1.

1 INTRODUCTION

Meaning

Maintaining a balance between work life and personal life is called Work
Life Balance. The meaning of work/life balance has chameleon
characteristics. It means different things to different groups, and the
meaning often depends on the context of the conversation and the
speaker's viewpoint. The following are working definitions of terms used
regarding work/life balance; some definitions overlap and some are
continuing to evolve.

Work/family

It is a term more frequently used in the past than today. The current trend
is to use titles that include the phrase work/life, giving a broader work/life
connotation or labelling referring to specific areas of support (e.g., quality
of life, flexible work options, life balance, etc.)

Work/family conflict

Work/family conflict is a push and pulls between work and family

responsibilities.

Work/life balance from the employee viewpoint

It is a dilemma of managing work obligations and personal/family

responsibilities.

Work/life balance from the employer viewpoint

Work/life is the challenge of creating a supportive company culture where

employees can focus on their jobs while at work.

Family-friendly benefits

The benefits that offer employees the latitude to address their personal
and family commitments, while at the same time not compromising their
work responsibilities.

Work/life programs

This programs (often financial or time-related) established by an

employer that offer employees options to address work and personal
responsibilities.

Work/life initiatives
This policies and procedures established by an organization with the goal
to enable employees to get their jobs done and at the same time provide
flexibility to handle personal/family concerns.

Work/family culture

It is the extent to which an organization's culture acknowledges and

respects the family responsibilities and obligations of its employees and
encourages management and employees to work together to meet their
personal and work needs.

Indicators

When you have balance you are:

Satisfied with your work and home lives.

Able to fulfill your responsibilities without guilt or regret.
Healthy physically and emotionally.
In control of your life

Loss of balance may cause you to

Miss work more often and not be as productive at work.

Your involvement in the community may go down.

Changing & Increasing work pressures

A decade back, employees used to have fixed working hours or rather a 9

to 5 job from Monday to Friday. The boundary between the work and home
has disappeared with time. But with globalization and people working
across countries, the concept of fixed working hours is fading away.
Instead of just 7 or 8 a day, people are spending as much as12-16 hours
every day in office. The technological blessings like e-mail, text messaging
and cell phones which were thought of as tools to connect them to their
work being away from their workplace, have actually integrated their
personal and professional lives. Now professionals find themselves
working even when they are on vacations. The ever-increasing working
hours leave the individuals with less time for themselves and to pursue his
hobbies or leisure activities. This hinders the growth of the person as an
individual in terms of his personal and spiritual growth. Professionals
working in the BPO industry, doctors and nurses and especially IT
professionals are the few examples who are facing the brunt of the hazard
constantly.
Reasons of imbalance:

There are various reasons for this imbalance and conflicts in the life of an
employee. From individual career ambitions to pressure to cope up with
family or work, the reasons can be situation and individual specific. The
speed of advancement of information technology, the increasing
competition in the talent supply market has led to a "performance-driven"
culture creating pressures and expectations to performance more and
better every time. Also, many a times, many people find it difficult to say
"NO" to others especially their superiors. They usually end up over
burdening themselves with work. The increasing responsibilities on the
personal front with age can also create stress on personal and
professional fronts. There was a time when employees showed up for work
Monday through Friday and worked eight- to nine-hour days. The
boundaries between work and home were fairly clear then. But the world
has changed and, unfortunately, the boundaries have blurred for many
workers. The main reasons are:

Global economy

As more skilled workers enter the global labour market and companies
outsource or move more jobs to reduce labour costs, people feel
pressured to work longer and produce more just to protect their jobs.

International business

Work continues around the world 24 hours a day for some people. If you
work in an international organization, you might be on call around the
clock for trouble shooting or consulting.

Advanced communication technology

Many people now have the ability to work anywhere from their home,
from their car and even on vacation. And some managers expect this.

Longer hours
Employers commonly ask employees to work longer hours than they're
scheduled. Often, overtime is mandatory. If you hope to move up the
career ladder, you may find yourself regularly working more than 40 hours
a week to achieve and exceed expectations.

Changes in family roles

Todays married worker is typically part of a dual career couple, which

makes it difficult to find time to meet commitments to family, friends and
community.

Effects

Constant struggle and effort to maintain a balance between the work and
personal life can have serious implications on the life of an individual.
According to a survey, 81percent of the respondents have admitted that
their jobs are affecting and creating stress in their personal lives. The
pressures of the work or personal life can lead to stress. According to
studies, it has been found to that such situation can take a toll on the
person's health both physiologically and psychologically. Heart ailments,
cardiovascular problems, sleep disorders, depression, irritability,
jumpiness, insecurity, poor concentration and even nervous breakdowns
are becoming common among the victims of such imbalance. Pressure,
stress or tension in work life can lead to bad social life and vice versa.

Solutions

Many experts have given different solutions to this problem

1. Time management is one of the best solutions which can help to

reduce the0imbalance between the personal and the work life of the
employees. Prioritizing the tasks and planning the activities can help
to take out some free time which can be utilized for other purposes.
2. Taking some time out for hobbies and leisure activities, spending
time with loved ones can help to beat the stress.
3. Learn to say "no" if required.
4. Sharing the responsibilities will help and don't commit for something
which is practically impossible.
5. Utilizing the flexible working hours option of the organizations to get
some free time.
2.1 REVIEW OF LITERATURE

The Work-Life Balance Concept

The importance of managing an employees WLB has increased markedly

over the past 20 years (De Bruin & Dupuis,2004). There have been
changes in several areas that directly impact on this issue.

