CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Most of the research works are on human resource management and HR

policies and practices in public sector undertakings. No doubt that academicians

and practitioners alike have devoted a considerable thought to the various

aspects of HR and related aspects, but a very few studies on behavioural

aspects and areas of employee well-being Here an attempt is made to review

the literature covering a wider spectrum of work life balance of employees

especially in Indian organizations.

Kavoussi (1978)1 compared the unauthorized absenteeism rates in two

large textile factories andrecommended that closer attention to be paid for

improving the of Work Life of an employee.

Raghvan (1978)2 the Ex-Chairman of BHEL, a public sector

organization,stressed the need for workers participation in management.

According to him, equal participation of workers in both the work and lifecreates

more job satisfaction on the other good family life.

1
Kavoussi, N., The Effects of Unsatisfactory Working Condition on the Epidemology of
Unauthorised Absenteeism in an old textile factory, Journal ofHuman Ecology, September, Vol.
7(1), 1978, pp. 81-87.
2
Raghvan, S. P., Workers Participation in BHEL: 1, Vikalpa, 3(3), 1978, pp. 163-66.
 Greenhaus and Beutell(1985)3 defined work-family conflict as a form of

inter-role conflict in which the role pressures from the two domains, that is work

and family, are mutually non-compatible so that meeting demands in one domain

makes it difficult to meet demands in the other. That is, participation in the work

role is made more difficult by virtue of participation in the family and vice-versa.

The major concern in this most widely used definition of work-family conflict is

that role conflicts are due to problems of role participation and emotional

intelligence.

Rice (1985)4 emphasized the relationship between work satisfaction and

Quality of peoples lives. The study contended that work experiences and

outcomes can affectpersons general Quality of life, both directly and indirectly

which effects on their family interactions, leisure activities and levels of health

and energy.

Galinsky et al (1991)5 discussed on work life balance policies which are

the values, which attract prospective employees and are tools for employee

retention and motivation. The study found that one should also keep in mind that

new generation employees evaluate their career progress not only in terms of

lucrative job assignments but also in terms of their ability to maintain healthy

balance between their work and non-work life.

3
Greenhaus J.H., Sources of conflict between work and family roles, Academy of
Management Review, Volume10, 1985, pp.76-88.
4
Rice, R. W., Organizational Work and the Perceived Quality of Life towards a Conceptual
Model, Academy of Management Review, April, Vol. 10(2), 1985, pp 296-310.
5
Galinsky,E., et al The Corporate Reference Guide to Work-Family Programmes, Families and
Work Institute: New York, 1991.

54
 Bachmann and Schwartz (1994)6discussedonthe literature that work and

balance is quite varied. Family-Friendly work environment, such as flexi-time,

telework has been portrayed as an important component of an individual workers

preferences towards work time. It has been suggested to the organisations that if

work and non-work lives environment should be provided to the employees with

a means of recruiting,retaining and motivating their work force.

Landsman(1994)7 disclosed that the employer provided resources can

help women a great deal in balancing worklife balance issues. If employers

provide facilities like onsite child care or referral, it would help in decreasing

absenteeism and turn over from work. It would further help in increasing women

employees to work overtime, from work and take-home dinner, family-friendly

benefits packages and exercise equipments can help in removing the stress of

working women in a big way. Thus concluded that one can say that flexible work

time, job sharing, telecommuting personal leave, childcare facilities completely

rely on degree of women efficacy and her intelligence.

Glass and fujimoto (1995)8 defined work-family practices as any benefit,

working condition, or personnel policy that has been to empirically decrease work

family conflicts among workers. In operation, work family practices address,

among other things, childcare plans, on-site day care, eldercare, parental leave,

6
Bachmann,k., work life balance. Are employees listening? Ottawa: ConferenceBoard of
Canada, 2000.
7
Landsman P., Juggling work and family. Business Insurance, New York, Oxford
University Press,1994.
8
Glass,J.L., and Fujimoto,T., Employer Characteristics and the provisions ofFamily Responsive
Policies", Volume No.22,1995, pp.380-411.

55
long-term care leave, and flexible working hours are the supporting Human

Resource practices which makes an employee to balance both work and life.

Karrir and Khurana (1996)9 found significant correlations of Quality of

work life of managers from three sectors of industry viz., Public, Private and

Cooperative, with some of the background variables (education qualification,

native/migrant status, income level) and with all of the motivational variableslike

job satisfaction and job involvement. And concluded that both the variables show

effect on work life balance.

Caproni (1997)10 emphasized that unlike her peers, takes a different

stand on work life balance. Appreciative of scholars and practitioners who are

trying to promote balance between work and life, she argues that much of the

work in field has been built on the language and logic based on traditional

models of bureaucratic organizations which further aggravates the problem. She

cites certain problems in the prevalent literature: first the overarching goal

oriented approach to life that assumes people have a great deal of choice and

control over their lives, and second, the sole focus on individual (and neglect of

structural and relational) level of analysis.

Landauer(1997)11conducted research by WFD (formerly Work Family

Directions) focused on work/life programs with a number of clients (e.g., DuPont,

9
Karrir, N. and Khurana, A., Quality of work life of managers in Indian industry, Journal of the
Indian Academy of Applied Psychology, Vol. 22(12), 1996 pp.1926.
10
Coproni,P.J Work life balance: you cant get there from here. Journal of Applied
Behavioral Science , Volume 33(1),1997,pp.46-56.
11
Landauer, J., Bottom-line benefits of work/life programs, HR FOCUS, Volume 74, No. 7,
1997,pp.3-4.

56
Johnson & Johnson, Hoechst Celanese, IBM, and others). At DuPont, for

example, employees who used the companys work/life programs were 45%

more likely to agree strongly that they will go the extra mile and are least likely

to feel overwhelmed or burned out.

