Study of Human Resource Management Practices With Specific Reference Ms. S. SUREKHA PDF

Study of Human Resource Management Practices with Specific
Reference to Work Life Balance Initiatives and Its Impact on
Employee Retention in Select Information Technology Sector Units
Thesis Submitted to Padmashree Dr. D. Y. Patil University

Department of Business Management
in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the Degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
In BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
Submitted by
Ms. S.Surekha
(Enrollment No. DYP-PhD 09006)
Research Guide
Dr. R. GOPAL
DIRECTOR, DEAN & HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT
PADMASHREE DR. D.Y. PATIL UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
Sector 4, Plot No. 10,
CBD Belapur, Navi Mumbai – 400 614
Reference to Work Life Balance Initiatives and Its Impact on
Employee Retention in Select Information Technology Sector Units

This thesis is dedicated to my late mother
Ms. S.Rajyalakshmi.
Declaration
I hereby declare that the thesis titled “Study of Human Resource Management
Practices with Specific Reference to Work Life Balance Initiatives and Its Impact
on Employee Retention in Select Information Technology Sector Units” submitted
for the award of Doctor of Philosophy in Business Management at the Padmashree
Dr.D.Y.Patil, University Department of Business Management is my original work and
the thesis has not formed the basis for the award of any degree, associate ship,
fellowship or any other similar titles.
Place: Belapur
Date: September 2012
Signature of the Signature of the Signature of the
Guide Head of the Dept. Student

Certificate
This is to certify that the thesis titled “Study of Human Resource Management
Practices with Specific Reference to Work Life Balance Initiatives and Its Impact
on Employee Retention in Select Information Technology Sector Units” submitted
by Ms. S.Surekha is a bonafide research work for the award of the Doctor of
Philosophy in Business Management at the Padmashree Dr. D.Y.Patil University,
Department of Business Management in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the
award of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy and that the thesis has not formed the
basis for the award previously of any degree, diploma, associate ship, fellow ship or any
other similar title of any University or Institution.
Also it is certified that the thesis represent the independent work of the candidate.
Place: Belapur
Date: September 2012
Signature of the Signature of the
Head of the Dept. Guide

Acknowledgement
I thank Padmashree Dr. D.Y.Patil University, Department of Business Management for
giving me the opportunity to carry out the research program.
I gratefully acknowledge the inspiration, guidance and valuable suggestions received
from Dr. Gopal, the guide, mentor and the true teacher. His wide knowledge and
logical way of thinking have been great value for me. I am deeply grateful to Dr. Gopal
for his detailed and constructive comments and for his support throughout the research
work. Without him setting the ball rolling, my thesis would not have seen the light of
the day. I have immensely benefited doing Ph.D under him.
I am thankful to all those company officials of the sample organizations who proved
that there is door open to researchers from the industry.
During the research work I have collaborated with many associates and friends for
whom I have great regard and I wish to extend my thanks to all those who have helped
me.
I would like to acknowledge the unconditional support extended by my family.
S. Surekha.
Table of Contents
Chapter Subsection Title Page No.
DECLARATION
CERTIFICATE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
LIST OF TABLES iv - vi
LIST OF FIGURES vii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS viii
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ix - xxiv
1 Introduction 1-26
Origin and meaning of the term work life
1.1 1-3
balance
Work life relationship /Theories of work life
1.2 3-7
balance
1.3 Factors responsible for work life conflict 7-9
1.4 Drivers of work life balance: 10
External drivers and work-life balance
1.4.1 10-11
policies
Internal drivers and work-life balance
1.4.2 11-13
policies
Employer initiatives in encouraging a good
1.5 13-14
Work life balance
1.5.1 Flexible Working Arrangements 14-20
1.5.2 Reducing Working Time 20
1.5.3 Leave options 20-21
1.5.4 Employee and Family Support 21
1.5.5 Wellbeing, Health and Community 21-22
1.6 Merits of work life balance policy 22-24
Factors influencing take up of work life
1.7 24-25
balance initiatives:
1.8 Conclusion 25-26
2 Review of Literature 27-52
2.1 Work life balance- Meaning & Definitions 27-29
2.2 Work life balance practices 29-31
2.3 Drivers for work life balance 31
2.4 Need for work life balance for employees 31-32
2.5 Benefits & costs of work life balance 32-39
Organizational barriers to work life balance
2.6 39-41
policies
i
Businesses most likely to implement work-
2.7 41-43
life balance policies
2.8 Employee Turnover& Retention 43-48
2.9 Work life balance& Employee Retention 48-52
2.10 Research Gap8 52
Research Objectives, Research
3 53-63
Hypotheses & Research Methodology
3.1 Statement of the Problem 53
3.2 Objectives of the study: 53-54
3.3 Hypotheses to the study 54-58
3.4 Research Methodology 58
3.4.1 Understanding the problem 58-59
3.4.2 Scope of Research 59
3.4.3 Sample Design &Sample size 59-60
3.4.4 Data sources 60-61
3.4.5 Data collection Method 61-62
3.4.6 Pre study 62
3.4.7 Limitations of the research 62
3.4.8 Scope for future research 63
An over view of Indian Information
4 64-91
Technology Sector
4.1 Introduction 64-65
4.2 Features & Segments of the IT Industry 65-66
Major characteristics of work and
4.21 66
employment in the IT industry
4.3 Growth Statistics of Indian IT Sector 67-74
Factors responsible for the growth of IT
4.4 75-76
Sector India
Impact of IT on Formal &Informal sectors of
4.5 77-79
the Economy
4.6 Top Indian IT Companies 80-83
Challenges & problems faced by IT Sector in
4.7 83-89
India
4.8 Trends in Indian IT sector 89-91
4.9 Conclusion 91
Work Life Balance Global &Indian
5 92-110
Practices
Work life balance programs in European
5.1 92-95
Union:
ii
Work life balance programs in New Zealand
5.2 96
and Australia
5.3 Work life balance programs in US 96-100
5.4 Work life balance practices in India 100-105
5.5 Current status of WLBPs in India 105-106
Initiatives introduced by companies in India
5.6 106-110
in the direction of work life balance.
5.7 Conclusion 110
Employee Retention Strategies in IT
6 111-130
Sector in India
6.1 Introduction 111-112
Need for innovative strategies to deal with
6.2 112-113
employee turnover
Reasons for employees to leave an
6.3 114-120
organization
6.4 Critical factors that drive retention 120-121
6.5 Retention Measures 121-126
Retention Measures in top Indian IT
6.6 126-129
Companies
6.7 Conclusion 130
7 Data Analysis &Interpretation 131-175
7.1 Questionnaire Reliability 131-132
7.2 Sample Profile 133-138
7.3 Hypothesis testing 138-155
8 Major findings & Conclusions 176-179
9 Recommendations & Suggestions 180-181
Annexure I - Questionnaire 182-200
Annexure II –Frequency Tables 201-229
Annexure III – Work Life Balance –
230-246
Employee Perceptions - Tables
Annexure IV – Bibliography 247-257
iii
LIST OF TABLES
Section Table Table Description Page

No. No. No.
3.4.3 1 Sample distribution 60
7.1 2 Reliability Statistics - WLB 132

7.1 3 132
Reliability Statistics - WLB
7.1 4 132
Reliability Statistics-Retention
7.1 5 132
Reliability Statistics
7.3 6 Flexible working hours- Sex 138
7.3 7 Flexi Working hours: Chi-Square Tests 139
7.3 8 Designation- Flexible hours 139
7.3 9 Designation- Flexible hours: Chi-Square Tests 140
7.3 10 Flexible hours in general – Organization 141
7.3 11 Flexible hours Organisation: Chi-Square Tests 141
7.3 12 Health programs – Sex 142
7.3 13 Health programs: Chi-Square Tests 142
7.3 14 Designation Health programs 143
7.3 15 Health programs: Chi-Square Tests 143
7.3 16 Organization Health programs 144
7.3 17 Chi-Square Tests- Organization 144
7.3 18 Career break / sabbatical - Sex 145
7.3 19 Career break / sabbatical: Chi-Square Tests 145
7.3 20 Career break / sabbatical: Designation 146
7.3 21 Career break / sabbatical: Designation: Chi-Square Tests 146
iv
No. No. No.
7.3 22 Career break / sabbatical - Organization 147
7.3 23 Sabbaticals – Organization %: Chi-Square Tests 148
7.3 24 Transportation – Sex 148
7.3 25 Transportation: Chi-Square Tests 149
7.3 26 Transportation – Designation 150
7.3 27 Transportation – Designation: Chi-Square Tests 150
7.3 28 Organization Transportation 151
7.3 29 Organization Transportation: Chi-Square Tests 151
7.3 30 Job sharing – Sex 152
7.3 31 Job sharing: Chi-Square Tests 152
7.3 32 Job sharing – Designation 153
7.3 33 Job sharing – Designation: Chi-Square Tests 153
7.3 34 Job sharing – Organization 154
7.3 35 Job sharing – Organization: Chi-Square Tests 154
7.4 36 Work Life Balance scores (%) Designation 156

Work Life Balance scores (%) Designation: Chi-Square
7.4 37 156
Tests
7.4 38 Work Life Balance scores (%) * Marital status 157
Work Life Balance scores (%) * Marital status:
7.4 39 157
Chi-Square Tests
7.4 40 Work Life Balance scores (%) Organization 159
Work Life Balance scores (%) Organization:
7.4 41 159
Chi-Square Tests
7.4 42 Work Life Balance Scores (%) Sex 160
7.4 43 Work Life Balance Scores (%) Sex: Chi-Square Tests 161
v
No. No. No.
7.6 44 WLB Policy- Organisation 164
7.6 45 WLB Policy- Organisation: Chi-Square Tests 164
7.6 46 WLB Policy- Dissemination 165
7.6 47 WLB Policy- Dissemination: Chi-Square Tests 165
7.6 48 Organization Up loading on the company website 166

Organization Up loading on the company website:
7.6 49 166
Chi-Square Tests
7.6 50 Organization Distribution of leaflets 167
7.6 51 Organization Distribution of leaflets: Chi-Square Tests 167
7.6 52 Organization Issue of letters to individual employees 168

Organization Issue of letters to individual employees: Chi-
7.6 53 168
Square Tests
7.6 54 Organization Intimation to the Dept. Heads 169
Organization Intimation to the Dept. Heads: Chi-Square
7.6 55 169
Tests
7.7 56 Intention to Stay (in %) -Sex 171
7.7 57 Intention to Stay (in %) –Sex - Chi-Square Tests 171
7.7 58 Intention to Stay (in %) Organization 172
7.7 59 Intention to Stay (in %) Organization - Chi-Square Tests 172
7.7 60 Intention to Stay (in %) Designation 173
7.7 61 Intention to Stay (in %) Designation - Chi-Square Tests 173
7.7 62 WLB and Intention to Stay Correlations 175
vi
LIST OF FIGURES
Section Figure Page

Figure Description
No. No. No.
4.3 1 Compounded Average Growth Rate in IT sector 67
Revenue Contribution by various Segments of IT Sector in

4.3 2 68
the Last 6 years
4.3 3 Component wise growth Rate for last six years 69
4.3 4 Revenue Share by Main Segments ( last six years) 70
Segment Wise Revenue Contribution – Domestic – 2009 –

4.3 5 70
10
% Wise Revenue Contribution by Key verticals - 2009 -
4.3 6 71
10
4.3 7 Segment wise Export Revenues for the last six years 72
Segment wise revenue Contribution to Exports – 2009 – 10

4.3 8 73
(in %)
4.3 9 Geography Wise Revenue Split 74
4.7 10 Attrition Rates of IT Majors in % for 2009 and 2010 86
7.2 11 Sample Profile 133
7.2 12 Sample Profile - Marital Status 134
7.2 13 Sample Profile - Designation 134
7.2 14 Organisation wise Sample Distribution 135
7.2 15 Income wise Sample Distribution 136
7.2 16 Geographical Distribution of the Sample 137
7.4 17 Work Life Balance scores (%) Designation 155
7.4 18 Work Life Balance scores- Organisation 158
7.4 19 Work Life Balance Scores (%) Male/Female 160
7.4 20 Work Life Balance Scores – Total Sample 161
7.7 21 Intention to Stay – Male/Female 170
vii
List of Abbreviations
1 WLB Work Life Balance
2 HRDC Human Resources and Skills Development Canada
3 HR Human Resources
4 WLBPs Work Life Balance
5 EEOC Equal Employment Opportunities Commission
6 IT Information Technology
7 ITeS Information Technology enabled Service
8 GDP Gross Domestic Product
9 BPO Business Process Out sourcing
10 NASSCOM National Association of Soft ware and Services Companies
11 CAGR Compounded Average Growth Rate
12 SEI'CMM Software Engineering Institute's Capability Maturity Model
13 CMMI Capability Maturity Model for IT
14 SEZ Special Economic Zone
15 EE0 Equal Employment Opportunity
viii
Executive Summary
The human resources of any organization have to be made to perform by offering an ideal
work environment that should be structured by the management and accepted by the
respective individual employee. Work-life balance is a Human Resource Strategy, which
is already recognized globally as the ultimate key for human resource development
among all the work systems .Work life balance addresses the concerns of improving
employee satisfaction and motivation levels, strengthen work place learning and
development for betterment in managing the change and adopting alien practices in the
event of change.
Work-Life Balance leading to organizational excellence in the area of Human Resource
Management is more vital in service industry in which employees are expected to meet
the dead lines in different time zones of the global market. Though there is a strong
business case for work life balance strategy in modern times it is more of an individual’s
concern to balance his life so as to have a sense of achievement all spheres his life.
The concept of work life balance has its origin in North American Human resource
management. The term was first coined in 1986 although it was sporadic for a number of
years. In fact work life programs existed as early as 1930. Even then it did not see much
use in management parlance until recently. It refers to the flexible working arrangements
that allow both parents and non-parents to avail of working arrangements that provide a
balance between work responsibilities and personal responsibilities.
Work life balance means a state where an individual manages real or potential conflict
between different demands on his or her time and energy in a way that satisfies his or her
needs for well being and self fulfillment ( David Clutterbuck,2005)
ix
Work-Life Balance does not mean an equal balance. Trying to schedule an equal number
of hours for each of various work and personal activities is usually unrewarding and
unrealistic. Each person’s work-life balance will vary over time, often on a daily basis. The
right balance for each one today will probably be different from tomorrow. The right
balances differ when one is single and will be different when one marries or has a partner or
if they have children. When one starts a new career versus when one is nearing retirement
brings changes in work-life balance. There is no perfect, one-size fits all, balance that one
should be striving for.
This concern for work life balance has arisen from significant demographic and
technological shifts in industrialized societies. Fundamental changes include an increased
proportion of women (particularly mothers) in the paid work force, greater numbers of
dual-earner couples and single parents demand for workplace flexibility and public
support for childcare and eldercare, and the rapid expansion of information technology
allowing work portability.
Innovative family support HR policy initiatives are being introduced by industrial
employers all over the world over a period of time. Some of such initiatives include
Flexible time, Telecommuting, Compressed Work Weeks, Part-Time Work Job sharing
Sick leave, Child care / Family support services.
Work life programs have the potential to significantly improve employee morale, reduce
absenteeism, and retain organizational knowledge, particularly during difficult economic
times.
For companies committed to corporate social responsibility, work-life balance is a critical
issue. It is not just about ‘treating employees with respect’ there is also a hard core business
cause for it. In the current economic climate, it is more important than ever that companies
x
take steps to ensure that they have an engaged, healthy and productive workforce that will
help them ride the storm and emerge even stronger when the good times return. In fact work
life balance strategy is used as an effective retention tool in industrialized societies.
There is growing literature available in several countries explaining the relationship between
family friendly policies and work and also the impact of such policies on turn over intentions
of employees. However there is research gap in certain critical variables related to work life
balance.
Purpose of the study
Studies suggest that Indian IT sector is a pioneer in introducing work life balance
initiatives even though there is no legislative compulsion. There are no specific studies to
understand the work life balance issues at middle and lower management in the IT sector
about such policies & their impact on employee turnover intentions/attrition/retention.
Under such circumstances it is essential to understand the Human resource management
Initiatives in Indian IT sector in the direction of work life Balance/ integration and the
impact of such initiatives on employee attrition/retention particularly at junior and middle
level management.
The significance of the study
The significance of the study lies in the detonation of the IT industry in the recent years.
Where on one hand the sector is growing with leaps and bounds, on the other the
employee turnover has been alarmingly high, thus costing a lot to the company. The
middle level and low level employees are victims of dearth of motivation and employee
satisfaction also seems to be brandishing. The study is an attempt to assess the Human
Resource Management initiatives in the direction of work life balance IT sector and
analyze the impact of such initiatives on employees’ intention to stay/retention.
xi
Research gap
There has been a larger degree of research about talent management in the western
context, however not much work has been done in Indian context highlighting the role of
work life balance initiatives.
Work-life balance of employees is not given due importance in the research field in India
so as to understand turn over intentions/attrition of employees at junior and middle level
management. No significant studies have been undertaken in India to analyze the impact
of demographic variables on the critical factors of Work-life balance especially in the IT
sector.
Objectives of the Study
 To study the existing flexible work arrangements, health programs, counseling
services, sabbatical / career breaks & transport facilities& job sharing provisions
in sample organizations.
 To understand the differences in work life balance scores across the organizations,
genders, levels of management and married and unmarried in sample
organizations
 To assess the differences in perceptions of individual employees across the
genders, levels of management t& organizations related to work life balance.
 To understand the policy differences across the organizations as regards work life
balance in sample organizations
 To assess the impact of work life balance programs on employee retention /
attrition/intention to stay of the sample organizations
 To suggest suitable recommendations of any other type of work life balance
initiatives emerging from the study

xii
Hypotheses to the study
H01: There is no difference between male and female employees with regard to the
provision of flexible working hours
H11: There is a difference between male and female employees with regard to the
H02: There is no difference between managers & non managers as regards to the
H12: There is a difference between managers &non managers as regards to the provision
of flexible working hours
H03: There is no difference between organizations as regards to the provision of flexible
working hours
H13: There is a difference between organizations as regards to the provision of flexible
working hours
H04: There is no difference between male & female employees with respect to the
provision of health programs
H14: There is a difference between male & female employees with respect to the provision
of health programs
H05: There is no difference between mangers & non managers with respect to the
H15: There is a difference between mangers & non managers with respect to the provision
of health programs
H06: There is no difference between organizations with respect to the provision of health
programs.
xiii
H16: There is a difference between organizations with respect to the provision of health
programs
H07: There is no difference between male & female employees with respect to the practice
of sabbatical/career breaks.
H17: There is a difference between male & female employees with respect to the practice
H08: There is no difference between managers & non managers with respect to the
practice of sabbatical/career breaks.
H18: There is difference between managers &non managers with respect to practice of
sabbatical/career breaks.
H09: There is no difference between organizations with respect to the practice of
H19: There is a difference between organizations with respect to the practice of
provision of transportation facilities.
H110: There is a difference between male & female employees with respect to the
H111: There is a difference between managers & non managers with respect to the
xiv
H012: There is no difference between organizations with respect to the provision of
transportation facilities.
H112: There is a difference between organizations with respect to the provision of
practice of job sharing.
H113: There is a difference between male &female employees with respect to the practice
of job sharing.
H014: There is no difference between managers &non managers with respect to the
H114: There is a difference between managers &non managers with respect to the practice
of job sharing.
H015: There is no difference between organizations with respect to the practice of job
sharing.
H115: There is a difference between organizations with respect to the practice of job
sharing.
H016: Most of the Indian organizations do not have specific policy on work life balance &
such initiatives are also selectively introduced.
H116: Most of the Indian organizations do have specific policy on work life balance &
such initiatives are not selectively introduced
H017: There is no difference between various levels of management as regards to the work
life balance scores
xv
H117: There is a difference between various levels of management as regards to the work
life balance scores
H018: There is no difference between married & unmarried as regards to the work life
balance scores
H118: There is a difference between married & unmarried as regards to the work life
balance scores
H019: There is no difference between organizations as regards to the work life balance
scores
H119: There is a difference between organizations as regards to the work life balance
H020: There is negative relationship between family friendly policies and employees’
turnover intentions.
H120: There is a positive relationship between family friendly policies and employees’
Sample Design: The sample size calculation showed a sample of 384 based on which
sample size of 400 is chosen for the study. The sample comprises of employees from five
information technology units out of which three are Hyderabad based and two are
Mumbai based. The sampling method used is convenience sampling. For the purpose of
data collection the research scholar has approached around 30 IT companies in Mumbai,
Pune and Hyderabad through formal routes of communication. A few companies have
promptly replied informing that they cannot allow such surveys in their organizations
while many others have not responded at all in spite of repeated attempts. However the
five sample organizations which have been listed below responded positively. As the 5
xvi
sample organisations suit the requirements of the study, the data were collected for this
study from these organisations.
The sample distribution comprises of the following.
Population of No. of % of the

