Work Life Balance (WLB) &
Time-use
Analysis
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary
2017, work can be defined as-
§ An activity
in which one exerts strength or faculties to do or perform something;
§ A sustained
physical or mental effort to overcome obstacles and achieve an objective or
result;
§ The labor, task, or duty that is one's accustomed means of livelihood
§ A specific task, duty, function, or assignment often being a part or
phase of some larger activity;
If we try to
summarize all these definitions of work, it may be defined as the task which is
essential for living. If some one is not working, he or she might be sick or have a disability
or are simply not alive. Work can be physical
or mental. Work is anything you do that is not leisure. Work can be paid
or unpaid labor. The opportunity to earn a living for yourself/family. We
put our professional abilities or opinions to use to benefit a
firm/business’s daily operations or profitability. Work also gives you
the ability to enjoy the finer things in life (hobbies, travel
and/or interests).
The work can be defined into two categories,
one being domestic work such as household chores, cleaning, gardening and so on
for one’s own pleasure. The other definition of work to me is society’s view
of working for a wage. The idea of employment and having citizens work not
only from pleasure but for an incentive. For instance, the work I do at home
like cleaning the house or gardening outside in the backyard is for my own
pleasure, compared to the work I do for the public that may be for labour or
community service.
Therefore, work is significant in life and
makes you active. Now. If we consider the evolution of working time and how it
evolved during the course of time, we should relate the analogy of work from
the hunter gatherers to the workers of the Industrial Revolution.
Hunter-gatherer societies worked very few
hours compared to modern industrial and agrarian societies (i.e. 6-8 hours of
work per week compared to 40+ now).
Methodology
The
current paper will rely on the qualitative work of gathering material from the
sources obtained from the journal articles, books, and articles from magazines.
The work-leisure dichotomy was invented in the mid-1800s. Paul Krassneer remarked that anthropologists use a
definition of happiness that is to have as little separation as possible "between your work
and your play". The
expression "work–life balance" was first used in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s to describe the
balance between an individual's work and personal life. In the United States, this phrase was
first used in 1986.
Most recently, there has
been a shift in the workplace as a result of advances in technology. Employees have many methods, such as emails,
computers, and cell phones, which enable them to accomplish their work beyond
the physical boundaries of their office. Researchers have found that employees
who consider their work roles to be an important component of their identities
will be more likely to apply these communication technologies to work while in
their non-work domain.
Many authors believe that
parents being affected by work-life conflict will either reduce the number of
hour’s one works where other authors suggest that a parent may run away from
family life or work more hours at a workplace. This implies that each individual views work-life conflict differently.
What is Work Life
Balance?
Work-life
balance is about effectively managing the juggling act between paid work and
the other activities that are important to people. It's not about saying that
work is wrong or bad, but that work shouldn't completely crowd out the other
things that matter to people like time with family, participation in community
activities, voluntary work, personal development, leisure and recreation.
The
'right' balance is a very personal thing and will change for each person at
different times of his or her lives. For some people the issue is being able to
get into work or find more work rather than having too much work. There is no
'one size fits all' solution.
A
balanced life is one where we spread our energy and effort - emotional,
intellectual, imaginative, spiritual and physical – between key areas of
importance. The neglect of one or more areas, or anchor points, may threaten
the vitality of the whole.
What is the Main Issue?
Work-life balance is increasingly an issue for
any country. Jobs, the workplace and the workforce are changing as:
Ø
More women and sole parents go into work.
Ø
More people juggle more than one job.
Ø
The workforce ages and is increasingly diverse.
Ø
Businesses continue to compete globally to hire skilled workers.
Ø
Technology changes the way we work - e.g. cell phones and PCs blur the
distinction between work and personal time.
For any country, the two
biggest work-life balance problems are:
ü
People with not enough work or income
ü
People who have too much work: the low paid who need to work long hours
to earn enough and the higher paid who may feel trapped into working more hours
than they want to.
Through the consultation,
employers told that they wanted to address work-life balance issues in their
workplaces, and that they wanted practical tools to implement work-life balance
initiatives. Workers, families, and individuals told us that the key issues for
them in achieving work-life balance concerned their caring responsibilities,
workplace practices and cultures, and the need to earn sufficient income.
Drivers for change
Work-life balance has become increasingly
important for a number of social and economic reasons that are making:
Ø organizations think about how they work
Ø Government think about how people balance
paid and unpaid work and care
Ø Individuals think about the role work has and
will have at different stages of their lives.
Broadly, this shift is influenced by changes
to markets, ways of working, the labour market and expectations of work. In the
public sector, these drivers mean:
Ø
Pressures to increase efficiencies while at the same time responding to
the demands of service users, creating more flexible and responsive public
services.
Ø That there is a need to understand better and
respond to customer requirements in a population that is becoming older and
more ethnically diverse. Therefore, people who possess these skills and
relationships are crucial to helping organizations understand new customer
segments, promote creativity and cope with increasingly complex business models.