Chaykowoski & Powell (1999)12explored on Part-time employment for

women, where part-time employment offers fewer benefits and little prospects for

an occupational pension in lieu of flexibility but part-time employment helps in

caring for children, managing personal responsibilities.

Melissa and Peitola (1999)13conducted a General Social Survey on

gender basis and found that women and men report similar level of success and

kinds of work-family tradeoffs. However, they found that for men, imbalance is

predicted by long work hours, wives who work fewer hours, perceived unfairness

in sharing house work, marital unhappiness, and tradeoffs made at work for

family and at home for work. The new interdisciplinary dialogue between

traditional work and family disciplines is providing useful insights into the

subject.When organizations are establishing work/life programs, it is important to

consider the purpose of the programs and whom they serve. Another aspect of

judging organizational readiness for work/life programs is the employees view of

perceived support of the organization.

12
Chaykowski.R.P et al.,Women and the labour market: Recent trends and policy issues,
Canada Public Policy, 25, supplement 1: S2-S25,1999.
13
Milkie, Melissa A.andPiaPeltola, Playing all the roles: Gender and the work-family
balancing Act, Journal of marriage and the Family,612(2),1999,pp.476-490.

57
 Reynolds (1999)14 identified a common thread that links the reasons

work/life benefits go unused in organizational culture. Before establishing

work/life initiatives, it is importantto know if the organizations culture is open and

readyto support work/life programs. As with most change initiatives, work/life

programsrequire support from senior management. The work environment is to

be ready for work/life benefits, and it is helpful to have a corporate culture in the

organisation that encourages employees to look at business in anentirely

different way which supports and acceptsemployees as individuals with priorities

beyond the workplace.

Thompson, Beauvais, and Lyness (1999)15in their study at the City

University of New York and University of Rhode Island considered the links

between an organizations work/family culture, and the extent to which

employees used work/life benefits, the extent of work/family conflict, and the

employees intention to stay with their company. To determine the culture

readiness of an organization for work/life initiatives, the researchers developed a

series of questions to measure supportive work/life culture, addressing perceived

managerial support, negative career consequences for devoting time to family

concerns, and organizational time demands and expectations that interfere with

family responsibilities. The study revealed that more work/family benefits

translated to greater commitment, less work/family conflict, and less intention to

14
Reynolds, H. B., Work/life initiatives require cultural readiness, Employee
Benefit Plan Review, Volume 54, No.6, 1999, pp.25-26.
15
Thompson, C. A., Beauvais, L. L., and Lyness, K. S., When work-family benefits are not
enough:The influence of work-family culture on benefit utilization, organizational attachment
and work-family conflict, Journal of Vocational Behavior, 54, 1999, pp.392-415.

58
leave. Interestingly, the study results confirmed anecdotal evidence that a

supportive work/family culture is closely related to work attitudes and perceived

managerial support linked with less intention to leave the organization.

Friedman and Greenhaus (2000)16, twoleadersexpressed on work/life

balance, and bring forth new evidenceto help us understand choices we make as

employersand individuals regarding work and family. They had studied more than

800 business professionalsconsidered values, work, and family lives andfound

that work and family, the dominant life roles formost employed women and men

in contemporarysociety, can either help or hurt each other.To handle work/life

balance, they emphasize that working adults learn tobuild networks of support at

home, at work, and in thecommunity. Conflict between work and family has

realconsequences and significantly affects quality of familylife and career

attainment of both men and women.The consequences for women may include

seriousconstraints on career choices, limited opportunity forcareer advancement

and success in their work role,and the need to choose between two apparent

oppositesan active and satisfying career or marriage andchildren. Many men

have to trade off personal andcareer values while they search for ways to make

dual careerfamilies work, often requiring them to embracefamily roles that are far

different, and more egalitarian,than those they learned as children.This research

reveals a compensatory effectbetween two forms of psychological interference

i.ework-to-family and family-to-work. Specifically, supportfrom two domains

(partner and employer) has a significantimpact on one another. The impact of

16
Friedman, S. D. and Greenhaus, J. H., Work and familyAllies or enemies? What happens
when business professionals confront lifechoices, New York: Oxford University Press,2000.

59
partnersupport is greater when business professionals feeltheir employers are

unsupportive of their lives beyondwork. Conversely, for employees with relatively

unsupportivepartners, the employer family-friendlinessreduces role conflicts more

than partners. Thus, onesource of support compensates for the lack of theother.

Looking at behavioral interference of work on family, the picture changes. In this

case, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts: the combined impact of

employer and partner support leads to a greater reduction in conflict than does

independent employer or partner support.

Hogarthetal (2000)17stated that women felt that child care facilities should

be available in working place to ensure work like balance.

Moenand Yu (2000)18 expresses that majority of men and women (without

any gender differences) admit that they are not able to spend enough time with

their family.Also both the genders observed that the boundary between work and

leisure is blurred.

Waite and Gallagher (2000)19 documented the tensions within and

between dual career couples brought about by the transformation of marriage

and family life. A personal level, marriage and family functioning have become

fundamentally personal choices and responsibilities, making the maintenance of

both more vulnerable. At the cultural level, while traditional values such as

17
Hogarth,T.,C.Hasluck,G.Pierre,BothamM.W.,andD.Vivian.2000.Worklifebalance2000:
Results from the base line study. Warwick: Institute for Employment Research.
18
Moen,P.andy.Yu.Effectivework/lifestrategies:Workingcouples,workcondtions,
gender and life quality. Social Problems, Volume 47(3),2000,pp.291326.
19
Waite L. and Gallagher M., The case for marriage: why married people are happier,
healthier and better off financially, New york, Double day,2000.

60
gender role ideologies are constantly being challenged, balance related to the

importance of work life and personal life still persists to role efficacy and

emotional intelligence.

Harrington (2001)20 concluded that work has an adverse effect on both

and women, as it affects their health and even their sleep.

Hom and Kinicki (2001)21examined that organizations take into

consideration and apply policies that manage a balance between employees

work and their lives. Therefore the organizations are giving an increased

intention to adopt those policies which can reduce the turnover of employees.