Organization the sample sample sample of the
organization respondents population
Cognizant Technology Solutions (India) 500 58 11.60
Respondez 400 47 11.75
Deloitte Consulting Services India Pvt. 20
200 40
Ltd
IIC Technologies Pvt. Ltd 500 200 40
Micro Semi India Pvt. Ltd 100 55 55
Total 1700 400 23.53
Methodology adopted: A survey design was used to obtain the required information.
The population for this study comprised of employees working in various IT/BPOs in
Mumbai and Hyderabad cities. Convenience sampling technique was used to gather data
from the respondents, because of which diverge group of respondents from different age
groups, gender, and marital status across the sample organizations could be selected.
However as the scope of the research is restricted to study the work life balance issues
among middle and lower level managers the data were collected from low and middle
level employees only where the attrition is the highest. The questionnaire was intricately
designed to tap the demographic variables including age, education, gender, marital
status, and tenure of the respondents. Information was also gathered with regard to
factors responsible for attrition, the factors that can be employed to retain the employees
in an IT organization, their overall level of satisfaction, motivation, involvement and life
interest and work compatibility.
xvii
The questionnaire had four sections.
 The first section contained questions on demographic profile of the sample
respondents.
 The second section contained questions to understand the work profile of the
respondents.
 The third section contained questions so as to understand the awareness,
perceptions of sample respondents about organizational work life balance
initiatives and also their willingness to participate in development of such a policy
in their organization. The questions were related to employee critical variables on
work life balance and also employer critical variables on work life balance.
 The fourth section of the questionnaire contained questions on organizational
commitment of employees and their expectations from the employer so as to
tempt them to stay with the organization. A five point Likert scale was used to
solicit data on most of the variables. An online questionnaire was also created as
some organizations insisted on mail survey only as they can’t afford to spare time
for the survey during working hours.
A pilot study was conducted at two organizations based at Mumbai & Hyderabad. A
structured questionnaire was developed for the pilot study. Based on the results of the
pilot study some changes were incorporated in the questionnaire. The experience of
conducting a pilot study is quite enriching.
Data analysis& major findings: Primary data were analysed using SPSS 17 soft ware.
For analysis purpose only 370 questionnaires were included as the remaining
questionnaires were incomplete to the extent that it was decided to delete them from the
xviii
final analysis. Statistical measure such as Chi-Suare, and coefficient of correlation were
applied to measure the statistical significance of results achieved.
Major findings of the analysis
The study found that that sample organizations do have some arrangements in the
direction of work life balance.
 Most of the respondents reported that they do avail flexible work arrangements
which include flexible start time, finish time or flexible timings in general.
 Job sharing is also reported to be a popular initiative availed by employees.
 Career breaks/sabbaticals, transport facilities, health programs do not appear to be
regular initiatives widely used in sample organizations as majority of male and
female employees, married and unmarried and employees working with different
income groups reported that such facilities are not offered to them.
 Higher proportion of employees that belong to higher income groups have
responded positively to most of the above facilities compared to other income
groups. However the statistical analysis reveals that the differences in the
existence of above initiatives are significant in group comparisons in the case of
certain organizations. Hence the differences between the organizations with
regard to existence of work life balance initiatives are significant.
 As regards the differences in the work life balance scores between the genders,
levels of management , married and unmarried and the sample organizations, the
study found that the differences in work life balance scores are not significant
between male and female employees, managers and non managers, married and
unmarried. However the difference in the work life balance scores among
xix
organizations is significant. Based on the study findings, one can conclude that
employees of one particular sample organization enjoy better work life balance in
relative terms.
 The study found that the sample respondents strongly feel that flexible work
arrangements like flexi timings, job sharing, paid, and unpaid leave will help them
in balancing their life work related obligations.
 Similarly help from managers, colleagues and team mates will definitely help
them in balancing their work life issues. Though employees surveyed do feel that
negative attitude of bosses do hinder their balance, the do not feel that the
technology devices and frequent travelling do come in the way their work life
balance.
 Employees have not attached much significance to measures like part-time
working and sabbaticals in improving their work life balance. As regards the
importance of work life balance in improving organizational effectiveness
majority feel it will improve organizational effectiveness.
 Most of them opine that work life balance initiatives should be customized
keeping in mind the needs of employees Majority of them are inclined to
participate in policy decisions related to work life balance issues. However
statistically the difference in perceptions of employees with respect to most of the
demographic variables is insignificant.
 Study also reveals that there are no separate arrangements in place in sample
organizations to deal with employee work life conflicts. There are no formal or
informal arrangements for decisions making neither on such issues nor in their
xx
implementation. As regards the existence of work life co-ordination committee,
employees expressed their ignorance. However employees reported that any
communication from the management is through company website and through
communication to the immediate boss. But employees representing one of the
sample organizations did report that on regular basis seasonal picnics, outings are
arranged and they do enjoy participation in such events.
 Majority of sample respondents are categorical in saying that the company does
not involve family members in work achievement functions nor any social
functions are arranged keeping in mind suitable time to workers families.
Statistical tests do confirm significant differences between organizations as
regards policy on work life balance.
 Organizations surveyed do not have any innovative or wide range of HR
initiatives in the direction of work life balance. If work life balance is an
important tool in controlling employee attrition and increasing employee retention
which is one of the challenges faced by IT & ITeS units, there should have been
formal arrangements for the same which any way are missing in all the
organizations surveyed. More importantly on employee side also there is no great
enthusiasm to do the needful.
 The study‘s findings as regards the impact of work life balance on employee
retention is that the organization in which a large number of employees are with
high scores of work life balance also shows a large number employees with high
emotional attachment, willingness to stay with the same organization compared
to others. This may be a sort of suggestion to HR professionals to integrate work
xxi
life initiatives into overall organizational retention strategy. However employees
reported that flexible & friendly work environment and salary are more important
for them to plan their career in the company they work at present than work life
initiatives and innovative HR schemes which by choice not the most important
requirement for employees to be tempted to stay with the organization.
 The employee intentions to stay scores do reveal that the difference in scores is
significant between male and female and across the organizations also the
difference in intention to stay is statistically significant. Work life Balance scores,
intention to stay though move in the same direction in case of some sample
organizations it is not so in all organizations. Statistical measures indicate the
relationship between work life balance and intentions to stay positive and
significant. The reported attrition rates of some of the sample organization do
reveal that work life balance scores of employees to some extent influence the
decisions of employees in staying or leaving the organization.
 The study reveals that sample respondents have a clear perception about the
significance of work life balance. However it is also found that among employees
there is an expectation that employer and more importantly the immediate boss
should be sympathetic towards employees needs by providing flexible work
arrangements and other work life initiatives.
Suggestions to improve the present situation
The study reveals that there is no consultation or dialogue between employees and
employer when it comes to provision of any family support programs across the
organizations. Hence it is advised to the managements that a coordinating committee with
xxii
the representatives of management and employees to be constituted which itself is a great
initiative from employees’ point of view. The committee can give broad guidelines to the
line managers in creating a family friendly& worker support environment in their
respective departments which can also become a platform for employees to voice their
concerns about work life issues.
There is a need for more explicit, detailed and relevant regulations, guidance specific to
this industry as it was observed that 60% of the employees put in overtime on a regular
basis after putting in 8-9 working hours a day.
Companies need to create counseling services in their respective organizations by
appointing full time counselors who can help employees in balancing their mental and
physical rhythm.
Sabbaticals & Part time work arrangements need to be promoted in sample organizations
as IT is gender unbiased sector where we find in large numbers female workers are
employed. These work life initiatives also offer good opportunity for companies to
manage their tight salary budgets in periods of tough competition and declining revenues.
Free health check up &health insurance &exercise facilities are the initiative not only
expected by the employees but they are also the initiatives which will be the critical
influencing factors for employees in making choice of employment. These can be used
not only as work life initiatives but also as good retention tools in times when health care
is very expensive.
It is advised to employees that Careful planning and personal effort is important for
balance in work and personal life. Employers can only facilitate work life balance with
xxiii
many schemes that can attract employees and satisfy their needs but it is employees, who
have to plan, prioritize and schedule their work and life obligations.
Cost effective retention strategies like creating a retention culture in the organization,
ensuring freedom of expression to employees, creating friendly work environment and
instituting competitive reward schemes are a few strategies organizations can be
experimented with in talent retention.
Limitations of the study:
The study was restricted to understand the perceptions of employees at middle level and
junior level management of the information technology sector units. The study findings
cannot be generalized as the characteristics and work culture of IT professionals could be
different for different employees working at the same level in different parts of the
country.
Future scope for research:
Most of the research done on work life balance till date focused on studying the
perceptions and reactions of individual workers to the critical variables of work life
balance. There is ample scope for further research into areas of work life balance into the
following areas.
 Nature and operationalisation of policy on work life balance by organisations.
 Understanding what constitutes good work life balance
 To what extent work life balance matters to women executives at top level of the
management.
********************************
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Chapter-1
Introduction
Today‘s organizations operate in an environment with global focus and local operational
strength. The organizational effectiveness in terms of performance and dynamism can be
benchmarked only with the reference of existing human resources. The human resources
of any organization have to be made to perform by offering an ideal work environment
that should be structured by the management and accepted by the respective individual
employee. Work-life balance is a Human Resource Strategy, which is already recognized
globally as the ultimate key for human resource development among all the work
systems. WLB addresses the concerns of improving employee satisfaction and
motivation levels, strengthen work place learning and development for betterment in
managing the change and adopting alien practices in the event of change. Work-Life
Balance leading to organizational excellence in the area of Human Resource
Management is more vital in service industry in which employees are expected to meet
the dead lines in different time zones of the global market.
1.1 Origin and meaning of the term work life balance: Striking a balance is the real
fulfillment to life. In the rat race of our present day existence, especially in the long
working hours ethos of our industry, we forget to maintain a balance between work and
family. The result is devastating: high levels of stress, trauma, and even nervous
breakdowns.
The phrase work life balance was coined in 1986 in USA .Until 1999 it remained on the
fringes of corporate usage and public dissemination. Post 2000, work life balance has
gone mainstream, with hundreds of dedicated internet sites, including those of mega
corporations, helping spread its usage. There has been legislation enacted in many
1
countries making work life balance crucial to the functioning of a corporation: The
concept of work life balance has its origin in North American Human resource
management. The term was first coined in 1986 although it was sporadic for a number of
years. In fact work life programs existed as early as 1930. Even then it did not see much
use in management parlance until recently. It refers to the flexible working arrangements
that allow both parents and non-parents to avail of working arrangements that provide a
balance between work responsibilities and personal responsibilities.
Work-life balance‘ is meant to articulate the desire of all individuals – not just those with
families or caring responsibilities – to achieve and maintain a ‗balance‘ between their
paid work and their life outside work, whatever their ‗life‘ involves, from childcare and
housework to leisure or self-development.‖(Terence Hogarth and Derek Bosworth, 2009)
―Work life balance is a self defined and self decided state of well being that a person can
reach or set as a goal, that allows them to manage effectively multiple responsibilities at
work , at home and in their community; it supports physical ,emotional, family and
community health and does so without grief, stress or negative impact.‖ (HRSDC, 2005)
―Work life balance means a state where an individual manages real or potential conflict
between different demands on his or her time and energy in a way that satisfies his or her
needs for well being and self fulfillment‖( David Clutterbuck,2005).
Work-Life Balance does not mean an equal balance. Trying to schedule an equal number
of hours for each of various work and personal activities is usually unrewarding and
unrealistic. Life is dynamic and not static. Each person‘s work-life balance will vary over
time, often on a daily basis. The right balance for each one today will probably be
different from tomorrow. The right balances differ when one is single and will be
2
different when one marries or has a partner or if they have children. When one starts a
new career versus when one is nearing retirement brings changes in work-life balance.
There is no perfect, one-size fits all, balance that one should be striving for.
1.2 Work life relationship /Theories of work life balance): Several theories have been
propounded to explain the work family linkage. These include Segmentation,
Compensation, Spillover and the Border theory.
Segmentation Theory
The earliest view of the relationship between work and home was that they are segmented
and independent and do not affect each other. Blood and Wolfe (1960), who were
pioneers of this perspective, applied this concept to blue collar workers. They explained
that for workers in unsatisfying or un-involving jobs, segmentation of work and home is a
natural process. The separate spheres pattern viewed the family as a domestic haven for
women and work as a public arena for men (Zedeck, 1992).However, this view of
segmentation was challenged by researchers who demonstrated that work and family are
closely related domains of human life (Bruke and Greenglass, 1987; Voydanoff, 1987.
Compensation Theory
The Compensation theory proposed that workers try to compensate for the lack of
satisfaction in one domain (work or home) by trying to find more satisfaction in the other
(Lambert, 1990). Piotrkowski (1979, p.98) also concluded that men ―look to their homes
as havens, look to their families as sources of satisfaction lacking in the occupational
sphere‖. Two forms of compensation have been distinguished in the literature (Edwards
and Rothbard, 2000). First, a person may decrease involvement in the dissatisfying
domain and increase involvement in a potentially satisfying domain (Lambert, 1990).
3
Second, the person may respond to dissatisfaction in one domain by pursuing rewards in
the other domain (experiences that may fulfill the person‘s desires, Champoux, 1978).
The latter form of compensation can be either supplemental or reactive in nature (Zedeck,
1992). Supplemental compensation occurs when individuals shift their pursuits for
rewarding experiences from the dissatisfying role to a potentially more satisfying one.
For example, individuals with little autonomy at work seek more autonomy outside of
their work role. On the other hand, reactive compensation represents individuals' efforts
to redress negative experiences in one role by pursuing contrasting experiences in the
other role such as engaging in leisure activities after a fatiguing day at work.
Spillover Theory
The most popular view of relationship between work and family was put forth by
Spillover theory. Several researchers suggested that workers carry the emotions, attitudes,
skills and behaviors that they establish at work into their family life (Belsky et al., 1985;
Kelly and Voydanoff, 1985; Piotrkowski, 1979; Piotrkowski and Crits- Christoph, 1981)
and vice-versa (Belsky et al., 1985; Crouter, 1984). Spillover can be positive or negative.
Positive spillover refers to fact that satisfaction and achievement in one domain may
bring along satisfaction and achievement in another domain. Negative spillover refers to
the fact that difficulties and depression in one domain may bring along the same emotion
in another domain (Xu, 2009).
Work-Family (or Work-Life) Enrichment Theory
Work-Family (or Work-Life) Enrichment (Greenhaus, 2006) describes a theoretical
model that identifies the types of work and family resources that have a capacity to
promote work-family enrichment. It describes the pathways by which work and
4
familyresources can promote work-family enrichment and the moderator variables under
which resources in one role are most likely to enrich the quality in another. In this theory,
resources and experiences generated in one role (work or non-work domain) can improve
the other, in relation to:
 skills and perspectives (such as interpersonal, coping, multi-tasking skills, trust)
 psychological and physical resources (such as self-efficacy, self- esteem,
hardiness, optimism, hope and physical health)
 social-capital resources (such as influence and information)
 flexibility (meaning discretion and control over time and place where role
requirements are met)
 material resources (for example, financial reward).
This theory also identifies the paths by which resources create an effect in work and non-
work roles and identifies the factors that moderate the effect of the above resources—
salience of the role (perceived importance of the role to an individual); perceived
importance of resources to the role in question, and the match between the resources and
the requirements and norms of the work or non-work role.
Border Theory
Clark (2000) presented a work/family border theory - a new theory about work family
balance. According to this theory, each person‘s role takes place within a specific domain
of life, and these domains are separated by borders that may be physical, temporal, or
psychological. The theory addresses the issue of ―crossing borders‖ between domains of
life, especially the domains of home and work. According to the theory, the flexibility
and permeability of the boundaries between people‘s work and family lives will affect the
5
level of integration, the ease of transitions, and the level of conflict between these
domains. Boundaries that are flexible and permeable facilitate integration between work
and home domains. When domains are relatively integrated, transition is easier, but work
family conflict is more likely. Conversely, when these domains are segmented, transition
is more effortful, but work family conflict is less likely (Bellavia and Frone, 2005).
Work/Life Border Theory
Singh (2002) uses Clark‘s (2000) Work/Family Border Theory, repositioned as
Work/Life Border Theory, to underpin research into managers‘ strategies for work/life
balance and maps these strategies according to levels of accommodation or negotiation
with the organisation or with the family—an approach which draws on Perlow‘s (1998)
categorisations (above). This line of research appears to offer insight into both the action
of management and the process of effecting work / life balance.
Work Family Expansionist Theory
Barnett (2001) proposes a Work Family Expansionist Theory in which multiple roles are
seen to be beneficial for men and women. Performance in one role, it is argued, can
facilitate performance in other roles. Barnett also questions whether some gender and
work/life balance theories may be outdated, contending that opportunity structures at
work and role quality, which did not differ by gender, are associated with stress and
work/life balance.
Balanced work / life: a matter of balance (Limoges, 2003).
A theory or approach which deals with the process of managing the work/life interface is
presented by Limoges (2003). The theory describes the following actions as those
determining the successful balancing of work and personal life.
6
 Drawing on a wide range of managerial and personal strategies and applying them
in the work and non-work domains
 Ensuring workload is manageable and off-setting new tasks by letting go of less
important ones
 Placing importance on nurturing relationships and involvement in non-work
activities
 Engaging fully in work and non-work domains.
Limoges (2003) approaches the issue from a career planning perspective and includes
taxonomy of work / life strategies.
1.3 Factors responsible for work life conflict:
Personality
Personality is a relatively enduring aspect that significantly affects behaviour. Certain
personality traits like work centrality, work holism negatively affect WLB. People who
are high on these personality characteristics derive greater satisfaction from their work
and are overcommitted to their organization or profession than entertainment, pleasure
and family obligations. Such individuals derive intrinsic reward out of work. They find
balancing work and non-work activities difficult. In contrast, individual with high self-
efficacy are more comfortable to integrate work and life.
In an Indian context, among dual career couple men experience greater stress compared
to their single career counterparts. Working women are better able to cope up with
multiple roles compared to men. It seems that dual career women derive self-esteem by
performing multiple roles men with double career had maximum level of stress; followed
7
by single women with career; followed by women with no career and minimum level of
stress was found in the category with men whose wives were homemakers.
Occupation
Occupation can be a major source of work life imbalance. Different occupations vary in
their stress level. For example, the jobs of police officer, aeroplane pilot, construction
worker, doctor, advertising executive, sales manager, etc. are highly stressful. On the
other hand, the jobs of teacher, government officer, HR manager, clerk in government
etc. are less stressful. Thus, occupational choice by people entails WLB for them.
Rapidly changing business environment &technology
In the rapidly changing business environment, time pressures seem ever increasing and
new technology allows work to be conducted anytime and anywhere. These are two of
the factors that make it harder for working men and women to integrate work and life.
Due to competition, employers have become very demanding. For example, Public Sector
banks are experiencing competition from private and foreign banks and their employees
are working harder to ensure that customers are satisfied. They are learning new skills
and technology to compete with private players. Employees are also becoming more
demanding from their employers.
Societal Factors
As the agrarian society is giving way to the industrial and knowledge societies, there are
major shifts in societal forms and structures. This shift is a major reason behind conflict
between work and life activities. In the past, it was believed that the optimal family
functioning occurs when the husband specializes in work, while the wife is responsible
for domestic chores. Gender roles are rigidly defined. More recently, societal perceptions
8
have changed and it deems appropriate for both men and women to pursue paid
employment outside of the home and also share responsibilities within the home
However, the role spill over of male into domestic and nurturing roles is limited. This
problem is more acute in a collectivist, male dominated society like, India where the
boundaries between work and family have been well-defined.
Organisational reasons
Organisational reasons for experiencing difficulty in WLB are work load, working hours,
and stress at work. HR practices can be formulated to ensure that employees do not
experience role stress due to overload role ambiguity, and role conflict by formulating
clear roles and job descriptions. Effective organisational design, systems and processes
facilitate WLB. Progressive organizations develop a variety of WLB practices, such as
flexi time no meetings after core working hours, forced annual leave, maternity and
paternity leave, shopping at work, crèche, disincentives to overtime, gym and good food
facility, no late sitting culture, and so on.
Government
Government can play very important role in determining quality of life for its people by
promulgating various labour laws. For instance, the western European governments have
promulgated several policies to help their citizens to strike a balance between work and
life. On the other hand, government regulations are less strict in the United States. Of
late, the Government of India has also promulgated laws to facilitate the different aspects
of WLB. Equally important is monitoring and surveillance of such laws by the relevant
government agencies.
9
1.4. Drivers of work life balance: The way individuals balance their work and non-work
lives is an area of academic enquiry that has received increasing scrutiny over the past
two decades. This concern for work life balance has arisen from significant demographic
and technological shifts in industrialized societies. Fundamental changes include an
increased proportion of women (and particularly mothers) in the paid work force, greater
numbers of dual-earner couples and single parents demand for workplace flexibility and
public support for childcare and eldercare, and the rapid expansion of information
technology allowing work portability.
Work-life balance policies are often implemented by organisations as a result of external
drivers, internal drivers and social drivers, which often interact simultaneously to
motivate policy directed at achieving work-life balance.
1.4.1 External drivers and work-life balance policies: External drivers are motivating
factors outside the organization that lead it to implement work-life balance policies.
These include:
Customer relations at a local level
Organisations that implement flexible working arrangements can respond to demands
from customers at a local level for extended opening hours. They can also increase
production by using flexible working arrangements to operate on a 24-hour basis, thereby
suiting the needs of a workforce engaged in diverse working patterns. For example, late-
night shopping can accommodate shift-workers or others engaged in flexible working
practices.
10
Public image of the organization
Work-life balance policies are often promoted to positively enhance an organisation's
public image, and the motivation for implementing such policies is linked to the internal
driver of being identified as an employer of choice.
Competition from other organisations
Work-life balance policies - particularly in relation to flexible working arrangements -
can help an organisation to compete within the global economy by offering flexibility in
supply of goods and services. They may also help to respond to increased or decreased
supply of goods on a demand basis. Flexible working arrangements also allow
organisations to operate across time zones, thus increasing the chances of international
business.
Legislation
Organisations must comply with national and international laws, which provide for work-
life balance for employees. As yet in India there are no laws making flexible working
arrangements a statutory entitlement., Thus work-life balance legislation that must be
complied with by employers relates to leave arrangements, particularly those aimed at
parents is also an external driver for an employer to implement work life balance
program.
1.4.2 Internal drivers and work-life balance policies
Internal drivers are the motivating factors within the organisation, which include the
following:
11
Employer of choice
Being identified by employees (and potential employees) as an employer of choice is a
concept that has gained in popularity in recent years. The Great Place to Work® Institute,
Inc. is a research and management consultancy based in the U.S. with International
Affiliate offices throughout the world, including Ireland. Annual lists of 'Best Companies
to Work For' are compiled for Europe, North America, Latin America and Asia. In 2005,
Boston Scientific was chosen as the best company to work for in Ireland. Identification it
also helps in the retention of existing experienced and talented staff, as well as enhancing
corporate image.
Cost benefit analysis
The introduction of work-life balance policies has been shown to have tangible, cost
related benefits for organisations, particularly in terms of recruitment and training costs,
which may be minimised if working practices help to retain experienced staff. Flexible
working arrangements can also lead to greater productivity among staff, as well as a
reduction in staff absences due to sickness or being unable to balance work and childcare
arrangements.
Employee health and well being
Many employers are incorporating work-life balance policies as part of their health
promotion policies, particularly in relation to a reduction in negative stress and
consequent absenteeism. An important factor to consider is the stress experienced by
those who have to contend with long commuting times, an occurrence that can be
avoided or minimized by the adoption of flexible working times. Fine-Davis et al. (2004)
argue that work-life balance has a direct relationship to the health and well being of the
12
employee, as they found a significant relationship between potential flexibility in the
workplace and workers' satisfaction with their health in their study.
Social drivers and work-life balance policies
Social drivers are those facilitating factors that exist due to the characteristics of society,
or those that motivate a company due to socially responsible attitudes towards workers
Demographic change
Female participation in the labour force has partly fuelled the economy in recent years.
Work-life balance policies that meet the needs of women, particularly mothers, are
necessary to attract and retain women in the labour force. Flexible working arrangements
may also appeal to older cohorts of workers, who are targeted as in need of such
arrangements by the Forum on the Workplace of the Future (2005).
Corporate responsibility
On a positive note, it has been found by the OECD (2003) that the decision to introduce
flexible working policies is not always due to cost-benefit analyses, but rather as a
response to how the company feels it should behave as an employer. Evans (2001) found
Work-life balance, workplace culture and maternity/childcare issues.
1.5 Employer initiatives in encouraging a good Work life balance: The changing
nature of the global economy, where organizations often operate on a 24/7 schedule and
technological advances have made it possible for an employee to be connected at all
times, has ushered the work-life balance issue into the forefront of the minds of many.
Employers have realized that a ―burnt-out‖ employee is nearly useless, and that a
satisfied employee is the key to the future success of an organization. To this end, many
organizations have developed work-life programs to assist employees in handling the
13
conflicts that may arise between work and the rest of life. There is no single approach to
work-life balance that works for all companies. A summary of some of the important ork
life balance initiatives introduced by industrial employers world over is provided below.
1.5.1. Flexible Working Arrangements
One of the key elements to achieving effective work-life balance within any organisation
is the concept of flexibility. If employees are able to organize their hours more flexibly
they become more motivated, more productive and absence levels are reduced. Flexible
working enables employees to handle emergencies, deal with their carer responsibilities
and make time for those special events that happen in their lives. It also allows employees
time to study and develop other aspects of their lives, which mean that they can
contribute in a more effective way to the goals of the organization.
Benefits to Employers:
 Offering flexible working options to employees enables an employer to:-
 Improve customer service by extending the working day
 Increase the return rate following maternity leave, thereby reducing
 training and recruitment costs
 Meet variable and seasonable fluctuations
 Reduce absenteeism and sickness rates
 Increase output, as employees are more creative, more energetic and
 less stressed during the hours they work
 Improve punctuality
 Empower employees to take responsibility for their work load
14
The Options available under Flexible work arrangements:
Part-Time Work
There is no set pattern to part-time working. It may working mornings or afternoons only,
fewer working days in the week involve a later start and earlier finish time than a full-
time position or any other arrangement of working time whereby the employee is
contracted to work less than normal basic full-time hours. Part-time arrangements can
also allow people with health problems, disabilities or limited disposable time (e.g.
students) to participate in the labour force, develop their skills and obtain work
experience.
 Increase efficiency
 Can better meet peaks and troughs of work demand
 Can retain trained and valued staff who cannot work full-time
 There can be extra costs and logistical problems associated with two
 part-timers rather than one full-timer
Compressed working hours
It allows employees to work their total number of agreed hours over fewer working days.
Often, a five day working week is compressed into four days.
 Can help with recruitment and reduce overtime, labour turnover and
 Absenteeism
 Can provide longer weekend and increased leisure opportunities
 Longer daily work periods of compressed working weeks can increase fatigue
15
Flexi-time
 Allows employees to vary their working hours within specified limits from day to
day and week to week and a certain number of hours can be carried forward from
one period to another with the option of flexi-leave for time accrued.
 Great vehicle for tailoring working patterns to meet organizational requirements,
covering the peaks and troughs of the workload.
 Works well for full-time office based employees, who are not tied to shift patterns
or production lines.
 Can give greater freedom to organize working lives to suit personal needs.
 Travelling can be cheaper and easier if it is out of peak time.
 In smaller organisations, it may be difficult to provide cover during non-core
hours.
 Employees may work unsupervised during early or late times.
Job Sharing
Job sharing involves two people carrying out the work which would normally be done
by one person. The work is not split but shared. There is no set model for managing
time which may involve working a set number of hours each day, each week or
alternative week.
 For employees, it offers the opportunity to follow their chosen career with the
option of reduced hours.
 For the employer, it provides plenty of scope for fresh ideas and the right skills,
knowledge and experience to get a full time job done.
16
 Employers have found that they experience a continuity of cover, higher
productivity, lower absenteeism and a reduction in staff turnover.
 If one job sharer leaves, it may be difficult to find someone to complement hours
of remaining sharer.
 Requires clear lines of communication and shared responsibility between the two
job sharers.
Voluntary reduced work time ('V' time)
This is a voluntary arrangement whereby an employee reduces the number of hours
worked for an agreed period with a guarantee that full-time employment will be available
again at the end of this period.
Sabbatical
It is a form of career break or extended leave with pay which some large companies use
to reward employees for long service.
 A sabbatical can offer the employee invaluable experiences that they would not
necessarily be exposed to, within their own organization
 It is hoped that they will return with new and vital ideas for organisational
growth.
 It also offers the employer a chance to develop other members of the team to
consider opportunities for employees from other areas of the organization
Career breaks
Extended periods of unpaid leave and most frequently used for child care. Employees are
required to resign but are given a commitment by employers that they will be allowed to
return.
17
 Allows the employee the flexibility to take a break, to look after a dependant, who
may have long-term needs or to pursue family or individual travel plans or an
ambition for longer-term study.
 Represents an option to retain a valued employee who may otherwise leave.
 It also gives an employer the opportunity to enhance the skill base and experience
of their employees.
 There may be some problems in keeping skills up-to-date and re-employing
returners if business is poor.
Term-time working
Enables an employee to remain on a permanent contract but also be able to take paid or
unpaid leave during school holidays.
 Having this option available to parents or careers is vital when an employer is
aiming to retain valued employees.
 It will also attract parents back to work who might otherwise take a complete
break from employment or go to work for another employer who offers this
option.
Self-rostering
It allows employees to nominate the shifts which they would like to work, leaving
employers to compile shift patterns which match the individual preferences to required
staffing levels.
Shift swapping
Shift swapping enables employees to negotiate their working times by re-arranging shifts
amongst themselves with the proviso that the required shifts must be covered.
18
 Increase sense of empowerment for employees
 Increase team spirit
 Ensure less confident team members secure "fair" shifts
Working from home
Using the home as a base has become more popular over the last few years and with
technological advances, this option is becoming increasingly feasible for an ever-growing
section of employees.
 Can reduce costs by providing savings on office space and other facilities
 Improved productivity
 Working from home has obvious work-life balance benefits it enables
employees to cope better with their caring responsibilities
 Employees may feel socially isolated
 Ensure robust Health & Safety checks in place
Telecommuting
By telecommuting, an employee can work from their home either some or all of the
week. Telecommuting isn‘t a possibility for certain positions, but technology has made it
easy for many office jobs to be performed off-site With an Internet connection, computer,
and phone line, many people can do their jobs anywhere.
Compressed Work Weeks
A compressed work week is an arrangement whereby employees work longer shifts in
exchange for a reduction in the number of working days in their work cycle.
Time off in lieu (TOIL) or banked hours
This allows employees to take time off to compensate them for extra hours worked
19
 Can be cost effective as saves overtime payments.
 Employee may want to take TOIL at a time inconvenient to the employer
1.5.2 Reducing Working Time
One of the most obvious ways to improve the work-life balance of employees is to
identify ways to reduce working time. Companies can do this in a number of ways. They
can look to limit the number of working hours or days or take steps to minimize
overtime. However, reducing the number of contractual working hours alone is not
enough. If companies are to reduce working time but still get the work done, they need to
look at ways of identifying and addressing the root cause of heavy workloads and
introduce process efficiencies. Technology can play a key role in this respect. At a very
simple level, a wider adoption of conference call and video technology for instance can
cut down significantly on unnecessary travel. If companies are serious about reducing
working time, they need to establish a culture where leaving the office on time is not
merely acceptable, but in fact a measure of effective performance. This requires a
substantial shift in thinking as it turns traditional perceptions on their head – namely, that
the later you are able you stay the harder you are perceived to be working. The new
thinking should be cultivated that if one to leave on time, that she or he is prioritizing the
work effectively and focusing on getting the job done.
1.5.3 Leave options
Leave options include offering leave entitlements that go beyond the law countries and
offer leave policies that acknowledge major life events, such as maternity, paternity,
adoption leave and other compassionate leave options. It could be a sabbatical policy for
20
those who have provided a certain level of service. Other forms of leave which employers
may choose to offer include: study leave, exam leave.
Another way to encourage a good work/life balance is allowing employees ample sick
leave and encouraging a culture where employees feel as if they can use their sick days
without repercussion.
1.5.4 Employee and Family Support
Recognizing that employees have roles and responsibilities outside of work - as partner,
parent and carer, more and more companies are increasing levels of support to their
employees. This includes free counseling services, childcare services, or encouraging
family days at the office. In India, where commuting time is long leaving little personal
time for completing household tasks, companies provide ‗concierge services‘ which can
include everything from dry cleaning services to grocery shopping Companies may also
provide employees extra support in the form of personal development and social
networking opportunities – which contributes both to the personal fulfillment of the
individual but also to the productivity and effectiveness of staff in their professional
roles.
1.5.5 Wellbeing, Health and Community
For many companies the approach to work-life balance begins with a focus on wellbeing
and health. It is recognized that if employees are encouraged to protect their health, they
will deal more effectively with the unavoidable stresses at work and be more energised
and productive. Some companies provide educational sessions on health related matters;
others organize exercise sessions in work-time or offer discounted health club
memberships. In the same way, encouraging employees to take an interest in activities
21
outside of their regular work is also important in keeping them engaged and motivated.
Many companies see encouraging and supporting their employees to volunteer in the
local community as a key component of their work-life balance strategies.
1.6 Merits of work life balance policy (Key Business Drivers for Work-Life
Balance): For companies committed to corporate social responsibility, work-life balance
is a critical issue. It is not just about ‗treating employees with respect‘ – which any
responsible employer should be concerned about. There is also a hard core business cause
for it. In the current economic climate, it is more important than ever that companies take
steps to ensure that they have an engaged, healthy and productive workforce that will
help them ride the storm and emerge even stronger when the good times return.
Work/life balance is important issues that can help employees become happier, healthier,
and more productive. Any astute business leader should be interested in the following
business drivers for addressing work-life balance.
Enhance reputation
Socially responsible employers/ companies that treat their employees with respect and
ensure a favorable working environment are respected by the wider community as
Employer of choice potential employees want to work for companies that have attractive
Work-life balance policies and are more likely to show loyalty to companies that provide
these.
Attract and retain staff
More and more employees – and not just the younger generation (Gen.Y), but matured
workers too are looking for work-life balance. Research shows that increasingly such
benefits are valued as much as, or more highly than financial remuneration.
22
Companies that offer work-life balance options are better able to retain staff who might
otherwise consider leaving if the environment is too stressful or inflexible.
Alarmingly, 33% of employees in our most recent survey said they would consider
leaving their current job for better work-life balance elsewhere, whilst over 20% in the
2007 survey said they would consider leaving Hong Kong for the same reason.
Increase productivity
Employees who are less overworked and stressed produce a higher quality of work and
make fewer mistakes. Employees who are encouraged to consider their personal
wellbeing take less time off due to sickness and poor health.
Raise morale
Work arrangements that respect the individual needs of employees and give a greater
degree of control over when and how work is done leads to raised morale and increased
loyalty. Work-life balance initiatives that facilitate social interaction between employees
boost morale and team spirit.
Manage costs
Flexible work arrangements (such as home working) can reduce office overheads, save
office space and cut down on travel costs. A healthier, less stressed work-force means
less costs associated with health-care and absenteeism/ Recruitment and training costs
can be reduced through improved staff retention. Companies the world over are driven by
profit and the need to control costs – in this current economic climate, perhaps more than
ever.
For employees the personal costs are obvious. Committing too much work can lead to
stress, physical illness, depression and even mental illness. It can also lead to damaged
23
personal and family relationships. The trouble is such affects do not stay in the box –
they affect every area of an individual‘s life. When we consider this, the cost to business
becomes clear. The negative effects of poor work-life balance can lead to absenteeism,
poor performance, increased errors or faults or simply a lack of motivation or
engagement – all of which ultimately impair productivity and impact financial
performance. This again is supported by research which shows that year on year an
increasing number of people are saying that long working hours is dramatically reducing
their productivity and work quality.
Thus, work/life programs have the potential to significantly improve employee morale,
reduce absenteeism, and retain organizational knowledge, particularly during difficult
economic times.
1.7 Factors influencing take up of work life balance initiatives: Five distinct aspects
of work-life, all of which should be considered by organizations when attempting to
improve employees' work-life balance. They include the following:
Managerial support
Managers play an important role in the success of work/life programs. Where supervisors
enthusiastically support the integration of paid work and other responsibilities, employees
will be more likely to take up available work-life programs.
Career consequences
The perception that using work-life balance practices will have a negative impact on their
career prospect appears to be a powerful demotivator for employees' use of these
practices.
24
Organizational time expectation
Another factor that influences the uptake and overall supportiveness of work-life policies
is organizational time expectations, the number of hours employees are expected to work;
how they use their time etc. In several studies, however, long working hours have been
identified as a signal of commitment, productivity and motivation for advancement.
Genders perceptions
Perceptions that work-life policy is developed only for women are the fourth factor
related to their use. A review of men's use of family-friendly employment provisions
argues that barriers to men's use arise from three major sources.
Co-worker support
Number of studies proved that workers who make use of work-life practices suffer
negative perceptions from colleagues and superiors. Some staff that use flexible
arrangements have reportedly experienced 'family friendly backlash' or resentment from
co-workers.
It is therefore not surprising that work-life practices tend to be underused by male
employees, single employees and career-oriented mothers; and that apprehension of
negative career consequences for using practices has been associated with increased
levels of work-life conflict.
1.8 Conclusion
Work life balance is one of the most important concerns for organizations and people in
the modern era. It is affected by micro, meso and macro drivers. For that reason,
interventions are required at individual level, organizational level land also at the
Governmental level. It has to be addressed at these levels. An individual has to resolve
25
internal competing needs and demands and set a clear direction for himself. Further, he
has to negotiate roles and expectations with family members on the one hand and with
organisational members on the other. WLB is a continuous and dynamic process and the
manager has to be alert to the emerging challenges of WLB.
--------------------------
26
Chapter-2
Literature Review
The literature surveyed is a mixture of academic literature and surveys of firms by other
experts. Some of the literature is peer reviewed and some not. The bibliography lists the
literature that was reviewed for the research. Some of the literature is not specifically
referenced in the thesis. Not all the literature refers to the whole set of work-life balance
policies. Some studies measure flexibility and others measure work-family policies. In
this thesis, ―work-life balance policies‖ refers to policies created by businesses, as part of
their human resources or management strategies. The term is not used in this paper for
government policies, except in so far as businesses‘ work-life balance policies may also
fulfill statutory obligations.
Work-life balance is the term used in the literature to refer to policies that strive to
achieve a greater complementarily and balance between work and home responsibilities.
These policies apply to all workers, not just working parents, and their presence or
absence in an organisation may have an effect on employees particularly in judging their
own ability to combine both work and family life. Some of the terms used in the
literature on work-life balance are not commonly used or may be unfamiliar. With the
help of a few definitions below, the concept of work life is attempted to be clarified.
2.1 Work life balance- Meaning & Definitions
Clark (2000) defined work life balance as, ―satisfaction and good functioning at work
and at home with a minimum of role conflict‖.
27
Guest (2001) gives a more subjective definition of work life balance, as ―a person‘s
perceived balance between work and the rest of life‖.
Pilinger, 2001 defines Work life balance involves ―adjusting work patterns so that
everyone, regardless of age, race or gender can find a rhythm that enables them more
easily to combine work and their other responsibilities and aspirations‖.
Greenhaus, 2003, defines Work-life balance reflects ―the extent to which an individual is
equally engaged in and equally satisfied with – his or her work role and family role‖
According to HRSDC, 2005, ―Work life balance is a self defined and self decided state
of well being that a person can reach or set as a goal, that allows them to manage
effectively multiple responsibilities at work, at home and in their community; it supports
physical, emotional, family and community health and does so without grief, stress or
negative impact‖.
David Clutterbuck, 2005, defines Work life balance ―as a state where an individual
manages real or potential conflict between different demands on his or her time and
energy in a way that satisfies his or her needs for well being and self fulfillment‖.
According to Terence Hogarth and Derek Bosworth, 2009, ―Work-life balance‘ is
meant to articulate the desire of all individuals – not just those with families or caring
responsibilities – to achieve and maintain a ‗balance‘ between their paid work and their
life outside work, whatever their ‗life‘ involves, from childcare and housework to leisure
or self-development‖.
Nathani and Jha (2009) has grouped factors influencing work and family life spheres
into three namely, family and personal life related factors, work related factors and
others. Family and personal life related factors include increasing participation of women
28
in workforce, increasing participation of child bearing women in workforce increasing
participation of dual career couples in workforce, increase in single-parent/ single person
households, increase in child-care/ elder care burden on employees and health and well
being considerations. Work related factor include long hour culture and unpaid overtime,
time squeeze, demand for shorter working hours, increase in part-time workers, work
intensification and stress and changing work time. Other factors include ageing
population, rise of service sector industries, technological complexity of work skill
shortages, loss of social support network, globalisation and demographic shift of
workforce.
2.2 Work life balance practices
Osterman, 1995, Lambert, 2000 observe that WLBPs are those institutionalized,
structural and procedural arrangements as well as formal and informal practices that
enable individuals to easily manage the conflicting worlds of work and family lives.
Today, WLBPs have become an integral part of high commitment work systems and not
merely a response to address increasing problems including stress, absenteeism and
turnover which have emerged due to increased percentage of women in the workforce.
Galinsky and Bond, 1998 found that around 90% of US companies offer at least one
policy which would fall under the work-life balance policy umbrella. Similarly, in the
UK, nine out of ten employers in 1996 provided at least one family-friendly
arrangement2. In a study of a representative sample of US businesses employing more
than 100 people, Galinsky and Bond (1998) found that only 17% of companies think that
the costs of leave programs that exceed the statutory minimum outweigh the benefits.
42% thought the programs were cost-neutral and another 42% believed there was a
29
positive return on these investments. Of the companies offering flexible work
arrangements, 18% viewed the costs as outweighing the benefits, 36% saw them as cost-
neutral and 46% claimed a positive return on investment.
Perry-Smith and Blum, 2000 Classified WLBPs into common statutory policies such as
maternity benefits and discretionary policies like flexi-time, telecommuting and job
sharing. Employee assistance programmes like counseling and stress management also
fall under WLBPs. All these can be classified under policies, benefits and services.
Policies cover the formal and informal ways that employees‘ work and leave schedules
are handled, including part-time work, job-sharing, flexi-time, and parental/family leave.
Benefits cover forms of compensation that protect against loss of earnings, payment of
medical expenses and vacation or all of these. Services include on-site or near-site
childcare centers, counseling and eldercare programs.
Burns, 2002 research in New Zealand, measures (EEO Trust Diversity Index) the type
and extent of work-life balance policies. The most common policies offered are flexible
working hours and flexibility in work location. There is a relatively low level of firm
provision of services such as childcare facilities.
Stark, 2006 reported the best practices of some select companies as follows:
 Eli Lilly: 50% of staff telecommute, encourage flexi work
 Johnson and Johnson: enhanced parental leave
 Ford Motors: Senior Women‘s Initiative
 General Mills: Flexi work, telecommuting, job sharing
 Harvard University: Enhanced parental leave benefits
30
Maxwell et al, 2007 Carried out a large scale survey of and series of interviews with
owner-managers of smaller businesses in Scotland. The study shows that part-time work,
time off in lieu staggered working hours and shift swapping are the main types of flexible
work in smaller businesses. In many incidences flexible working arrangements are
requested by employees, operated informally, and centered on the business needs.
2.3 Drivers for work life balance:
According to Evans, 2000, there are four possible motors for family friendly
arrangements: the business case, trends in human resource management policies, gender
equity programmes and development in technologies.
Peter Ackers (2003) Peter Ackers feels that a combination of strong demand for female
labour in the service sector and equal opportunities policies is, however, causing
employers and government to address the issue of work life balance.
2.4 Need for work life balance for employees
Becker and Moen, 1999 opines that Generation Y places more value on non standard
work models that permit them to balance work and family life better, and the trend is for
more dual earner families to scale back from work commitments.
Burke, 2002 observes that both women and men prefer working in organisations that
support work-life balance. Men appeared to benefit more than women. 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
work does not permit women to take care of their family, they feel unhappy, is appointed
31
and frustrated. They draw tight boundaries between work and family and they do not like
one crossing the others.
Yeandle et al. 2002 found parents struggling to care for teenagers during holidays and
after school, as support and services for older children are particularly poor and such
parents look for organizations where family friendly policies are prevalent.
Phillips et al. 2002 found that carers of older adults are more likely to try to cope with
their responsibilities on their own using holidays and lieu days rather than seek formal
assistance.
According to De Cieri et al., 2002 in Australia the need for work-life balance was
increased by the changes to organizational structures where flatter, more participative and
less hierarchical structures were introduced, and fewer employees were expected to
manage increased workloads.
Hyman et al. 2003, observed 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.
Lingard and Francis 2005 reported that Australian males under 35 years of age reported
more stress and were keen to change the corporate world to accommodate work life
balance.
Gunkel 2007 feels gender has an important effect on home working.
2.5 Benefits &costs of work life balance/Business case for work life balance
The literature reviewed for this study indicates that the following benefits can result from
the implementation of work-life balance policies.
32
Bachmann, 2000; Schwartz, 1994 reported that family-friendly work environment, such
as flexitime, telework etc., has been portrayed as an important component of an
individual worker‘s preferences towards work time. It has been suggested that such work
arrangements seek to help employees‘ obtain a better blend between their work and non-
work lives while providing organisations with a means of recruiting, retaining and
motivating their work force.
Qualitative research by Hill et all (1998) on virtual office and its effects on work and
WLB revealed the perception of greater productivity, higher morale, increased flexibility
and longer work hours due to telework, as well as an equivocal influence on WLB and a
negative influence on teamwork.
Evans, 2001 is of the opinion that it is difficult to reach a general judgment about the
importance of the business case on the basis of current knowledge. There are specific
situations in which the business case is strong but it is more difficult to make robust
generalisations about the business benefits of work-life balance policies.
This finding confirms the diversity of firms. Just as there is no ―one-size fits all‖ model
of work-life balance for individuals, we cannot expect there to be one generic business
case for firms. Work-life balance policies are perceived as an indication of concern for
employee‘s welfare and as such could assist in engaging employee commitment.
Guest, 2001, reported that other studies conducted by the researchers show that high
commitment environment-characterized by high performance work practices;
intrinsically rewarding jobs, understanding supervisors positively influences employee‘s
perceptions that the company is helping them to achieve work life balance.
33
A work and life issues survey by E. Jeffrey Hill et. all. 2001 in USA of 6,451 employees
of IBM examines the influence of perceived flexibility in the timing and location of work
on WLB revealed that given the same workload individuals with perceived job flexibility
have more favorable WLB and are able to work longer hours before workload negatively
impacts their WLB.
Perry-Smith and Blum (2001) reported a US study on ―bundles‖ of family-friendly
practices and corporate performance. They find, in line with other research on HRM,
that isolated family-friendly practices will have little impact but that a comprehensive
bundle of practices are associated with superior ratings of corporate performance.
While their focus is on corporate performance, there may be similar implications for their
impact on employees. One interpretation of the presence of a bundle of practices is that
they have become embedded in the organizational culture whereas isolated practices
operate on the margin.
Drew, Humphreys and Murphy, 2003 point out ―that personal fulfillment is important
inside work and that satisfaction outside work may enhance employees' contribution to
work.
Eaton, 2003 Survey of professional and technical employees of biotechnology firms
links workplace flexibility policies – formal, informal, and perceived usable – to
organisational commitment and self-reported productivity. It highlights that where
employees could freely use policies a positive association with outcomes is found.
There is a body of research by Comfort, Johnson and Wallace, 2003 that links work-
life conflict to productivity loss. There are fewer studies of the firm level productivity
gains from implementing work-life balance policies.
34
White et al’ (2003) reported that flexibility reduced negative spill-over for women are
important. Their study provided empirical evidence to support the theory that work-life
balance measures will decrease negative spill-over and hence increase productivity.
Research in seven hotels with primarily Hispanic workforce (91%) by Namasivayam
and Mount, 2004 found quite unexpectedly that family-to-work conflict issues were
related to a higher job satisfaction. It is also noted that for this group — primarily lower-
income Hispanics – work can be seen as a release from family conflict issues.
Secret, 2006 concluded that while permitting administrative employees to bring their
children to work with satisfactory childcare arrangements, company representatives
reported that the work-life balance practices have helped to maintain employee
productivity.
Pollitt, 2008 conducted a survey to check that happy employees have a good work life
balance &stated that flexible working helps to keep the staff motivated.
Deery and Jago (2009) examined the key issues associated with WLB 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 WLB and the
potential outcomes from these, the authors‘ identity the individual differences and family
factors that influence 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 sharing are
some of the strategies that can have positive effect on WLB.
In a research study by Baral, 2009 on 730managerial employees from various
organisations in India it was clearly found that family significantly contributes to work in
35
terms of enhancing performance and positive emotions at the workplace. The findings
indicate that one of the important determinants of work-life balance is availability of
WLBPs & When an organisation offers its employees policies practices, benefits and
services to help them integrate their work and family responsibilities, they feel committed
to the organisation and indulge themselves in organisational citizenship behaviors.
Studies reported following benefits of work life balance practices to businesses.
 Reduced staff turnover rates (Dex and Scheibl, 1999; Managing Work/Life
Balance, 2003; Center for Ethical Business Cultures, 1997; Evans, 2001;
Galinsky and Johnson, 1998; Eaton, 2001)
 Less loss of knowledge workers to competitors (Dex and Scheibl, 1999)
 Lower recruitment and training costs, associated with reduced turnover (Dex and
 Scheibl, 1999; Center for Ethical Business Cultures, 1997; Evans, 2001; Eaton,
2001)
 Becoming a good employer or an employer of choice (Dex and Scheibl, 2001;
 Center for Ethical Business Cultures, 1997)
 Broader recruitment pool (Center for Ethical Business Cultures, 1997; Evans,
2001)
 Improved quality of applicants (Dex and Scheibl, 1999)
 Increased return on investment in training as employees stay longer (Dex and
Scheibl, 1999)
 Reduced absenteeism (Dex and Scheibl, 1999; Managing Work/Life Balance,
2003; Center for Ethical Business Cultures, 1997; Human Resources
36
Development Canada, 2002; Galinsky and Johnson, 1998; Comfort, Johnson, and
Wallace, 2003)
 Reduced use of sick leave (Dex and Scheibl, 1999; Center for Ethical Business
Cultures, 1997)
 Reductions in worker‘s stress levels (Evans, 2001)
 Reduced liability for stress under the Health and Safety in Employment Act
 Increased return rate from parental leave (Managing Work/Life Balance, 2003)
 Reduction in worker stress from conflicts between work and family roles (Evans,
2001; Human Resources Development Canada, 2002; Galinsky and Johnson,
1998; White, et al. 2003)
 Improved morale or satisfaction (Dex and Scheibl, 1999; Managing Work/Life
Balance, 2003; Center for Ethical Business Cultures, 1997; Human Resources
Development Canada, 2002; Galinsky and Johnson, 1998; Comfort, Johnson, and
Wallace, 2003)
 Greater staff loyalty and commitment (Dex and Scheibl, 2001; Center for Ethical
Business Cultures, 1997; Human Resources Development Canada, 2002;
Galinsky and Johnson, 1998; Eaton, 2001)
 Greater flexibility in deploying staff such as an ability to offer extended hours of
business to customers (Evans, 2001; Human Resources Development Canada,
2002)
 Improved corporate image, which can lead to greater sales or improved stock
price of ethical investment choice (Dex and Scheibl, 1999; Center for Ethical
Business Cultures, 1997; Evans, 2001)
37
 Improved productivity (Dex and Scheibl, 1999; Center for Ethical Business
Cultures, 1997; Galinsky and Johnson, 1998; Eaton, 2001)
All of the above contribute to a more effective staff and as such, combine to enhance the
productivity of the business.
Costs of Work Life Balance
The literature indicates that the following costs are associated with implementing
work-life balance policies:
Duxbury & Higgins, 2003, demonstrated in their seminal report on work-life conflict
that the respondents with high levels of work to family interference reported: lower levels
of commitment, lower levels of job satisfaction and high levels of job stress and the high
intent to turnover of any of the respondents in the study.
 Direct costs of policies which involve payments, such as childcare subsidies or
paid parental leave (Dex and Scheibl, 1999; Dex and Scheibl, 2001)
 Costs of extra spaces associated with increased facilities such as breastfeeding
rooms or childcare facilities (Evans, 2001)
 Costs of equipment to facilitate working at home (Evans, 2001)
 Costs of investigating work-life balance policies
 Costs of implementing new work-life balance policy systems. This may include
costs associated with changing processes or culture.
 Fixed costs associated with the number of staff
 Maintenance or transaction costs for managers in implementing work-life balance
practices. (Evans 2001)
 Disruption costs for temporarily filling absent colleagues posts (Dex and Scheibl,
38
1999; Evans, 2001)
 Temporary reduction in productivity from disruption (Dex and Scheibl, 1999;
Evans, 2001)
 Reduced morale of those employees not benefiting (Dex and Scheibl, 1999;
Evans, 2001)
This list of costs and benefits is drawn from a number of sources. The exact mix of costs
and benefits in an individual firm will vary with the work-life balance policies.
2.6 Organizational barriers to work life balance policies
Empirical studies reported that barriers like resource constraint, job type, time politics,
and complexities involved in implementing the policy and lack of supportive work
culture.
Forth et al. 1997 found that Employers perceive the main disadvantage of work-life
policies to be the cost and disruption of dealing with the employee being absent from the
workplace, especially if they have specialist skills.
Bond et al. 2002 & Lewis 2001 reported that managers in female dominated workplaces
have reported frustration at the gendered take-up of work-life policies as it puts pressure
on resources which employers of their employees‘ male partners don‘t have to bear.
Galinsky and Stein (1990) Dex and Smith (2002) La Valle et al.’s (2002) found that
employees with a greater amount of discretion (often male professional and managerial
staff) were more likely to be offered flexible working arrangements while female
dominated workplaces were less likely to have access to flexitime or home working.
Senior and professional employees were more likely to experience predictability and
39
control over their working hours while those in lower status jobs felt they had no choice
in the hours they worked.
Lewis and Taylor 1996; Hutton Raabe 1996 reported that having policies in a staff
handbook is not sufficient to promote employee work-life balance. Employees also have
to feel that the organisation will be supportive of them adjusting their pattern because of
non-work responsibilities.
Thompson, Beauvais and Lyness, 1999 feel unsupportive organisational culture is the
major impediment for the effectiveness of WLBPs. Managerial or supervisory support is
one of the major components of organisational culture that facilitates integration of
employee work-life balance.
DTI 2000; Yeandle et al. 2002; Bond et al. 2002; Kodz et al. 2002 reported that one of
the barriers in implementing work life balance policies is the resource constraint. a
problem often experienced by small businesses though not exclusively. Even in large
organisations with substitutable employees, where cost cutting has led to understaffing,
managers can find implementing company work-life policy extremely difficult.
Lewis 2001; Epstein et al. 1999 reported that despite modern management theory, many
organisations still reward input rather than output. People working part-time or flexibly,
especially in senior roles, often report having to work harder to justify their position: a
reduction in hours and therefore pay is rarely matched by a commensurate reduction in
workload or expected output.
Lewis et al. (2002) found that the British participants had low expectations of support in
their role as carer from either state or employer and thought any support given had to be
justified on business case grounds.
40
Drew et al. (2003) collected data from employers on the potential constraints to
implement work-life balance policies in their companies. The data suggests that
implementing flexible working arrangements is perceived as a complex process that may
not receive priority over other organisational demands by a majority of employers (60%).
What is not clear from the data is whether or not the employers' perceptions of the low
desire for and potential use of flexible working by employees is a true representation of
employees' feelings on the matter.
2.7 Businesses most likely to implement work-life balance policies
An examination of which businesses already offer work-life balance policies may give
some indication of where a strong business case can be made. The characteristics of firms
that adopt work-life balance policies vary across countries.
Galinsky and Bond (1998) found that industry was the best predictor of the presence of
work-life balance policies in the United States. Finance, insurance and real estate stood
out as the most generous industries, while the wholesale and retail industries were the
least generous.
Galinsky and Bond (1998) found that company size was the next best predictor of the
presence of work-life balance policies, after industry type larger companies (more than
1,000 employees in this case) were more likely to provide flexible work options and
longer and paid parental leave. In Canada, flextime and telework are much more
available to employees in small workplaces (fewer than 10 employees). Other policies
such as child or eldercare where economies of scale can be achieved are most available in
large organizations.
41
Galinksy and Bond (1998) found that in the US, having a larger proportion of top
executive positions filled by women is associated with greater provision of work-life
balance policies. They also found that companies with a larger proportion of women in
their workforce were more likely to invest in policies such as job sharing, part-time work,
flexible time off policies and childcare. Companies were more likely to invest in costly
options such as paid parental leave when women constituted a smaller proportion of the
workforce.
The hypothesis of firms with a higher percentage of professionals having greater work-
life balance policies is supported by research by Konrad and Mangel, 2000 in the
United States.
Konrad and Mangel’s (2000) research in the United States found that firms with a
greater percentage of female employees were more likely to have more extensive work-
life balance policies. Of the firms employing higher numbers of women, they found
higher productivity levels in those firms that had a greater number of work-life balance
policies.
Evans, 2001 research indicates that in Australia, Japan and the UK, firms with a greater
proportion of professional and technical workers are more likely to have work-life
balance policies.
In the US, Galinsky and Bond (1998) found that companies employing a greater
proportion of hourly workers, people who are generally concentrated in lower-paid jobs,
were the least likely to offer work-balance policies.
Evans (2001) also reported that in Australia, Japan, the UK and the US, family-friendly
arrangements were most common in the public sector, presumably because this sector is
42
not subject to commercial pressures. The public sector is also more likely to have
legislative requirements to be a good employer and work-life policies are often one of the
easier strategies for them to implement. In Australia, the retail, construction and
hospitality sectors are the least likely to offer work-life balance policies.
Helen De Cieri et. al. (2005) report the findings of three surveys conducted annually
from 1997 to 2000 to explore the range and usage of WLB strategies in Australian
organizations and to identify the barriers to those strategies. They argue that an
organisation‘s need to attract and retain valued employees in a highly competitive labour
market is a strong motivating factor for increased organisational awareness and action
with regard to implementation and management of WLB strategies. They note that while
some achievements have been made over the years, there remain substantial challenges
for the uptake and management of WLB strategies.
2.8 Employee Turnover& Retention: Philips, 1990 in his article ‗The Price Tag on
Turnover‘ observes that the departure of skilled staff is a loss of knowledge to any
industry in general. However, its impact is more on industries like the IT and ITES
sector. The annual attrition rate in these sectors is considered to be high and could range
between 10 and 20 percent. This may be due to the relative stress of the consulting
workplace, or other reasons.
Cohen (1993) reported that organizations are giving increased attention towards
organizational commitment because it is significantly related to the turnover intention of
employees. Organizations of all types are giving increased attention to this problem
(Lucas, Parasuraman, Davis & Enis, 1987) because they know that low level of turnover
43
increases performance of organization and reduces the costs associated with recruiting
and training new employees (Chen, et al., 2010).
Blankertz and Robinson (1996) have demonstrated that employees with high job
satisfaction are highly motivated and have little desire to leave their jobs.
According to Harkins, Philip J., 1998 In today's world, human resource becomes one of
the most important resources an organization needs to succeed in its business, especially,
in an era of information explosion and increasing instability, in which many knowledge-
based industries would likely show a 30% to 40% rate of annual turnover. Almost every
organization in every industry faces the high turnover problem, which is persistent and
expensive. Turnover has proved to be a drain on organizations' profit.
According to Abbasi & Hollman (2,000), "Turnover is the rotation of workers around
the labour market, between firms, jobs, and occupations; and between the states of
employment and unemployment." They grouped the costs of employee turnover into
visible costs and "hidden" costs. While visible costs can be categorized as costs of
termination, advertising, recruitment, candidate travel, selection, hiring, assignment,
orientation, signing bonuses, and relocation, etc., the "hidden" costs may include
disruption of customer relations, the vacancy cost, costs resulting from disruption of the
work flow, and the erosion of morale and stability of those who stay temporary loss of
production, etc.
The consequences of excessive turnover in organizations, it was found that gave rise to
far reaching consequences, even to the extent that undermine efforts to achieve
organizational goals. They also suggest that when an organization loses a critical
44
employee, there is a negative impact on innovation and long delays in delivering services
to customers, thus affecting the profitability of the organization.
Abassi and Hollman, 2000; Hewitts Associates, 2006; Sherman et al. 2006 highlight
reasons for employee turnover in the organisations: hiring practices; managerial style;
lack of recognition; lack of competitive compensation system; toxic workplace
environments. Others include lack of interesting work lack of job security; lack of
promotion and inadequate training and development opportunities, amongst others.
Turnover (actual exit) - intentions to exit are significantly and positively related to
turnover (Brigham, Castro & Shepherd, 2007).
Human resource management international digest issue (2008, 2009) reported that job
dissatisfaction and burnout lead to high employee-turnover rate.
Fitz-Enz (1997) showed that the combination of direct and indirect costs, total cost of
employee turnover is a minimum payment of one year and profits, or a maximum of two
years' salary and benefits. The organization must also bear the costs of preparing a new
set of decrease in the loss of personnel.
Haley (1998) studied the cost of labor turnover to be 50 to 60 percent in the first year's
salary of the employee and up to 100 percent for certain highly specialized positions
qualified.
Pohlen Kean (2002) undertook a survey of the employees of 25 organisations and found
a clear relationship between the work-life balance policies on offer, employee‘s
intentions to leave and actual turnover rates. Their study suggests that the work-life
balance policies have a small overall net positive effect on staff turnover rates.
45
Bliss (2007) and Sutherland (2004) contend that organisations lost productivity, social
capital and suffer customer defection when a productive employee quits. Knowledge,
skills and contacts that a departing employee takes out of the organisation constitutes a
huge loss. These attributes are, in most cases, lost to a competitor organisation that may
use this to gain competitive advantage.
According to Chaminade, 2007 Retention is a voluntary move by an organization to
create an environment which engages employees for long term.
Steers (1977) suggests that the more committed an employee is, the less of a desire they
have to terminate from the organization. These ―highly committed‖ employees were
found to have a higher intent to remain with the company, a stronger desire to attend
work, and a more positive attitude about their employment. Steers concluded that
―commitment was significantly and inversely related to employee turnover.‖
According to Arthur (1994) when organizations seek to foster a philosophy of
commitment, then the likelihood of an employee searching for employment elsewhere is
lowered.
Hammer2000; Marini 2000; Denton 2000 ‗s research reported that Employees that are
satisfied and happy in with their jobs are more dedicated to doing a good job and taking
care of customers that sustain the operation. Job satisfaction is something that working
people seek and a key element of employee retention.
Murthy (2004) identifies three categories of employees, those who need to save
indefinitely, and those essential to the organization short term and those that are easily
replaceable. Following the identification of these recruitments, any organization can
easily customize their strategy for retention to promote institutional loyalty of employees.
46
Those who belong to the first class were offered a lucrative compensation plan and plans
that affect long-term positive. Those who are critical to the organization in the short term,
there will be those whose bid will be lower in the short term or those who will be crucial
for any project that requires completion in the short term. The preservation of these
critical skills will require proposals that shine in the short term. The third category of
employees who are easily replaceable, are the least priority for conservation, they may be
offered a voluntary organization.
Amaram, 2005 opines organizations must strike the right balance between pampering
their employees and extracting maximum work from them. Any one of these when
overdone would lead dissatisfaction and thereby, attrition. Corporate control has to be
very carefully handled.
Kulshreshtha and Kumar, 2005 reported that employees are not motivated by hygiene
factors like salaries alone. Retention can be increased by motivating the employee
towards work. Motivation can be done by increasing the likeliness of engagement,
including work-life balance programs, flextime, telecommuting, compressed workweeks,
reward programs and performance management systems.
Child and Rodrigues, 2005 opine that proper management and development of
intangible assets is the key to employees‘ optimal performance and retention. Knowledge
workers like many others, are less likely to be loyal over the long-term with the new
employment paradigm.
Owens (2006) had a similar finding that employees that had a higher level of
commitment also had a higher level of ―turnover cognitions‖.
47
McKinsey survey, 2005 reported that India is likely to witness a shortfall of half-a-
million people in the business process outsourcing industry. This will force IT companies
in India to ensure that recruitment processes are aligned with retention strategies.
Accordingly, some companies have been making a paradigm shift in their hiring process
by focusing on competency frameworks and other relevant tools to retain talent. In some
cases, companies recruit employees belonging to an older age bracket, for grant of a
higher degree of employee stability and commitment.
McCauley & Wakefield, 2006 opine that businesses must have the ability to identify the
most talented individuals, provide them with the necessary training and experience, and
retain valuable employees on a long term basis.
Dr Eddie Blass, 2007 opines that retaining and developing key people in the
organization will be a critical success factor in the next five years.
Chin-Yao Tseng and Michlelle Wallace (2009) have identified ten factors for the
retention of employees financial compensation; training and development; promotion;
recognition; challenging work - innovation and creativity; leadership style; autonomy;
and job satisfaction.
2.9 Work life balance & Employee Retention
Studies by Goldberg, Greenberger, Koch-Jones, O’Neil, & Hamill, 1989; Grover &
Crooker, 1995; Orthner & Pittman, 1986; Youngblood & Chambers-Cook, 1984
Goldberg, W. A., have found that employees who benefit from childcare centres referral
services and other family-supportive practices report higher levels of commitment to the
organization.
48
Kossek and Nichol, 1992 found that users of the childcare centre had been with the
organization longer and held more positive attitudes regarding the centre‘s influence on
recruitment and retention than did employees who were on the waiting list.
Bretz, Boudreau, and Judge, 1994 found that lack of access to work-life practices
predicted turnover intentions among managers.
Grover and Crooker , 1995 found that parental leave; childcare information and
referral, flexible work hours, and financial assistance with childcare predicted both
increased affective commitment to the organization and decreased turnover intentions
among all employees, not just users of the practices.
Nelson et al., 1990; Scandura & Lankau, 1997 found out that the availability of
organizational resources, including flexible work hours, has been linked to job
satisfaction and organizational commitment for women and for all employees with family
responsibilities, regardless of whether or not these resources are being used.
A meta analysis by Baltes, Briggs, Huff, Wright, and Neuman, 1999 found that
flexible work schedules had positive effects on both job satisfaction and satisfaction with
work schedule.
Chiu & Ng, 1999; Thompson, Beauvais & Lyness, 1999; Wood & de Menezes, 2008
found that availability of work-life balance practices has also been related to increased
affective commitment and decreased turnover intentions.
While the assessing the role of work-life conflict on retention in DND employees,
including CF member Duxbury and Higgins, 2001 indicated that employees with high
work-to-family conflict (work conflicting with family) reported lower organizational
commitment compared to employees with low work-to-family conflict.
49
Employees with high work-to-family conflict also reported higher job stress than did
employees with low work-to-family conflict. Furthermore, employees with high work-to-
family conflict reported considerably less job satisfaction Employees with high work-to-
family conflict were also more likely to report thinking about leaving DND on a weekly
basis compared to employees with low work-to-family conflict.
In New Zealand, Pohlen Kean (2002) undertook a survey of the employees of 25
organisations. They found a clear relationship between the work-life balance policies on
offer, employee‘s intentions to leave and actual turnover rates. Their study suggests that
the work-life balance policies have a small overall net positive effect on policies. staff
turnover rates.
Batt & Valcour, 2003, in one of their research articles published reported that Work life
policies are one of the major considerations for organizations because friendly policies
are an important factor to reduce turnover.
Rau and Hyland, 2002 found that individuals with high levels of work-family conflict
were more attracted to organizations that offered flexible working hours, while
individuals with lower levels of conflict between work and family were more attracted to
organizations that provided opportunities for telework.
Baughman, DiNardi and Holtz-Eakin, 2003 In a survey of 120 employers in upstate
New York, Researchers found that employers who had instituted flexible sick leave and
childcare referral services five years ago or longer experienced significant subsequent
decreases in turnover amongst all employees.
50
Yasbek, 2004 & Ling & Phillips, 2006 feel that companies are more aware about the
work life balance and implementation of friendly policies because complex and
additional working hours increase the stress and turnover intention among employees.
According to Forsyth and Polzer-Debruyne (2007), when employees feel that
organization is supportive and providing them work life balance it enhances job
satisfaction and reduces work pressure leading to reduction in turnover intention.
In their 2007 meta-analysis Gajendran, R. S., & Harrison, D. A, 2007 found that
telework was associated with increased job satisfaction and reduced intentions to
turnover, with these relationships partially mediated by lower levels of work-life conflict.
Butts, Ng, Vandenberg, Dejoy, and Wilson, 2007 observed that for men, the
availability of work-life practices was associated with higher organizational commitment
only when perceived organizational support was high. For women, there was a positive
link between practices and commitment regardless of levels of perceived organizational
support.
In 2008, Yu 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.
Ahmad and Omer (2010) developed a positive association between family supportive
work culture, affective commitment and turnover intention.
Price Water House coopers (2011) Talent retention measures taken by Indian IT/ITeS
providers as reported by Price Water House Coopers include Performance feedback
programs, Office infrastructure - cafeteria pantry, gym, day care, library, etc, Flexi work
hours – work from home, flexible work timings, etc.
51
Promoting work-life balance measures such as Fun at work – birthday / festival
celebrations, team outing, weekend getaways, etc, Improving leadership skills in the
middle-management level, Initiatives around performance recognition Employee
empowerment - bonus, perks, salary hike, medical benefits, ESOPs etc, Providing
professional training and development and/or personal growth, Global career
opportunities, Higher study opportunities.
2.10 Research Gap: There has been a larger degree of research about talent management
in the western context, however not much work has been done in Indian context
highlighting the role of work life balance initiatives. Work-life balance of employees is
not given due importance in the research field in India so as to understand turn over
intentions/attrition of employees at junior and middle level management. No significant
studies have been undertaken in India to analyze the impact of demographic variables on
the critical factors of Work-Life Balance especially in the IT sector.
--------------------------
52
Chapter-3
Research Objectives, Research Hypotheses & Research Methodology
3.1 Statement of the Problem
Studies suggest that Indian IT sector is a pioneer in introducing work life balance
initiatives even though there is no legislative compulsion; there are no specific studies to
understand the awareness of employees at middle and lower management about such
policies & their impact on employee turnover intentions/attrition/retention. Under such
circumstances it is essential to understand the Human Resource Management Initiatives
in the Indian IT sector in the direction of work life Balance/ integration and the impact of
such initiatives on employee attrition/retention particularly at junior and middle level
management.
3.2 Objectives of the study:
 To study the existing flexible work arrangements, health programs, counseling
services, sabbatical / career breaks & transport facilities& job sharing provisions
in sample organizations.
 To understand the differences in work life balance scores across the organizations,
genders, levels of management and married and unmarried in sample
organizations
 To assess the differences in perceptions of individual employees across the
genders, levels of management t& organizations related to work life balance.
 To understand the policy differences across the organizations as regards work life
balance in sample organizations
53
 To assess the impact of work life balance programs on employee retention /
attrition/intention to stay of the sample organizations
 To suggest suitable recommendations of any other type of work life balance
initiatives emerging from the study
3.3 Hypotheses to the study
H01: There is no difference between male and female employees with regard to the
H11: There is a difference between male and female employees with regard to the
H02: There is no difference between managers & non managers as regards to the
H12: There is a difference between managers &non managers as regards to the provision
H03: There is no difference between organizations as regards to the provision of flexible
working hours
H13: There is a difference between organizations as regards to the provision of flexible
working hours
54
H14: There is a difference between male & female employees with respect to the provision
of health programs
H05: There is no difference between mangers & non managers with respect to the
H15: There is a difference between mangers & non managers with respect to the provision
of health programs
H06: There is no difference between organizations with respect to the provision of health
programs.
H16: There is a difference between organizations with respect to the provision of health
programs
H07: There is no difference between male & female employees with respect to the practice
H17: There is a difference between male & female employees with respect to the practice
practice of sabbatical/career breaks.
H18: There is difference between managers &non managers with respect to practice of
55
H09: There is no difference between organizations with respect to the practice of
H19: There is a difference between organizations with respect to the practice of
H110: There is a difference between male & female employees with respect to the
H111: There is a difference between managers & non managers with respect to the
H012: There is no difference between organizations with respect to the provision of
H112: There is a difference between organizations with respect to the provision of
56
H113: There is a difference between male &female employees with respect to the practice
of job sharing.
H014: There is no difference between managers &non managers with respect to the
H114: There is a difference between managers &non managers with respect to the practice
of job sharing.
H015: There is no difference between organizations with respect to the practice of job
sharing.
H115: There is a difference between organizations with respect to the practice of job
sharing.
H016: Most of the Indian organizations do not have specific policy on work life balance &
such initiatives are also selectively introduced.
H116: Most of the Indian organizations do have specific policy on work life balance &
such initiatives are not selectively introduced
H017: There is no difference between various levels of management as regards to the work
life balance scores
H117: There is a difference between various levels of management as regards to the work
life balance scores
57
H018: There is no difference between married & unmarried as regards to the work life
balance scores
H118: There is a difference between married & unmarried as regards to the work life
balance scores
H019: There is no difference between organizations as regards to the work life balance
scores
H119: There is a difference between organizations as regards to the work life balance
scores.
H020: There is negative relationship between family friendly policies and employees‘
H120: There is a positive relationship between family friendly policies and employees‘
3.4 Research Methodology
The system of collecting data for research project is known as research methodology. It is
the blue print of the work done by the researcher. It aims to describe and analyze methods
used; throws light on their limitations and resources, clarifying the presuppositions and
consequences and relate their potentialities to the frontiers of knowledge.
3.4.1 Understanding the problem
Employment for life is no more a realistic concept for most workers in knowledge centric
sectors of the labour market. However faced with the dilemma of limited salary budgets
and increased rates of attrition employers in service sectors which are knowledge and
58
skill centric, are looking beyond salary to create a favorable work environment to keep
their top performers with them. Work life balance initiatives are one of such policy
initiatives used by a large number of employers globally as a retention tool. To
understand this phenomenon in Indian Information Technology sector organizations, a
formal investigation is undertaken by the research scholar.
3.4.2 Scope of Research
The scope of the research is to understand the HR initiatives in the direction of work life
balance in the selected organizations in India which belong to IT sector. The
organizations covered under the survey are soft ware product /service companies and
ITES organizations. As work life balance is more of a concern for employees at middle
level and lower level management, and retention of employees at lower level and middle
level is the challenge for employers in IT sector, the scope is restricted to study such
employees‘ perceptions on work life balance and their turn over intentions.
3.4.3 Sample Design &Sample size
The sample size for the study is 400. The sample comprises of employees from five
information technology units. Three organizations are based at Hyderabad and two are
based at Mumbai. The sampling method used is convenience sampling. The research
scholar used formal and known sources to collect data directly from employees. The
sample size for the study is determined using the following formula.
𝒛𝟐 𝐱 𝒑 𝐱 𝐪
n=
𝒅𝟐
z value represents the z score from the standard normal distribution of the confidence
level desired by the researcher. Conventionally 95% confidence level is accepted. Same
is accepted for the present study. p is the estimated percentage value of the standard
59
deviation and q value is 1-p. (pq is the estimated level of variance) d2 is the third value
required to calculate the sample size called tolerant error in estimating the variable. In the
present research the value is + 5. Substituting these values in the sample size calculation
formula, the sample size derived for the study is 384. The research scholar has
approached around 30 companies through formal routes of communication. Some
companies have promptly replied saying that they cannot provide the information
required while others have not responded at all in spite of repeated attempts. However the
5 sample organizations listed below have responded positively. Hence they have been
approached and data was collected. However for analysis purpose only 370
questionnaires were considered as the remaining were incomplete to the extent that they
had to be rejected.
The sample distribution comprises of the following.
Population of the No. of sample % of the sample of

