PEOPLE, WORK AND SOCIETY

People, Work and Society



People, Work and Society

Introduction

Work-life balance is an increasingly important topic in modern-day life, where there exists a race against time in every individual's lifestyle. Each one of us is continually struggling to achieve the best out of life, while making compromises here and there. While work is important for personal prosperity and professional development, it often flourishes at the stake of family life and privacy. This assignment is based on discussing the extent to which work-life balance plays its part in contributing towards the well-being of individuals in present-day workplaces. To find a balance between our work and our personal lives, we must reconcile all know our priorities. Each person finds their own balance, which is different from the others. Given these differences, it may be difficult to define exactly what the work-life balance, but when our life is not balanced, we are generally aware.

Discussion

Modern organizations can participate in different ways to reconcile the work of their employees with their life through social and family benefits. This leads to a reflection on the organization of work and working schedules, revisits the management of career paths by setting up services to employees now facilitated by the granting of public aid (CESU and credit family tax as an example) (Wright, Baxter, Birkelund, 1995, p. 407-435). A balance between work and life involves two holistic dimensions: one if that of scheduling conflicts and inability to manage time, while the second aspect relates to the stressful conditions faced by the individuals as they fail to create a balance between work and personal life. In this context, there are four main categories associated with a state of work-life imbalance:

Work-overload: This conflict arises between work and personal life, when the time and energy requirement associated with the activities to be undertaken at work are too tiring and perplexing to perform household-roles comfortably.

Clash of work with family-time: This type of clash occurs when work responsibilities unable one to fulfill family responsibilities (e.g. the impact of work stress on health, work load makes it impossible to attend each and every sports event of children, and increased conflicts with family members).

Interference of family in work routines: This type of role interference occurs when work demands and family responsibilities make it difficult to exercise professional responsibilities (e.g. Absence due to illness of a child or family conflicts affecting concentration at work).

Pressure on the caregiver: This is a dimensional construct, which is defined in terms of “burdens” facing the daily care-provider, and reflects the necessity of meeting the needs of the household (Wharton, Blair, 2006, p. 415-436).

Effects of Work-life balance Programs at Workplaces

The balance between work life and personal life is essential to achieve a stable state of mind to undertake life's responsibilities. While this balance is greatly contributive towards a stronger family bond, there are some advantages observed at the workplace too. In organizations, where employers and policy-makers give special importance to balancing the work and lives of their employees, job satisfaction ...