Mark Tausig and Rudy Fenwick (2001)22stressed that alternate work

schedules affect perceived work-life imbalance the time bind. However,

perceived control of work schedules increases work-life balance net of family and

work characteristics. The most consistent family characteristic predicting

imbalance is being a parent. The most consistent work characteristic predicting

imbalance is hours worked. Once we control for hours worked, women and part-

timers are shown to perceive more imbalance. Younger and better educated

persons also perceive more work-life imbalance. However, they also report

20
Harrington,J.M.,Health effects of shift work and extended hours of work, Occupational and
Environmental Medicine, Volume No.58 (1), 2001, pp.68-71.
21
Hom, P.W., and Kinicki, A.J., Toward a greater understanding of how dissatisfaction drives,
employee turnover, The Academy of Management Journal, Volume No.44(5), 2001, pp.975-
987.
22
Mark Tausig and RudyFenwic, Unbinding Time: Alternate Work Schedules Work-Life
Balance, Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Volume No.22(2), Human Sciences Press,
2001, pp.101-119

61
higher levels of schedule control and since schedule control improves work-life

balance, it may be more important for unbinding time than schedule alternatives.

Roehling (2001)23conducted an empirical research and suggested a

direct relation-ship between work life balance programs and retention which

helps the employees to achieve a meaningful balance between work and

personal life, these programs may only hold benefits for the employers rather

than employees. The complexities exists in balancing work and personal life and

the importance of balance for individuals well-being should be investigated by an

organization to provide work life balance programs which are related to retention

strategies through the positive impact of these programs on individuals

perceptions of balance.

Senecal (2001)24 analyzed a sample of 786 French Canadians and

demonstrated that if both have men and women have low levels of motivation

towards work and family led to family alienation. The alienation then predicted

work-family conflict, which lead to emotional exhaustion.

Tausig and Fenwick ( 2001)25suggested that both men and women

have strong belief that flexible working hours will enhance the work life balance.

This is consistent with the previous studies.

23
Roehling, P.V., and Moen, P., The relationship between work-life policies and
practices and practices and employee loyalty: A life course perspective. Journal of
Family and economic issues, 2001.
24
Senecal,C., Vallerand,R.J., and Guay,F., Antecedents and outcomes of work family
conflict: Toward a motivational model, Personality and Social Psychology, Volume
No.27 (2), pp. 176-186.
25
Tausig, M., and Fenwick R., Unbinding time: Alternate work schedules and work life
balance, Journal of Family and Economics, Issue No.22(2), 2001,pp.101-118

62
 Burke (2002)26 has identified that is a gender differences regarding the

work life balance that is men feel more satisfied when they achieve more on the

job even at the cost of ignoring the family. On the other hand, women stress that

work and family are both equally important and both are the sources of their

satisfaction. For them the former is more important when the work does not

permit women to take care of their family, they feel unhappy, disappointed and

frustrated.

Duxbury et al (2002)27 discussed on work-related stress consists of

working conditions involving heavy workloads, lack of participation in decision-

making, health and safety hazards, job insecurity, and tight deadlines.

Employees (with high levels of work-life conflict) are three times more likely to

suffer from certain heart problems, back pain and mental health problems. They

also indicated that workers are more likely to experience poor health, experience

negative impacts on relationships with children and their spouse, less committed

to the organization, less satisfied with the job, have poor quality of relationship

outside the work.

Rapoport (2002)28 action research describes a number of work-life

balance interventions which include surveys, interviews, and round table

discussions with new Interventions relating to retention of senior women, equity,

participation of senior management, feedback, internal change agents, and

overcoming resistance helps to maintain work life balance

26
Burke, R.J., Organizational values, job experience and satisfaction among managerial and
professional women and men, Management Review, Volume No.17(5), pp.5-6.
27
Duxbury.L.,The National work-life conflict study, Final report , Public Health Agency of
Canada, 2002.
28
Rapoport, R., Bailyn, L., Fletcher, J.K., and Pruitt, B.H., Beyond work-family balance:
Advancing social equity and work place performance, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2002.

63
 Comfort et al (2003)29analysed on workplace and reported that childcare

and elder care services should be available at work place based on the

arrangements varied considerably by gender, type of benefit, and the job

characteristics. In their study they have conclude that women should be provided

with increased access of flexi-time and also part-time work facilities and work-

family integration for women in work place to balance both work and family.

Hymanetal (2003)30observed that organizational pressures, combined

with lack of work centrality, result in work intruding into non-work areas of

employees lives. Such intrusions often manifest themselves differently

depending on the type of work, extent of autonomy and organizational support.

Duxbury and Higgings (2003)31 in their seminal report on work-life

conflict demonstrated that the respondents with high levels of work to family

interference reported: lower levels of job satisfaction and high levels of jobs

stress the intent to turnover of the employees.

Fisher and Layte (2003)32Considered three distinct sets of measures of

work life balance, viz., proportion of free time, the over-lap of work and other

dimensions of life, and the time spent with other people helps the employees to

balance both work and life.

29
Comfort et al.,Part-time work and family-friendly practices in Canadian workplaces, the
evolving workplace series 6.cat. No.71-584-MIE.Ottawa: statistics Canada and Human
Resource Development Canada, 2003.
30
Hyman., J., Baldry,C., Scholarios, D., and Bunze, D., Work-life imabalnce in the new service
sector economy, British Journal Industrial Relations, Volume British Journal of Industrial
Relations, Volume No. 41(2) pp.41-55, 2003.
31
Duxbury, L., and Higgings, C., Work life conflict in Canada in the New Millenium: A status
report, Ottawa: Health Canada,2003.
32
Fisher, K., and Layfe M., Measuring work-life balance and degrees of sociability: A focus on
the value of time use data in the assessment of quality of life, Working Paper of the European
Panel Analysis Group, Volume No.32, 2003.