Organization the population
sample organization respondents
Cognizant Technology 11.60
500 58
Solutions (India)
Respondez 400 47 11.75
200 20
Deloitte Consulting
40
Services India Pvt. Ltd
IIC Technologies Pvt. 500 40
200
Ltd
Micro Semi India Pvt. 55
100 55
Ltd
Total 1700 400 23.53
Table-1
3.4.4 Data sources
a. Available Secondary data were studied to understand the available literature
related to the topic of interest. The secondary data referred include various
60
published and unpublished reports, journals, periodicals, books, newspapers, etc.
(including databases like Pro-quest, India Business Insight Database and others)
b. Primary data was crucial to the study of ―Human resource management initiatives
in the direction of work life balance initiatives in the sample organizations and the
impact of such initiatives on employee retention‖. For the purpose of collecting
the data from the employees of sample organizations, sample organizations were
approached through formal routes of communication. Organizations agreed to
provide the data only after a written assurance is given to them that the data
would be used only for research purpose.
3.4.5 Data collection Method
Questionnaire method of data collection was used for collecting the primary data. The
questionnaire used was a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire had four sections.
 The first section contained questions on demographic profile of the sample
respondents.
 The second section contained questions to understand the work profile of the
respondents.
 The third section contained questions so as to understand the awareness,
perceptions of sample respondents about organizational work life balance
initiatives and also their willingness to participate in development of such a policy
in their organization. The questions were related to employee critical variables on
work life balance and also employer critical variables on work life balance.
 The forth section of the questionnaire contained questions on organizational
commitment of employees and their expectations from the employer so as to
61
tempt them to stay with the organization. Five point Likert scale was used to
solicit data on most of the variables. An online questionnaire was also created as
some organizations insisted on mail survey only as they can‘t afford to spare time
for the survey during working hours.
3.4.6 Pre study
This was done by conducting a pilot study at Cognizant technologies, Mumbai& IIC
Technologies, Hyderabad. A structured questionnaire was developed for the pilot study.
Based on the results of the pilot study some changes were incorporated in the
questionnaire. The experience of conducting a pilot study is quite enriching.
3.4.7 Limitations of the research
The present study helped in studying the perceptions of employees on work life balance,
the nature and quantum of work life balance initiatives in the sample organizations and
their impact on employee turnover intentions. However, difficulties and impediments
during the research and some limitations of the study need to be noted to help put the
findings in a larger context.
Employees of the IT Sector were not amenable to give the requisite data, however this
impediment was minimized by repeatedly briefing the employees in detail about the
research and its purpose. To a certain extent errors could have occurred due to the above
situation.
The study was restricted to understand the perceptions of employees at middle level and
lower level management of Information Technology Sector. The study findings cannot be
generalized as the characteristics and work culture of IT professionals could be different
for different employees working at the same level in different parts of the country.
62
3.4.8. Scope for future research
Most of the research done on work life balance till date focused on studying the
perceptions and reactions of individual workers to the critical variables of work life
balance. There is ample scope for further research into areas of work life balance into the
following areas.
 Nature and operationalisation of policy on work life balance by organisations.
 Understanding what constitutes good work life balance
 To what extent work life balance matters to women executives at top level of the
management.
--------------------------
63
Chapter-4
An Over view of Indian Information Technology Sector
4.1 Introduction
The Information Technology (IT) Sector has been one of the hotshots of Indian economy.
Remarkable transformation and growth of the economy has created opportunities both in
exporting software and services and in the domestic market. The Indian IT & ITES
Sector has grown considerably over the last decade to contribute over 6% of the country‘s
GDP. Competitive factors such as skilled workers, adequate telecommunication
networks, and an improving policy and regulatory environment have enabled both
domestic and foreign firms to rapidly expand in the internationally competitive IT
services sector
Growth in Indian information technology in the world market is primarily dominated by
IT software and services, including system integration, IT consulting, application
management, custom applications, infrastructure management, software testing and web
development.
The seeds of Indian IT sector were sown back way in sixties when the TATA group
established TATA Consultancy Services in1967 in Mumbai. From then onwards there is
no looking back and now it has become a giant sector which provides employment to 2.5
million people (Direct and Indirect) and contributes 5.19% of country‘s GDP. IT sector
is a combination of core IT and BPO division.
Currently the Indian IT sectors are located mainly in metros and major cities like Pune,
Kochi, Coimbatore but the hub is Bangalore which is called the silicon valley of India.
This sector is mainly concentrating on projects which are outsourced from European
64
counties and USA though now many domestic projects are pumping in-Thanks to
Economic liberalization and globalization.
At present the Indian IT sector is one of the highest recruiter in India wherein all the
science and engineering grads get handsome offers. In 2010 itself Indian IT sector
offered more than 0.1 million jobs and the count is expected to increase almost double in
2011.The major recruiter is Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) followed by Accenture,
Infosys, Wipro, Mahindra Satyam and Cognizant.
The boom in IT sector is expected to continue with the addition of new customers from
Asian and African countries but India has a major competitor-China, which is slowly
increasing its grip on this sector, but still the leader is India.
4.2 Features& Segments of the IT Industry
 Economies of scale for the information technology industry are high. The
marginal cost of each unit of additional software or hardware is insignificant
compared to the value addition that results from it.
 Unlike other common industries, the IT industry is knowledge-based.
 Efficient utilization of skilled labor forces in the IT sector can help an economy
achieve a rapid pace of economic growth.
 The IT industry helps many other sectors in the growth process of the economy
including the services and manufacturing sectors.
Segments of the IT Sector
The Information Technology sector is categorized into four broad segments
 IT services
 Software products and engineering services
65
 IT enabled services (ITeS - BPO)
 Hardware
4.2.1 Major characteristics of work and employment in the IT industry:
 Mobility: Software engineers are highly mobile, circulating between India and
‗onsite‘ as well as between jobs within India and outside. The phenomenon of
‗virtual migration‘ (offshore, online work) can be seen as a form of ‗immobile
mobility‘ in which labour moves without the body of the worker.
 Flexibility: Because of the highly competitive and global nature of the IT
industry, it requires a flexible workforce. Flexibility is reflected in the software
labour market and in the emergence of new forms of employment, for instance in
the extensive use of temporary contract labour and the high level of fluidity in the
job market. Within companies as well, flexibility is maintained through ‗resource
management‘ systems such as ‗the bench‘.
 Individualisation: The emergence of individualised employment relations is seen
in the absence of collective identity among software workers, the high level of
attrition, and the tendency to build careers by job-hopping. This in turn is linked
to the volatility of the global IT market, the consequent lack of job security, and
the emergence of the entrepreneurial employee‘ who must constantly upgrade his
or her skills in order to ‗remain marketable.
In addition, although the industry is ‗moving up the value chain‘, most of the work
continues to be low-end, creating a high level of job dissatisfaction because many
employees believe they are over-qualified for their jobs.
66
4.3 Growth Statistics of Indian IT Sector: With a compounded annual growth rate
CAGR) of over 24% in the last decade, the Indian IT/ITeS industry has emerged as a key
growth engine for the economy contributing around 5.6% to the country‘s Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) in FY 2010 and also providing direct employment about 2.3
million people (from just about half a million in 2001). It remains one of the biggest
sectors for wealth generation in the country. As per the industry body NASSCOM, the
sector is estimated to provide direct employment to 10 million and indirect employment
to 20 million by 2020.
These segments generated combined revenues of $73.1 billion in 2009-10 from $69.4
billion in 2008-09, a growth of 5.3%. The revenue from IT services constitutes about
50% of the total industry revenues It has grown at a CAGR of 21.8% from 13.5 billion in
2004-05 to $36.2 billion in $2009-10. The total ITeS revenues reached $14.7 billion in
2009-10 from $5.2 billion in 2004-05, with a CAGR of 23% 1). While IT services
continue to be the largest contributor, the ITeS segment has grown faster over the last
five years.
CAGR (2004-2009)
30.0%
25.0%
20.0%
15.0%
10.0%
5.0%
0.0%
IT Services ITeS Software Hardware
Figure 1
67
Revenue Contribution by various Segments of IT Sector in the Last 6 years ( in $
Billions)
IT Services ITeS-BPO Software Products & Services Hardware

