Contents
1. Introduction
Background and general overview of
Research Problem
This
project addresses the issue of work-life balance of employees. Both men and
women reported experiencing work life imbalance. Organizational efforts at
providing a supportive work environment are appreciated as they go a long way
towards enhancing work-life balance. In the post liberalization context, Indian
organizations are trying to enable work life balance through initiatives
including flex times, part time work, provision of child care facilities. These
initiatives are quite similar to those that are provided in other countries. No
doubt, this is a promising trend. Yet, the respondents in this sample have
reported their inability to balance work and home. In the light of this
observation, the thesis suggests the need to improve work life balance
practices to enable employees to balance their lives. This will ensure a
congenial work place for employees and make work more meaningful to them.
Mumbai,
the most booming metropolis in India is seeing a sea change in its values and
beliefs. This city is currently booming with employment opportunities mostly in
the service sectors, more particularly in the it and bpo, offering jobs equally
to men and women (Pradhan and Abraham 2005; Varma and Sasikumar 2004). The
working groups are predominantly youngsters, but due to the in-creased job
opportunities people in middle age are also shifting into these jobs
(Sachitanand et al. 2007). These jobs often come with affair share of problems,
such as work pressure, extended working times, over arching goals, non
supportive work environments etc (Upadhya and Vasavi 2006). Consequently,
employees report work life pressures.
The
current study attempts to ascertain gender differences, if any, on the work
life balance issues and is directed at narrowing the existing research gap in
this context. Surprisingly, the literature review did not reveal any study of
this nature in India. Results of the study may be useful to organizations
designing gender specific measures address work life imbalance, as expectations
and coping styles appear to be different across genders (Baick and Drew 2006;
Parker2007).
The
recent past is a witness to changes in work schedules. A larger part of the IT
sector is hence moving from a standard eight-hour a day to operating twenty
four hours a day for seven days of the week (Bharat 2008). Many employees need
to work on Saturdays and Sundays too. Moreover, there is a changing pattern in
the working hours which is quite different from the standard one, which
normally operates from 9 am to 5 pm (Bharat 2009). While some employees work in
the standard time some others need to be available for work that normally
starts early in the evening and continues well through the night. Sometimes
they need to even work beyond the normal eight hours (Rai 2009).
Increasing
workloads have pressurized employees to demonstrate their commitment to work in
more obvious ways (Ishaya and Ay-man 2008). Consequently, a larger part of them
have tended to be present at their work place for longer periods of time,
thereby reducing the time for which they are available at home. The internet
and mobile phones have made it possible for the organizations to keep in
constant touch with the employees both during the day and at night (Morgan
2003). This has further intensified the work demand son employees.
Consequently, there are growing reports of stress and work imbalance (Bhagwagar
2009).
To
a large extent in the IT sector, the employee is expected to be engaged on the
job almost at all times. So the traditional distinctions between work-life and
family-life have disappeared. Even during selection of employees for an
organization, emphasis is placed on the attitudes the person exhibits, more
particularly, whether the employee is flexible enough to be available for work
at any time (Yasbek2004).
Simultaneously,
family life is also becoming more complex. The extended family, even in India,
is slowly disappearing (Patel 2005).
Small
nuclear families have come to stay, where both the spouses goto work. In
addition, there are an increasing number of single parent households due to
increase in divorces (Amato et al. 2003). Although this problem is not as
serious in India as in the West, yet, it could be-come a serious issue sometime
in the future. Participation by women in employment continues to grow since the
past decade. In spite of more women going out to work, there has been little
change in terms of household responsibilities (Singh 2004). Women continue to
undertake the majority share of domestic chores, and child rearing.
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