64
 Janet polach (2003)33identified the remarkable gains in organizations

regardingworklife balance programs. Flexible work arrangements, competitive

compensation and advancement for men, women and minorities, long-term

saving and profit sharing programs and resourceservices to help with such things

as day care, elder care and adoptions are all programs inwhich sponsoring

organizations can be proud. The author proposes that organizations are now

ready to make the next big step making worklife integration a way of life. He

suggested a call for action to human resource development professionals by

providing background on worklife balance, profiling organizations who have

made the transition into this way of thinking and providing specific actions that

human resource development professionals can take to transform the thinking in

the workplace.

Taylor.R (2003)34 suggests that the future of work-life balance programs

points to a number of suggestions to the policymakers that need to refocus to

cover the millions of working parents to lessen the difficulties of bringing up

children, or caring for elderly and working at the same time. And also they need

to place the work-life issue in a wider context and make it an all-inclusive

approach, available to every individual who needs irrespective of their gender,

race, ethnicityetc.

33
Janet Polach, HRDs role in work-life integration issues: moving the workforce to a change in
mindset, University of Minnesota,HRDI 6:1 2003, pp. 5768.
34
Taylor.R.,The future work life balance,swindon:ESRC,2003.

65
 Wu et al (2003)35 found that female workers whose income makes up

between 40 to 60 percent of their family income would have more work life

conflicts. This is because women with less income weight are focusing more on

their family where as women with more income weight is more career oriented.

They have concluded the study that female workers with 40 to 60 percent weight

of income do not have a clear role of them and struggle between work and

family. It must be noted that women do not always have a choice of what work

they do, how long they work and when, as these are often decided by their

employers, the business needs and the financial needs of their family.

Wilson (2003)36 found that in the academic world, having children

particularly early on, can severely damage the job prospects of women,

fatherhood is actually a boon to academic men. In general, the larger companies

and those in more modern/emerging sectors (such as information technology and

IT-enabled industries in comparison to the older industries like mining and

construction) typically adopt more family friendly policies that can moderate the

level of tension between work and life/family.

Zimmerman (2003)37 documented the adaptive strategies of dual earner

couples in balancing family and work based on a study of 47 middle class, dual

earner couples with children, who perceive themselves as successful in

35
Wu.L., et al, The research on work-family conflict of professional female workers, Chinese
Journal of Applied Psychology 9, 1, 2003, Pp. 43-46.
36
Wilson Robin., How babies alter careers for academics, The chronicle of Higher Education,
Volume No.50(15),2003, p.1.
37
Zimmerman,T.S., Intimate partnership: Foundation to the successful balance of family, The
American Journal of Family Therapy, Volume 31, Issue 2, 2003, pp.107-124.

66
balancing family and work.Their description clustered into six general partnership

themes: shared housework, mutual and active involvement in childcare, joint

decision-making, equal access to and influence over finances, value placed on

both partners work life goals and shared emotion work. Successful couples

equally share house work and emotion work to balance their work and life

however, wives tend to perform slightly more childcare and to be primarily

responsible for organizing family life. Further, Zimmerman notes that wives

perceive that husbands careers are slightly more prioritized.

Burke and Collinson (2004)38a recent poll by the members of society for

Human Resource Management indicated that professionals viewed flexible

workplace schedules as key to employee retention and if flexi work schedules

are provided to the employees it achieves employee retention.

Golden (2004)39defines overwork as the point when the length of work

hours begin to adversely affect the health and safety of individuals, families

organizations and the public even if the workers themselves voluntarily, work the

excess hours, Golden also emphasizes that regulation is required not only in

cases where the longer working hours are involuntary, in order to protect the

safety and health of both workers involved and the general public.

38
Burke,M.J., and Collison,J.U.S.Job Recovery and Retention Poll Findings, Society for Human
Resource Management, 2004.
39
Golden,Lannie(2004)Decentworkingtime:Newtrends,Newissues,ILO,Geneva,2004,p.6.

67
 Higgins C. (2004)40 analysed the gap between need for work-life balance

and the reality in most workplaces remains disturbingly wide. Employers across

Canada do not provide sufficient or adequate work-life balance programs for their

employees. It indicates that the factor has the association with employee

commitment is managers recognition of their employees needs for work-life

balance. Hence employers need to create supportive work place environments,

as work life balance is the key to employee well-being and hence organisations

productivity.

Hyman and Summers(2004)41founded seven major problems associated

with the current UK practice of lightly regulated approach towards Work Life

Balance i.e the unevenness of adoption across different sectors and

organizations, lack of formalization of policies at organizational level, with largely

untrained line managers having discretion over policy application, there is

restricted voice for the employee over the introduction and implementation of

policies, policies are introduced initially to meet business needs, rather than

those of employees, there is no evidence of reductions in working hours, tangible

and intangible work intrusions into domestic life are myriad, domestic

responsibilities are still conducted primarily by women irrespective of their

employment status. As a result, many employees continue to face difficulty in

reconciling their work domestic responsibilities.

40
Higgins.C, et al, Exploring the link between work-life conflict and demands on Canadas
healthcare system, Health Canada, Report 3, 2004.
41
Hyman, Jeff and Juliette Summers, Lacking balance? Work-Life employmentpractices on
modern economy, Personnel Review, Volume No. 33-20(4),2004,pp.418-429.

68
 Rapport R. (2004)42 reported that the workplace response tends to be

based on the US model to support people to be able to work more rather than

less. This is possibly due to the influence of Multinational Corporations policies

on inclusive workforce and family friendly workplaces. Most Indians still seem to

consider work life balance as an issue for the haves and less so far the have

nots, where work tends to take precedence over family. Some companies have

publicized their being a family friendly workplace as a recruitment tool, rather

than facilitating women to advance in the workplace. Organisations, like WIPS

(Women in Public Sector), are working with the British High Sector Commission

and the Standing Conference on Public Enterprises to organize special training

programs for the career advancement of women to balance work and family.