80
70
9.4
9.4
60
10.8 12.8
12.3
50
10.5
8.5 14.7
40 13.6
8.2 11.5
7.1
30
5.3 8.7
5.7
3.8 7.2
20
34.1 36.2
5.2 30.1
22.6
10 17.8
13.5
0
2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10
(Estimated)
Figure 2
Source: Nasscom Strategic Review 2010
% Growth in revenue in IT Sector between 2005 to 2009

2004-05 32.62
2005-06 28.34
2006-07 31.04
2007-08 10.33
2008-09 5.33
68
Component wise growth Rate for last six years
IT ITeS Software Products Hardware

25
20
9
9
10.3
15
8 2.8
2.7
2.2
10 6.5 2.3
1.9
1.6
5.2 1.6
1.3 1.1
5 0.7 0.9 8.9
0.6 7.9 8.3
4.5 5.5
3.5
0
2004 – 05 2005 – 06 2006 – 07 2007 – 08 2008 – 09 2009 – 10
Year
Figure 3
69
Revenue Share by Main Segments ( last six years)
13%
17%
50%
20%
Figure 4
Segment Wise Revenue Contribution – Domestic – 2009 - 10
39% 39%
12% 10%
Figure 5
70
% Wise Revenue Contribution by Key verticals - 2009 - 10
Banking/Finance Services Telecom

Manufacturing Retail
Others
14%
6%
41%
19%
20%
Figure 6
71
The export revenues touched $50.1 billion in 2009-10, accounting for over 68% of the
total Indian IT/ITeS Industry revenues. The export revenues have grown at a CAGR of
22.4% in the last five years. The IT services segment has been the major contributor
(54%) to the export revenues.
Segment wise Export Revenues for the last Six years ( in $ Billions)
IT Services ITeS-BPO Software Products & Services Hardware

