Why Have Debates about WorkLife Balance Come to Prominence in Recent Years - Literature review Example

Why Have Debates about Work–Life Balance Come to Prominence in Recent Years? What Are the Challenges to Achieving It? Survival is one of the strongest universal motivators, and for sure survival belongs to the fittest. Every particle in this universe strives to survive, sometimes by gaining a higher energy state and sometimes by becoming dormant. Ground state or zero state is perhaps the ideal condition for anyone: it does not require any energy, or it balances out input against output. Humans are complex creatures; the complexity of their lives is due to the socio-economic mesh that limits their freedom and access to basic instincts. To understand man’s obsession with survival, it will not be wrong to take a leaf out of Abraham Maslow’s theory of self-actualisation. Every man does not strive to gain the maximum in his or her life; this may debateable, yet true in most of the cases;however, everyone does strive for survival. Maslow’s theory has two prongs; the first one deals with basic needs, and the second portion enshrines the need of self-actualisation. Focusing on the first set of needs, one comes across basic physiological needs; security, acceptance and self-respect. Food, clothes and shelter are the three primary things that one intends to purchase from the work he or she does. When people are denied these rights, they may jump to adapt illicit means of acquiring them. Having food in the belly and a shirt to cover it, with a roof to provide shelter, man considers himself safe from physiological threats; however, there are still other problems that threaten his survival. They can be of various kinds, such as social, political or economic. Among social threats, the greatest one is that of being pointed out as an outcast or of social isolation. Along with acceptance from others, a person demands self-respect. Considering these urges as determinants, the question of work-life balance becomes more explainable. Marx’s claim of determining social relations on the basis of mode of production may sound objectionable to some, however, to a certain extent it does sound real. The role of economy in transformation of society may never be overlooked. Economic activities prevalent among a population are defined by the geography of a place and its demography. For instance, localities situated near the coastline are often engaged in extracting wealth from the sea. People living in plain fertile soils are occupied with agriculture, and so on. Similarly, the contribution of different age groups towards the total population of an area also explains the nature of dominant economic activities. For instance, child labour thatis considered as a crime, yet it is very common in countries belonging to the economic south of the world. Nations that are occupied with primary economic activities have different problems than the nations who are dominated by white collar or pink collar jobs. Primary economic activity mainly includes extraction of raw materials or production of consumer based products. Most of the people belonging to this cadre are poor; their daily wage may be as low as less than a dollar. In such circumstances, the question of survival drop down to fulfilment of basic physiological needs i.e. bread, clothes and shelter. The question of job satisfaction becomes irrelevant, considering the level of skills and job requirements; moreover, these jobs may be dealt as desperate measures of necessity. People providing value added services or performing duty that require a certain level of skill are considered under the cadre secondary economic activity. The question of survival in this case is still important, however, the cause or threat may be different. For instance technicians working in a factory or distillery are exposed to different types of health hazards, or occupational hazards. Consider a police sergeant on night patrol near a crime scene, his life is on stake. Thus security and health become questionable. Pink, white and golden collar job holders are involved in the tertiary economic activities, they basically offer non-tangible services. The threat to their survival is of abstract nature. It includes fear of isolation, unemployment, promotion, insurance, retirement plans and etc. Society is made up of people, and it stands on social pillars or institutions. The purpose of having these institutions is to provide a form, or establishing a social order. The best way of strengthening a social order is to lay down the foundation of society on economic differences. Social order is like a pyramid with a broad base and a pointed top, with maximum man power occupied by primary activity and minimum having the golden collar authority. Society that is overwhelmed with economic stature, job insecurity and severe competition has not much to offer in regards to family or leisure. Life of an individual in the twenty first century is a lot different from that of his grandfather. The desire to establish work-life balance has become a dream. Individuals can aspire to maintain a balance, yet most of them hardly have any clue of how to attain it. The term work-life balance is used to define proper administration of multiple tasks or duties at work place, home and in other fields of life. Work-life balance is a metaphor and it includes various dimensions and limitations, anyhow a range of models and theories have been postulated by various social scientists to ease out the complexities. A brief overview of five different models regarding work-life balance has been explained along with the border theory. The traditional perspective relating work with life offers five different models or approaches. The first one is the segmentation model, which considers work and non-work as two different domains, and claims that former does not influence the latter or vice versa. The spillover model goes entirely against the segmentation model and it suggests that one world can influence the other in a good or a bad way (Guest, 2002). While the third model offers a compensatory approach, which is quite evident from its name i.e. compensation model, this model suggest that lacking in one sphere may be achieved by performing well in another role (Guest, 2002). The instrumental model suggests that success in one role may facilitate progress in another sphere of life. The last model deals with interrole conflict. It refers to the difference in the demands to perform a particular role. Role conflict is the occurrence of two or more sets of pressure such that compliance with one would create difficulty in compliance with others. A person is bound to play different roles at different places, at one place he/ she is an employee, at