The case for work-life balance tends to be
made on two counts.
v
First, that work-life balance improves individuals’ health, wellbeing
and job satisfaction.
v
Second, that business can benefit from work-life balance because these
policies:
Ø improve productivity and worker commitment
Ø reduce sickness absence
Ø increase retention rates for talented workers
and reduce replacement costs
Ø allow organizations to recruit from a wider
pool of talent
Ø Enable organizations to offer services beyond
usual business hours by employing workers on different shifts that fit in with
caring responsibilities.
Characteristics
Ø Work Life Balance Business Benefits.
Ø Not constant, comes and goes with life
changes
Ø It takes WORK
Ø The process of seeking balance can be deeply
rewarding
Work Life Balance benefits as
Ø Attracts new employees
Ø Helps to retain staff
Ø Builds diversity in skills and personnel
Ø Improves morale
Ø Reduces sickness and absenteeism
Ø Enhances working relationships between
colleagues
Ø Encourages employees to show more initiative
and teamwork
Ø Increases levels of production and
satisfaction
Ø Decreases stress and burnout
Some reasons for WLB
A
review of public holidays and paid holidays across a sample of countries,
including Australia, China, France, Germany, Singapore, the US and the UK shows
that India is actually quite comparable in terms of the number of days of
vacation and holidays provided by law and general practice. It would,
therefore, be fair to assume that the intent of law as well as the espoused values
of organizations seems to be in favor of providing a fair amount of leisure and
balance. Whether it has translated into reality is another matter.
Ø
Gender Concerns
Ø
Young Generation
Ø
Identity Through Work
Gender concerns
Similar
discrimination is experienced by men who take time off or reduce working hours
for taking care of the family.
For many employees
today—both male and female—their lives are becoming more consumed with a host
of family and other personal responsibilities and interests. Therefore, in an
effort to retain employees, it is increasingly important for organizations to
recognize this balance.
Young generation
Per
Kathleen Gerson, Sociologist, young people "are searching for new ways to
define care that do not force them to choose between spending time with their children and earning an
income" and " are looking for definition of personal identity that do
not pit their own development against creating committed ties to others readily. Young adults believe that
parents should get involved and support the children both economically and
emotionally, as well as share labor equally. Young people do not believe
work-life balance is possible and think it is dangerous to build a life
dependent on another when relationships are unpredictable. They are looking for
partners to share the house work and family work together. Men and women believe that women
should have jobs before considering marriage, for better life and to be happy
in marriage. Young people do not think their mother’s generations were unhappy.
They also do not think they were powerless because they were economically
dependent.
Sometimes these identities align and
sometimes they do not. When identities are in conflict, the sense of a healthy
work-life balance may be affected. Organization members must perform identity
work so that they align themselves with the area in which they are performing
to avoid conflict and any stress.
A study of the Employment
Standards in Ontario
These are the general rules in Ontario about
hours of work and overtime pay. There are exceptions and special rules for some
employees under the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA). To see if your
occupation is subject to special rules or exemptions see the Special Rule Tool.
Your employer cannot
intimidate you, fire you, suspend you, reduce your pay, punish you in any way
or threaten any of these actions for exercising your ESA rights.
Hours of work
The maximum daily and weekly limits on hours
of work are:
§
8 hours a day (or the number of hours in your regular work day, if it is
more than 8).
§
48 hours a week.
Rest periods and eating periods
§
Your employer must give you at least:
§
11 consecutive hours off work each day (a “day” is a 24-hour period – it does not
have to be a calendar day);
§
8 hours off work between shifts (unless the total time worked on the shifts
is 13 hours or less, or you and your employer have otherwise agreed in
writing); and
§
24 consecutive hours off work each work week (or 48 consecutive hours off every two work
weeks).
§
You must also get a 30-minute eating period after no more than five
hours of work. You can agree with your employer to split this eating period into
two shorter breaks.
Overtime pay
For every hour you work over 44 hours a week,
your employer must pay you at least 1½ times your regular rate of pay (“time
and a half”).
§ Excess hours of work and overtime averaging.
§
You do not have to but if you choose to, you can agree with your employer in writing
to.
§
Work more than 8 hours a day (or the number of hours in your regular
work day, if it is more than 8).
§
Average the hours you work over periods of two or more weeks to
calculate overtime pay.
§
You can cancel an agreement to work excess daily or weekly hours by
giving your employer two weeks’ written notice. Your employer can also cancel
an agreement by giving you reasonable notice.
§
Overtime averaging agreements must have an expiry date and cannot be cancelled
unless both you and your employer agree.
§
Generally, if you are represented by a union your union would make
agreements with your employer on your behalf.
Now the question is,
do you think a shorter work week is good for workers and businesses?
A top
public health doctor recently said that long working hours was a big cause of mental ill health, and a big 2015 study
linked long working hours with an increased risk of stroke and heart
disease.
Less
time at work would mean more time to care for children and family, be a school
governor, look in on elderly neighbors, or organize a game of football. It
would mean more time to create the community spider web of connections and favors
and reciprocation that keeps the world going round.
Annotated Bibliography
Binnewies,
C. (2016). Current perspectives on work–life balance: Moving toward a
resource-oriented framework. Zeitschrift Für Psychologie/Journal of Psychology, 224(1),
1-2.
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