60
50 0.4
0.4
10
9.5
40 0.5
8.3
12.4
0.5 11.7
30
6.6 9.9
0.6
4 7.6
20
0.5
3.1 6.3
25.8 27.3
4.6
22.2
10
17.1
13.3
10
0
2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10
Figure 7
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Segment wise revenue Contribution to Exports – 2009 – 10(in %)
The IT services segment has been the major contributor to the export revenues in the IT
sector. Over the years ITeS has been the second largest segment in the IT sector market.
1%
20%
54%
25%
Figure 8
Source: Nasscom Strategic review 2010
In terms of markets, US still accounts for a lion‘s share of the business generating more
than 61% of India‘s export revenues. UK has been the second largest IT/ITeS market
with around 18%, followed by Continental Europe, which accounts for 12% of India‘s
export revenues. However, with the focus on geographic diversification, Indian
companies are also extending their reach to other markets like Asia Pacific.
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The year 2010 has been a comeback year for the Indian IT/ITeS sector with the demand
picking up after the global economic meltdown. The sector had demonstrated remarkable
resilience during the downturn. The sector, which witnessed around 75000 to 1 lakh job
cuts and a drop in salary increments from about 14-18% levels to6-10% during the
slowdown, saw a turnaround in 2010 with the industry providing a positive outlook on
the hiring scenario as well as on remuneration.
Geography Wise Revenue Split Key Markets 2009 - 10
US UK Continental Europe
Asia Pacific Rest of the World
2%
7%
12%
18% 61%
Figure 9
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4.4 Factors responsible for the growth of IT Sector India
Role of Indian Diaspora
The success of Indian IT professionals was a significant factor in development of the
software sector in India. The stream of US educated Indian professionals who joined the
IT industry in Silicon Valley and met technical, managerial and entrepreneurial success
creating a positive image of the capabilities of Indian Professionals. They also expedited
body shopping by showcasing the value of Indian programmers and fostering connections
between software firms in US &India. Some have returned to India to work for
Multinational companies which have established subsidiaries in India while others have
launched firms in India which facilitated the nurturing of long term relationship across
the borders.
Skilled Manpower
India has very good young skilled talented manpower for these information technology
companies. The growth of any industry depends upon the easily available and cheap
manpower for that business. Indian colleges are producing 13500 very good software
engineers, science graduates every year who are eligible to work in the BPO companies
and for software development companies. These students are fluent in English, after
providing the certain training these students can be trained in variety of software, capable
of trouble shooting in the real time and directly employed in the various information
industries.
Providing cheap Business as compared other countries
India is fetching the IT business and processing outsourcing businesses mostly from
aboard client from U.S.A and U.K. These overseas clients can save easily around 20-50%
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from project when they are outsourced this business to India IT companies. This is one
factor that India is getting more IT business from the overseas. India is getting outsource
business from U.S.A around 61% and from U.K India is getting outsourced around 30%.
The manpower cost of India low as compares to other countries and easily availability of
manpower for these specific IT sector. This is big advantage to India for getting the more
business from other countries. This will impact on the business profit too of the IT
companies.
Better quality service
There is reason behind for fetching the more outsourced business from the aboard
countries is that most of Indian technology companies has obtained the high standards
certificates like ISO ,CMMI, Six Sigma certificates from the International Standard
Organization. Its means these Indian IT companies which have these certificates will
provide the service to the clients at international standard. India has 82 IT companies
which has obtain the certificates of SEI CMM level 5. That is highest certificates in the
world which India has obtained.
Government support for promoting to IT Sector
Government is providing required infrastructure for the IT Companies for their setup.
That supports for IT companies are providing the central government as well as from the
state government. Indian government has placed the IT sector in the special economic
zone. It means if any IT companies will come under the SEZ that companies will get the
rebate on tax for 10 years.
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4.5 Impact of IT on Formal &Informal sectors of the Economy
A general concern with IT-adoption is job loss, and there is certainly the potential that
certain kinds of clerical jobs will be eliminated or reduced in numbers. Unions in Indian
industries such as banking have opposed ―computerization‖ for this reason. However, the
evidence suggests that increases in other kinds of jobs as a result of IT use more than
make up for job loss, so that total employment is not a significant issue. In particular, IT-
enabled services promise to directly generate employment much more significantly than
activities such as software development.
IT implementation may enhance the quality of service beyond anything that is feasible
through other methods. Furthermore, depending on who the ―customers‖ are, the benefits
may accrue to a broad cross-section of the population. Improved efficiency in the stock
market as a result of automated trading and settlement may benefit a small section of the
population (though the indirect benefits of greater capital market efficiency may be
broader). The use of IT in rural banking and micro finance, however, can impact a much
broader cross-section of the population.
Information processing may enhance efficiency in agriculture as well as in
manufacturing. While individual farmers cannot make IT investments, agricultural
cooperatives can provide the institutional framework that allows farmers to benefit. For
example, IT use at milk collection centers in cooperative dairies. This permits faster and
safer testing, better quality control, quicker and more accurate payments to farmers, and
time savings for farmers in their deliveries. The falling cost of information processing
means that such success stories can potentially be widely replicated.
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In the area of communication of information, Farmers and fishermen can receive weather
forecasts, market price quotes, advice on farming practices, and specific training. Offers
to buy or sell livestock, or other two-way communications are also possible. Some of this
information dissemination and exchange is best done through voice media such as fixed
or mobile telephones, while other types require the capabilities of the Internet. Some
evidence suggests, not surprisingly, that richer farmers and fishermen, as well as
middlemen, are faster adopters of such technologies.
It is possible that IT-based delivery mechanisms can overcome traditional barriers to
widespread delivery of education at all levels. We have noted the importance of IT
training itself. However, even basic education may be enhanced by the use of IT. While it
may seem paradoxical that delivery of basic education should rely on ‗high tech‘, there is
nothing new in this. The radio and television have been very successful distance-
education media in the past, and computers and the Internet offer several advantages, in
terms of the potential for interactivity, customization and sheer volume of material. Given
the poor state of basic education while improved incentives for teachers and school
administrators (either in the public or private sector) will help, technology can play an
important complementary and even substitutive role.
There are two broad uses of IT for improved government functioning. First, back-office
procedures can be made more efficient, so that internal record keeping flows of
information, and tracking of decisions and performance can be improved. Second, when
some basic information is stored in digital form, it provides the opportunity for easier
access to that information by citizens. The simplest examples are e-mailing requests or
complaints, checking regulations on a web page, or printing out forms from the web so
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that a trip to pick up the forms from a physical office can be avoided. More complicated
possibilities are checking actual records, such as land ownership or transactions. Still
more complicated are cases where information is submitted electronically by the citizen,
for government action or response.
The numerous examples of successful e-governance programs include:
 Computer-aided registration of land deeds and stamp duties in Andhra Pradesh,
reducing reliance on brokers and possibilities for corruption
 Computerization of rural local government offices in Andhra Pradesh for delivery
of statutory certificates of identity and landholdings, substantially reducing
delays.
 Computerized checkpoints for local entry taxes in Gujarat, with data
automatically sent to a central database, reducing opportunities for local
corruption.
 Consolidated bill payment sites in Kerala, allowing citizens to pay bills under 17
different categories in one place, from electricity to university fees.
 E-mail requests for repairs to basic rural infrastructure such as hand pumps,
reducing reliance on erratic visits of government functionaries.
Given the poor quality of governance in India, it seems that e-governance initiatives
can provide direct benefits to citizens, particularly those who are less well off (the
rich in any case hire intermediaries to collect information, make payments, etc.). The
preliminary evidence suggests that the use of IT can increase transparency and
accountability, simply by requiring information, such as basic complaints, to be
logged completely and systematically.
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4.6 Top Indian IT Companies
Infosys Technologies Limited
Formerly known as Infosys Consultants Pvt. Ltd., is a company based in Bangalore,
India, that primarily deals with information technology services. However, the company
also provides engineering and business process outsourcing (BPO) solutions and services
to multiple industries, which include aerospace, health care, banking, retail and
manufacturing. It operates in 72 cities across32 nations and employs 130,820 people. It
generated revenue of 604 billion US dollars for the year 2010-11 financial year.
Wipro Technologies
Wipro Technologies, the global technology and consulting services division of Indian
conglomerate. The 2000s' decade saw Wipro focus on the IT services and BPO business,
which today has become the company's primary growth driver, having grown from
negligible revenues to about 70% of Wipro's IT revenues, a testimony to the company's
ability to scale new businesses.
Wipro Limited is one of the world's leading providers of integrated business, process, and
technology services. A leading global provider of R&D services, the firm offers
assistance in application development, enterprise systems implementation, networking,
systems integration, and technology consulting services. Also a world leader in offshore
business process outsourcing services, Wipro Technologies operates in more than 50
countries.
Currently, Wipro employs 120,000 employees (March 31, 2011). The company recorded
total revenue of $6.98 billion (IT revenues stood at $ 5.2 billion) for the year ended
March 31, 2011 while net income for the same year was $1.19 billion.
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Tata Consultancy Services
Tata Consultancy Services is an IT services, business solutions and outsourcing
organization that delivers real results to global businesses, ensuring a level of certainty
that no other firm can match. TCS offers a consulting-led integrated portfolio of IT and
IT-enabled services delivered through its unique Global Network Delivery Model™
(GNDM™), recognized as the benchmark of excellence in software development.
TCS is part of the Tata group, one of India‘s largest industrial conglomerates and most
respected brands: TCS has over 238,583 of the world‘s best-trained IT consultants in 42
countries. It has registered revenue of $10.17 billion (fiscal year ending March 31, 2012).
HCL Technologies Ltd
$4 billion global company, HCL Technologies brings IT and engineering services
expertise under one roof to solve complex business problems for its clients. Leveraging
extensive global offshore infrastructure and network of offices in 26 countries, the
company provides holistic, multi-service delivery in such industries as financial services,
manufacturing, consumer services, public services and healthcare. With 50,000
employees, HCL’s” Employees First philosophy‖ helped fuel a surge in the company‘s
growth over the past five years, including during the depths of economic downturn. It has
attracted the attention of academics (Harvard Business School did a case study on the
approach), the media (Fortune magazine has characterized HCL management as ―the
world‘s most modern‖) and analysts (a Gartner research report highlighted the customer
benefits of ―Employees First‖).
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Cognizant Technology Solutions (India) Pvt.Ltd.
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation (Cognizant) is a provider of custom
information technology, consulting and business process outsourcing services. The
Company is engaged in technology strategy consulting, complex systems development
and integration, enterprise software package implementation and maintenance, data
warehousing, business intelligence and analytics, application testing, application
maintenance, infrastructure management, and business and knowledge process
outsourcing (BPO and KPO). The Company operates in four segments: Financial
Services; Healthcare; Manufacturing, Retail and Logistics, and Other, which includes
communications, information, media and entertainment, and high technology.
The Company‘s solutions include Supply chain management solutions, from pre-press to
material procurement, circulation, logistics, and vendor management; Business solutions
covering advertising management, online media, and e-business; Workflow automation
covering the product development process for broadcasters; Spot ad buying systems
covering agency of record, traffic management, post-buy analysis, and financial
management; Digital Asset Management (DAM), Digital Rights Management (DRM),
and Operational systems, including ad sales, studio management, outsourcing billing and
payments, along with content management and delivery. The Company serves a range of
independent software vendors (ISVs) and online service providers. The company finished
the year 2011 with headcount of approximately 137,700. The E total Revenues of the
company for the year 2010-11 stood at $4,592,389. Cognizant competes with Accenture,
Capgemini, Computer Sciences Corporation, HCL Technologies, HP Enterprise, IBM
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Global Services, Infosys Technologies, Perot Systems, Tata Consultancy Services and
Wipro.
4.7 Challenges & problems faced by IT Sector in India:
India now stands out as a globally recognizable brand in IT business sector. This brand
was not built in a day; but it was the result of a long journey in a sea of several twists and
turns for years. Indian IT is now navigating safe in the right direction of growth. Indian
IT Industry has been shining and will continue to do so in future looking at the
impressive projected growth rate. But the sector is undergoing a tough time under this
growth. Major problems faced by the players in this sector are described below.
Focusing on the domestic market
The domestic Indian market promises huge potential for the sector in light of the
burgeoning IT budgets of Corporate India. Growing this segment, therefore, is a key
challenge faced by the sector. As more customers drive the change towards off shoring
and such activities become main stream, Indian software companies are likely to gain
immensely from the potential that exists. Growth in IT adoption in the domestic market
will be driven by first time users with high support requirements.
Despite the immense promise that the domestic IT market holds out to the Indian IT
players, the sector continues to face significant challenges related to technology adoption.
Hundreds of thousands or perhaps millions of MSME have underinvested in IT and have
not realised its immense benefits. IT adoption in the Indian MSME segment significantly
trails behind comparator economies like Brazil and China. The IT industry needs to
ensure that IT technology and solutions are made available, which are suitable to the
needs of the micro and SME user firms. These solutions and technologies also need to be
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affordable for the micro and SME firms especially in the current economic climate where
access to investment capital is difficult. Finally, the IT industry has to create a low cost
yet efficient IT service capacity to take care of the support needs of SME users.
Availability of a ‗low tech-high touch‘ support is critical to make the users stay
committed to using IT. Both the government and the IT firms need to invest in IT
vocational skill development as part of their workforce development initiatives, in order
to build the required support manpower.
Need to move up the value chain:
Global companies are tapping other countries like the Philippines, China and Ireland for
low-cost labour and talent. In these competing times, therefore, the biggest challenge for
Indian software companies is to move up the software value chain and that too, rapidly.
Penetrating markets for high-end offerings like IT consulting, systems integration,
package implementation and products will help Indian software companies establish
long-term relationships with clients.
This move will help them in reducing pressure on the margins front as these services
generally command higher billing rates than basic services like software development
and maintenance.
Maintaining high growth levels
Maintaining high export growth levels of the past is another challenge facing the Indian
IT industry. As competition has largely dented prices (billing rates) of software services,
growing on the volumes front would be the key factor going forward and that would
require large size deals to come India's way. While Indian software companies have
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rapidly scaled up in anticipation of higher volumes going forward, any inconsistency on
this front may deeply affect overall growth.
Skill gap
According to NASSCOM, approximately five lakhs graduates pass out across all streams
from various Indian Universities. Only 25 % out of these have employable skills. Skill
gap is thus another challenge for Indian IT industry. At a time when outsourcing covers
core technical jobs, resources with sound technical knowledge and experience are
unavoidable. Lack of resources matching with requirements is a matter of concern for
client organizations. In the case of IT services like Mainframe Application development,
support & maintenance, etc the skill gap is quite deeper than other industry verticals.
However, efforts from organizations to introduce internal training programmes offer a ray
of hope in addressing this challenge. Government and private sectors are now
contributing to bridge this skill gap. Several Indian organizations are introducing training
programs for resources. Maintec‘s ―Hire, Train and Deploy program‖ is the best
example for this. Educational institutions are also taking steps to ensure that the
curriculum adaptations move as fast as the pace of Industry change. Indian IT industry
has to go hand in hand with academic institutions as well as industries for increasing the
performance and improving the productivity.
Talent Retention
With a global explosion in market-opportunities in the IT sector, the shortage of
manpower both in numbers and skills is a prime challenge for HR professionals. Added
to it, with lifetime employment in one company not on the agenda of most employees,
jobs will become short term where more and more companies have to concede that their
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valued employees are leaving them The related issues are recruitment of world-class
workforce and their retention, compensation and career planning, technological
obsolescence and employee turnover. In such a scenario work force motivation and
retention are major challenges faced by IT companies.
Rising attrition rates in Indian software companies over the past few years is indicative of
the above challenge brewing at the very core of the growth of the Indian software sector.
As global technology majors like IBM, and Accenture target the Indian market for
business and establish larger bases in the country, it could be a difficult task acquiring
and retaining key employees, especially when the MNCs pay fatter salaries than their
Indian counterparts. However, if Indian companies try to match high MNC salaries (as
they are doing now) without a consequent rise in revenues, their profitability might be
seriously impaired. Companies are expected to make the work place 'fun place' with the
hope of increasing loyalty and commitment.
Attrition Rates of IT Majors in % for 2009 and 2010
2009 2010
30%
24% 28%
25%
23%
20% 14% 17%
15% 11% 11% 17%
10% 13%
10%
5%
0%
Figure 10 Source: Nasscom Strategic Review 2010
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Talent retention measures taken by IT/ITeS providers in India
 Performance feedback programs
 Office infrastructure - cafeteria pantry, gym, day care, library, etc
 Flexi work hours – work from home, flexible work timings, etc
 Promoting work-life balance Fun at work – birthday / festival celebrations, team
outing, weekend getaways, etc
 Improving leadership skills in the middle-management level
 Initiatives around performance recognition
 Employee empowerment bonus, perks, salary hike, medical benefits, ESOPs etc
 Providing professional training and development and/or personal growth
 Global career opportunities
 Higher study opportunities
Political challenge
One external challenge that affects all Indian software companies is the backlash against
outsourcing that seems to be spreading across the US and European regions.
While no adverse fallout is expected in the long-term, as global companies would
continue to outsource non-core operations in order to improve their profitability levels,
medium term performance could get affected.
US slowdown
Most of the revenue of IT and ITes companies comes from US. A slowdown in US would
impact their growth and it has been a concern with many companies. Despite risk
mitigation efforts from the organisations a US slow down would affect them negatively.
They are maintaining a huge workforce currently according to the growth and hiring in
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huge numbers but if there is a slow down then to pay these huge numbers would be a big
nightmare for these companies since firing people is not so easy in India.
Competition from other offshore outsourcing destinations
The strong base of technical education, government policies and cost factors have always
helped India in achieving a bulk share of outsourcing jobs from global IT destinations.
However, with a delay, other outsourcing locations have started following the same
strategy that India followed in grabbing the IT market. Competition from emerging IT
destinations like China, Brazil, Mexico, and Philippines are now a major challenge to
Indian IT industry. Countries like China are now aggressively pursuing scientific &
technical education and language proficiency trainings. India was greatly equipped to
grab the IT market pulses and operate accordingly, thanks to the long-standing
experience in IT outsourcing and efficient infrastructure facilities. With increasing
competition, Indian IT and IT-ES are now swiftly adapting to the emerging market
requirement and capitalizing in other key areas.
Increasing IT expense in India
Offshore Outsourcing to India was well known for the cost differential from western
countries. However, this cost differential gap has substantially decreased over the last
decade. The employee compensation levels are now mounting along with the inflow of
market demands, overall growth of the Indian economy and cost of living. Increasing IT
cost and wage inflation are influencing the technology decisions of many global
companies. On an average, the salary of an Indian IT employee leaps 5-8 times in 10
years. Salaries of middle to top managements are now almost comparable to cost in
developed countries. Indian organisations are now facing increased challenge to maintain
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the average cost of compensation (ACC) at current levels. Many global organisations are
now keeping their options open, to newer outsourcing destinations that are cost-effective
compared to India. However, considering the huge growth prospect of the Indian
Software and IT sector and growing market, Indian organisations are now considering
innovative approaches to maintain profitability. New ways are introduced to increase
quality levels and to set up less lucrative business models for IT. At a time when India‘s
revenue leaps to three fold by 2020, the Indian IT market would continue to attractive for
global clients.
Devaluation of rupee: The abrupt rise of the rupee against the dollar and pound have left
many young BPO firms gasping for breath and the inherently lower profitability of this
segment compared to the industry majors in IT services puts most players at risk with the
dollar likely to seek lower and lower levels against the rupee in the future.
4.8 Trends in Indian IT sector:
The sector witnessed an interesting 2010 which saw the industry move beyond the
economic slowdown and shift its focus on building revenues, creating innovative service
models, broadening geographical reach and optimising cost. Some of the important trends
affecting the growth prospects of the sector are listed below.
The IT industry in India was forced into critical self-examination during the global
meltdown and its aftermath over the last two years. Today, the industry is back on its feet
albeit with a slightly changed profile with vendor consolidations and significantly higher
multi-sourcing deals However, with the US and UK markets still accounting for more
than a lion‘s share of revenues, a phase of rapid diversification is in order so as to insulate
itself from the global turbulence. The Indian domestic market is fast emerging as a
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globally significant market for services. Critical areas like Aerospace, Defence and e-
Governance beckon Indian IT vendors and global giants eager to participate in the Indian
growth story driven by domestic consumption and demand for services.
Companies are increasingly investing in developing their Indian operations as think-tanks
to their global operations. Companies like GE have already been successful in developing
rule changing healthcare solutions through their Indian R&D set up. This is enabling
them to establish a presence in the cost conscious SE Asian market in the short run and
remain globally relevant in the long run.
Cloud Computing is fast emerging as an answer to the business need of driving down IT
costs as a proportion of operating and capital expenditure. However, this is still at an
initial stage and there are many regulatory and security related wrinkles that need to be
ironed out.
The platform BPO is poised to push the Indian service provider community into a
Strategic Business Partner (SBP) mode from a transactional vendor mode. This new
approach introduces an element of profit nonlinearity which is essential for the industry.
By increasing the industry-academia engagement, many educational institutes are trying
to make the curriculum more relevant to the industry needs and thus enabling the service
providers to save on initial training costs while creating a workforce capable of hitting the
ground running service providers are focusing more on retention as a means to both retain
expertise as well as to drive down internal costs. Towards this end, there has been a
renewed focus on innovative R&R mechanisms to make the organisation an employer of
choice. The increasing participation of various states in India to tap into India‘s IT/ITeS
growth story has opened up entirely new possibilities for both, companies as well as the
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people at large. An attractive business centric taxation and benefits regime has seen a
greater interest amongst the IT/ ITeS provider community as well as a more widespread
distribution of wealth across the country.
4.9 Conclusion
India has sailed through several turbulent times to reach its current state of growth in IT.
Visionary IT leaders, Government policy reforms, educational institutions etc have
contributed greatly to India‘s IT journey so far. As the sea of global economy keeps on
fluctuating, challenges are ahead in the journey. However, identifying and addressing the
challenges at the right moment can reduce its impact significantly. Combined efforts
from IT top-level management, Government, educational institutions etc can help India
sail safely to a position of world‘s leading IT destination.
Broad-based growth of India‘s IT sector will depend on improving the telecoms
infrastructure, and on training enough people for the sector and using them effectively
and efficiently. For telecoms, the regulatory framework is crucial, whereas for human
resource development and use, the labor laws matter greatly. The government may be
better off removing general restrictions to doing business, as well as providing an
enabling institutional infrastructure (appropriate laws and regulations), rather than
attempting to target the IT sector through a form of industrial policy
--------------------------
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Chapter-5
Work Life Balance Programmes - Global &Indian Practices
Work/life balance strategies enhance the autonomy of workers in coordinating and
integrating the work and non-work aspects of their lives. Three broad types of work/life
strategies have been created to help employees balance their work and non-work lives:
flexible work options, specialised leave policies and dependent care benefits. These
include a range of policies and practices. The present chapter discusses the initiatives in
the above direction introduced by developed countries which have more organized labour
markets and also in India.
5.1 Work life balance programs in European Union
The countries of the EU have a different cultural viewpoint, with respect to work-life
programs. Often, programs came about as a result of government legislation backed by
public mandate. This demonstrates that European programs are based primarily on social
responsibility rather than competitive advantage. There are different approaches to work-
life balance in Europe. These approaches depend on cultural characteristics of the various
member countries and the level of development of the economies.
However, the EU is trying to establish certain guidelines for all countries that aim to
reduce discrepancies between the work-life initiatives of the countries. Americanization
of working practices in Europe had led the EU to investigate guidelines regarding work
hours, holidays, and parental/paternity leave. Telecommuting and child care are also
topics of interest to the EU in relation to overall work-life health of its member countries.
Some of the more prevalent work-life programs in the EU are discussed below.
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Work Hours
In 1995, the Council of the EU recommended a maximum 48-hour work week in order to
protect the safety and health of workers. However, hours that employees actually work
among the EU countries still varies. British employees were working an average of 43.6
hours a week, compared with 39.6 in France, 38.5 in Italy and 40.1 in Germany. The U.K
legislation gave parents the right to request flexible working arrangements is notable in
this regard.
Paternity Leave
Paternity Leave is a relatively new trend in some EU countries but not in others. In
Denmark where paternal rights have existed for more than 20 years, regulations have
been refined to give fathers more rights in taking care of their children. Parental leave is
granted to fathers for the first time and leave entitlement is extended to a total of 10
months leave at 30 percent of regular salary until the child‘s third birthday. Any period of
leave cannot exceed six consecutive months.
Denmark and Sweden encourage parents to take an active role in care giving while
staying attached to the labour force. Denmark and Sweden both allow parents to work
part-time and prolong their leave beyond the usual benefits period. Sweden's leave
program includes an information campaign to emphasize the importance of the father's
involvement in care giving. Netherlands' "leave savings" and Sweden's sabbatical leave,
allow workers more time to devote to care giving and to pursue other interests outside of
work. In contrast the government in the UK recognized paternal rights at the end of the
last decade. For too long, family friendly policies were simply equated with policies for
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working mothers. The EU Directive on Parental Leave has since put the UK on par with
the rest of Europe, and two weeks‘ paid paternity leave is promised starting 2003.
Vacation
In addition to a recommended maximum number of work hours, the EU also in 1993
formally recommended that employees receive four weeks mandatory vacation. Again,
the length of holiday varies among EU countries. Flexible holiday policies are a trend
that some EU nations are embracing. Average vacation for workers in France is 25 days
the minimum required by law, though is 25 to 27. Germany requires employers to give 20
days, though 30 is standard practice. Some Germans enjoy as much as 15 weeks of paid
leave each year. The Netherlands likewise requires 20 days but most employers offer
between 25 and 27 days. Only the United Kingdom had no mandated vacation time prior
to the spring of 1998. Now the majority of employers in UK offer four to five weeks
vacation time.
Childcare
Childcare subsidies are available throughout the EU, but the cost of childcare remains a
controversial issue. In the UK, parents face the highest European childcare costs. The
Daycare Trust says, on average, parents in Europe contribute just 25 percent of the full
cost of a nursery place, compared the 75 percent paid by parents in the UK.
Telecommuting:
Telework is a growing phenomenon throughout the EU Member States. The average
proportion of employees involved in telework in the EU27 countries increased from
about 5% in 2000 to 7% in 2005. A number of countries show considerably higher rates
of increase. The highest proportion of telework is observed in the Czech Republic and
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Denmark, where about one out of seven employees is regularly involved in telework.
Above average rates are also observed in the Benelux countries (Belgium, the
Netherlands and Luxembourg), the Nordic states (including Norway) and a number of the
new Member States. When comparing different forms of telework, the EWCS shows that
telework performed only on a part-time basis is more common than full-time telework.
This suggests that, although telework is rarely a substitute for working at the company
premises, it is used by a substantial proportion of employees to complement their normal
working arrangements at the employer‘s premises.
Telework is predominantly viewed in positive terms by governments, employers and
trade unions. Governments and employer organisations view telework as a means to
enhance productivity and employment, while at the same time facilitating overall policy
goal in terms of health and the environment. Although trade unions are generally in
favour of the use of telework, they also tend to point out the difficulties involved.
Countries, such as Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden, focus less on promotional
activities and are more involved in developing legislative and other measures that support
broad social policy goals to help workers balance paid work with unpaid responsibilities.
They primarily seek to improve work-life balance by redressing gender inequities in the
labour force and in the division of unpaid work, particularly with respect to care giving.
Sweden has implemented an action plan to reduce costs associated with sick leave and to
reduce the impact poor health has on work-life balance. . Netherlands' Adjustment of
Hours Law and Denmark's amendments to the Act on Part-time Work also assist workers
in improving their work life balance.
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5.2 New Zealand and Australia- work life balance
New Zealand and Australia, actively endorse work-life balance as an explicit policy goal.
They have launched work-life balance campaigns that focus on promotional activities and
the voluntary compliance of employers to develop and implement work-life balance
practices in their organizations. These countries have all developed websites on work-life
balance that provide newsletters, case studies, publications and links to other relevant
information and legislation. Work-life balance is also promoted through award programs.
New Zealand and Australia, both offer award programs to highlight organizations that
demonstrate best practices.
Australia has published guides to assist employers in evaluating whether work life
balance policies are well integrated into the organization's overall business plans and
whether the programs are actually being used by employees.
5.3 Work life balance programs in US
Work-life balance programs in the U.S. have become increasingly popular through the
years. The following lists some of the more common work-life benefits:
 Flex-time
 Telecommuting
 Child care
 Elder care
 Leave (e.g. paternity)
 Job-sharing
 Employee Assistance Programs
 In-house store/services
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 Gym subsidies
 Concierge services
 Vacation
 Work hours
In addition to the work-life balance programs listed above, primarily due to the internet
boom in the mid-90s and the growth in the economy, more companies offered other
―perks‖ such as company cars and a set number of free flights per year were normal for
many companies. A four-day work-week as well as flexible hours and casual dress were
also common.
These perks were primarily instituted to attract, motivate and retain a superior quality
workforce. While many leading U.S. companies have extensive work-life programs,
policies and practices, most have not yet changed their organizational cultures to support
employees and managers who want to use work-life options. This philosophy appeared to
be widespread in the 1990‘s, because work-life programs though were in place, if an
employee wanted to be a manager, they were not allowed working four day weeks.
In light of the recent economic conditions, there has been a dramatic change in how
corporations view work-life balance programs. Corporations are much more cost
conscious about these programs, but still realize their importance. Now work-life balance
programs are in place as ―Recession Perks‖ as many corporations can no longer afford
the monetary compensation they were handing out in the 1990‘s. But with layoffs
commonplace, these companies are looking to use their inexpensive ―Recession Perks‖ as
tools to build loyalty and encourage teamwork and camaraderie with coworkers. Some of
the more prevalent work-life programs listed above are discussed in more details below.
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Work Hours
US currently legally limits non-exempt workers from working more than 40 hours a week
without additional compensation. This legislation is a result of some of the earliest
lobbying efforts by labor unions. Exempt workers do not currently have such a restriction
resulting in a wide disparity in how exempt workers are treated. Some companies expect
extra hours to be put in without extra compensation while at the other end of the spectrum
some firms compensate exempt workers as well as non-exempt for overtime.
Paternity Leave
Paternity leave is an issue that has recently received attention with the passing of the
Family and Medical Leave Act. The intent of the Family and Medical Leave Act was to
standardize the rights employees have to family leave. The current minimum in the U.S.
is 12 weeks but many companies currently go beyond the scope of the law and offer more
leave.
Childcare
Many companies offer child care benefits as an enticement to workers with families. In-
house child care facilities, after school programs, subsidized child care, and referral
services are all ways that employers use to help employees care for their children. One
fairly common program is child care spending accounts. These programs take advantage
of tax relief provided by the federal government and are offered by over 90 percent of
employers.
Vacation
Each company in the U.S. can determine their own vacation policy though most
companies offer two weeks to new employees as a standard. Therefore, disparities exist
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between vacation policies which are a source of competitive advantage. Typically, those
employees with more seniority receive more vacation time. Many companies offer the
ability to accrue more vacation time in relation to the length of service. However, very
few companies offer additional vacation time as a reward for good work.
Telecommuting
Telecommuting is a relatively new concept brought about by the widespread availability
of computers and the internet. This primarily allows workers in white collar jobs to work
from home by linking employees to a company‘s network and completing work from
home. Currently 30 percent of U.S. firms allow some form of telecommuting.
It is clear from the above that work-life balance programs are a matter of interest in both
the U.S. and EU. However, the approach to implementing these programs is different in
the two regions. In the U.S companies implement work-life balance programs, and the
government has little involvement. For U.S. companies, work-life balance offers a
competitive advantage, in that they are able to\recruit the best candidates and potentially
increase their loyalty to the company.
In the EU, the different countries impose more strict regulations on employers which
reduce their flexibility in regard to programs such as vacation time, paternal leave, flex-
time, telecommuting, etc. Due to the fact that the social, political, and cultural factors are
more closely tied in the EU, work-life balance programs are commonplace and are
thought more as a social responsibility than in the U.S. However, the EU is behind the
U.S. in regards to recognizing the personal responsibility of the individual. A direct
comparison between the U.S. and EU is difficult to establish, because in the U.S. there
are few federal work-life balance policies. Companies ultimately shoulder the
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responsibility for developing and implementing these programs. The EU does an
excellent job of recommending policy with members representing the different cultures
and work values of the region.
5.4 Work life balance practices in India
The concept of employee welfare and benefits actually began to evolve in the Indian
industrial scene from the later part of the 19th century. Welfare, which refers to anything
for the comfort and improvement in intellectual and social well-being of the employees
over and above the wages paid, has a broad scope to include any policies and provisions
that help employees live comfortably. These provisions were either ―statutory‖ that refers
to the bare minimum facilities provided by the organisation to comply with the labour
legislations imposed by the government (e.g. The Factories Act, 1948) or ―voluntary‖
which were the schemes undertaken by the employers on their free will or through
negotiations with trade unions and associations. A first of its kind was to improve the
productivity of workers especially in the textile industry, which was a major source of
employment during that period. Care was taken to improve the working conditions and
provision of other amenities. During the early stages of industrialization, employers were
forced to provide housing facilities to workers coming from distant villages.
Enactment of legislations to provide certain welfare provisions can be considered to be
family-friendly as these provisions certainly helped employees to maintain their health
and safety thereby making them productive workers as well as better family members.
Some of the government mandated welfare provisions as prescribed by labour
legislations are as follows.
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Working hours: The Factories Act, 1948 regulates the working hours of employees
including leave, holidays, overtime, and employment of children, women and young
persons. This is the first of its kind legislation in India that has regulated the working
conditions in factories and has ensured basic minimum requirements for the safety, health
and welfare of factory workers. The working hours for an adult worker are prescribed not
to exceed 48 hours in a week and 9 hours a day. This Act also restricts the working time
of women employees and adolescents during evening that is 7 pm to 6 am. It provides for
weekly holidays of one day so that the total workdays do not exceed 10 consecutive days.
In case of requirement to work on a holiday a worker should be allowed a compensatory
holiday (Secs. 52, 53 and 71).
Crèches: The Factories Act, 1948 also requires having crèches in factories employing
more than 30 women workers to take care of their children (Sec. 40) which can be
considered as a kind of WLBP since it helps women workers to better integrate their
work and family demands.
Leave Provisions: Various kinds of leave provisions and benefits are available under
Factories Act, 1948, Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946 and Employee
State Insurance Act, 1948. These include, 1) Earned Leave (the convenient leave sought
by individual employee) 2) Casual Leave (leave for some family related purpose e.g.
burials, weddings etc.) 3) Sick Leave (most times with doctors‘ recommendations) 4)
Compensatory leave (compensated with leave with wages for the absence from duty
against the work performed by worker on any other day than normal working day).
Maternity Benefits: Another much acclaimed benefit considered to be family-friendly
is, maternity benefit provided to working women in India for certain periods before and
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after childbirth under Maternity Benefit Act, 1961. The Act extends to the whole of India
and is applicable to every factory, mines or plantation (including those belonging to
Government) and to every shop or establishment wherein 10 or more persons are
employed or were employed on any day of the preceding 12 months.
Every woman shall be entitled to, and her employer shall be liable for, the payment of
maternity benefit, which is the amount payable to her at the rate of the average daily
wage for the period of her actual absence. As per the Act, any woman shall be entitled to
maternity leave of 12 weeks in all whether taken before or after childbirth. However, one
cannot take more than six weeks before the expected delivery as per the amendment
made in the act in 1989.
Apart from these statutory provisions, many other provisions are provided by
organizations voluntarily to their employees either as a result of union‘s bargain or as
pragmatic concerns of employers. These provisions include high standards of working
condition, housing facility to more encompassing benefit packages that include health,
dental and life insurance, vacation and leave policies, investment and retirement plans.
India from employee friendly policies to family friendly policies:
India has seen dramatic economic and social changes in recent years. Women constitute
nearly 48% of the population and women‘s labor force participation has increased
considerably (Census of India, 1991, 2001). At the same time, remarkable changes are
seen at the family front too. In urban India, traditional large combined and extended
families are giving way to nuclear families. While this change is providing couples with
more independence, it is taking away the traditional support system from family
members, especially for childcare and household work.
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Recent studies (Aryee, Srinivas, & Tan, 2005) point out the coexistence of traditional and
modern gender role expectations where men are taking some household responsibility
while maintaining their breadwinning role and women are managing to bear household
responsibilities regardless of their employment status. These changes in typical Indian
family structure have increased pressure on men and women alike to manage both work
and family.
At organisational level and broader economic level, increasing number of emerging
organisations in services sector like Business Process Outsourcing Organizations (BPOs),
call centers, health care services, and software services has set new challenges for HR
managers. At one hand, these sectors have become the biggest employment generators
with the number of jobs almost doubling each year, on the other hand, they have seen
high attrition rates because of the work pressures and time demands Changes in working
hours e.g. night shifts in BPOs and call centers to balance the time zone in western
countries and comparatively longer working hours in software sectors and private
companies have made work and family management a crucial issue.
Information Technology (IT) or BPO industry is not only the one which suffers from the
global working hours syndrome but also most of the other organizations because of the
increased working hours and improved telecommunication systems. As it gets cheaper
and easier to organise audio and video conference calls, more number of managers are
increasingly participating in meetings even after their scheduled working hours and on
weekends.
Even though technology like broadband, etc. has provided additional flexibility to strike a
better work-life balance, everyone is not able to achieve such efficiency levels, because
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of the increased pressures from customers and senior managers. Thus India makes a
stronger case for work-life balance given that the boom in her economy is a more recent
phenomenon which puts the workforce in greater stress than in developed nations.
What‘s more, India is a service destination for numerous global business firms due to the
availability of cheaper workers, many of who are required to work in night shifts.
Hence, organisations today are bound to require different kind of policies and regulations
because of the prevalence of these nontraditional, non-standard and atypical employment
patterns and practices. It is argued that the information, communication and technology
(ICT) industries should have flexible working hours and differential approach to leave
and paid holidays etc. ICT sector is hailed to be a gender-neutral industry given its almost
complete dependence on knowledge skills rather than physical skills. But unless this is
supported by family-friendly policies, the old gender biases will persist.
Therefore, it has become all the more important to encompass policies and provisions
beyond mere welfare facilities to tackle with the growing problem of work-life balance
among these new economy organisations. Yesterday's innovative practices are routine
today. The concept of welfare has to change from being a ―hygiene‖ factor to be a
―motivational‖ factor. Employee work-life balance as a concept has got recognition
from employers and HR managers in India only in recent years, the organisational
initiatives in this regard are still at an infant stage.
Keeping the changing scenario in mind, organisations are not restricting themselves to
the mandatory welfare practices as stipulated by law but they are becoming more
conscious towards the need, desire and growth of their employees, their families and
society as a whole. Companies are providing amenities at their premises, which are open
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24 hours like cafeterias, gymnasiums and medical clinics. Organisations in India like
IBM, NIIT, Intel, Accenture, Cummins and TATA have introduced flexible work
practices among other initiatives to attract and retain talent and to help them achieve
healthy work-life balance. Companies are providing high standard of welfare facilities
and benefit programs as a part of employee compensation packages and they advocate
these programmes as ―family-friendly policies‖ or ―work-life benefits and programmes‖
Most of the companies in India are highly influenced by the US competitive model with
respect to work life balance policy.
5.5 Current status of WLBPs in India
The most common policies and benefits across organisations in manufacturing and
software sectors are maternity benefits and comprehensive health and medical insurance
policies. Quite a few organisations offer flexi time, leave options like paternity leave and
so on to employee benefits like child care facilities, video conferencing to reduce travel,
not scheduling work events during weekends and so on. However, flexitme and
telecommuting are not well documented policies across organisations although they are
offered discretionarily to selective few (in most cases to the senior managers). In some
cases flexitime refers to half-an-hour or one hour flexibility in arriving at office keeping
core working hours intact. Policies and practices found to vary considerably across
organizations where we conducted our study.
Multinational organisations in our study are found to be more responsive towards work-
life balance issues and are found to have provided more WLBPs. Organisations are
offering few policies for employees beyond employer owned options like canteen
facilities, more lively and employee friendly office interiors and programmes for family
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and children of employees. Yoga classes and stress management workshops are
conducted on a regular basis as a part of employee well-being programmes. However,
according to employees, providing recreation facility or conducting social events at work
place might relieve the stresses of long working hours, but it hardly has any impact on
employee‘s family well-being. Perceptions of these kinds really question the good
intentions of employers behind offering WLBPs.
The questionnaire survey on perceived organizational work-life balance support by found
that many employees (study participants) are not even aware of certain policies even if
those are available in their respective organisations. Except organisations in IT industry
who are probably the first movers in terms of introducing WLBPs, hardly few
organisation provide bundle of WLBPs. Earlier studies also affirm that employers in
India, provide little formal family support programs (WLBPs) for their employees
compared to their counterparts in Western countries.
5.6 Initiatives introduced by companies in India in the direction of work life
balance.
Intel India: Apart from providing five-day working and flexible working hours, it also
provides certain benefits for employees and their families. Such benefits include
 Hospitalization Insurance Policy, which covers reimbursement of hospital
expenses, incurred due to illness/injury where all employees and their nominated
dependants (spouse, children, parents or in-laws) are covered under a floater
policy of Rs. 500,000 per annum. Intel pays 100 percent of the premium for
employees and 80 percent of the premium for dependents.
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 Under Business Traveler Medical Plan, Intel provides medical coverage to full-
time and part-time Indian employees, at no cost, while they travel on business
outside of India for a period of up to 90 days.
 Group Term Life Insurance ensures payment of a lump sum to the employee's
legal heir in the event of the insured employee's death and Intel pays the whole
100% of the premium.
 Intel India's Hospitalization Insurance covers maternity insurance for employees
and their spouse from day one. In the case of pregnancy, Intel India allows each
female employee a paid maternity leave of 84 days.
 Under Annual Leave Time employees in their first two years with Intel, receive
15 working days of leave per calendar year. After two years with Intel, employees
receive 20 days of leave per calendar year excluding 12 paid public or festival
holidays in a calendar year. Other programs are claimed to be global and they are
specifically tailored according to the needs of a specific country, and are based
upon the market needs and statutory requirements of each location.
The range of options includes flexible work schedules, compressed workweeks
and alternate work schedules, telecommuting, home office, part-time
employment, childcare assistance, resource and referral services and health and
wellness benefits etc. To best address the unique childcare needs of their
employees, Intel takes a site-based approach to childcare. For example, in Israel,
Intel has partnered with the community to support childcare centers located near
Intel facilities providing services that match the needs of its employees.
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IBM India: The company offers its employees options such as flexible workweek
schedules, working from home, part time employment, family counseling, and leave of
absence programmes under WLBPs. IBM‘s policy manual says that the organisation is
serious about helping employees achieve career/life balance1. Other provisions include
study reimbursements, global opportunities, recreational activities, clubs and helping
employees deal with life events, from getting married to taking a career break. Work/Life
balance is a strategic initiative that helps IBM to attract, motivate and retain the very best
talent in the technology industry.
TATA Group: TATAs score high on almost all the welfare parameters. Employees of
different strata work in TATAs and hence, the initiatives are tailored towards their unique
needs and requirements. For example, since a larger proportion of workforce in
manufacturing plants of TATAs is illiterate and belongs to the lower strata of society, the
company has introduced adult education programmes and education about family
planning as a part of welfare programme for them. Crèche facility is provided where the
percentage of female employees is more than 20. TATA group of companies has
extended the domain of welfare practices to outside the workplace by involving their
employees in social responsibilities like community development programs. Tata
Consultancy Services (TCS) is an emerging new economy organization under Tata group
which has a pool of educated executive class employees. TCS provides the options to its
employees to work flextime with certain mandatory hours of work and five-day working
provisions. It conducts regular seminars on nutrition, better living and stress
management. Realizing the impact of long working hours, extensive travel and desk-
bound jobs that skew the delicate work-life balance of many a TCSers, the company has
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encouraged the formation of groups with similar interests to come together to conduct
various activities.
Shell India: The company believes and practices employee diversity and work-life
balance. Employees are given options such as flexi time and work from home.
Employees‘ perception about work-life balance is assessed every year in their Annual
Global People Survey to see where the company stands and what should they do to help
employees achieve a healthy work-life balance. It advocates video or teleconferences to
reduce business related travel. It also organises midweek meetings to avoid weekend
travel. It discourages overtime work and taking work home on weekends. Personal leaves
cannot be carried over to next year and are not encashable so that employees will use
personal leaves for self and family. These practices show the organisation‘s concern for
employee work-life balance.
Infosys Technologies Ltd: The company with 149,994 employees offers wide range of
employee and family welfare facilities. The company offers employee counseling done
by company trained counselors. Infosys initiated a program called HALE (Health
Assessment &Life style Management) through which the company creates awareness
among employees about health issues and helps employees with better life style
management and provide immediate professional help at a time of crisis. The company
has sabbatical policy for community service with the choice of coming back to routine
duties after successful completion of the project. The company also has wide range of
gender inclusive policies which include child care sabbaticals, part time work policy
flexible work hours policy telecommuting, satellite office and alternate career
opportunities.
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Wipro Technologies Ltd: To give employees a perfect balance of work and life, Wipro
has initiated elements like paid holidays, maternity benefit with extended leave of
absence and sabbaticals. Employees are also encouraged to be a part of our various
Corporate Social Responsibility campaigns under the banner 'Wipro Cares'. 'Mitr',
Wipro's counseling initiative, helps employees cope with crises faced in personal and
professional life. Kids@Wipro provides employees ‗children a fun way of learning new
things.
The 'Fit for Life' initiative gives insights into the right diet, best exercises for the body
and soul, and a wide variety of useful tips to keep employees fit. Wipro is driving a self
transformation initiative to create an ecologically sustainable organization and the 'Eco
Eye' campaign continuously tries to influence all its stakeholders and communities to
move towards ecological sustainability.
5.7 Conclusion
No doubt IT industry is the pioneer in our country in introducing many work life balance
initiatives. However initiatives are restricted to employees at certain level with certain
conditions. Hence companies can come up with many measures to ensure work-life
balance, such as employee benefits like child care facilities, video conferencing to reduce
travel, not scheduling work events during school holidays and so on. The government
could play a critical role in being a catalyst of change. An advantage that Indian industry
will however have is learning from the experiences of other countries in what has worked
and what has not. But there‘s no ‗one size that fits all‘ and Indian companies will have to
adapt policies to fit in with not just the nature of industry, profile of workforce and other
such factors but also with the local culture and environment.
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Chapter-6
Employee Retention - Strategies in IT Sector in India
6.1 Introduction
Organizations across the sectors invest efforts, time & money in hiring & grooming a
new joined so as to make him a ready to use corporate resource on par with the existing
human resources. The organization is completely at a loss when such employees leave
their jobs once they are fully trained. All employee turnovers is damaging from an
organization‘s perspective whether or not the people concerned are excellent performers
or have outstanding potential.
However no organization likes to lose its high performing employees as they are great
people to have around and if they leave an organization it is a greater loss to the
organization than is the case with other groups of employees. They hit targets, add value,
contribute to the organization overall and inspire others. However for the same reasons,
they are actively welcomed by other organizations. Most importantly such employees
have the uncanny knack of knowing what other career options are available to them.
The organizations which felt the impact of the rise of voluntary employee turnover are
the ones which began developing a matching management tool called employee retention.
Employee retention includes all those policies, tools and strategies which let the
employees stick to an organization for a longer period of time. Employee retention is
beneficial to an organization because it provides the necessary conditions to accumulate
valuable stock of organization specific intangible assets. Employees sticking to an
organization for a longer time tend to know the organization better and develop a feeling
of attachment towards it. The employees who stay for a longer duration are familiar with
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the company policies, guidelines as well as rules and regulations and thus can contribute
more effectively than individuals who come and go .The need to have innovative
strategies to deal with employee turnover arises due to the following factors.
6.2 Need for innovative strategies to deal with employee turnover
 Hiring is not an easy process: The HR Professional shortlists few individuals
from a large pool of talent, conducts preliminary interviews and eventually
forwards it to the respective line managers who further grill them to judge
whether they are fit for the organization or not. Recruiting the right candidate is a
time consuming process.
 An organization invests time and money in grooming an individual and
makes him ready to work and understand the corporate culture: A new
joined is completely raw and the management really has to work hard to train him
for his overall development. It is a complete wastage of time and money when an
individual leaves an organization all of a sudden. The HR has to start the
recruitment process all over again for the same vacancy; a mere duplication of
work. Finding a right employee for an organization is a tedious job and all efforts
simply go waste when the employee leaves.
 When an individual resigns from his present organization, it is more likely
that he would join the competitors: In such cases, employees tend to take all the
strategies, policies from the current organization to the new one. Individuals take
all the important data, information and statistics to their new organization and in
some cases even leak the secrets of the previous organization. To avoid such
cases, it is essential that the new joinee is made to sign a document which stops
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him from passing on any information even if he leaves the organization. Strict
policy should be made which prevents the employees to join the competitors. This
is an effective way to retain the employees.
 The employees working for a longer period of time are more familiar with
the company’s policies, guidelines and thus they adjust better: They perform
better than individuals who change jobs frequently. Employees who spend a
considerable time in an organization know the organization in and out and thus
are in a position to contribute effectively.
 It has been observed that individuals sticking to an organization for a longer
span are more loyal towards the management and the organization: They
enjoy all kinds of benefits from the organization and as a result are more attached
to it. They hardly badmouth their organization and always think in favour of the
management. For them the organization comes first and all other things later.
 It is essential for the organization to retain the valuable employees showing
potential: Every organization needs hardworking and talented employees who
can really come out with something creative and different. No organization can
survive if all the top performers quit. It is essential for the organization to retain
those employees who really work hard and are indispensable for the system.
Before initiating any such strategy or policy, the reasons for voluntary employee turnover
need to be understood by an organization. In fact in modern and professionally managed
organizations, the HR management is proactive in introducing a variety of retention
initiatives so as to prevent voluntary employee turnover. Most of the times, organizations
decide whom to retain and how many to be retained.
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6.3 Reasons for employees to leave an organization: One of the biggest challenges that
Information Technology (IT) organizations have been facing over recent years is the
ability to attract and retain quality human resources. Several surveys have shown high
staff turnover rates in the IT industry. The highest turnover rates were reported in India
(16 percent), China and Switzerland (14 percent), the U.S. and Canada (10 percent)
(Pastore, 2000). Industry attrition rates are the highest amongst employees having
between one and five years of experience.
With the fast pace of technological development in the sector, there are new technologies
coming up all the time. If the current firm does not provide the wherewithal to learn
these, employees job-hop to another firm that does. The mobility is more because higher
numbers of jobs are available at this level of skill and experience. As a result, the Indian
IT industry, especially for employees at the lower end of the software skill spectrum,
faces an employee turnover rate of as high as 25 to 30 percent.
When the employees move they not only take skills and knowledge but also trade secrets
with them as they typically moved to the competitor‘s organization (Abassi and Hollman,
2000).This create a great need to identify the reasons for the high attrition rate. Some of
the reasons for employees to leave the present organization include the following.
1. Expectations not met
Expectations play a large part in determining whether an employee is satisfied or
dissatisfied with the current state of affairs. On joining the firm the individual will have a
range of expectations covering areas such as the style of management, the working hours,
holidays, pay, and bonus and so on. It is not unusual for employees to leave within the
first six months when they discover that things aren‘t quite as they imagined they would
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be. Their expectations may have been unrealistic from day one, but each departure is yet
more disruption, harming productivity, adding extra unnecessary costs and making it
more difficult to reach goals for sales, revenue and profitability. Few firms seem to
appreciate the importance of expectations. They don‘t ask candidates about their
expectations, giving them the opportunity to select someone who is unlikely to be
disappointed, and therefore, more likely to stay.
2. Mismatch between the person and the role
Employees, who find themselves in roles that do not suit their individual strengths, tend
not to stay around that long. A productive employee gets promoted into a position that
requires skills that they do not possess. Employees do not enjoy the roles assigned to
them that expose their weaknesses. Faced with the prospect of having to spend many
months, perhaps years, in a job that is a struggle, a job that they find difficult, a job that is
a mismatch for their specific talents, most of them choose to leave the company and go.
3. Mismatch between person and the culture of the firm
There is no single ideal culture which suits every employee. As the cultures vary, and as
many departures show, not everyone is likely to be ideally suited to culture of the firm.
Some workplaces are high pressured, fast paced, dynamic, ideal for people who thrive on
adrenaline, who enjoy this tempo, constantly being on the go. Others are caring,
emotional, long discussions, shared views. Endless dialogue before action is taken.
Everyone‘s opinion counts. Thus the mismatch between organizational culture and
employee expectations could be one of the reasons for employee turnover. Put an
employee in a culture that suits their temperament and they feel at home. It is an
environment in which they can function to the best of their abilities. But put employee in
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a firm whose culture does not suit their personality, their style or their approach, it rarely
works. They don‘t settle, they under-perform, they miss the feel of previous employers
where they were able to contribute more. They leave.
4. Insufficient opportunities for growth and advancement
Employees want to make progress, to get ahead. They want to make that next step up the
career ladder. They think about where they would like to be in 5 years time, in 10 years
time. Their loyalty is largely to themselves, to make the most out of the natural talents,
the skills, and determination they possess. They recognize the importance of building
new skills, refining current ones, getting new experiences. If the opportunities aren‘t
available with their current employer, they will find look elsewhere.
5. Insufficient recognition or appreciation
The Employees, who don‘t receive adequate recognition for their contribution, get little
appreciation for their efforts; start to wonder why they bother. And it doesn‘t take much
to tempt them away. Employees, who do not feel valued, felt that their efforts, and hard
work, are not appreciated. Employees want to feel valued; as though their role is not so
important, as though the business needs them. They want someone to say thank you.
Thanks for that piece of work, thanks for helping out in a crisis, thanks for dealing with
that problem.
6. Problems with direct manager
The state of the relationship between an employee and their direct manager goes a long
way towards determining whether they stay or leave. Some employees stay far longer
than might otherwise be expected because of the relationship they have with their
supervisor. Others leave jobs in the first few months because they sense their manager is
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not someone that brings the best out of them. And they need to get away. Because the
daily challenge of dealing with someone they dislike, someone that lacks basic people
skills, is just too much to bear. Poor relationships between employees and their managers
are one of the most common reasons for employee turnover.
7. Dissatisfaction with pay
Not receiving a fair salary, a fair pay rise, a fair bonus. Dissatisfaction with financial
rewards is complex. Much of the dissatisfaction is due to comparisons. A previously
adequate salary starts to feel insufficient when you have just learnt that a new arrival is
receiving a higher wage for performing a similar role. Salaries rarely remain a secret. The
information leaks out. If it isn‘t fair, if it isn‘t equitable, if the procedure for determining
pay settlements is tainted, employees become dissatisfied. And in time many of them
leave.
8. Stress
The stress of work, the stress from working long hours, the stress related to pressure from
above; employees can take only so much. Stress drives employees into the arms of
alternative employers. They simply want to get away from the workplace, from the
people involved, from the firm. A stressful workplace is rarely a productive one. Attrition
is high, people don‘t matter; there will always be someone else to fill the vacancy. And in
time they too will probably leave for much the same reasons. Stressful work
environments tend to be high turnover environments. If there is an alternative, people
take it.
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9. Lack of work life balance
Employees have responsibilities to their employer, to their families, to their friends.
There are times when the demands of work require extra hours, staying late to get things
finished, working during weekends to meet deadlines. For some employees the demands
of work are no longer compatible with the needs of their family, the needs that exist
beyond the workplace. Perhaps they coped better when they were younger, before they
got married, before they had a family. But now the arrangement just isn‘t practical. They
need a better balance. They need to have time for themselves. Time to take care of loved
ones. Free time not devoted to work.
10. Loss of confidence in the firm, particularly leadership.
Confidence matters. When employees lose confidence in the firm‘s leadership they head
towards the exit door. They know that confidence matters, that seemingly invincible
companies can collapse in days, if not hours. They don‘t want to be left without a job,
should the company go under, or be taken over.
Other factors for Retention being a challenge are:

