WORK LIFE BALANCE

Work Life Balance

Work Life Balance

Introduction

There are two general perspectives on what work-family balance is, both of which are rooted in role theory. The traditional view comes from theory on interrole conflict and defines work-family balance as an absence of conflict between work and family roles. Role conflict occurs when the demands of the two roles are incompatible, such that participation in one role makes it difficult or impossible to fulfill the obligations of the other role. The view of work-family balance being the absence of work-family conflict recently was augmented to include the extent to which one role (work or family) provides skills and experiences that are helpful in carrying out the demands of the other role.

This is referred to as facilitation, enrichment, enhancement, or positive spillover. According to this perspective, work-family balance exists when there is low work-family conflict and high work-family facilitation. Imbalance, then, is characterized by high conflict and low facilitation. Both conflict and facilitation can occur in two directions: when work role demands interfere with or enhance family role demands (workto-family conflict/facilitation) and when family role demands interfere with or enhance work role demands (family-to-work conflict/facilitation).

Most research on work-family balance—indeed, most research on the work-family interface—has focused on work-family conflict, with facilitation processes and outcomes only recently being investigated. Also, like most work-family research, a great deal of the studies conducted have been atheoretical in nature, relying instead on the empirical findings of prior research to inform new hypotheses. Only recently has work-family balance been conceptualized affirmatively rather than as something that it is not (i.e., conflict).

This second perspective is grounded in theory on role balance and defines work-family balance as the extent to which a person is equally engaged in and satisfied with his or her work and family roles. work-family role balance has three components: time, involvement, and satisfaction balance. People achieve balance when they spend equal amounts of time in each role, are psychologically involved to the same extent with each role, and are equally satisfied with each role. This perspective conceptualizes work-family balance as existing along a continuum, ranging from extreme role imbalance that heavily favors work or family over the other, to perfect balance that puts the two roles on equal footing. Two types of balance are possible: positive balance and negative balance. Positive balance occurs when the amount of time, involvement, and satisfaction are equivalent and high for both the work and family roles. Negative balance occurs when the amount of time, involvement, and satisfaction are equivalent and low for both the work and family roles. For example, a person who spends little time in both the work and family roles, is psychologically withdrawn from both roles, and is dissatisfied with both roles has achieved negative balance in all three dimensions. This distinction highlights the idea that not all balance is necessarily helpful or adaptive.

This understanding of work-family balance differentiates it from work-family conflict and from other conceptualizations that are used to understand how the work and family ...