Yasbek (2004)43 found that work life balance policies are positively

associated with the job tenure of the female employees, and moreover the

practices of such policies have a great effect on the turnover rate of employees.

Work-life balance policies help in reducing the stress and provide a good work

place where, there is less chance of accidents in the working and also provide a

fair platform for every employee, ultimately enhancing productivity.

Bandopadhyay and kumar (2005)44emphasized on e-learning which is

affecting heavily on imbalanced work-life. The authors develop a motivational

pyramid of e-learning and then discuss how the existing corporate e-learning

42
Rapport. R., work-personal life integration: visions and pragmatic strategies for change, Work
life integration: case studies of organizational change, Wiley London, 2004.
43
Yasbek, P., The business case for firm-level work-life balance policies: a review of the
Literature, Labour Market Policy Group, Department of Labour, 2004.
44
Bandopadhyay,T., and P.Kumar P., Corporate E-learning effects on the work-life balance and
quality of life of employees, Proceedings, (461)Web-based education, 2005.

69
framework can adversely affect the work life balance and cause more stress.

Based on the above lines they propose a modified framework with more

emphasis on blended learning approaches and experimental learning and

flexible, user configurable tools and technology support environment.

Schulz and Schulz (2005)45 explore the additional challenges faced by

dual career couples thus: The first challenge is the original jobs search and

finding two positions. The next challenge is to both make it through the tenure

and promotion process. The third challenge is to have advancement

opportunities. Along with way, the authors assert, the couple has to work

together to develop a work life balance plan to provide an environment for each

person with in the pair to thrive towards his/her career and personal goals.

Besides balancing the day-today activities of a functioning household, they argue

further, couples must agree on timing for or if they will start a family and

advancement opportunity for each.

Kochan.T (2005)46 suggested that Mathematical, technological an

Scientific skills are the assets in todays workforce. In addition to these academic

skills, employers are looking for other important practical skills. Amongst other

things, the ability to work in teams, to lead others, to problem solve and to

communicate clearly are critical. Besides formal schooling, it is important to

45
Schulz, Kirk,H., Schulz, Noel N, Work-life Balance for dual career couples, ASEE Annual
Conference and Exposition:The Changing Landscape of Engineering and Technology
Education in a World,2005,p.12
46
Kochan.T., Restoring the American dream: A working families, agenda for America,
Cambridge, MA: The MIT press, 2005.

70
continue on a path of lifelong learning. In competitive work world, workers need

to keep their qualifications and skills up to date.

Keene and Renolds (2005)47 used the 1992 National Study on the

Changing Workforce to conclude that job characteristics are more salient than

family factors for predicting the likelihood that family will detract from job

performance and for explaining the gender gap in negative family-to-work

spillover. Working in a demanding job or having little job autonomy, the authors

assert, was associated with more native family-to-work spillover regardless of

gender, while greater scheduling flexibility mitigated the gender gap.

Pocock and Clarke(2005)48explored that spill -over of work into family

life showed that both men and women did not have enough time to spend with

families and moreover work pressures affected quality of the family life.

Rothbard(2005)49surveyed 460 employees focusing on the extent to

which individuals desire to integrate or segment their work and non-work lives.

They observed that people who want more segmentation are less satisfied and

committed to the organization when they have greater access to integrating

policies(e.g., onsite childcare)than when they have less access to such policies.

Conversely, people who want greater segmentation are more committed when

47
Keene,Jennifer Reid and John R. Renolds, The job costs of family demands:Gender
differences in negative family-to-work spillover, Journal of Family Issues, Volume
No.26(3),2005,pp.275-299
48
Pocock, B., and Clarke, J., Time, money and jobs spill over: How parentss jobs affect young
people, The Journal of Industrial Relations, Volume No.47 (1), 2005, pp.62-76.
49
Rothbard,Nancy P., Katherine W.Phillips,TracyL.Dumas, Managing multiple roles: work-family
policies and individuals desires for segmentation, Organizational Science, Volume 16,No.3,
2005, pp.243-258.

71
have greater access to segmenting policies(eg., flexi-time).The fit between the

desire for segmentation and organizational policy has an effect on satisfaction

and commitment over and above the effects of demographic characteristics such

as age, gender, marital status, income, number of children, and the ages of those

children.

Thompson, Andreassi and Prottas (2005)50 has identified work life

policies which are very important and defined as the base level indicators of an

organization, prioritizing work over family or family over work and these policies

include flexible work scheduling and leave of employees from work.

Chen (2006)51 reported on young and single that they tend to have less

work life conflict issues compared to with those who have childcare and elderly

care responsibilities. And also those who work in state sector will face less WLC

issues, generally speaking, than those who work in private sector, as competition

and performance pressure is relatively lower in the sector than in the private

sector. Similarly, the level of position held and income both have positive relation

with the level of WLC in different ways as well as those in higher organizational

position tend to feel greater pressure of work which effects their family life

negatively. And those who are on less income are less able to commercialize

their housework and family care responsibility and experience more-life

struggles.

50
Thompson, C. A., Andreassi, J., and Prottas, D., Work-family culture: Key to reducing
workforce-workplace mismatch, Lawrence Erlbaum Publications, 2005,pp.117-132.
51
Chen.Q., Research on work/family conflict of knowledge worker and its intervention strategies,
unpublished masters dissertations, changing universities, China, 2006.

72
 Ferrer. A et al (2006)52 expressed that private sector provide family

friendly benefits such as workplace childcare and employment insurance

supplements to maternity, paternity and sick leave and other alternate work

arrangements. Some of these policies include facilitating leave from work for

family reasons such as extension to leave which may be paid or unpaid and

facilitating changes in work schedules such as switching to part time work, job

sharing or reduced work week, flexi-time (flexibility in start and stop hours) or

telework (work from home) and family support policies such as offering help with

child/elder care to balance work and life.