 A robust economy
 Shift in how people view their careers
 Changes in the unspoken "contract" between employer and employee
 Corporate cocooning
 A new generation of workers
It is the responsibility of the line managers as well as the management to ensure that the
employees are satisfied with their roles and responsibilities and the job is offering them a
new challenge and learning every day. However a more realistic and practical approach
to employee turnover is to accept the fact that most managers find it easy to retain baby
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boomer generation employees at all levels and in all types of organizations. This
generation is patient about change& advancement, believes in long term employment and
stability are important for a successful employment and is loyal to its management team
and the company.
In contrast, the generation ‘x‘ & ‗y‘ are the difficult ones to be retained and managed.
They enter the workforce with a mindset that they will try a career for a short time and
move on to another position, company or industry. This generation is loyal but self loyal.
The employees that belong to these generations attribute the change in their loyalty to the
organization is due to organization‘s own lack of loyalty to employees.
From an employee perspective, consultants feel that people are looking for breadth of
role more than monetary benefits and promotions. Promotions and financial perks do
have their attraction, but to an extent, these are knee jerk reactions from companies, and
may not be sustainable in the long term. What employees truly want is to have greater
depth and breadth in their job roles and functions. This change in mind set of work force
creates problems for managers who entered their careers with long term perspectives.
Retaining the most skillful and talented employees is not that easy even for a successful
organization due to variety of reasons.
Some of such factors which pose problems for any employer in employee retention
include the following:
 Fierce competition among industrial employees to attract the best
 Family orientation
 Quality of life issues
 Autonomy
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Companies that are proactive in understanding what their employees want and need at
work place and accordingly come up with timely strategic decisions are going to be
successful and dominant players in employee relations management. One such important
area which goes a long way in improving employee -employer relations is, retention
efforts made by industrial employers.
Organizations are trying to be innovative in crafting their retention strategies. IT
companies link retention with generation characteristics. If, for instance, employee
average age is under 30, flexi-work arrangements, job advancements, travel abroad and
jobs for spouses when relevant are also being added. In addition to traditional perks and
benefits like bonuses and financial incentives, they want to offer compelling employee
value proposition. Perks like holiday travels, and even sabbaticals and higher studies
subsidy are widely being used.
6.4 Critical factors that drive retention
McKinsey studies done over several years found that critical factors affecting ‗attracting‘
and ‗retaining‘ managers and executives could be classified into three areas:
 Great Company
 Great Job
 Compensation and life style
Great Company
 Well- managed
 Great Values and Culture
 Challenging work environment
 Strong performance culture
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 Industry leader
 Huge talent pool
 Career development
 Inspiring mission
 Fun
 Job security
Great Job
 Freedom and autonomy
 Challenging role
 Career advancement and growth
 Working with a boss one admires
Compensation and lifestyle
 Differentiated pay package
 High total compensation
 Geographic location
 Respect for lifestyle
 Acceptable pace and stress
6.5 Retention Measures
Companies now adopt more than one technique to create an internal environment that
will retain their employees. The most popular retention-oriented initiatives include
 Increasing the Organization’s Level of Professionalism: Employees leave
companies where intra-organisational interactions are unstructured, and decisions,
ad-hoc and driven more by personal prejudice rather than professional
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consideration. By adopting systems that introduce an element of objectivity into
its internal operations, a company can create a better workplace.
 Moving from Family to Professional Management: In most family-managed
organisations, professional managers leave because they cannot see themselves
holding key positions, or functioning with the level of independence that their
designations merit. By inducting professionals into senior management positions,
a company can lower its attrition-rate.
 Making Performance Appraisals Objective: Employees like to know how,
when, and by whom their performance is going to be measured. An appraisal
process that lists objective and measurable criteria for performance appraisal
removes the uncertainty in the minds of employees that their superiors can rate
their performance any which way they please.
 Involving Employees in the Decision-Making Process. People like to work in
organisations where their opinions count. The higher an employee's involvement
in decision-making, the higher the organisation's retention-level. A participative
decision-making process is good; total empowerment, better.
 Ensuring a Match between Authority and Accountability: Most companies
fall into the trap of holding an employee accountable for a specific activity
without empowering her with the authority to perform it well. Often, the situation
is exacerbated by the fact that they vest another employee with the same
authority, but do not hold him accountable!
 Measuring Employee Satisfaction: Obsessed with catering to the demands of
their external customers, companies ignore their internal customers. Periodic
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employee satisfaction surveys can highlight the potential flash-points, and enable
the company to take corrective action.
 Achieving a Match Between Individual and Organizational Goals: Many
companies fall into the trap of expecting their employees to subsume their
individual objectives before the organisational one which forces employees to
leave. The best companies achieve a balance between the two.
 Designing a Competitive Compensation Package: Money isn't a motivator, but
it is an effective de-motivator. While organisations that pay best-in-industry
salaries may find themselves unable to use that fact to motivate their employees,
those that do not could find their best employees leaving.
 Increasing Organizational Transparency: People do not like to work in black-
box like organisations, where information is rationed out on a need-to-know basis.
They prefer a transparent organisation that is willing to share every aspect of its
functioning with its employees.
 Promoting Employees from within: A company that constantly fills vacancies
by hiring from outside is certain to face retention problems. Employees who
realise that they are unlikely to be promoted to fill the vacancies will leave the
organisation. Growing your own is a sound retention strategy.
 Helping Employees Acquire new skills: As the job-profiles and desired skills-
sets for a particular job change, companies may feel the need to hire employees
with new skills, or retrain their existing employees. Companies that choose to do
the latter will find it easier to retain their people since the training signals that the
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organisation values their contribution, and is willing to invest in upgrading their
skills.
 Offering Stock Options: ESOPs are a sign that the organisation recognises the
role of the individual in its performance, and is willing to share the benefits with
her.
 Focusing on Welfare Measures: Employees are not just warm bodies; they are
individuals with families and lives of their own outside the workplace.
Organisations that recognise this, and help employees achieve a better balance
between life and work is likely to face fewer problems than those that do not.
Ancillary Retention Strategies
1. The quality of the supervision an employee receives is critical to employee
retention. People leave managers and supervisors more often than they
leave companies or jobs. It is not enough that the supervisor is well liked
or a nice person, starting with clear expectations of the employee, the
supervisor has a critical role to play in retention. Anything the supervisor
does to make an employee feel unvalued will contribute to turnover.
Frequent employee complaints center on these areas.
 Lack of clarity about expectations,
 Lack of clarity about earning potential,
 Lack of feedback about performance,
 Failure to hold scheduled meetings, and
 Failure to provide a framework within which the employee
perceives he can succeed.
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2. The ability of the employee to speak his or her mind freely within the
organization is another key factor in employee retention. The organization
should solicit ideas and provide an environment in which people are
comfortable providing feedback. If so, employees offer ideas, feel free to
criticize and commit to continuous improvement. If not, they bite their
tongues or find themselves constantly "in trouble" - until they leave.
3. Talent and skill utilization is another environmental factor key employees
seek in the workplace. A motivated employee wants to contribute to work
areas outside of his specific job description. The management just needs to
know their skills, talent and experience, and take the time to tap into it.
4. The perception of fairness and equitable treatment is important in
employee retention.
5. The best employees, whom, the organization wants to retain, seek frequent
opportunities to learn and grow in their careers, knowledge and skill.
Without the opportunity to try new opportunities, sit on challenging
committees, attend seminars and read and discuss books, they feel they
will stagnate. A career-oriented, valued employee must experience growth
opportunities within the organization.
6. A commonplace complaint heard during exit interviews is that the
employee never felt senior managers knew that he existed. Senior
management has to spare time to meet with new employees to learn about
their talents, abilities and skills. Meet with each employee periodically. It's
a critical tool to help employees feel welcomed, acknowledged and loyal.
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7. No matter what the circumstances are but never, never, ever an
organization should threaten an employee's job or income. Even if the
company fails to meet production or sales goals, it is a mistake to
foreshadow this information with employees. It makes them nervous; no
matter how the company phrases the information; no matter how it is
explained, even if the management is absolutely correct, best staff
members will update their resumes. It is not advocating management to
keep solid information away from people; however, the management has
think before y saying anything that makes people feel they need to search
for another job.
6.6 Retention Measures in top Indian IT Companies
TCS
Tata Consultancy Services Limited is an IT services, business solutions and outsourcing
organization that delivers real results to global businesses, ensuring a level of certainty no
other firm can match. TCS offers a consulting-led, integrated portfolio of IT and IT
enabled services delivered through its unique Global Network Delivery Model TM,
recognized as the benchmark of excellence in software development. With over 140,000
of the world‘s best trained IT consultants located across the world, TCS is uniquely
positioned to deliver its flexible world class services seamlessly to any location. TCS
continues to be recognized for its excellent Human Resource (HR) practices. At the end
of Q1 FY11, the total employee strength of the company was 1,63,700. Foreign nationals
formed 7.2% of the total employee base and 31% were women During the last financial
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year, TCS saw an attrition of 11.8%, while during the first quarter of the financial year
2011, it reported an attrition rate of 13.1%.
Some of the employee retention measures used by TCS
 Variable pay linked to the company‘s performance in place of ESOPS. In the year
2009-10, there was no annual increment for employees but as the business
recovered from the second quarter onwards, employees were rewarded with
quarterly variable payouts of between 125-150% and promotions.‖
 TCS set up a Resource Management Group (RMG) that would work towards
various retention initiatives.
 Company brings in rotation of employees for on-site locations.
 Identifying individuals that are keen on having newer challenging jobs and
moving them to such projects.
 TCS also intends to translate a number of freebies into beneficial spends like
increase in premium of health insurance and extra hospital coverage.
 Brand visibility of the employer in the market place, the client list it commands,
working environment it gives to its employees along with the career growth
prospects are the other key parameters to retain employees. On all these
parameters, TCS seems to score high on the charts.
Wipro technologies Ltd.
Wipro Technologies is the No.1 provider of integrated business, technology and process
solutions on a global delivery platform. Wipro has 40+ ‗Centers of Excellence‘ that
create solutions around specific needs of industries. Wipro‘s Technology Infrastructure
Services (TIS) is the largest Indian IT infrastructure service provider in terms of revenue,
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people and customers with more than 200 customers in US, Europe, Japan and over 650
customers in India. It is powered by the expert skills of over 6,500 technical specialists
and state-of-the-art BS 15000 certified infrastructure for operations support.
Company‘s brand as an employer of choice
 Early opportunities for growth
 High degree of autonomy
 Value compatibility
 Innovative people‘s program
 Internal job posting system
 Employee surveys seeking feedback on the health of the organization
 Succession planning for individuals wherever HR identifies the best talent
Infosys Technologies Ltd – retention strategies
Infosys Technologies is one of the leading software companies in India providing a
variety of IT consulting and soft ware services. Infosys has a global footprint with 68
offices and 70 development centers in US, India, China, Australia, Japan, Middle East,
UK, Germany, France, Switzerland, Netherlands, Poland, Canada and many other
countries. Infosys and its subsidiaries have 151,151 employees as on June 30, 2012.
Many of the world‘s most successful organizations rely on Infosys to deliver measurable
business value. Infosys provides business consulting, technology, engineering and
outsourcing services to help clients in over 30 countries build tomorrow‘s enterprise.
It has pioneered many innovative retention strategies. The company is known for its high
degree of transparency, high standards of corporate governance and innovative financial
policy. Its retention strategies include the following.
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 HES –Higher Education Support Policy
 Pay outs to all employees based on the revenues and the profitability of the
company
 Annual Employee feedback and feed back in several communication forums
 Cultural programs and provision of transport facilities
 Quarterly reward &recognition in al l units
 Employee stock option
Cognizant Technology solutions (India) Private Ltd
New Jersey-based Cognizant had been gaining ground over its Indian rivals as it has
traditionally worked with relatively lower margins, helping it to win more contracts while
other IT services companies grapple with the slowing economy. Now the company has
overthrown Infosys as the second largest IT player after TCS in revenue terms in the June
quarter of 2012. Though Cognizant is based in the U.S.--its main market for software
services--more than 75% of its employees are located in India.
Cognizant technology solutions (India) retention strategies
 Performance based reward system
 Rotation of employees between different projects as well s technologies
 Open work culture and togetherness events
 Company annual day celebrations
 Opinion polls across the organization
 Opportunities to learn &grow through a proactive training program
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6.7 Conclusion
Thus for a company, the workforce is like an intellectual property, both in terms of skills
and money. A trained and content workforce can lead a company to new heights while
an opposite one can hamper it badly. So every resignation saved is every dollar earned.
It‘s a general human tendency that each human being thinks himself as important and
expects the same from the other side so the company management should make their
employees accountable for their respective jobs and make them feel that they are very
important for the smooth processing of that process (at the same time create a backup for
him). Care and importance are two things of which every human being is made of and
employee attrition is the result of neglect of these two things by human resource
management of an organization. Rewards, Recognition & Respect towards human capital
will make employees loyal and committed to the organization.
--------------------------
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Chapter- 7
Data Analysis
In this chapter the data gathered from the employees of sample organizations are
presented and analysed. This chapter discussed the results of the survey.
The study was undertaken to assess the human resource management‘s initiatives in the
direction of work life balance and also their impact on employee retention in IT sector.
For this purpose available secondary data were analysed which was reported in the
literature review section. For the same purpose primary data were collected from the
sample organizations which belong to the Indian IT sector.
The data were analysed using 17 version of SPSS soft ware. Some of the important
analytical tools used are Chi-square analysis and Correlation analysis. The statistical tools
were used to understand the meaning hidden behind the numbers and figures of the
primary data. In the analysis of data, hypotheses were tested which were developed in
the light of objectives of the study.
For clearer presentation, the findings are presented in graphs and tables. To give an
appreciative flow of discussion, findings are also presented in light of objectives and
hypotheses tested.
7.1 Reliability of the Questionnaire
To measure the reliability of the questionnaire Cronbach's Alpha is calculated. It is
calculated both for WLB section and employee retention section. A significant reliability
is achieved for the study.
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Reliability Statistics-WLB
Cronbach's Alpha Based on

Cronbach's Alpha Standardized Items N of Items
.781 .783 13
Table – 2
Cronbach's Alpha Part 1 Value .723

N of Items 7(a)
Part 2 Value .737
N of Items 6(b)
Total N of Items 13
Table - 3
Reliability Statistics-Retention
Cronbach's Alpha Based on

Cronbach's Alpha Standardized Items N of Items
.791 .798 17
Table – 4
Cronbach's Alpha Part 1 Value .779

N of Items 9(a)
Part 2 Value .668
N of Items 8(b)
Total N of Items 17
Correlation Between Forms .380
Table – 5
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7.2 Sample Profile
The profile of the respondents is looked upon in terms of gender, marital status,
designation.
Male – Female
70.0% 65.7%
60.0%
50.0%
40.0%
34.3%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%
Male - 243
Female - 127
Figure 11
133
Marital Status
58.1%
60.0%
50.0%
41.9%
40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%
MARRIED - 215
UNMARRIED - 155
Figure 12
Designation
70.00% 64.87%
60.00%
50.00%
40.00% 35.13%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
MANGER - 240
NONMANAGER - 130
Figure 13
134
Organisation wise Distribution of the sample
50.0%
46.2%
45.0%
40.0%
35.0%
30.0%
25.0%
20.0%
15.4%
15.0% 12.7%
14.9%
10.0% 10.8%
5.0%
0.0%
Cognizant -
Respondez
57 Deloitte -
- 47 IIC Tech -
40 Microsemi
171
- 55
Figure 14
135
Income wise Distribution
25.0% 23.8%
22.7%
21.1%
20.0%
18.1%
15.0% 14.3%
10.0%
5.0%
0.0%
A.Below
10000 B.10001 -
20000 C.20001 -
30000 D.30001 -
40000 E.Above
40000
Figure 15
136
Geographical Distribution of the Sample.
Mumbai 104 Hyderabad 266
28.1%
71.9%
Figure 16
137
The primary data were further analysed by testing the hypotheses which are developed in
the light of objectives of the study. The test results are given below along with its
bearing on the study undertaken.
7.3 Objective 1 of the study: To study the flexible working arrangements, health
programs, sabbatical / career breaks, transport services and job sharing provisions
in existing sample organizations.
The hypotheses tested to understand the existence of above provisions in the sample
organizations are H01 to H015. The statistical significance of these tests is summarized
below.
H01 There is no difference between male and female employees with regards to the
H11There is a difference between male and female employees with regards to the
Sex -Flexible working hours
Flexible hours Total

No Yes
Sex Male Count 56 187 243
% within Sex 23.0% 77.0% 100.0%
Female Count 32 95 127
% within Sex 25.2% 74.8% 100.0%
Total Count 88 282 370
% within Sex 23.8% 76.2% 100.0%
Table - 6
138
Chi-Square Tests
Asymp. Sig. Exact Sig. Exact Sig.

Value df (2-sided) (2-sided) (1-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square .213(b) 1 .644
Continuity
.111 1 .739
Correction(a)
Fisher's Exact Test .700 .367
N of Valid Cases 370
Table – 7
a. Computed only for a 2x2 table
b. 0 cells (.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is
30.21.
77% of male respondents and around 75% female respondents have reported that such a
facility is available to them (table – 6).
From the table 7 it is clear that the difference between male and female as regards flexi
timings in sample organizations is statistically insignificant as the p‘ value .700 is more
than .05. Hence the null hypothesis is accepted.
H02 There is no difference between managers and non managers as regards to the
provision of flexible working hours.
H12 There is a difference between managers and non managers as regards to the provision
Designation * Flexible hours

No Yes
Designati Executive Count
38 92 130
on
% within Designation 29.2% 70.8% 100.0%
Manager Count 50 190 240
Table - 8
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Chi-Square Tests

Pearson Chi-Square 3.280(b) 1 .070
Continuity Correction(a) 2.833 1 .092
Likelihood Ratio 3.217 1 .073
Linear-by-Linear
3.271 1 .070
Association
Table – 9
a. Computed only for a 2x2 table.
30.92.
From the table-8 it is clear that more % of managers have reported the availability of
flexible hours provision (79.2%). As the p‘ value .075 is more than .05 (table-9),
statistically the difference between managers and non managers is not significant as
regards the provision flexible working hours. Hence the null hypothesis is accepted
rejecting the alternative hypothesis.
H03 There is no difference between organizations as regards to the provision of flexible
working hours
H13 There is a difference between organizations as regards to the provision of flexible
working hours
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Organization * Flexible hours

No Yes
Organization Cognizant Count 18 39 57
% within Organization 31.6% 68.4% 100.0%
Respondez Count 8 39 47
Deloitte Count 8 32 40
IIC Count 49 122 171
On-line Count
5 50 55
(Micro semi)
Table – 10
Chi-Square Tests
Value df Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)

Pearson Chi-Square 12.201(a) 4 .016
Linear-by-Linear Association 1.609 1 .205
Table – 11
a. 0 cells (.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is
9.51.
From the table-10 it is clear that sample respondents who belong to organization 5 have
reported to the tune of 90%, flexible hours is extended to them whereas in organization-1,
68% respondents only confirmed the availability of flexi hours facility. Between
organization 3 and 4 are also there is a difference as regards the provision of the flexible
working hours. The p‘ value.016 is less than .05 (table-11) indicating significant
difference between sample organizations as regards the provision of flexi hours. Hence
the alternative hypothesis is accepted rejecting the null hypothesis.
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H04 There is no difference between male and female employees with respect to the
provision of health programs.
H14 There is a difference between male and female employees with respect to the
Sex * Health programs

Health programs Total
No Yes
% within Sex 47.3% 52.7% 100.0%
% within Sex 51.2% 48.8% 100.0%
% within Sex 48.6% 51.4% 100.0%
Table - 12
Chi-Square Tests
Continuity
.354 1 .552
Correction(a)
Likelihood Ratio .496 1 .481
Linear-by-Linear
.495 1 .482
Association
Table - 13

61.78
From the table-12 it is also clear that 52% of male respondents and around 49% female
respondents answered in positive with respect to the provision of health programs. As the
p‘ value .512 is more than .05 (table-13) the difference between male and female is not
statistically significant as regards the provision of health programs. Hence the null
hypothesis is accepted rejecting the alternative hypothesis.
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H05There is no difference between managers and non managers with respect to the
H15There is a difference between managers and non managers with respect to the
Designation * Health programs

No Yes
Designation Executive Count 61 69 130
Table – 14
Chi-Square Tests
Continuity
.144 1 .704
Correction(a)
Linear-by-Linear
.238 1 .625
Association
Table – 15

63.24.
From the table-14 it is clear that 50% managers and 53% of non managers reported that
health programs are available to them. As the p‘ value .664 is more than .05(table-15),
the difference between managers and non managers is not statistically significant as
regards the provision of health programs. Hence the null hypothesis is accepted rejecting
the alternative hypothesis.
143
H06There is no difference between organizations with respect to the provision of health
programs.
H16There is a difference between organizations with respect to the provision of health
programs.
Organization - Health programs

No Yes
IIC Count 95 76 171
On-line Count
(Micro 13 42 55
semi)
Table - 16
Chi-Square Tests

Table – 17
19.46
From the table-16 it is also clear that the sample respondents who belong to organization-
3 &- 5 have reported in larger % that their companies offer them health programs as
144
compared to other three organizations. Statistically the difference among the sample
organizations is significant with respect to the provision- health programs as the p‘ value
.000 which is less than .05 (table-17). Hence alternative hypothesis is accepted rejecting
the null hypothesis.
practice of sabbaticals/career breaks.
H17There is a difference between male and female employees with respect to the practice
of sabbaticals/career breaks.
Sex * Career break/ sabbatical
Career break/ sabbatical Total

No Yes
% within Sex 58.0% 42.0% 100.0%
% within Sex 61.4% 38.6% 100.0%
% within Sex 59.2% 40.8% 100.0%
Table - 18
Chi-Square Tests
Asymp.
Sig. (2- Exact Sig. Exact Sig. (1-
Value df sided) (2-sided) sided)
Continuity Correction(a) .269 1 .604
Linear-by-Linear
.396 1 .529
Association
Table – 19
51.83
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From the table-18 it is clear that slightly a higher % of female employees reported in
negative compared to male employees as regards the provision of sabbaticals/ career
breaks in their respective organizations. However the difference in genders is not
statistically significant as the p‘ value .578 is more than .05 (table-19). Hence the null
hypothesis is accepted.
H08 There is no difference between managers and non managers with respect to the
practice of sabbaticals/career breaks.
H18There is a difference between managers and non managers with respect to the practice
of sabbaticals/career breaks.
Designation * Career break/ sabbatical
Career break/ sabbatical Total

No Yes
Table - 20
Chi-Square Tests
Linear-by-Linear
.457 1 .499
Association
Table – 21
b 0 cells (.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 53.05.
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From the table-20 it is clear that 61.5% of non managers and around 58% of managers
reported that sabbaticals provision is not available to them. As the p‘ value .509 is more
than .05 (table-21) the difference between managers and non managers is not statistically
significant as regards sabbaticals/career breaks is concerned. Hence null hypothesis is
accepted.
H09There is no difference between organizations with respect to the practice of
sabbaticals/career breaks.
H19There is a difference between organizations with respect to the practice of
sabbaticals/career breaks.
Organization * Career break/ sabbatical
Career break/
sabbatical Total
No Yes
On-line Count
22 33 55
(Microsemi)
Table - 22
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Chi-Square Tests

Table – 23
16.32.
It is surprising to note from the table-22 that in one of the leading multinationals
(orgnisation-1) 81% of the employees reported in negative as regards the existence of the
facility where as in other two multinationals (organisation3&5), employees in large
numbers reported in affirmative as regards the same facility. As the p‘ .000 value is less
than .05 (table-23) indicating that the difference between organizations with respect to
the provision sabbaticals is statistically significant. Hence the null hypothesis is rejected
accepting the alternative hypothesis.
provision of transport facilities.
H110There is a difference between male and female employees with respect to the
Sex * Transportation
Transportation Total
No Yes
% within Sex 62.1% 37.9% 100.0%
% within Sex 49.6% 50.4% 100.0%
% within Sex 57.8% 42.2% 100.0%
Table - 24
148
Chi-Square Tests
Asymp.
Sig. Exact Sig. Exact Sig.
Linear-by-Linear
5.359 1 .021
Association
Table – 25
a Computed only for a 2x2 table

b 0 cells (.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is
53.55.
50% of male respondents reported the availability of transport facility where as only 37%
female respondents reported the availability of same (table-24). Null hypothesis is
rejected as the p‘ value .026 is less than the .05 (table-25) indicating statistically
significant difference between male respondents and female respondents as regards the
H011 There is no difference between managers and non managers with respect to the
149
Designation * Transportation
No Yes
Table - 26
Chi-Square Tests
Continuity
2.176 1 .140
Correction(a)
Linear-by-Linear
2.507 1 .113
Association
Table 27

54.81.
From the table-26, it is clear that around 48% of mangers and 39% of non mangers
reported that they are provided with transport facilities. The p‘ value .123 is more than
.05 (Table-27) indicating the difference is not statistically significant. Hence the null
hypothesis is accepted.
H012 There is no difference among organizations with respect to the provision of transport
facilities.
H112There is a difference among organizations with respect to the provision of transport
facilities.
150
Organization- Transportation
No Yes
On-line Count
32 23 55
(Micro semi)
Table - 28
Chi-Square Tests

Table - 29
. 0 cells (.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 16.86
Employees of sample organization 2 (table-28) which is a BPO reported to the tune of
91% that transport facilities are provided to them. Similarly employees of sample
organization -3 (table-28) also reported in large % that they are provided with transport
facilities. As the p‘ value .000 is less than.05 (table - 29) indicating that the difference
between organizations is statistically significant, the null hypothesis is rejected accepting
the alternative hypothesis.
151
H013There is no difference between male and female employees with respect to the
H113There is a difference between male and female employees with respect to the practice
of job sharing.
Sex * Job sharing
Job sharing Total

No Yes
% within Sex 29.2% 70.8% 100.0%
% within Sex 34.6% 65.4% 100.0%
% within Sex 31.1% 68.9% 100.0%
Table 30
Chi-Square Tests

Linear-by-Linear
1.144 1 .285
Association
Table 31
39.47
Around 71% of male respondents and 65% of female respondents (table-30) reported the
availability of job sharing in their organization. As the P‘ value .290 is more than .05,
(table-31) the difference between the genders is not statistically significant as regards job
sharing. Hence the null hypothesis is accepted.
152
H014There is no difference managers and non managers with respect to the practice of job
sharing.
Designation * Job sharing

Job sharing Total
No Yes
Table - 32
Chi-Square Tests
Linear-by-Linear Association .020 1 .889
Table - 33
40.41
From the table no.32, it is clear that managers and non managers reported similarly in %
terms as regards the provision of job sharing facility. Null hypothesis is accepted as
managers and non managers reported that job sharing exists in their respective
organizations and the difference is statistically not significant as indicated by p‘ value
.907 which is more than .05 (table-33).
153
H015There is no difference between organizations with respect to the practice of job
sharing
H115There is a difference between organizations with respect to the practice of job
sharing.
Organization * Job sharing
Job sharing Total

No Yes
On-line Count
17 38 55
(Micro semi)
Table 34
Chi-Square Tests

Table 35
12.43.
Mumbai based two sample organizations (org.1&2) reported less in % terms compared to
Hyderabad based three sample organizations as regards the provision job sharing (table-
154
34) The null hypothesis is rejected as the difference among organizations is statistically
significant indicated by p‘ value which is .000 (table - 35)
7.4 Objective 2: To understand the differences in the work life balance scores across
the organizations, genders, levels of management and married and unmarried in
sample organizations.
To understand the work life balance scores, the scores given by respondents to questions
which reflect their work life balance (question no.12) are converted into % and all of
them are put into four groups i.e. low, medium, high and very high.
H017 There is no difference between various levels of management as regards to the work
life balance scores.
H117 There is a difference between various levels of management as regards to the work
life balance scores.
Low Medium High Very High

120
100 1.9 1.3
80
55.4 54.6
60
40
20 41.7 42.3
0
Manager - 240 Non Manager - 130
Designation
Figure 17
155
Work Life Balance scores (%) Designation
Designation Total
Executive Manager
0-25% (Low) Count 0 4 4

% within Designation .0% 1.7% 1.1%
% Work 26-50% Count 55 100 155
Life (Moderate) % within Designation 42.3% 41.7% 41.9%
Balance 51-75% Count 71 133 204
(High) % within Designation 54.6% 55.4% 55.1%
76-100% Count 4 3 7
(Very High) % within Designation 3.1% 1.3% 1.9%
Table - 36
Chi-Square Tests

Table – 37
a. 4 cells (50.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is
1.41.
It is observed that an insignificant % of managers and non managers are with a very high
work life balance score (table - 36). However Statistically there is no significant
difference between managers and non managers with regard to work life balance scores
as the p‘value .299 is more than 0.05 (table-37). Hence the null hypothesis is accepted.
156
H018 There is no difference between married and unmarried as regards to the work life
balance scores.
H118 There is a difference between married and unmarried as regards to the work life
balance scores.
Work Life Balance scores (%) * Marital status

Marital status Total
Married Unmarried
% Work 0-25% (Low) Count 4 0 4
Life % within Marital status 1.9% .0% 1.1%
Balance 26-50% Count
88 67 155
(Moderate)
% within Marital status 40.9% 43.2% 41.9%
51-75% Count
120 84 204
(High)
76-100% Count
3 4 7
(Very High)
Table 38
Chi-Square Tests
Table 39
1.68.
The work life balance scores in all the four cells indicate more or less the same though
in % terms more unmarried have reported with very high work life balance score (table–
38). As the p‘ value .295 is more than .05 (table - 39) there is no statistically significant
157
difference between married and unmarried as regards work life balance scores are
concerned. Hence the null hypothesis is accepted.
H019 There is no difference between organizations as regards to the work life balance
scores
H119There is a difference between organizations as regards to the work life balance
scores

120
100 3.5 0 2.5 0.6 5.5
80 38.3
55 55
56.3
60 68.4
40
61.7
42.5 42.6
20 36.4
28.1
0
Cognizant - 57 Respondez - 47 Deloitte - 40 IIC Tech - 171 Microsemi - 55
Organisation
Figure 18 WLB- Scores- organisation wise
158
Work Life Balance scores (%) Organization
Organization Total
On-line
Cogniza Respon (Micros
nt dez Deloitte IIC emi)
% 0- Count 0 0 0 3 1 4
Work 25% % within
Life Low Organization .0% .0% .0% 1.8% 1.8% 1.1%
Balan
ce 26- Count 16 29 17 73 20 155
50% % within
Mode Organization
28.1% 61.7% 42.5% 42.7% 36.4% 41.9%
rate
51- Count 39 18 22 94 31 204

75% % within
High Organization 68.4% 38.3% 55.0% 55.0% 56.4% 55.1%
76- Count 2 0 1 1 3 7
100% % within
Very Organization
3.5% .0% 2.5% .6% 5.5% 1.9%
High
Total Count 57 47 40 171 55 370

