International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume VI, Issue I, January 2022 | ISSN 2454–6186

Review of Literature on Work – Life Balance

W M I Udayanganie
Department of Interdisciplinary Studies, Faculty of Engineering, University of Ruhuna,
Sri Lanka

Abstract:-Work-life balance is an increasingly integral concern for both individuals and corporations. An individual has been attempting to achieve balance between his personal and professional lives for decades. At every stage, the organization plays a vital role in ensuring that they have all of the resources they required support them by putting in place innovative policies and initiatives that contribute to a happier life. Many scholars have been attempting to investigate the aspects that influence work-life balance for years’ employees and employers are both subject to policies. The literature review on Work-Life Balance has been structured in light of its growing popularity, with the main goal of achieving societal prosperity and the realization of meaningful lifestyles for its employees by supporting each employee’s growth and the firms’ continued development. Employee performance, employee satisfaction, employee commitment, work stress and employee retention were all discovered in the literature. Through a study of current literature, this report gave an overview of several facets of work-life balance. All these factors are globally accepted and common to any society of employees. In this Covid – 19 pandemics the topic is well discussed in different specialize areas. Various journals, books, articles, doctorate theses, working papers, reports, periodicals, internet sites, newspapers, and other sources were referred to, and they were listed as references at the conclusion.
Keyword: Work-life Balance, Employee Performance, Employee Satisfaction, Employee Commitment, Work Stress and Employee Retention

I.INTRODUCTION

Work balance is founded on the idea that professional work and personal life should be seen as compatible rather than confrontational in terms of priority. The employer has taken the conceptualized two-way process method which entails taking into account their requirements. (Lewis, 2000) Work-life balance is important argument based on several characteristics such as demographics, societal tendencies, and economic aims sharing of childcare obligations, major career responsibilities, and personal responsibilities and interests. The state fluctuates according to the change in lifestyle and upbringing an individual’s priorities. The purpose of the article was to study the available literature on work-life balance and other variables that included under work-life balance. Mainly included Performance of employees, job satisfaction of employees, employee commitment, work stress and employee retention. Work-life balance has been conceived and considered in a rather narrow sense, as it has been primarily viewed to pertain to individuals, particularly women, who are in corporate employment and have family obligations (Parasuraman and Simmers, 2001; Hardy and Adnett, 2002; Felstead et al., 2002, p. 57). However, it is no longer only a women’s concern; men are also seeking family-friendly regulations. According to a survey conducted in the United Kingdom, the ratio of lengthy working hours of employed males is larger than that of employed women, i.e. they work more than 48 hours per week (Cully et al,1999). As a result, men may have a poorer work-life balance than their female peers (Parasuraman and Simmers, 2001)

II. LITERATURE REVIEW

Work-life balance

There is no agreement on the definition of work-life balance, as numerous authors have described it differently. According to Barrera (2007), the notion is described as employers engaging constructively with their workers to put in place arrangements that take into consideration the demands of the business as well as the non-work facets of employees’ life. This concept clearly places the burden of attaining balance on both the employer and the employee. However, other writers describe it in such a way that the duty for establishing balance is put on the employee, e.g. Kirchmeyer (2000:80) described it as “achieving rewarding experiences across all life domains, which needs human resources such as energy, time, and commitment to be properly dispersed across domains.” Greenhaus, Collins, and Shaw (2003:513) describe it as “the degree to which an individual is involved in and equally satisfied with his or her professional role and family responsibilities.”Work-life balance has recently been a major concern for employee well-being. Organizations strive to maximize profit and, as a result, place a premium on the production process. Organizations must focus on the total management system’s effectiveness in order to optimize profits in the long run. In this perspective, human resources are the most important of all the resources on which the organization must focus. Employee well-being and happiness are the other critical components on which an enterprise’s growth is dependent. The notion of work-life balance has recently gained popularity. This might be related to the rising complexity of labor, the desire for more specialization, the drive for more efficiency and productivity, the inclusion of women in the service industry, and increased market rivalry.
According to Haar, Russo, Sune, and Ollier-Malaterre (2014), it is an individual’s judgment of how well he balances numerous life roles. All of these definitions show that WLB is a combination of work and family, and many researchers have demonstrated that the idea of work encompasses the assignment of formal duties to workers in order to achieve goals (e.g. Helmle, Botero, &Seibold2014; Semlali&Hassi,2016). and life is demonstrated to comprise a variety of various tasks that are not usually associated with work, such as domestic chores and childcare, in which case work-life balance is achieved when there is existing harmony between work and life. Barrera (2007)’s definition will be used for the purposes of this study. Employee work-life balance management has been identified as a main emphasis for firms to address in order to find solutions to assist conserve human resources (Au & Ahmed, 2014). Human access, which is critical to organizational performance, must be harnessed and catered for in order to increase organizational well-being. Human resource preservation has become a crucial technique in today’s firms as a result of the business environment’s growing competitiveness. Work-life balance, on the other hand, includes a balance between two distinct roles that a person plays, such as work and family duties, and the successful management of both leads to increased satisfaction and performance (Shaffer, Reiche, Dimitrova, Lazarova, Chen, Westman, &Wurtz, 2016). On the other hand, it is important to underline that the benefits of work-life balance may improve both the life quality of employees and the performance of the business. As a result, it is also important to note that, while there appear to be limitless explanations for work-life balance, all appear to agree that work entails a group of formal tasks completed by an individual or group while occupying a given job position and that life entails a group of activities not associated with work such as household chores, care of elders, and care of chi (Anwar,Hansu, &Janjua, 2013). Work-life balance refers to a person’s ability, regardless of age or gender, to successfully integrate work and domestic responsibilities. Thus, this study covers three aspects of work-life balance:

Employee performance

Employee performance is critical in a company since it is a significant variable in accomplishing organizational goals and objectives. As a result, corporations investigate numerous methods of motivating their staff. Every policy in a company should be aimed at boosting employee performance. This is due to the fact that in order for an organization to stay competitive, it must enhance and monitor the performance of its staff; failing to do so exposes the business to a number of obstacles that impede organizational success (Obiageli, Uzochukwu and Ngozi, 2015). Various writers have investigated the link that exists between work-life balance and employee performance. A survey of 732 organizations in Germany, France, the United States, and the United Kingdom discovered that the concepts of work-life balance were related to employee performance. The study, however, revealed a tension between work-life practices and good performance inside organizations (White, Hill, McGovern, Mills, and Smeaton, 2003). According to Lee and Bruvold (2003), the perceived care and value connected to employees creates a casual chain of procedures that activates employee performance from the desired Human Resource Practices to real practice.