Felsteadetal (2006)53experimented that home working was also another

factor which was preferred by both men and women and it was believed that it

would enhance work life balance.

Hunsley.T (2006)54 reported on non-standard jobs in recent years,

competing demands of work and family have given rise to various forms of non-

standard work arrangements such as temporary help work, on-call work, day

labour, contract work, self-employment and part-time work in a standard

employment relation-ship. The study indicates that women are more likely to be

employed in non-standard jobs compared to men. The non- standard job

receives company benefits in the form of pensions or health coverage. Often,

there are also limited means for advancement or training.

52
Ferrer.A et al.,The use of family friendly workplaces practices in Canada, Institute for research
on public policy, working paper series no.2006-02, 2006.
53
Felstead, A., Opportunities to work at home in the context to work-life balance, Human
Resource Management Journal, Volume No.12(1), 2006, pp.54-76.
54
Hunsley.T.,Work life balance in an aging population, dimensions, Ottawa: Policy Research
Institute, Govt.of Canada, 2006.

73
 Lilly et al (2006)55expressed their views on personality traits that can

moderate relationship between environmental variables and work life balance

and found that those with a high need for power and a high need for achievement

typically experience more work interferes with family, not family interferes with

work, while those with a high need for affiliation tend to experience more family

interferes with work.

Lee and McCann (2006)56 recognized the decent working time from the

perspective of human development theorists or the capabilities approach to

working time, therefore, encompasses the need for offering workers the

opportunity to choose their working hours on the basis of their capabilities of

functioning, in order to improve the quality of their lives (for example daily hrs)

and arrangement (for example un social hrs) of working time.

Voyer.J.P (2006)57 determines about the future workforce that it brings

more pressures on prime-age workers, because of the coming retirement of baby

boomers. The previous model of family and life-cycle pattern such as education

followed by career (mostly for males) and then retirement is no longer viable.

With aging population, economic and social gains could possibly be derived from

more flexibility of choice regarding the allocation of time among work, family

responsibilities, leisure and learning throughout ones life.

55
Lilly,J.D., et al, A Gender-sensitive study of McClellands needs, stress, and turnover intent
with work-family conflict, Women in Management Review, 2006, 21(8), pp. 662-680.
56
Lee Sangheon and McCann, Deidre, Working time capability towards realizing individual
choice, International Labour Office, Geneva, 2006, pp.65-82.
57
Voyer.J.P.,work and life balance: Better choice, flexibility and policy opportunities, horizons,
2006.

74
 Aaltio and Huang (2007)58 expressed that those who have childcare and

elderly care commitment, outsourcing house work(babysitting, cooking and

cleaning) is the most commonly used personal coping mechanism to reduce

work life conflict. The study of female IT managers found that women sought

support from parents or parents-in law, hired tutors for childrens homework,

employed domestic helper for child minding, cleaning, cooking, shopping, and

shared family responsibilities with their husband.

Cooke.F.L (2007)59 reported that the complete accessibility to extended

family networks and low cost childcare services further encourages dual full-time

working among couples with young children. The one child policy enforced by the

government is to control the population growth has further reduced the amount of

childcare work for working couples. The model of a modern urban Chinese family

typically takes the form of dual careers/dual earners, with much less sharply

divided marital roles and possibly greater equality than that in industrial capitalist

societies.

Fleetwood (2007)60 discussed the inevitable connection between work life

balance and other kinds of flexible working practices, and then discharge these

practices. These practices are employee friendly and sought by employees to

enhance their work life balance. On the other hand employer friendly

58
Aaltio.I., et al, Women Managers career in IT in china: high flyers with emotional costs, Journal
of organizational change Management 20, 2, 2007, pp.227-244.
59
Cooke.F.L., Husbands career first, Renegotiating career and family commitment among
migrant Chinese academic couples in Britain work, Employment and society 21,1, 2007,Pp.47-
65.
60
Fleetwood, Steve, Why Work-life Balance Now? Human Resource Management Journal,
2007, pp.387-400.

75
approaches are sought by employers to enhance profit and then to enhance

employees work life balance. The data reflected that flexible working practices

are characterized as by the employee to make friendly working practices that

tend to constrain work life balance.

Forsyth and PolzerDebruyne (2007)61 have studied that the

organizational pay-offs for visible work-life balance support the workers for the

reduced intention of leaving the job through increased job satisfaction and also

the reduction of work pressure and also reported about the employees that they

feel organization is supportive and providing them work life balance it enhances

job satisfaction and reduces work pressure leading to reduction in turnover

intention.

Nathwani.A (2007)62 analysed the absence of effective HR interventions

to tackle Work Life Conflict problems, individuals adopt a range of coping

strategies that is some individual join sports clubs to keep fit and to socialize with

people who have similar backgrounds. The study shows Chinese employees

spend more time than their Indian counterparts to pursue their hobbies and

would be ready to leave the company if work pressure is perceived to be too

high. While younger and single employees may feel less WLC, working long

hours and anxiety of holding on a career are having a negative impact on their

non-work life. This is particularly the case for single career women who may be

61
Forsyth,Stewart and Polzer-Debruyne, Andrea, The Organizational Pay-offs for Perceived
Work-life Balance Support, Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources,45(1),2007,pp.113:123.
62
Nathwani.A., et al, Diversity and inclusion: A lever for solving talent pool dilemmas in India and
China, a summary report presented to the Global Diversity Network, Schneider-Ross limited
and community Business, 2007.

76
experienced a vicious circle of having no partner, then spending more time to

work which results in having less opportunity to find a partner and hence

remaining single. Some married women also have to postpone their motherhood

once they get married in order to hold on to their career.

Pockok (2007)63argue that longer hours worked, are consistently

associated with worse work-life outcomes on all our life measures. In certain

industries (service industries of hospitality and tourism, for instance) and in

developing countries there is an unhealthy acceptance of long working hours.