% within
100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
Organization
Table - 40
Chi-Square Tests
Table 41
a. 10 cells (50.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .43
The employees of Mumbai based multinational (org.1) reported in large numbers with
high and very high work life balance score (table-40) compared to other sample
organizations. Similarly it is also observed that in another Mumbai based
organization(org.2) which is a BPO more no of employees are with medium work life
balance scores(table-40). The p‘ value .047 which is less than 0.05(table-41) indicates
159
that the difference among sample organizations with regard to work life balance scores is
statistically significant. Hence alternative hypothesis is accepted.
Work Life Balance Scores (%) Sex

120
100 2.4 1.6
80
57.5 53.9
60
40
20 40.2 42.8
0
Female - 127 Male - 243
Sex
Figure 19
Sex Total
Male Female
% Work Life 0-25% (Low) Count
4 0 4
Balance
% within Sex 1.6% .0% 1.1%
26-50% Count
104 51 155
(Moderate)
% within Sex 42.8% 40.2% 41.9%
51-75% (High) Count 131 73 204
% within Sex 53.9% 57.5% 55.1%
76-100% Count
4 3 7
(Very High)
% within Sex 1.6% 2.4% 1.9%
% within Sex 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
Table - 42
160
Chi-Square Tests

Table 43
1.37
There is no difference which is statistically significant (table 43) as regards work life
balance scores between male and female employees as indicated by p‘ value.449 which is
more than .05. The same can be under stood from the work life balance score table 42
and also the figure no.23. Hence null hypothesis is accepted.
Work Life Balance Scores – Total Sample
Low - 4 Medium - 155 High - 204 Very High - 7
1.9%
1.1%
41.9%
55.1%
Figure 20 Total Sample
161
7.5 Objective -3
To understand the differences in perceptions of individual employees across the
genders, levels of management and organizations related to work life balance.
To understand the difference in perceptions of employees the responses given by sample
respondents to the following questions were analysed.
1. Do you feel work life balance policy should be customized to individual needs of
employees?
2. Do you think that employees with good work life balance will be more effective?
3. Does frequently travelling away from home affects work life balance of an
employee?
4. Does the use of technology such as lap tops/ cell phones affect one‘s work life
balance?
The above questions were analysed in terms of Sex, Designation &Organization.
(Annexure III)
The analysis shows that that there is no statistically significant difference between male
and female as regards question nos2, 3, &4. However there is significant difference
between male and female respondents as regards question no.1
With regard to managers and non managers there is no statistically significant difference
with respect to question no; 1, 2, &3. But there is significant difference between
managers and non managers with regard to question no: 4
In case of organizations statistically significant difference exists between genders in
case of almost all the parameters.
Hence we can conclude that employees have very clear perception as regards the
162
importance of work life balance initiatives in improving their work life balance.
7.6 Objective 4
To understand the policy differences across the organizations as regards work life
balance in sample organizations.
H016 Most of the Indian organizations do not have specific policy on work life balance
and such initiatives are selectively introduced.
H116 Most of the Indian organizations do have specific policy on work life balance and
such initiatives are not selectively introduced.
The above hypothesis is tested by analyzing responses given to questions which reflect
on decision making authority on work life balance issues in sample organizations and
also formal organizational arrangements available in sample organizations to
communicate the policy initiatives to employees.
163
Organization - work life standing committee making recommendations to the HR
Is there any work

life standing
committee
making
recommendation
s to the HR in
your
organization? Total
Yes No
On-line Count
14 41 55
(Micro semi)
Table 44
Chi-Square Tests

Table 45
a. 0 cells (.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 7.03
Employees of one of the Mumbai based sample organizations reported in large in %
terms the existence of work life balance policy (table 44). The difference between
organizations as regards the existence of a work life balance committee is statistically
164
significant as indicated by the p‘ value .000 which is less than .05 (table 45). Hence the
null hypothesis is rejected accepting the alternative hypothesis.
To understand the differences in methods used to communicate policy initiatives on work
life balance question no 11 is analysed in terms of sample organizations.
Organization -Methods used by the management to disseminate its policies on work

life balance to employees - Display on company notice board
Methods used by the management to disseminate its policies on work life

balance to employees? Display on company notice board Total
Yes No
% within Organization .0% 100.0% 100.0%
On-line Count
20 35 55
(Micro semi)
Table 46
Chi-Square Tests

Table 47 a. 0 cells (.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected
count is 16.97.
The employees of Hyderabad based sample organization (org 4) reported in large
numbers that the company displays the initiatives introduced on the notice board (table
165
46). As there is statistically significant difference in method used to intimating
employees about work life balance initiatives indicated by p‘ value .000 which is less
than .05 (table 47) the null hypothesis is rejected.
Organization Up loading on the company website
Up loading on the company website Total

Yes No
IIC Count 89 82 171
On-line Count
27 28 55
(Micro semi)
Table 48
Chi-Square Tests

Table 49
17.30
The employees of one Hyderabad based sample unit reported to the tune of 97% (table
48) that company uploads on the website as and when WLB initiatives are introduced. As
the difference between organizations in using company website as a medium to
166
communicate WLB initiatives is statistically significant as indicated by p‘ value .000
which is less than .05 (table 49), the null hypothesis is rejected, accepting the alternative
hypothesis.
Organization Distribution of leaflets
Distribution of
leaflets Total
Yes No
On-line Count
14 41 55
(Micro semi)
Table 50
Chi-Square Tests

Table 51
a 0 cells (.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 6.38
It is clear from the table 50 that distribution of leaflets is not a popular method among
sample organizations in communicating the policy decisions on WLB to their employees.
However the employees of Hyderabad based multinational (organization 5, table 50)
reported in significant % that the company distributes leaflets. As there exists statistically
167
significant difference between organizations in the use of leaflets to communicate the
WLB initiatives to their employees which is indicated by p‘ value .002 (table 51) which
is less than .05, the null hypothesis is rejected accepting the alternative hypothesis.
Organization Issue of letters to individual employees

Issue of letters to
individual
employees Total
Yes No
On-line Count
19 36 55
(Micro semi)
Table 52
Chi-Square Tests

Table 53
a 0 cells (.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is
15.46
The respondents belong to Mumbai based BPO (organization 2) & Hyderabad based
organization (organization3) reported in large nos. (table 52) that the company intimates
individual employees as and when WLB initiatives are introduced. However statistically
significant difference is there among organizations with regard to communication to
168
individual employees as indicated by p‘ value.011 which is less than .05(table 53). Hence
the null hypothesis is rejected.
Organization Intimation to the Dept. Heads
Intimation to the
Dept. Heads Total
Yes No
On-line Count
25 30 55
(Micro semi)
Table 54
Chi-Square Tests

Tale 55
a 0 cells (.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is
19.68.
An interesting observation is that in one of the Mumbai based leading multinational

above 90% of the employees reported in negative (table 54) regarding the practice of
information to employees about WLBPS through the departmental head. However
statistically significant difference is there among the sample organizations indicated by p‘
value .000 which is less than .05 (table no.55). Hence alternative hypothesis is accepted.
169
7.7 Objective 5: To assess the impact of work life balance on employee retention/
attrition / intention to stay in sample organizations.
H020 There is no relationship between work life balance and employee turnover intentions
H120There is relationship between work life balance and employee turnover intentions.
To understand sample respondents intentions to stay in the organization the responses to
question nos.22, 23, 24 are converted in to scores and sample respondents are divided in
to four groups as indicated in table 56.
Intention to Stay (in %) –Sex

120
100 2.9 3.9
80
49.4 48
60
40
47.7 47.2
20
0
Male Female
Gender
Figure 21
170
Intention to Stay (in %) -Sex
Sex Total
Male Female
Intention to 0-25% Count 0 1 1
Stay (in %)
% within Sex .0% .8% .3%
26-50% Count 116 60 176
% within Sex 47.7% 47.2% 47.6%
51-75% Count 120 61 181
% within Sex 49.4% 48.0% 48.9%
76-100% Count 7 5 12
% within Sex 2.9% 3.9% 3.2%
% within Sex 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
Table 56
Chi-Square Tests

Table 57
.34.
From the table 56 it is clear that both male and female employees expressed more or less
same intentions to stay with the organization they are working at present. Statistically the
difference between genders with regard to intention to stay is not significant as indicated
by p‘value .525 which is more than .05 (table 57). Hence null hypothesis is accepted.
171
Intention to Stay - Organization
Organization Total
On-line
Cogniza Respond (Micros
nt ez Deloitte IIC emi)
Intent 0- Count 0 1 0 0 0 1
ion to 25% % within
.0% 2.1% .0% .0% .0% .3%
Stay Organization
(in %) 26- Count 39 29 2 81 25 176
50% % within
68.4% 61.7% 5.0% 47.4% 45.5% 47.6%
Organization
51- Count 18 16 38 84 25 181
75% % within
31.6% 34.0% 95.0% 49.1% 45.5% 48.9%
Organization
76- Count 0 1 0 6 5 12
100 % within
.0% 2.1% .0% 3.5% 9.1% 3.2%
% Organization
Total Count 57 47 40 171 55 370
% within
100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
Organization
Table 58
Chi-Square Tests

Table 59
.11.
In Sample organization- 3,(table 58) the respondents with high intention to stay scores
are to the tune of 95% and with very high very intention to stay are 5% where as in two
of the Mumbai based organizations (organization.1&2) employees with high intention to
stay scores are to the tune of 68% & 62%. In one of the Hyderabad based multinationals
(organization 5) 9%of sample respondents have very intention to stay scores and no one
is with a poor intention to stay. The difference in intention to stay between organizations
is statistically significant which is indicated by the p‘ value .000 which is less than .05
172
(table 59). Hence the null hypothesis is rejected.
Intention to Stay - Designation
Designation Total
Executive Manager
Intention 0-25% Count 0 1 1
to Stay % within Designation .0% .4% .3%
(in %) 26-50% Count 69 107 176
51-75% Count 55 126 181
76-100% Count 6 6 12
Table 60
Chi-Square Tests
Asymp. Sig. (2-

Value df sided)
Table 61
.35.
From the table 60 it is clear that there are more managers with high intention to stay
scores (52.5%) as against non managers (42.3%). However, the difference in intention to
stay scores between the managers and non managers is not statistically significant as
indicated by p‘ value .189 which is more than .05 (table 61). Hence the null hypothesis is
accepted.
To observe the relationship between work life balance of employees and intention to stay
with the employer coefficient of correlation statistics is used.
173
Work Life Balance scores (%) Organization (Repeat table)
Organization Total
On-line
% 0-25% Count 0 0 0 3 1 4
Work (Low) % within
.0% .0% .0% 1.8% 1.8% 1.1%
Life Organization
Balance 26- Count 16 29 17 73 20 155
50% % within
(Mode Organization
28.1% 61.7% 42.5% 42.7% 36.4% 41.9%
rate)
51- Count 39 18 22 94 31 204

75% % within
(High) Organization 68.4% 38.3% 55.0% 55.0% 56.4% 55.1%
76- Count 2 0 1 1 3 7
100% % within
(Very Organization
3.5% .0% 2.5% .6% 5.5% 1.9%
High)
Total Count 57 47 40 171 55 370

% within
100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
Organization
Table 40 (repeat)
174
Intention to Stay (in %) – Organization (Repeat Table)
Organization Total
On-line
Intentio 0-25% Count 0 1 0 0 0 1
n to % within
.0% 2.1% .0% .0% .0% .3%
Stay (in Organization
%) 26- Count 39 29 2 81 25 176
50% % within
68.4% 61.7% 5.0% 47.4% 45.5% 47.6%
Organization
51- Count 18 16 38 84 25 181
75% % within
31.6% 34.0% 95.0% 49.1% 45.5% 48.9%
Organization
76- Count 0 1 0 6 5 12
100% % within
.0% 2.1% .0% 3.5% 9.1% 3.2%
Organization
Total Count 57 47 40 171 55 370
% within
100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
Organization
Table 58 (repeat)
Correlations
Intention to Stay (in %)

Work Life Balance Total Score Pearson Correlation .135(**)
Sig. (1-tailed) .005
N 370
Table 62 ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (1-tailed).
The null hypothesis is rejected as there is a positive correlation between work life balance
and employee intention to stay which is indicated by p‘ value .005 (table 62) which is
statistically significant.
175
Chapter 8
Major findings & Conclusions
1. The study found that that sample organizations do have some arrangements in the
direction of work life balance. Most of the respondents reported that they do avail
flexible work arrangements which include flexible start time, finish time or flexible
timings in general.
Job sharing is also reported to be a popular initiative availed by employees. However
career breaks/sabbaticals, transport facilities, counseling services do not appear to be
regular initiatives widely used in sample organizations as majority of male and female
employees, married and unmarried and employees working with different income groups
reported that such facilities are not offered to them.
However a higher proportion of employees that belong to higher income groups have
responded positively to most of the above facilities compared to other income groups.
However the statistical analysis reveals that the differences in the existence of above
initiatives are significant in group comparisons in the case of certain organizations.
2. As regards the differences in the work life balance scores between the genders, levels
of management ,married and unmarried and the sample organizations, the study found
that the differences in work life balance scores are not significant between male and
female employees, managers and non managers, married and unmarried. However the
difference in the work life balance scores among organizations is significant. Based on
the study findings, one can conclude that employees of one particular sample
organization enjoy better work life balance in relative terms.
176
3. The study found that the sample respondents strongly feel that flexible work
arrangements like flexi timings, job sharing, paid, and unpaid leave will help them in
balancing their life work related obligations. Similarly help from managers, colleagues
and team mates will definitely help them in balancing their work life issues.
Though employees surveyed do feel that negative attitude of bosses do hinder their
balance, the do not feel that the technology devices and frequent travelling do come in the
way their work life balance. Similarly employees have not attached much significance to
measures like part-time working and sabbaticals in improving their work life balance.
As regards the importance of work life balance in improving organizational effectiveness
majority feel it will improve organizational effectiveness .Similarly most of them opine
that work life balance initiatives should be customized keeping in mind the needs of
employees Majority of them are inclined to participate in policy decisions related to work
life balance issues. However statistically the difference in perceptions of employees most
of the demographic variables is insignificant.
4. Study found out that there are no separate arrangements in place in sample
organizations to deal with employee work life conflicts. There are no formal or informal
arrangements for decisions making neither on such issues nor in their implementation. As
regards the existence of work life co-ordination committee, employees expressed their
ignorance. However employees reported that any communication from the management
is through company website and through communication to the immediate boss. But
employees representing one of the sample organizations did report that on regular basis
seasonal picnics, outings are arranged and they do enjoy participation in such events.
177
Similarly majority of sample respondents are categorical in saying that the company does
not involve family members in work achievement functions nor any social functions are
arranged keeping in mind suitable time to workers families. Statistical tests do confirm
significant differences between organizations as regards policy on work life balance.
5. Organizations surveyed do not have any innovative or wide range of HR initiatives in
the direction of work life balance. If work life balance is an important tool in controlling
employee attrition and increasing employee retention which is one of the challenges
faced by IT & ITeS units, there should have been formal arrangements for the same
which any way are missing in all the organizations surveyed. More importantly on
employee side also there is no great enthusiasm to do the needful.
The study ‗s findings as regards the impact of work life balance on employee retention is
that the organization in which a large number of employees are with high scores of work
life balance also shows a large number employees with high emotional attachment,
willingness to stay with the same organization compared to others. This may be a sort of
suggestion to HR professionals to integrate work life initiatives into overall
organizational retention strategy.
However employees reported that flexible & friendly work environment and salary are
more important for them to plan their career in the company they work at present than
work life initiatives and innovative HR schemes which by choice not the most important
requirement for employees to be tempted to stay with the organization.
6. The employee intentions to stay scores do reveal that the difference in scores is
significant between male and female but across the organizations the difference in
intention to stay is insignificant. Work life Balance scores, intention to stay though move
178
in the same direction in case of some sample organizations it is not so in all
organizations. The reported attrition rates of some of the sample organization do reveal
that work life balance scores of employees to some extent influence the decisions of
employees in staying or leaving the organization.
179
Chapter 9
Recommendations & Suggestions
1. The study reveals that sample respondents have a clear perception about the
significance of work life balance. However it is also found that among employees there is
an expectation that employer and more importantly the immediate boss should be
sympathetic towards employees needs by providing flexible work arrangements and other
work life initiatives.
2. The study also reveals that there is no consultation or dialogue between employees and
employer when it comes to provision of any family support programs across the
organizations. Hence it is advised to the managements that a coordinating committee with
the representatives of management and employees to be constituted which itself is a great
initiative from employees‘ point of view. The committee can give broad guidelines to the
line managers in creating a family friendly& worker support environment in their
respective departments which can also become a platform for employees to voice their
concerns about work life issues.
3. There is a need for more explicit, detailed and relevant regulations & guidance specific
to this industry as it was observed that 60% of the employees put in overtime on a regular
basis after putting in 8-9 working hours a day.
4. Companies need to create counseling services in their respective organizations by
appointing full time counselors who can help employees in balancing their mental and
physical rhythm.
5. Sabbaticals &Part time work arrangements need to be promoted in sample
organizations as IT is gender unbiased sector where we find in large numbers female
180
workers are employed. These work life initiatives also offer good opportunity for
companies to manage their tight salary budgets in periods of tough competition and
declining revenues.
6. Free health check up &health insurance &exercise facilities are the initiative not only
expected by the employees but they are also the initiatives which will be the critical
influencing factors for employees in making choice of employment. These can be used
not only as work life initiatives but also as good retention tools in times when health care
is very expensive.
7. It is advised to employees that careful planning and personal effort are important for
balance in work and personal life. Employers can only facilitate work life balance with
many schemes that can attract employees and satisfy their needs but it is employees, who
have to plan, prioritize and schedule their work and life obligations.
8. Cost effective retention strategies like creating a retention culture in the organization,
ensuring freedom of expression to employees, creating friendly work environment and
instituting competitive reward schemes are a few strategies organizations can be
experimented with in talent retention.
****************
181
PADMASHREE D Y PATIL UNIVERSITY, DEPT.OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT,
NAVI MUMBAI
Reference to Work Life Balance Initiatives and Its Impact on Employee
Retention in Select Information Technology Sector Units
Research Guide: Dr.R.Gopal

Dean & Head of the Dept. D.Y.Patil University
Research Scholar : S.Surekha
[January 2011]
[It is necessary to strike a balance between work and life goals which results in meaningful achievement and enjoyment
in everyday life. It is not easy to achieve work life balance due to changing complexion of work and life goals. IT,
Hospitality, and Police are a few sectors where employees find it difficult to achieve such a balance due to the pressure
conditions under which they are expected to work. One of the vehicles to help provide attainment of personal and
professional goals is work-life balance benefits and programs practiced by employers. Work life balance initiatives by
employers, however need to be customized to the individual needs of employees. This study is to understand your
perceptions & the current status in this regard.]
182
Work Life Balance
Dear Sir/ Madam,
Human beings don’t have just one drive, but many drives and needs. And to have a sense
of wellbeing, these needs need to be met adequately. Work is an important drive in one’s
life as it gives a lot of meaning to life and is also a source of personal satisfaction. Hence
enjoyment at work is a critical part of anyone’s life. Furthermore, achievement and
enjoyment in the other three quadrants of one’s life (e.g. family, friends and self) is
critical as well. But once a person allows the need for work & enjoyment at work to be
met at the expense of other needs, the sense of wellbeing and confidence goes away by
bringing conflict/imbalance between work and life goals. So the answer is to strike a
balance between work and life goals which results in meaningful achievement and
enjoyment in everyday life. However it is not easy to achieve work life balance due to
changing complexion of work and life goals. IT, Hospitality, Police are a few sectors
where employees find it difficult to achieve such a balance due to the pressure conditions
under which they are expected to work.
One of the vehicles to help provide attainment of personal and professional goals is work-
life balance benefits and programs. These measures are the flexible welfare facilities
offered to employees to enhance quality of work life. Work life balance initiatives by
employers, however need to be customized to the individual needs of employees. Such
measures also need to be supplemented by employees’ initiatives as no balance can be
achieved in life unless one is interested in achieving it.
Through this questionnaire I wish to collect data on the need for and perceptions of yours
towards work life balance programs in general and also the existing practices in your
organization and their impact on retention of employees. I hope to get your honest and
spontaneous responses to the questionnaire. The feedback I get will be used purely for
academic purpose and the confidentiality of the source of information will be maintained.
Thanking you in anticipation,

Surekha.S
183
PERSONAL DETAILS
1. Name (optional)
2. Sex
Male Female
3. Age
Below 25yrs
25-35 yrs
36-45yrs
46 yrs & above
4. Educational Qualification
Graduate
Post graduate
Professionally qualified
Other
5. Marital Status
Married Unmarried
6. If married, is your spouse employed?
Yes No
184
7. No. of Children
Nil
One
Two
More than 2
8. Age group of your children (you can tick more than one and skip the question if it
is not applicable)
Below 2 years
Between 2-5
Between 5-10
Between 10-15
Above 15
9. Your income Group: (per month)
Less than Rs.10,000
Rs.10,001-20,000
Rs.20,001-30,000
Rs.30,001-40, 000
Above Rs.40,000
185
ABOUT YOUR WORK
1. Your Designation
Executive
Asst Manager
Manager
General Manager
Other
2. How long have you been working in this organization?
Less than 1yr
1-3yrs
3-5yrs
Above 5yrs
3. How many days in a week do you normally work?
Less than 5 days
5 days
6 days
7 days
186
4. How many hours do you normally work in a day?
7-8 hours
8-9 hours
9-10 hours
10-12 hours
More than 12 hours
5. Do you work in shifts?
General shift/day Night shift Alternative

shift
6. How many hours do you spend traveling to work a day?
Less than half an hour
Nearly one hour
Nearly two hours
More than two hours
7. Do you work overtime?
Yes No
187
8. If yes, you do overtime because (Select only one option)
Too much work to do
Lack of working knowledge
Support colleagues and subordinates
Cannot leave before boss
Company culture
Prefer staying in office rather than home or leisure
Do not want to be the first one to leave

office
188
ABOUT YOUR WORK LIFE BALANCE
1. Please check the answers on a 1-5 scale that best describes how often you agree with each
statement 1=strongly disagree, 5=strongly agree. (In place of questions from 1 to 15)
1 2 3 4 5
1) The burden of running the household falls mostly on my

shoulders.
2) I struggle to juggle work and non work
3) I stay at work after office hours regularly
4) I attend work related functions on personal time.
5) I accept assignments even though I don’t have to do
6) I go to office before office hours
7) I do think about work when I am not working.
8) I suffer from stress related diseases
9) I feel I have sufficient ‘me time’
10) On an average I am able to comfortably accomplish tasks

in my life.
11) My employer understands and supports my family

responsibilities
12) I feel I am able to manage my family and other adult
relationships well.
189
2. Answer whether in your company the following work provisions are there or not
Yes No
1)Flexible starting time
2)Flexible ending time
3)Flexible hours in general
4) Paid time off.
5) Job sharing
6) Career break/ sabbatical
7) Any other specify below
Specify:
190
3. Does your organization provide you with the following additional work provisions?
Yes No
1) Telephone for personal

use
2) counseling services
3) Health programs
4) Parenting or family
support programs
5) Exercise facilities
6) Relocation facilities and

choices
7) Transportation
191
4. Do any of the following help you balance your work and family commitments?
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Neutral Agree
Disagree Agree
Flexible starting times
Flexible finish times
Flexible hours generally
Time off for family emergencies &

events
Part-time or reduced work hours
Compressed working
week/fortnight
Job sharing
Career break/sabbaticals
Time-off for family

engagements/events
192
5. Do any of the following help you balance your work and family commitments?
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Agree
Support from
manager/supervisor
Support from
colleagues
Support from team

members
Encouragement to use
paid and unpaid
parental leave
Seeing other men use

work/family policies
6. Do any of the following hinder you in balancing your work and family commitments?
Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly

Disagree Agree
Negative attitude of
managers
Negative attitude of
colleagues
Negative attitude of team

members
Technology such as
laptops/cell phones
Frequently travelling
away from home
193
7. Does your organization encourage the involvement of your family members in
work- achievement reward functions?
Yes, specify
No
Specify:
8. Does your organization have social functions at times suitable for families?
Yes, specify the name of such programs
No
9. Is there any work life standing committee making recommendations to the HR in

your organization?
Yes No
10. If yes, how seriously such recommendations are taken by the higher-ups?
(Answer only if response to previous question is Yes)
Seriously
Very seriously
Do not know
Very lightly
Indifferent
194
11. Are there any of the following methods used by the management to disseminate
its policies on work life balance to employees?
Yes No
1) Display on company notice

board
2) Up loading on the company
website
3) Distribution of leaflets
4) Issue of letters to individual

employees
5) Intimation to the Dept. Heads
If Others, Specify:
12. If you are given a chance, would you like to get actively involved in policy
making on work life balance programs?
Yes No
13. Do you feel work life balance policy in the organization should be customized to
individual needs?
Yes
No
14. Do you think that if employees have good work-life balance the organization will
be more effective and successful?
Yes No
If yes, how? (Your comments)

195
15. Please check the answers on a 1-5 scale that best describes how often you agree with each
statement 1=strongly disagree, 5=strongly agree. (In place of questions from 1 to 15)
1 2 3 4 5
1) I am emotionally attached to the organization.
2) There are no communication barriers for me while

communicating with my bosses.
3) My organization treats me in a respectful way.
4) I am rewarded periodically for my performance.
5) The work environment is very friendly in this

organization.
6) I am very much satisfied with the welfare measures

provided by the organisation.
7) I like to plan my further career in this organization.
8) This company reasonably accommodates my personal

needs.
9) The work load in this organization is not equitably

distributed in this company.
10) The training & development programs organized for

employees are not really beneficial to me for my
career growth.
11) I feel I am not fairly compensated for the work I do

compared to other similar organizations.
12) I often think about seeking employment elsewhere.
13) I have been approached by many other organizations

with tempting offers.
196
14) I do not want to suggest this company to any of my
friends or relations.
15) The rules & regulations of this company are very rigid.
16) I have strained relations with people I work.
16. Which one of the following motivates you to continue to work in any
organization?
Yes No
1) Good salary
2) A conducive work environment
3) Opportunities for career growth
4) Attractive work life initiatives
5) Any other, specify below if yes.
Specify:
17. Considering the expectations you had as you joined the organization, do you think
they have been satisfied? Give your answer on point scale of 1 to 5. 1= not at all
satisfied and 5 is very much satisfied.
1 2 3 4 5
197
18. In your opinion what type of organization is the most appealing to stay in the
organization? (Tick only one)
A growth oriented company
A company which offers flexible work environment
A company which offers good salary
A reputed company
Any other (Please specify)
Specify here:
19. Does your employer make any retention efforts?
Highly disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Highly Agree
20. Do you think that the retention efforts of your employer are effective?
Highly disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Highly Agree
198
21. If you agree, do the retention efforts of your employer include any of the
following?
Highly Highly
Disagree Agree
a) Exit Interviews
b) Flexible &Transparent work

environment
c) competitive reward schemes
d) Innovative HR programs
e) Stress on training and