another play he/she may be acting as a guardian or parent. The variance between the different roles give rise to a tension, and it is defined as inter-role conflict (Guest, 2002). According to Kahn et al., an interrole conflict that generates due to incompatibility between work and family is defined as work-family conflict. There are three categories of work-family conflict, and they are time- based conflict, strain based conflict and behaviour based conflict (Guest, 2002). Time-based conflict generally occurs when a person tends to spend more time in a particular role. This over expenditure of time in one role creates tension, and might increase burden on an individual. It may be caused due to mental preoccupation of a role, while performing another role. Time-based conflict is reported to have produced several cases of domestic upheaval in case of women spending more time at job (Guest, 2002). Strain-based conflict relies on the concept of carrying on work stress to home, or vice versa. It occurs when work stress starts affecting one’s role at home. For instance a person, who had a bad day in the office, may come back home and get involved in a quarrel with his family members. Behaviour-based conflicts arise due to the variation in behavior of person according to the predefined elements of a particular role (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985). The border theory is among the recent theories that have been postulated for explaining work-life balance. The theory is postulated on the hypothesis that an individual crosses several borders while moving about, from home to office, and then back, or while traveling to other places. Some people argue the crossing of borders especially in case of home based workers or home based freelancers (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985; Guest, 2002). After having a brief descriptive overview of work-life balance, it is important to answer the questions that why it has become a major concern in the twenty first century, and why there is a need to obtain balance between work and life? No one likes to work over time, nor does anyone desires to stay away from his or her family. Everyone needs some time for leisure and time with oneself. There is a definite need for establishing balance between personal and professional life. Too much work may result in stress, and obviously no one needs to go under stress. According to American Psychological association almost 70%of the employees have reported their jobs as a significant source of stress, while 50% of the individuals find themselves tensed or stressed out on a workday. More than half of the employees have complained about lack of performance due to work related stress (American Psychological Association, 2009). Every year billions of dollars are lost due to poor turnover, absenteeism and diminished productivity (American Psychological Association., 2007). Further, around 20% of employees in USA have reported to be burdened with overwork, and they spend almost one extra day per week to complete the tasks assigned to them, and without any pay (American Psychological Association, 2009). The level of work related stress victims continue to increase, a survey carried out in 2013, across the United States of America reported that 83 out of 100 job holders complain of being stressed out due work load, low pay and office environment. Considering these statistics, work-life balance becomes imperative, because companies do not want to lose their seasoned employees. There have been cases where people resigned from their jobs with pending promotions, just because they were unable to perform their roles in other fields of life. Organizations at present understand the importance of providing its employees with margin and space to attend to personal affairs. Performance of an employee is the first indicator of his or her satisfaction with the job. The way competition is increasing in the world, every second is valuable, and to make most out of the allotted time, it is important that the staff members give in their maximum. Maximum can only be achieved, if individuals are focused towards their duty rather than being preoccupied by some domestic affairs. The severity of workload may lead an individual to indulge into drug abuse like intake of alcohol or excessive smoking. This adds burden of medical insurance onto the employers. Definitely no employer would want to spend extra budget on health of a person, rather, providing space to that individual for performing his domestic role may protect the employer from spending in medical insurance, moreover, it will also allow the employee to work with full concentration and perform at his best. The importance of work-life balance can be understood by analysing the various legislative measures that offer flexibility to employees while on job. For instance the Employment Act of 2002, enforced since 2003, offers flexible working arrangements to employees (Redmond, et al., 2006). These flexible working arrangements include part-time, job sharing, home working, shift working, teleworking, staggered hours, annualised hours and compressed hours. This flexibility is offered to those employees who have children under the age of six, or disabled children under the age of 18 years (Redmond, et al., 2006). The role of man as sole breadwinner for the family has started to diminish, as more and more women are joining market to earn a sustainable livelihood for their families (Houston, 2005; Smithson & Stokoe, 2005). The inequalities based on the gender differences have started to diminish, in the UK more women are becoming economically active, almost seventy percent of the mothers are part of the workforce (58% in 2000 compared to 48% in 1990), meanwhile male activity rates continue to decline from 88% to 84% during the 1990s (Perrons, 2003).The increase in the number of female employees is a positive sign, as there are more hands to earn; however, there are some problems as well. Though in the present day where women stand equal to men on professional ground, they still need to perform their duty of making home and taking care of the children she bore to a man (Bielby & Baron, 1986; Crompton & Lyonette, 2006). Due to this reason, social scientists used to apply work-life balance particularly while presenting women’s case. There have been several modifications regarding the code of conduct in employment contracts with the entry of large number of women into the market. However, with the increase of women in the professional arena, the number of divorces has also increased. This indicates two major problems; they are discontentment on the part of husband towards his wife and the inability of a woman to manage her house. Increasing rate of divorces has