Firstly, jobs have become more complex and employees have been put
under pressure to produce quality results in shorter time frames and with
fewer resources (Hosie, Forster & Servatos, 2004) that has resulted in a
redefinition of normal working hours

Secondly, the demographic make-up of the labour force (i.e. gender,

ethnicity, dual career couples, religion, multi-generational workplaces etc),
and

Thirdly the very nature of the employment contract has necessitated that
organisations effectively manage their employees wellbeing, stress and
job satisfaction (Greenhaus & Powell,2006).Organisational interest in the
management of the WLB derives from evidence thatthere is little doubt
any more that there is a clear connection between the way people are
managed and organisational performance (Purcell, 2002:1), and that with
the onset of predicted skill-shortages, the ability to offer effective WLB
employment opportunities may become a source of competitive
advantage.

Ideally, the WLB concept requires organisations to effectively integrate

employees work and non-work roles such that levels of multiple-
role conflict, and the associated stress and job-dissatisfaction, are
minimised or avoided (De Bruin & Dupuis, 2004; Greenblatt,2002). In
attempts to achieve a WLB, however, western organisations have tended
to adopt a limited set of policies such as on-site child-care facilities, on-
site gymnasiums, telecommuting opportunities, and even on-site sleeping
quarters for the employee and their family (Hacker & Doolen, 2003;
Hyman & Summers, 2004). Each has attempted to increase the flexibility
by which employees can enact their work-roles whilst simultaneously
enabling them to enact their family-based roles to the minimum extent
necessary.

QUALITY OF WORK LIFE IN FOURRTS, CHENNAI: AN OUTLOOK

FROM

JEROME M.ROSOWS PERCEPTION (2008) by Prema Manoharan, 2010

The QWL is one of the aspects useful to retain resources. This approach
considers people as assets to the organization rather than as costs and
motivates people by satisfying not only their economic needs but
also their social and psychological ones.

Quality of work life focuses on all aspects of workers life and the
satisfaction of the workforce in an organization. The definition of Jerome M
Rosow, President of the Work in American Institute, about QWL is
considered for the study. The identified seven critical factors which will
affect the quality of work life-pay, employee benefits, job security,
alternative work schedules, Occupational stress, participation and
democracy in the workplace are studied. Good health is the primary goal
of the society and this study was done by researcher to find out whether a
company in health care industry takes care of its employees too. The
researcher opted a descriptive study done among employees of FOURTTS,
a firm in Pharmaceutical industry.

Questionnaires were used to collect the primary data and the statistical
tools use dare percentage analysis, chi-square test.The sample size and
the time limitation were the main constraints.
 EMPLOYEES MIRRORING ON QUALITY OF WORK LIFE- AN
EMPIRICALEVALUATION (2010)- by J.ARTHI & DR.KIRUPA,
PRIYADARSHINI. M

In this paper researcher through light on Quality of work life (QWL) that
has increasingly gained recognition, as employees want to feel respected
at work for what they do and who they are. Today's business climate is
increasingly characterized by rapid change and Fierce competition.
Organizations must adapt to this environment if they are to survive and
prosper.

Proactive managers and human resource departments respond to this

challenge by finding new ways to improve productivity. As a goal, QWL
aims to improve organizational effectiveness through the creation of more
challenging, satisfying and effective jobs and work environments.

Here researcher projects the ideas from the research conducted in a

selected organization

and the consolidation of results reveal the major influential factors of

QWL.

They also gave a suggestive model to achieve Favourable QWL

environment in any organisation.

A WAY OF LIFE: JOB STRESS AND TURNOVER INTENTION (2008) -by

R.T.NIRMAL KUMAR, S.DEEPA and M.KEERTHIGA

In this paper the researcher focuses on the job stress. According to him,
man's life today faces all sorts of challenges, obstacles that hamper
normal functioning and most of the time it is too hard to handle. In a nut
shell, stress is ubiquitous these days, becoming an increasingly global
phenomenon affecting all countries, all professions and all categories of
workers, families and society in general. It is a physical and mental
response to everyday demands, particularly those associated with
change.

27 Stress is the change that drives the worker from normal psychological
and physical condition (Behr and Newman, 1978).Stress takes heavy
toll of the persons health and his capacity to adjust with others. They
state about the few years evidence has accumulated from around the
world to show that the most Common cause of destructive ill health is
stress at work. As a result of which, an individual faces many
psychological as well as psychosomatic disorders. A stressful workplace is
rarely a productive one. Therefore the researcher says that employers
must develop stress management key to retain the existing employees in
the workplace. As it, become very important for organizations to retain
their employees, in today's competitive environment. This research helps
to understand the relationship between job stress, Personality
Characteristics and intent to leave employment, which aid administrators
seeking to attract and retain employees.

QUALITY OF WORK LIFE IN TODAYS ERA -by DR. A. ARUMUGAM & K.

SIVAGAMA SHUNMUGA SUNDARI(2009)

Here the researcher discusses about Quality of work life (QWL) denotes all
the organizational inputs which aims at the employee's satisfaction and
enhancing organizational effectiveness. It is referred to as favourable or
unfavourable of the job environment for people. Many early QWL
efforts focus on job enrichment. Researcher states that today QWL gives
much concern about decent wages, convenient working hours, conducive
working conditions etc. In a deeper sense, QWL refers to the quality life of
individuals in their working organizations. QWL provides for the balanced
relationship among work and non-work and family aspects of life. In this
paper the researcher discusses several notable factors that influence QWL
are adequate & fair compensation, safety and healthy working conditions,
opportunity to use & develop human capabilities, opportunities for career
growth etc. This study was carried out to find out the evolution of QWL
and some ameliorative criteria for measuring QWL. It is concluded that
there is vast change in QWL and to find out the latest changes in QWL.