development
f) any other, (If you Agree, specify

below)
Specify:
199
22. Please rate following factors on a point scale of 1 to 5 (1=least, 5=most) which are
responsible for you not to get tempted by lucrative job offers from others?
1 2 3 4 5
Flexible work environment
Monetary compensation
Professional Management
Good relations with the immediate boss
Personal reasons
********************
Thank you very much for sparing your valuable time
200
Annexure II
Frequency Tables
PD2 Sex
Valid Cumulative
Frequency Percent Percent Percent
Valid 1 Male 243 65.7 65.7 65.7
2 Female 127 34.3 34.3 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
PD3 Age
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
Valid 1 Below 25 yrs 57 15.4 15.4 15.4
2 25-35 yrs 249 67.3 67.3 82.7
3 36-45 yrs 49 13.2 13.2 95.9
4 46 yrs and
15 4.1 4.1 100.0
above
Total 370 100.0 100.0
PD4 Educational Qualifications
Valid Cumulative
Valid 1 Graduate 164 44.3 44.3 44.3
2 Post Graduate 129 34.9 34.9 79.2
3 Professionally
32 8.6 8.6 87.8
qualified
4 Others 45 12.2 12.2 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
PD5 Marital status
Valid Cumulative
Valid 1 Married 215 58.1 58.1 58.1
2 Unmarried 155 41.9 41.9 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
201
PD6 If yes, is your spouse employed?
Valid Cumulativ
Frequency Percent Percent e Percent
Valid 0 Not Applicable 18 4.9 7.6 7.6
1 Yes 128 34.6 54.2 61.9
2 No 90 24.3 38.1 100.0
Total 236 63.8 100.0
Missing System 134 36.2
Total 370 100.0
PD7 No. of Children
Valid Cumulativ
Valid 1 Nil 109 29.5 44.1 44.1
2 One 83 22.4 33.6 77.7
3 Two 55 14.9 22.3 100.0
Total 247 66.8 100.0
Total 370 100.0
PD9 Your income Group
Valid Cumulativ
Valid 1 Less than
53 14.3 14.3 14.3
Rs.10,000
2 Rs.10,001-20,000 88 23.8 23.8 38.1
3 Rs.20,001-30,000 84 22.7 22.7 60.8
4 Rs.30,001-40, 000 67 18.1 18.1 78.9
5 Above Rs.40,000 78 21.1 21.1 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WK1 Your Designation
Valid Cumulative
Valid 1 Executive 130 35.1 35.1 35.1
2 Asst. Manager 35 9.5 9.5 44.6
3 Manager 36 9.7 9.7 54.3
4 General manager 4 1.1 1.1 55.4
5 Others 165 44.6 44.6 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
202
How many days in a week do you normally work?
Valid Cumulative
Valid 1 7-8 hours 13 3.5 3.5 3.5
2 8-9 hours 147 39.7 39.7 43.2
3 9-10 hours 161 43.5 43.5 86.8
4 10-12 hours 27 7.3 7.3 94.1
5 More than 12 hours 22 5.9 5.9 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
Do you work in shifts?
Valid Cumulative
Valid 1 General shift/day
280 75.7 75.7 75.7
shift
2 Night shift 17 4.6 4.6 80.3
3 Night shift 73 19.7 19.7 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
How many hours do you spend traveling to work a day?
Valid Cumulative
Valid 1 Less than half an hours 80 21.6 21.6 21.6
2 Nearly one hours 145 39.2 39.2 60.8
3 Nearly two hours 88 23.8 23.8 84.6
4 More than two hours 57 15.4 15.4 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WK7 Do you work overtime?
Valid Cumulative
Valid 1 Yes 215 58.1 58.1 58.1
2 No 155 41.9 41.9 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
203
WK8 If yes, you do overtime because
Cumulati
Valid ve
Valid 1 Too much work to do 106 28.6 49.5 49.5
2 Lack of working
12 3.2 5.6 55.1
knowledge
3 Support colleagues and
63 17.0 29.4 84.6
subordinates
4 Cannot leave before
17 4.6 7.9 92.5
boss
5 Company culture 15 4.1 7.0 99.5
7 Do not want to be the
1 .3 .5 100.0
first one to leave office
Total 214 57.8 100.0
Total 370 100.0
WLB1.1 The burden of running the household falls mostly on my shoulders
Valid Cumulative
Valid 1 Strongly Disagree 54 14.6 14.6 14.6
2 Disagree 67 18.1 18.1 32.7
3 Neutral 105 28.4 28.4 61.1
4 Agree 73 19.7 19.7 80.8
5 Strongly Agree 71 19.2 19.2 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB1.2 I struggle to juggle work and non work
Valid Cumulative
Valid 1 Strongly
87 23.5 23.5 23.5
Disagree
2 Disagree 76 20.5 20.5 44.1
3 Neutral 128 34.6 34.6 78.6
4 Agree 56 15.1 15.1 93.8
5 Strongly Agree 23 6.2 6.2 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
204
WLB1.3 I stay at work after office hours regularly
Valid Cumulative
Valid 1 Strongly
87 23.5 23.5 23.5
Disagree
2 Disagree 100 27.0 27.0 50.5
3 Neutral 101 27.3 27.3 77.8
4 Agree 56 15.1 15.1 93.0
5 Strongly Agree 26 7.0 7.0 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB1.4 I attend work related functions on personal time
Valid Cumulative
Valid 1 Strongly
83 22.4 22.4 22.4
Disagree
2 Disagree 69 18.6 18.6 41.1
3 Neutral 96 25.9 25.9 67.0
4 Agree 78 21.1 21.1 88.1
5 Strongly Agree 44 11.9 11.9 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB1.5 I accept assignments even though I don't have to do
Valid Cumulative
2 Disagree 58 15.7 15.7 29.7
3 Neutral 139 37.6 37.6 67.3
4 Agree 79 21.4 21.4 88.6
5 Strongly Agree 42 11.4 11.4 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
205
WLB1.6 I go to office before office hours
Valid Cumulative
2 Disagree 80 21.6 21.6 33.8
3 Neutral 128 34.6 34.6 68.4
4 Agree 67 18.1 18.1 86.5
5 Strongly Agree 50 13.5 13.5 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB1.7 I do think about work when I am not working
Valid Cumulative
2 Disagree 61 16.5 16.5 31.1
3 Neutral 109 29.5 29.5 60.5
4 Agree 86 23.2 23.2 83.8
5 Strongly Agree 60 16.2 16.2 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB1.8 I suffer from stress related diseases
Valid Cumulative
2 Disagree 78 21.1 21.1 65.7
3 Neutral 71 19.2 19.2 84.9
4 Agree 32 8.6 8.6 93.5
5 Strongly Agree 24 6.5 6.5 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
206
WLB1.9 I feel I have sufficient 'me time'
Valid Cumulative
Valid 1 Strongly
33 8.9 8.9 8.9
Disagree
2 Disagree 65 17.6 17.6 26.5
3 Neutral 131 35.4 35.4 61.9
4 Agree 85 23.0 23.0 84.9
5 Strongly Agree 56 15.1 15.1 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB1.10 On an average I am able to comfortably accomplish tasks in my life
Valid Cumulative
Valid 1 Strongly
13 3.5 3.5 3.5
Disagree
2 Disagree 30 8.1 8.1 11.6
3 Neutral 134 36.2 36.2 47.8
4 Agree 126 34.1 34.1 81.9
5 Strongly Agree 67 18.1 18.1 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB1.11 My employer understands and supports my family responsibilities
Cumulative
Valid 1 Strongly
27 7.3 7.3 7.3
Disagree
2 Disagree 51 13.8 13.8 21.1
3 Neutral 136 36.8 36.8 57.8
4 Agree 108 29.2 29.2 87.0
5 Strongly Agree 48 13.0 13.0 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
207
WLB1.12 I feel I am able to manage my family and other adult relationships well
(Balancing Life)
Cumulative
Valid 1 Strongly
15 4.1 4.1 4.1
Disagree
2 Disagree 35 9.5 9.5 13.5
3 Neutral 129 34.9 34.9 48.4
4 Agree 110 29.7 29.7 78.1
5 Strongly Agree 81 21.9 21.9 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB2.1 Flexible starting time
Cumulative
Valid 1 Yes 274 74.1 74.1 74.1
2 No 96 25.9 25.9 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB 2.2 Flexible ending time
Cumulative
Valid 1 Yes 279 75.4 75.4 75.4
2 No 91 24.6 24.6 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB2.3 Flexible hours in general
Cumulative
Valid 1 Yes 282 76.2 76.2 76.2
2 No 88 23.8 23.8 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
208
WLB2.4 Paid time off
Cumulative
Valid 1 Yes 219 59.2 59.3 59.3
2 No 150 40.5 40.7 100.0
Total 369 99.7 100.0
Missing System 1 .3
Total 370 100.0
WLB2.5 Job sharing
Cumulative
Valid 1 Yes 255 68.9 68.9 68.9
2 No 115 31.1 31.1 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB2.6 Career break/ sabbatical
Cumulative
Valid 1 Yes 151 40.8 40.8 40.8
2 No 219 59.2 59.2 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB2.7 Any other specify below
Frequency Percent
WLB3.1 Telephone for personal use
Valid Cumulative
Valid 1 Yes 133 35.9 35.9 35.9
2 No 237 64.1 64.1 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
209
WLB3.2 counseling services
Valid Cumulative
Valid 1 Yes 152 41.1 41.1 41.1
2 No 218 58.9 58.9 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB3.3 Health programs
Valid Cumulative
Valid 1 Yes 190 51.4 51.4 51.4
2 No 180 48.6 48.6 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB3.4 Parenting or family support programs
Valid Cumulative
Valid 1 Yes 79 21.4 21.4 21.4
2 No 291 78.6 78.6 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB3.5 Exercise facilities
Valid Cumulative
Valid 1 Yes 109 29.5 29.5 29.5
2 No 261 70.5 70.5 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB3.6 Relocation facilities and choices
Valid Cumulative
Valid 1 Yes 134 36.2 36.2 36.2
2 No 236 63.8 63.8 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
210
WLB3.7 Transportation
Valid Cumulative
Valid 1 Yes 156 42.2 42.2 42.2
2 No 214 57.8 57.8 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB4.1 Flexible starting times
Valid Cumulative
2 Disagree 33 8.9 8.9 13.5
3 Neutral 68 18.4 18.4 31.9
4 Agree 169 45.7 45.7 77.6
5 Strongly Agree 83 22.4 22.4 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB4.2 Flexible finish times
Valid Cumulative
2 Disagree 30 8.1 8.1 18.6
3 Neutral 80 21.6 21.6 40.3
4 Agree 161 43.5 43.5 83.8
5 Strongly Agree 60 16.2 16.2 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB4.3 Flexible hours generally
Valid Cumulative
2 Disagree 48 13.0 13.0 20.5
3 Neutral 82 22.2 22.2 42.7
4 Agree 143 38.6 38.6 81.4
5 Strongly Agree 69 18.6 18.6 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
211
WLB4.4 Time off for family emergencies & events
Valid Cumulative
2 Disagree 84 22.7 22.7 25.7
3 Neutral 47 12.7 12.7 38.4
4 Agree 146 39.5 39.5 77.8
5 Strongly Agree 82 22.2 22.2 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB4.5 Part-time or reduced work hours
Valid Cumulative
2 Disagree 118 31.9 31.9 46.2
3 Neutral 73 19.7 19.7 65.9
4 Agree 101 27.3 27.3 93.2
5 Strongly Agree 25 6.8 6.8 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB4.6 Compressed working week/fortnight
Valid Cumulative
2 Disagree 82 22.2 22.2 41.1
3 Neutral 97 26.2 26.2 67.3
4 Agree 101 27.3 27.3 94.6
5 Strongly Agree 20 5.4 5.4 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
212
WLB4.7 Job sharing
Valid Cumulative
2 Disagree 81 21.9 21.9 30.0
3 Neutral 87 23.5 23.5 53.5
4 Agree 120 32.4 32.4 85.9
5 Strongly Agree 52 14.1 14.1 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB4.8 Career break/sabbaticals
Valid Cumulative
2 Disagree 110 29.7 29.7 46.2
3 Neutral 70 18.9 18.9 65.1
4 Agree 86 23.2 23.2 88.4
5 Strongly Agree 43 11.6 11.6 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB4.9 Time-off for family engagements/events
Valid Cumulative
2 Disagree 78 21.1 21.1 26.8
3 Neutral 79 21.4 21.4 48.1
4 Agree 120 32.4 32.4 80.5
5 Strongly Agree 72 19.5 19.5 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB5.1 Support from manager/supervisor
Valid Cumulative
2 Disagree 15 4.1 4.1 7.0
3 Neutral 65 17.6 17.6 24.6
4 Agree 187 50.5 50.5 75.1
5 Strongly Agree 92 24.9 24.9 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
213
WLB5.2 Support from colleagues
Valid Cumulative
2 Disagree 19 5.1 5.1 6.8
3 Neutral 44 11.9 11.9 18.6
4 Agree 216 58.4 58.4 77.0
5 Strongly Agree 85 23.0 23.0 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB5.3 Support from team members
Valid Cumulative
2 Disagree 9 2.4 2.4 4.3
3 Neutral 54 14.6 14.6 18.9
4 Agree 205 55.4 55.4 74.3
5 Strongly Agree 95 25.7 25.7 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB5.4 Encouragement to use paid and unpaid parental leave
Valid Cumulative
2 Disagree 45 12.2 12.2 15.7
3 Neutral 105 28.4 28.4 44.1
4 Agree 135 36.5 36.5 80.5
5 Strongly Agree 72 19.5 19.5 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB5.5 Seeing other men use work/family policies
Valid Cumulative
2 Disagree 115 31.1 31.1 39.7
3 Neutral 143 38.6 38.6 78.4
4 Agree 60 16.2 16.2 94.6
5 Strongly Agree 20 5.4 5.4 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
214
WLB6.1 Negative attitude of managers
Valid Cumulative
2 Disagree 122 33.0 33.0 49.2
3 Neutral 64 17.3 17.3 66.5
4 Agree 84 22.7 22.7 89.2
5 Strongly Agree 40 10.8 10.8 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB6.2 Negative attitude of colleagues
Valid Cumulative
2 Disagree 136 36.8 36.8 52.2
3 Neutral 67 18.1 18.1 70.3
4 Agree 75 20.3 20.3 90.5
5 Strongly Agree 35 9.5 9.5 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB6.3 Negative attitude of team members
Valid Cumulative
2 Disagree 139 37.6 37.6 53.0
3 Neutral 85 23.0 23.0 75.9
4 Agree 48 13.0 13.0 88.9
5 Strongly Agree 41 11.1 11.1 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB6.4 Technology such as laptops/cell phones
Valid Cumulative
2 Disagree 153 41.4 41.4 57.8
3 Neutral 92 24.9 24.9 82.7
4 Agree 49 13.2 13.2 95.9
5 Strongly Agree 15 4.1 4.1 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
215
WLB6.5 Frequently travelling away from home
Valid Cumulative
2 Disagree 123 33.2 33.2 49.2
3 Neutral 93 25.1 25.1 74.3
4 Agree 79 21.4 21.4 95.7
5 Strongly Agree 16 4.3 4.3 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB7 Does your organization encourage the involvement of your family members
in work- achievement reward functions?
Valid Cumulative
Valid 1 Yes 79 21.4 21.4 21.4
2 No 291 78.6 78.6 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB8 Does your organization have social functions at times suitable for families?
Valid Cumulative
Valid 1 Yes 103 27.8 27.8 27.8
2 No 267 72.2 72.2 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB9 Is there any work life standing committee making recommendations to the
HR in your organization?
Valid Cumulative
Valid 1 Yes 65 17.6 17.6 17.6
2 No 305 82.4 82.4 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
216
WLB10 If yes, how seriously such recommendations are taken by the higher-ups?
(Answer only if response to previous question is Yes)
Valid Cumulative
Valid 1 Seriously 29 7.8 44.6 44.6
2 Very seriously 12 3.2 18.5 63.1
3 Do not know 22 5.9 33.8 96.9
4 Very lightly 2 .5 3.1 100.0
Total 65 17.6 100.0
Total 370 100.0
WLB11.1 Methods used by the management to disseminate its policies on work life
balance to employees? Display on company notice board
Cumulative
Valid 1 Yes 157 42.4 42.4 42.4
2 No 213 57.6 57.6 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB11.2 Up loading on the company website
Cumulative
Valid 1 Yes 210 56.8 56.8 56.8
2 No 160 43.2 43.2 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB11.3 Distribution of leaflets
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent

Valid 1 Yes 59 15.9 15.9 15.9
2 No 311 84.1 84.1 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
217
WLB11.4 Issue of letters to individual employees
Cumulative
Valid 1 Yes 143 38.6 38.6 38.6
2 No 227 61.4 61.4 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB11.5 Intimation to the Dept. Heads

Valid 1 Yes 188 50.8 50.8 50.8
2 No 182 49.2 49.2 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB12 If you are given a chance, would you like to get actively involved in policy
making on work life balance programs?

Valid 1 Yes 261 70.5 70.5 70.5
2 No 109 29.5 29.5 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB13 Do you feel work life balance policy in the organization should be
customized to individual needs?

Valid 1 Yes 282 76.2 76.2 76.2
2 No 88 23.8 23.8 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
218
WLB14 Do you think that if employees have good work-life balance the
organization will be more effective and successful?

Valid 1 Yes 293 79.2 79.2 79.2
2 No 77 20.8 20.8 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB15.1 I am emotionally attached to the organization
Valid Cumulative
2 Disagree 53 14.3 14.3 23.2
3 Neutral 117 31.6 31.6 54.9
4 Agree 103 27.8 27.8 82.7
5 Strongly Agree 64 17.3 17.3 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB15.2 There are no communication barriers for me while communicating with

my bosses
Valid Cumulative
2 Disagree 34 9.2 9.2 17.6
3 Neutral 104 28.1 28.1 45.7
4 Agree 126 34.1 34.1 79.7
5 Strongly Agree 75 20.3 20.3 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB15.3 My organization treats me in a respectful way
Valid Cumulative
2 Disagree 17 4.6 4.6 6.8
3 Neutral 83 22.4 22.4 29.2
4 Agree 173 46.8 46.8 75.9
5 Strongly Agree 89 24.1 24.1 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
219
WLB15.4 I am rewarded periodically for my performance
Valid Cumulative
2 Disagree 41 11.1 11.1 19.7
3 Neutral 116 31.4 31.4 51.1
4 Agree 144 38.9 38.9 90.0
5 Strongly Agree 37 10.0 10.0 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB15.5 The work environment is very friendly in this organization
Valid Cumulative
2 Disagree 17 4.6 4.6 6.8
3 Neutral 67 18.1 18.1 24.9
4 Agree 192 51.9 51.9 76.8
5 Strongly Agree 86 23.2 23.2 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB15.6 I am very much satisfied with the welfare measures provided by the
organisation.
Valid Cumulative
2 Disagree 41 11.1 11.1 18.9
3 Neutral 153 41.4 41.4 60.3
4 Agree 111 30.0 30.0 90.3
5 Strongly Agree 36 9.7 9.7 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
220
WLB15.7 I like to plan my further career in this organization
Valid Cumulative
2 Disagree 28 7.6 7.6 12.2
3 Neutral 124 33.5 33.5 45.7
4 Agree 124 33.5 33.5 79.2
5 Strongly Agree 77 20.8 20.8 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB15.8 This company reasonably accommodates my personal needs
Valid Cumulative
2 Disagree 56 15.1 15.1 19.2
3 Neutral 132 35.7 35.7 54.9
4 Agree 140 37.8 37.8 92.7
5 Strongly Agree 27 7.3 7.3 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB15.9 The work load is not equitably distributed in this company
Valid Cumulative
2 Disagree 112 30.3 30.3 43.5
3 Neutral 95 25.7 25.7 69.2
4 Agree 96 25.9 25.9 95.1
5 Strongly Agree 18 4.9 4.9 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB15.10 The training & development programs organized for employees are not
really beneficial to me for my career growth
Valid Cumulative
2 Disagree 116 31.4 31.4 47.8
3 Neutral 93 25.1 25.1 73.0
4 Agree 78 21.1 21.1 94.1
5 Strongly Agree 22 5.9 5.9 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
221
WLB15.11 I feel I am not fairly compensated for the work I do compared to other
similar organizations
Valid Cumulative
2 Disagree 91 24.6 24.6 39.5
3 Neutral 145 39.2 39.2 78.6
4 Agree 60 16.2 16.2 94.9
5 Strongly Agree 19 5.1 5.1 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB15.12 I often think about seeking employment else where
Valid Cumulative
2 Disagree 93 25.1 25.1 40.3
3 Neutral 166 44.9 44.9 85.1
4 Agree 47 12.7 12.7 97.8
5 Strongly Agree 8 2.2 2.2 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB15.13 I have been approached by many other organizations with tempting

offers
Valid Cumulative
2 Disagree 95 25.7 25.7 44.6
3 Neutral 122 33.0 33.0 77.6
4 Agree 70 18.9 18.9 96.5
5 Strongly Agree 13 3.5 3.5 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
222
WLB15.14 I do not want to suggest this company to any of my friends or relations
Valid Cumulative
2 Disagree 100 27.0 27.1 51.5
3 Neutral 117 31.6 31.7 83.2
4 Agree 52 14.1 14.1 97.3
5 Strongly Agree 10 2.7 2.7 100.0
Total 369 99.7 100.0
Missing System 1 .3
Total 370 100.0
WLB15.15 The rules & regulations of this company are very rigid
Valid Cumulative
2 Disagree 104 28.1 28.1 41.9
3 Neutral 136 36.8 36.8 78.6
4 Agree 61 16.5 16.5 95.1
5 Strongly Agree 18 4.9 4.9 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB15.16 I have strained relations with people I work
Valid Cumulative
2 Disagree 116 31.4 31.4 65.9
3 Neutral 90 24.3 24.3 90.3
4 Agree 26 7.0 7.0 97.3
5 Strongly Agree 10 2.7 2.7 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB16.1 Which one of the following motivates you to continue to work in any
organization? Good Salary
Valid Cumulative
Valid 1 Yes 241 65.1 65.1 65.1
2 No 129 34.9 34.9 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
223
WLB16.2 A conducive work environment
Cumulative
Valid 1 Yes 300 81.1 81.1 81.1
2 No 70 18.9 18.9 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB16.3 Opportunities for career growth
Cumulative
Valid 1 Yes 256 69.2 69.2 69.2
2 No 114 30.8 30.8 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB16.4 Attractive work life initiatives
Cumulative
Valid 1 Yes 227 61.4 61.4 61.4
2 No 143 38.6 38.6 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB16.5 Any other , specify below if yes
Cumulative
Valid 1 Yes 55 14.9 14.9 14.9
2 No 314 84.9 84.9 99.7
4 1 .3 .3 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
224
WLB17 Considering the expectations you had as you joined the organization, do
you think they have been satisfied? (Score)
Valid Cumulative
Valid 1 Not at all satisfied 16 4.3 4.3 4.3
2 28 7.6 7.6 11.9
3 121 32.7 32.7 44.6
4 158 42.7 42.7 87.3
5 Very much satisfied 47 12.7 12.7 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB18 In your opinion what type of organization is the most appealing to stay in
the organization?
Valid Cumulative
Valid 1 A growth orinted
175 47.3 47.3 47.3
compancy
2 A company which
offers flexible work 100 27.0 27.0 74.3
environment
3 A company which
57 15.4 15.4 89.7
offers good salary
4 A reputed company 36 9.7 9.7 99.5
5 Any others 2 .5 .5 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB19 Does your employer make any retention efforts?
Cumulative
Valid 1 Highly
10 2.7 2.7 2.7
Disagree
2 Disagree 54 14.6 14.6 17.3
3 Neutral 118 31.9 31.9 49.2
4 Agree 167 45.1 45.1 94.3
5 Highly Agree 21 5.7 5.7 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
225
WLB20 Do you think that the retention efforts of your employer are effective?
Cumulativ
Frequency Percent Valid Percent e Percent
Valid 1 Highly Disagree 8 2.2 2.2 2.2
2 Disagree 54 14.6 14.6 16.8
3 Neutral 183 49.5 49.5 66.2
4 Agree 105 28.4 28.4 94.6
5 Highly Agree 20 5.4 5.4 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB21.1 If you agree, do the retention efforts of your employer include any of the
following? Exit Interviews
Valid Cumulativ
2 Disagree 60 16.2 16.2 18.6
3 Neutral 89 24.1 24.1 42.7
4 Agree 154 41.6 41.6 84.3
5 Highly Agree 58 15.7 15.7 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB21.2 Flexible &Transparent work environment
Valid Cumulative
2 Disagree 68 18.4 18.4 22.2
3 Neutral 106 28.6 28.6 50.8
4 Agree 132 35.7 35.7 86.5
5 Highly Agree 50 13.5 13.5 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
226
WLB21.3 Competitive reward schemes
Valid Cumulative
2 Disagree 85 23.0 23.0 27.6
3 Neutral 89 24.1 24.1 51.6
4 Agree 130 35.1 35.1 86.8
5 Highly Agree 49 13.2 13.2 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB21.4 Innovative HR programs
Valid Cumulative
2 Disagree 89 24.1 24.1 33.1
3 Neutral 102 27.6 27.6 60.7
4 Agree 100 27.0 27.1 87.8
5 Highly Agree 45 12.2 12.2 100.0
Total 369 99.7 100.0
Missing System 1 .3
Total 370 100.0
WLB21.5 Stress on training and development
Valid Cumulative
Valid 1 Highly
25 6.8 6.8 6.8
Disagree
2 Disagree 77 20.8 20.8 27.6
3 Neutral 100 27.0 27.0 54.6
4 Agree 131 35.4 35.4 90.0
5 Highly Agree 37 10.0 10.0 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
227
WLB21.6 Any other, specify below
Valid Cumulative
Valid 1 Highly
19 5.1 5.1 5.1
Disagree
2 Disagree 73 19.7 19.7 24.9
3 Neutral 93 25.1 25.1 50.0
4 Agree 133 35.9 35.9 85.9
5 Highly Agree 52 14.1 14.1 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB22.1 Rate following factors on a point scale of 1 to 5 which are responsible for
you not to get tempted by lucrative job offers from others? Flexible work
environment
Cumulative
Valid 1 Least 26 7.0 7.0 7.0
2 13 3.5 3.5 10.5
3 95 25.7 25.7 36.2
4 127 34.3 34.3 70.5
5 Most 109 29.5 29.5 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB22.2 Monetary compensation
Cumulative
Valid 1 Least 36 9.7 9.7 9.7
2 38 10.3 10.3 20.0
3 111 30.0 30.0 50.0
4 133 35.9 35.9 85.9
5 Most 52 14.1 14.1 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
228
WLB22.3 Professional Management
Cumulative
Valid 1 Least 28 7.6 7.6 7.6
2 34 9.2 9.2 16.8
3 96 25.9 25.9 42.7
4 143 38.6 38.6 81.4
5 Most 69 18.6 18.6 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB22.4 Good relations with the immediate boss
Valid Cumulative
Valid 1 Least 21 5.7 5.7 5.7
2 32 8.6 8.6 14.3
3 79 21.4 21.4 35.7
4 128 34.6 34.6 70.3
5 Most 110 29.7 29.7 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
WLB22.5 Personal reasons
Valid Cumulative
Valid 1 Least 37 10.0 10.0 10.0
2 51 13.8 13.8 23.8
3 109 29.5 29.5 53.2
4 104 28.1 28.1 81.4
5 Most 69 18.6 18.6 100.0
Total 370 100.0 100.0
229
Annexure III
Work Life Balance – Employee Perceptions
Do you think that if employees have good work-life balance the organization will be more effective and successful? * Sex
Sex Total
Male Female
Do you think that if employees have good work-life balance Yes Count 187 106 293
the organization will be more effective and successful? % within Sex 77.0% 83.5% 79.2%
No Count 56 21 77
% within Sex 23.0% 16.5% 20.8%
% within Sex 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
Chi-Square Tests
Asymp. Sig. (2- Exact Sig. (2- Exact Sig. (1-

Value df sided) sided) sided)
230
Do you feel work life balance policy in the organization should be customized to individual needs? * Sex
Sex Total
Male Female
Do you feel work life balance policy in Yes Count 176 106 282
the organization should be customized to % within Sex 72.4% 83.5% 76.2%
individual needs? No Count 67 21 88
% within Sex 27.6% 16.5% 23.8%
% within Sex 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
Chi-Square Tests
Value df Asymp. Sig. (2-sided) Exact Sig. (2-sided) Exact Sig. (1-sided)
231
Frequently travelling away from home * Sex
Sex Total
Male Female
Frequently travelling away from Strongly Disagree Count 36 23 59
home % within Sex 14.8% 18.1% 15.9%
Disagree Count 83 40 123
% within Sex 34.2% 31.5% 33.2%
Neutral Count 61 32 93
% within Sex 25.1% 25.2% 25.1%
Agree Count 54 25 79
% within Sex 22.2% 19.7% 21.4%
Strongly Agree Count 9 7 16
% within Sex 3.7% 5.5% 4.3%
% within Sex 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
Chi-Square Tests

a 0 cells (.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 5.49.
232
Technology such as laptops/cell phones * Sex
Sex Total
Male Female
Technology such as Strongly Disagree Count 38 23 61
laptops/cell phones % within Sex 15.6% 18.1% 16.5%
% within Sex 40.7% 42.5% 41.4%
% within Sex 25.5% 23.6% 24.9%
% within Sex 14.0% 11.8% 13.2%
% within Sex 4.1% 3.9% 4.1%
% within Sex 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
Chi-Square Tests

Pearson Chi-Square .799(a) 4 .939
233
Do you feel work life balance policy in the organization should be customized to individual needs? * Designation
Designation Total
Executive Manager
Do you feel work life balance policy in Yes Count 98 184 282
the organization should be customized to % within Designation 75.4% 76.7% 76.2%
individual needs? No Count 32 56 88
Chi-Square Tests
Asymp. Sig. (2-

Value df sided) Exact Sig. (2-sided) Exact Sig. (1-sided)
234
Do you think that if employees have good work-life balance the organization will be more effective and successful? * Designation
Designation Total
Executive Manager
Do you think that if employees have Yes Count 104 189 293
good work-life balance the % within Designation 80.0% 78.8% 79.2%
organization will be more effective No Count 26 51 77
and successful? % within Designation 20.0% 21.3% 20.8%
Chi-Square Tests
Value df Asymp. Sig. (2-sided) Exact Sig. (2-sided) Exact Sig. (1-sided)
235
Frequently travelling away from home * Designation
Designation Total
Executive Manager
Frequently travelling Strongly Disagree Count 25 34 59
away from home % within Designation 19.2% 14.2% 15.9%
Chi-Square Tests

236
Technology such as laptops/cell phones * Designation
Designation Total
Executive Manager
Technology such as Strongly Disagree Count 29 32 61
laptops/cell phones % within Designation 22.3% 13.3% 16.5%
Chi-Square Tests

Linear-by-Linear
.287 1 .592
Association
237
Organization * Technology such as laptops/cell phones * Sex
Sex Technology such as laptops/cell phones Total

Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Agree
Male Cognizant Count 6 16 2 2 1 27
% within Organization 22.2% 59.3% 7.4% 7.4% 3.7% 100.0%
Respondez Count 4 9 11 1 2 27
Organization
Deloit Count 0 4 10 7 1 22
% within Organization .0% 18.2% 45.5% 31.8% 4.5% 100.0%
IIC Count 21 60 30 17 1 129
% within Organization 16.3% 46.5% 23.3% 13.2% .8% 100.0%
On-line Count 7 10 9 7 5 38
(Micosemi) % within Organization 18.4% 26.3% 23.7% 18.4% 13.2% 100.0%
Total Count 38 99 62 34 10 243
Female Cognizant Count 5 18 2 3 2 30
Organization
% within Organization .0% 38.9% 61.1% .0% .0% 100.0%
IIC Count 8 19 7 7 1 42
On-line Count 6 3 3 3 2 17
(Micosemi) % within Organization 35.3% 17.6% 17.6% 17.6% 11.8% 100.0%
Total Count 23 54 30 15 5 127
238
Chi-Square Tests
Sex Value df Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)
Male Pearson Chi-Square 42.711(a) 16 .000
Female Pearson Chi-Square 36.285(b) 16 .003
a 10 cells (40.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .91.
239
Organization * Frequently travelling away from home * Sex
Sex Frequently travelling away from home Total

Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Agree
Male Cognizant Count 3 18 3 0 3 27
% within Organization 11.1% 66.7% 11.1% .0% 11.1% 100.0%
Organization
% within Organization .0% 4.5% 9.1% 86.4% .0% 100.0%
IIC Count 21 48 34 25 1 129
On-line (Micosemi) Count 9 9 10 6 4 38
Total Count 36 83 61 54 9 243
Female Cognizant Count 3 15 3 6 3 30
Organization
% within Organization .0% .0% 50.0% 50.0% .0% 100.0%
IIC Count 11 14 11 6 0 42
On-line (Micosemi) Count 6 3 4 2 2 17
Total Count 23 40 32 25 7 127
240
Chi-Square Tests
a 9 cells (36.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .81.
b 13 cells (52.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .94.
241
Organization * Do you feel work life balance policy in the organization should be customized to individual needs? * Sex
Do you feel work life balance

policy in the organization
should be customized to
Sex individual needs? Total
Yes No
Male Cognizant Count 22 5 27
Organization
Deloit Count 17 5 22
IIC Count 85 44 129
On-line (Micosemi) Count 32 6 38
Female Cognizant Count 29 1 30
Organization
IIC Count 30 12 42
On-line (Micosemi) Count 16 1 17
242
Chi-Square Tests
243
Organization * Do you think that if employees have good work-life balance the organization will be more effective and successful? *
Sex
Do you think that if employees have

good work-life balance the organization
Sex will be more effective and successful? Total
Yes No
Male Cognizant Count 25 2 27
Organization
IIC Count 88 41 129
On-line Count
38 0 38
(Micosemi)
% within Organization 100.0% .0% 100.0%
Female Cognizant Count 28 2 30
Organization
IIC Count 31 11 42
On-line Count
17 0 17
(Micosemi)
244
Chi-Square Tests
b 4 cells (40.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 2.81.
245
Flexible starting times * Designation
Designation Total
Executive Manager
Flexible Strongly Disagree Count
11 6 17
starting times
Chi-Square Tests

b 4 cells (40.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 2.8
246
Annexure IV
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Study of Human Resource Management Practices with Specific

Reference to Work Life Balance Initiatives and Its Impact on

Employee Retention in Select Information Technology Sector Units

Thesis Submitted to Padmashree Dr. D. Y. Patil University

(Enrollment No. DYP-PhD 09006)

DIRECTOR, DEAN & HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT

PADMASHREE DR. D.Y. PATIL UNIVERSITY

Reference to Work Life Balance Initiatives and Its Impact on

Employee Retention in Select Information Technology Sector Units

on Employee Retention in Select Information Technology Sector Units” submitted

for the award of Doctor of Philosophy in Business Management at the Padmashree

Dr.D.Y.Patil, University Department of Business Management is my original work and

fellowship or any other similar titles.

Date: September 2012

Signature of the Signature of the Signature of the

Guide Head of the Dept. Student

on Employee Retention in Select Information Technology Sector Units” submitted

Philosophy in Business Management at the Padmashree Dr. D.Y.Patil University,

Department of Business Management in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the

other similar title of any University or Institution.

Date: September 2012

Signature of the Signature of the

Head of the Dept. Guide

I thank Padmashree Dr. D.Y.Patil University, Department of Business Management for

giving me the opportunity to carry out the research program.

I gratefully acknowledge the inspiration, guidance and valuable suggestions received

the day. I have immensely benefited doing Ph.D under him.

that there is door open to researchers from the industry.

I would like to acknowledge the unconditional support extended by my family.

Section Table Table Description Page

3.4.3 1 Sample distribution 60

7.1 2 Reliability Statistics - WLB 132

7.3 6 Flexible working hours- Sex 138

7.3 7 Flexi Working hours: Chi-Square Tests 139

7.3 8 Designation- Flexible hours 139

7.3 9 Designation- Flexible hours: Chi-Square Tests 140

7.3 10 Flexible hours in general – Organization 141

7.3 11 Flexible hours Organisation: Chi-Square Tests 141

7.3 12 Health programs – Sex 142

7.3 13 Health programs: Chi-Square Tests 142

7.3 14 Designation Health programs 143

7.3 15 Health programs: Chi-Square Tests 143

7.3 16 Organization Health programs 144

7.3 17 Chi-Square Tests- Organization 144

7.3 18 Career break / sabbatical - Sex 145

7.3 19 Career break / sabbatical: Chi-Square Tests 145

7.3 20 Career break / sabbatical: Designation 146

7.3 21 Career break / sabbatical: Designation: Chi-Square Tests 146

7.3 22 Career break / sabbatical - Organization 147

7.3 23 Sabbaticals – Organization %: Chi-Square Tests 148

7.3 24 Transportation – Sex 148

7.3 25 Transportation: Chi-Square Tests 149

7.3 26 Transportation – Designation 150

7.3 27 Transportation – Designation: Chi-Square Tests 150

7.3 28 Organization Transportation 151

7.3 29 Organization Transportation: Chi-Square Tests 151

7.3 30 Job sharing – Sex 152

7.3 31 Job sharing: Chi-Square Tests 152

7.3 32 Job sharing – Designation 153

7.3 33 Job sharing – Designation: Chi-Square Tests 153

7.3 34 Job sharing – Organization 154

7.3 35 Job sharing – Organization: Chi-Square Tests 154

7.4 36 Work Life Balance scores (%) Designation 156