further pushed women to earn for themselves as well as for their children as single parent (Gambles, et al., 2006; McDowell, 2004; Van der Lippe, et al., 2006). Though women have their specific physiological needs that are to be addressed, but in the recent times social scientists have stressed on establishing equality on gender basis regarding work-life balance. The modern social scientists are of the opinion that the way world is transforming, and the pressure that is applied by competition and job insecurity onto the shoulders of employed individuals, it is in the benefit of both the organisation and the employees to find ways of establishing work-life balance. Otherwise there are chances that a person may lose his or her health mentally or physically, and company will have to suffer lack of performance and absenteeism (Fagan, 1995; Lachance-Grzela & Bouchard, 2010). Globalization of the world market is regarded as one of the major determinants for affecting the life style of the people. It has not only opened ways of decentralizing and exploiting cheaper man power, moreover, it has taken the stakes to higher level (Farré & Vella, 2013; Gerson, 2010). Employees are forced to provide their maximum. Their minds are always under the fear of unemployment, and to survive in a job market they tend to add maximum input by spending extra work, doing over duties without pay, managing work at late hours and striving to improve their qualification to gain promotion. Their jobs are the sole responsibility that they actually think about. The conflict between work and family has reached the climax, it seems like that the social fabric will be tarnished in the near future, because people tend to get obsessed more and more by their jobs, and they are losing social values (Bradley, 1989). Organizations demand maximum out of their employees, while employees tend to fulfil the demands of their employers. This is a continuous struggle that drains all the positive energy from an individual. As the market continues to expand the job opportunities continue to narrow down. More and more people are ready to take jobs across the borders for almost 1/10th of the salary at home (Farré & Vella, 2013; Gerson, 2010). Further the use of computers and information technology has added more threat to the job security, because the development of intelligent systems has made work easier for the employers, as they prefer purchasing machines over managing human beings. Another problem is with the employees themselves, they forget about their lives out of their work place, and in greed of earning more and more they tend to lose contact with their social lives. Employers are blamed more than what they deserve, fault lies with the employees as well, because they are not aware of their rights. The question of survival still stands; a person is motivated by the fear of elimination, and agrees to sacrifice his family life and health in order to keep his or her job. Unfortunately societal setup promotes this mentality, and forces an individual into dark corners of boredom, where he strives to earn instead of contributing towards his family or society in general. Who is to be blamed? Society, which is an entity that exist only because of the people that make it, if it is not society, then individuals should be blamed, however, individuals do not have much to choose they have to survive, and survival is with wealth. Thus the only culprit that is left is the economic setup. There is a dire need in the change of behaviour of society in general. Moreover, organisations need to understand their responsibility, and must not compromise over lives of others for earning maximum profit. For individuals there is only one advice that they need to chisel their personalities in such a way that they could fight the battle without giving up on their families. This is only possible if they use proper planning, demand for their rights and perform their duty. Thus work-life balance seems utopian, but it can be attained through proper management. References American Psychological Association, 2009. Stress in America 2009. [Online] Available at: http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress-exec-summary.pdf [Accessed 17 July 2014]. American Psychological Association., 2007. Stress in America 2007. [Online] Available at: www.apa.org/pubs/info/reports/2007-stress.doc [Accessed 17 July 2014]. Bielby, W. T. & Baron, J. N., 1986. Men and women at work: Sex segregation and statistical discrimination. American journal of sociology, pp. 759-799. Bradley, H., 1989. Mens work, womens work: a sociological history of the sexual division of labour in employment, Polity in association with Blackwell CHP3 The Sociological Debates. In: l: s .n, pp. 50-70. Crompton, R. & Lyonette, C., 2006. Work-life ‘balance’ in Europe. Acta Sociologica, 49(4), pp. 379-393. Fagan, C. &. R. J., 1995. Gender Segregation in Societal Context’ in Work. Employment and Society, 9(2), 213-240. Farré, L. & Vella, F., 2013. The intergenerational transmission of gender role attitudes and its implications for female labour force participation. Economica, 80(318), pp. 219-247. Gambles, R., Lewis, S. & Rapoport, R., 2006. 4. The myth of work-life balance: The challenge of our time for men, women and societies. s. l.: John Wiley & Sons.. Gerson, K., 2010. The unfinished revolution: How a new generation is reshaping family, work, and gender in America. New York: Oxford University Press. Greenhaus, J. H. & Beutell, N. J., 1985. Sources of conflict between work and family roles. Academy of management review, 10(1), pp. 76-88. Guest, D. E., 2002. Perspectives on the study of work-life balance. Social Science Information, 41(2), pp. 255-279. Houston, D. M., 2005. Work-life balance in the 21st century. Hampshire, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. Lachance-Grzela, M. & Bouchard, G., 2010. Why do women do the lion’s share of housework? A decade of research. Sex toles, 63(11-12), pp. 767-780. McDowell, L., 2004. Work, workfare, work/life balance and an ethic of care. Progress in Human Geography, 28(2), pp. 145-163. Perrons, D., 2003. The new economy and the work–life balance: conceptual explorations and a case study of new media. Gender, Work & Organization, 10(1), pp. 65-93. Redmond, J., Valiulis, M. & Drew, E., 2006.  Literature review of issues related to work-life balance, workplace culture and maternity/childcare issues. Smithson, J. & Stokoe, E. H., 2005. Discourses of work–life balance: negotiating ‘gender blind’ terms in organizations. Gender, Work & Organization, 12(2), pp. 147-168. Van der Lippe, T., Jager, A. & Kops, Y., 2006. Combination Pressure The Paid Work-Family Balance of Men and Women in European Countries. Acta Sociologica, 49(3), pp. 303-319. Read More