what happens when things go wrong – when problems of rising labour turnover, absenteeism and conflict reflect poor human resource management and impact negatively on organizational performance (Purcell, 2003, p. 1). To address work-life balance issues, some organizations have shifted some organizational policies by managing diversity in the workplace as to improve competitive advantage, which does included balancing the number of female and male employees, or addressing ethnic diversity and socio-economic background. (Jones, 2006: 5) Case Study The story of SAS Institute, a billion dollar software company, is an exceptional story and an example of work-life balance in organizations today. Twenty years ago, six employees left to get married and have children. David Russo, the Human Resource Manager at that time, contemplated that when the women would go on maternity leave and not return would mean they would lose great people. So the idea of a day care facility for children came forth. They have done this for their employees and their families. Now children come to work every day in several day care facilities in a company that employs thousands of people. The company also provided for the employees a 35-hour full-time work week, live piano music in the cafeteria, unlimited soda, coffee, tea and juice, etc. (Firth, 2002, p. 64) This is the concept of work-life balance in the age of globalization and Information Technology. Conclusion Our clothing company needs a motivated and well-managed workforce to succeed in this age of intense globalization. Managing a global workforce can be demanding considering that most workers are multi-cultured. This is a growing company that poses a lot of challenges for management. These challenges include work-life balance, training and development, performance management, and much more, which are all needed in these changing times. References Actnow, 2009. Glossary of flexible working terms. Available at: http://www.flexible-working.org/flex/glossary.html [Accessed 15 November 2011]. Burke, R., 2000. Do managerial men benefit from organizational values supporting work-personal life balance? Women in Management Review, Vol. 15, No. 2, pp. 81-89. Firth, D., 2002. Life and work express. United Kingdom: Capstone Publishing. Greenhaus, J., Collins, K., and Shaw, J., 2003. The relation between work-family balance and quality of life. Journal of Vocational Behavior 63 (2003) 510–531. doi:10.1016/S0001-8791(02)00042-8 Haar, J., Spell, C., and O’Driscoll, M., 2009. Managing work-family conflict: exploring individual and organisational options. NZJHRM 2009 Special Issue: Work-Family & Gender, Vol. 9 (3) International Journal of Manpower (1989). The meaning of work in Saudi Arabia. International Journal of Management [e-journal]. Available through: City University Library [Accessed 15 November 2011] Jeffries, S., 2009. Why don’t more dads work part-time? Guardian.co.uk. Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/oct/21/men-work-paternity-leave [Accessed 15 November 2011] Jones, A., 2006. Rising to the challenge of diversity: a discussion of the business case. The Work Foundation. Available at: http://www.theworkfoundation.com/assets/docs/publications/178_Diversity_Report.pdf[Accessed 15 November 2011] McIntosh, S., 2003. Work-life balance: How life coaching can help. Business Information Review. SAGE Publications, London, Thousand Oaks and New Delhi., Vol. 20(4): 181–189 [0266-3821(200312)20:4; 181–189; 040732] Montana, P. and Charnov, B., 2008. Management, 4th edition. UK: Barron's Educational Series, Inc. Purcell, J., 2003. Understanding the people and performance link: unlocking the black box. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. White, M. et al., 2003. ‘High-performance’ management practices, working hours and work-life balance. British Journal of Industrial Relations 41:2 June 2003 0007-1080 pp. 175-195. doi: 10.1111/1467-8543.00268 Williams, L. and Jones, A., 2005. Changing demographics. The Work Foundation. Available at: http://www.theworkfoundation.com/assets/docs/publications/100_Changing%20demographics.pdf [Accessed 14 November 2011] Read More