WORK-LIFE BALANCE

Work-life Balance

Work-life Balance

Introduction

Work-life balance (WLB) refers to the ability of individuals to pursue their work and non-work lives, without undue pressures from one undermining the satisfactory experience of the other. The role of work within an individual's broader life is a long-standing area of interest and lies at the heart of much of the discussion of issues such as workers' orientations to work; their attitudes to work and leisure; and sources of satisfaction and commitment. As a mainstream issue, this area also relates to concerns the role and significance of work in society. In recent years, this relationship between work and non-work has received increased attention and much of this discussion has been centred on the notion of 'work-life balance'. On closer inspection, this term is somewhat problematic; for example, though the expression juxtaposes work and life, in reality, work is clearly part of, rather than distinct from, life. Also, it is not automatically evident what 'balance' means in this context.

An example of WLB may be of hospitality industry where workers have to work 24-hour and all 7 days a week. Indeed, some would argue that for some groups at certain times within their life course, or others in particular economic situations, their spheres of work and non-work are, in the short term at least, not capable of being "balanced". Yet, despite any problems of terminology, the notion of work-life balance represents for many a sense of the importance of preventing the demands of one sphere of life dominating all other spheres. This paper discusses if Work-Life Balance (WLB) is equally achievable and beneficial for both men and women in the hospitality industry.

Discussion

It is evident that what comprises a satisfactory work-life balance will vary from person to person, reflecting individual circumstances and preferences. Thus, a central component of achieving a work-life balance is the degree of choice that individuals experience in their work and non-work lives to enable them to create and maintain their desired level of work and non-work activity. For those studying work, the significance that people attribute to work-life balance indicates that it is not sufficient just to look inwards at the characteristics of the work itself, but also that work needs to be viewed more broadly in terms of how well it allows individuals to fulfil their other social roles. (Bailyn 2003, 12-15)

The attention must be given to the WLB but organizational commitments are very necessary such as in hospitality industry. Several factors may help to explain the recent increase in attention being paid to the question of work-life balance. This range from a growing proportion of people reporting increases in workload and work pressure in hospitality industry, to arguments that values in society may be shifting towards a greater emphasis on quality of life and less on material gain (what some characterize as a shift from a value of "living to work" to one of 'working to live'). Yet, of these different factors, the most significant by far in shaping the work-life balance discussion ...