Bambra (2008)64 Review of experimental and quasi-experimental studies

focused on shiftwork and work-life balance. Three interventions found to improve

work-life balance: shift changes from slow to fast rotation; shift changes from

backward to forward rotation; and self -scheduling of shiftwork.

Anup Kumar Singh and Richaawasthy (2009)65discuss different causes

and consequences of Work-Life Balance, where societal, organizational and

individual causes are major responsible for Work-Life Balance. Managers have to

take the challenge of work life balance seriously as it affects their professional

success and personal well-being. They also need to hone certain skills that

conducive to better work life balance. Some of these skills are: time

63
Pockok,B,. Skinner, N and Williams, P., Work, Life Time: The Australian work and life Index,
centre for work and life, Hawke Research Institute: University of South Australia, 2007.
64
Bambra, C.L., Whitehead, M.M., Sowden, A.J., Akers, J., and Petticrew, M.P.,Shifting
schedules: The health effects of reorganizing shift work, American Journal of Preventive
Medicine, Volume No. 34(5), 2008, pp.427_434.
65
AnupKumar Singh and RichaAwasthy,Work-Life Balance: causes, consequences and
interventions,NHRD Network Journal,2009,pp.59-67.

77
management, delegation, coping with stress, negotiation, caring, listening,

empathy, trust etc help in managing things both at work and in family.

Aryasri A.R (2009)66 analysed the impact of flexi-time on employee

retention as part of work-life balance practice based on empirical evidence drawn

from IT sector. The study shows that when the average flexi time score

increases, the average Employee Retention score also increases proportionately.

It also founds positive correlation and significant association between employee

retention and flexi-time.

Anil Verma, young ChulChang (2009)67 highlighted the five significant

areas in which the Korean dream remains elusive. Korean workers work for

more(40) working hours per week, Secondly the growth of non-regular workers is

limited in terms of all aspects, thirdly high occupational accident rates and

diseases, fourth is the low birth rates can be seen in Korea. Lastly stimulating

labor work force that is women into organizations. The study was concluded with

three predominant initiatives towards which workers, employers, the government

and non-governmental organizations need to tune their agendas i.e to reduce

working hours, non regular employment needs to be better regulated so that

these workers are afforded comparable pay and benefits to regular workers and

finally with more family-friendly policies are needed to promote the status of

women both at home and at work.

66
Aryasri.A.R, Somanbabu.,Impact of flexi-time as a work-life balance practice on employee
retention, NHRD network Journal, July 2009, Pp.68-75.
67
Anil Verma,Realising the Korean dream for work-family balance, employer policies for
sustainable societies, NHRD network Journal,2009,pp.29-52.

78
 Baral (2000)68conducted a study on 730 managerial employees from

various organisations in India, and found that family significantly contributes to

work in terms of enhancing performance and positive emotions at the workplace.

The finding indicates that one of the important determinants of work life balance

is availability of work life balance programs. When an organization offers its

employees policies, practices, benefits and services to help them integrate their

work and family responsibilities, they feel committed to the organization and

indulge themselves in organizational citizenship behaviours.

Cooke (2009)69I identified many of the HR initiatives adopted by

organisations to help employees enhance their work-life balance are of collective

nature, providing bonding opportunities among employees and between

employees and their family. Money remains the main motivator and de-stressor

in that and material rewards have been the main mechanisms for alleviating

employees grievance of WLC inflicted by work intensification. This reflects

Chinas current stage of economic development that is people desire better living

standard and extra material rewards are appreciated. The study stressed the

provision of employee welfare and employee entertainment is traditionally seen

by Chinese firms as an important ingredient to improve morale and commitment

of the workforce and enhance productivity of the firm.

68
Baral,R.,ExaminingAntecendents of Work-Family Enrichment and its Effect on Individual,
Family and Organisational Outcomes, Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, IIT Bombay, 2000.
69
Cooke,F.L., Employment Relations in China, International and comparative employment
relations 5th edition,London, 2009.

79
 Cousins and Varshney (2009)70 conducted 10 qualitative cases studies

to investigate how mobile users experienced and the work life boundary

management strategies they enacted to address them in terms of three

categories: Managing life space transitions relate to how users switched between

work and life activities using mobile technology. Managing accessibility relates to

how users employed mobile technology. Managing accessibility using mobile

technology for managing communications, interruptions and availability to others

for direct interaction .Managing space utilization,relates to how users organized

resources in their physical location to support their computing activities. They

conclude that use of mobile technologies to blur work life boundaries is highly

pervasive and may not be indicative of dysfunctional behavior, but representative

of new ways of working and living .Therefore they suggest that we must design

ubiquitous computing environments to support users preferences for blurred or

defined boundaries,while facilitating their well -being and feelings of satisfaction

in both work and life.

Deery and Jago (2009)71 examine the key issues associated with work

life balance with a particular focus on practices within the tourism industry based

on 8-year longitudinal study. Presenting a framework that focuses on the specific

variables that influence work life balance and the potential outcomes from these,

the authors identified the individual differences and family work life conflict. They

assert that greater use of flexible work practices such as flexible scheduling,

working from home and having access to both paid and unpaid leave and job

70
Cousins,Karlene C and UpkarVarshney, Designing ubiquitous computing environments to
suppory work life balance, Volume No.9(2),2009,pp.65-93.
71
Deery, Margaret and leoJago A Framework for work- life balance practices: Addressing the
needs of tourism industry,Tourism and Hospitality Research, Volume No. 9(2), 2009,pp.65-93.

80
sharing are some of the strategies that can have positive effect on work life

balance.

Harish C Jain(2009)72 analyzed a survey on Canadian center for

occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS)that work life balance initiatives are any

benefits, policies, or programs that help create a better balance between the

demands of the job and the healthy management(and enjoyment)of life outside

work such work/life initiatives can potentially deal with a wide range of issues

including on-site childcare, eldercare initiatives, flexible working arrangements,

parental and maternity leave, employee assistance programs, on-site seminars

and workshops(on such topics as stress, nutrition, smoking, communication

etc)internal and /or external educational/training opportunities or fitness facilities

or fitness membership assistance (financial)etc.

Fang lee Cooke and Xingyao Jing (2009)73 outlines major sources of

work-life conflicts encountered by workers in china against a context of

marketization of the economy where the organizational leaders and workers tend

to accept work-life conflict as a fact of life. Individuals adopt various coping

strategies on their own. Whilst organizations are more likely to introduce HR

initiatives to cushion the negative effect of long working hours on their key

employees and their family, managers are far less sympathetic towards

employees childcare needs and are unwilling to introduce policy to

accommodate family commitments. Many of HR initiatives adopted by

organizations to help employees enhance their work-life balance are of collective

72
Harish C Jain, Issues and Prospects relating to Work-Life Balance, NHRD Network
Journals,2009, pp.9-17.
73
Fang lee Cooke and XingyooJing,Work-Life Balance in China, sources of conflicts and
coping strategies, NHRD network Journal, 2009,pp.18-28.

81
in nature, providing bonding opportunities among employees and between

employees and their family.

Rosalie L Tung(2009)74 provided a conceptual paradigm of Work-Life

balance and highlights the role of environment and moderating factors in

facilitating work family balance(or) exacerbating family conflict with a positive

note he has concluded that paying attention to work-life balance can have

favorable outcomes both at personal and organizational level.

RupashreeBaral and S.Bhargava(2009)75 highlights the status of Work-

Life Balance practices in Indian organizations where there is a realization from

Indian organizations that work life balance practices are crucial for organizational

performance. The paper identifies challenges for effectiveness of work life

balance practices and recommendations are put forth to facilitate employers to

see employees work-life balance as a core strategic issue in corporate landscape

for which their should be supported by top management. And even organization

should support employees participation in many life roles and even personal

developments to make work-life balance a reality in Indian corporate landscape.

Venkatratnam and Chandra (2009)76 provide a select review of literature

in different countries and sectors. Chandra and venkataratnam also provides

insights into best practices in work life balance, drawing upon the work of

74
Rosalie L Tung,July 2009,Perspectives on Work-Life Balance implications for the Indian
context, NHRD Network Journal Volume No. 2,issue-3,pp.1-8.
75
RupashreeBaral and S. Bhargava,Work-Life Balance practices in Indian organizations:
challenges and prospects, NHRD Network Journal, 2009.
76
VenkataRatnam and Chandra., Work life balance: Review of literature, NHRD network
Journal, July 2009, pp.89-97.

82
International Labour organisation and also the policies in about 25 large

companies.

Bilal,Zia-ur-Rahman and Raza (2010)77 examined the significant impact

of family friendly policies on employees job satisfaction and turnover intention in

the banking industry. Long and inflexible work hours are the most consistent

predictor of work-life conflict among banking employees. The evaluation provided

prima facie evidence that alternative work schedules can improve banking

employees work-life balance, creating benefits for banking employees and

corporate organizations.

Divya, Suganthi and Samuel (2010)78 illustrated the current workplace

conditions and some of the reasons causing imbalances in work and life in the IT

industry in India. Their study mainly focused on the working women in the age

group 20-35 and the problems they face at work and family life. Results obtained

from using factor analysis suggest that organizations may mitigate voluntary

turnover among women belonging to IT sector and increase workforce diversity.

Malik, Saleem and Ahmad (2010)79 examined the relationship of job

satisfaction with the concept of work-life balance, turnover intentions and burnout

77
Bilal,Muhammad,Zia-ur-Rahman,Muhammad and RazaIrfan, Impact of Family Friendly
Policies on Employees Job Satisfaction and Turnover Intention:A study on work-life balance at
workplace, Inter-disciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, Volume No.2(7),
2010, pp.378-95
78
Divya D, Suganthi L. and Samuel Anand A., Work life Balance of IT Women Professionals
Belongings to the Age Group 20-35 in India, Advance in Management Volume
No.3(1),2010,pp.37-46
79
Malik,MuhammadImran,Sallem, Farida Ahmad and Mehboob,Work-life Balance and Job
Satisfaction Professionals Belongings to the Age Group 20-35 in India, Advance in
Management Volume No.3(1), 2010, pp.37-46
79
Malik and MuhammadImran, Teachers in Pakistan, South Asian Journal of Management
Volume No.17(2), 2010,pp.112-23.

83
level of teachers in Pakistan. The purpose of the study was to provide empirical

evidence to prove the relationship. They concluded that higher the work life

balance higher will be the job satisfaction of the teachers.

Shankar and Bhatnagar (2010)80 looked at the literature of work life

balance exhaustively and accentuated the importance of broadening the narrow

focus to broader one beyond work and family. They have proposed a conceptual

model of work life balance to be tested empirically. This model focused on the

work life balance construct and its relationship with employee engagement,

emotional dissonance and turnover intention and reviewed the antecedents of

Work-Family Conflict from the perspective of individual, work and family. Findings

revealed the effects of individual variables like stress influences, family variables

like family demands and spousal interactions.

Singh (2010)81 explored on the perception of work-life balance policies

among the software professionals. The major contribution of this study was to

provide an approach for the management of software organizations to assess the

awareness levels of Work-life polices and measure their perceived importance.

The variables employed by the author in the study are not occupation specific

and can be used to assess the work life balance policies in other occupation too.

80
Shankar, Tara and BhatnagarJyotsna, Work-life balance, Employee, Engagement, Emotional
Consonance/ Dossonance& turnover intention, The Indian Journal of Indian Relations, Volume
No.46(1),2010,pp.74-87.
81
Singh,Amita, A study on the perception of Work-Life Balance policies among Software
Professionals, IUP Journal of Management Research, Volume No.IX(2), 2010,pp.51-79.

84