Achieving Work-Life Balance: Consequences And Steps To Restore Balance, An Essay.

Task

You are required to write an essay on one of the following four topics.

• The organisational consequences of work-life balance have become an important issue for organisations today. It is believed that balancing a successful career with a personal/family life can be challenging and impact on an individual’s satisfaction in his/her work. Discuss these statements.

• In recent decades, increasing changes in the content and organisation of work have resulted in an intensification of work, which is regarded as a cause of stress. What are the effects of this job stress, in particular, on an employee’s wellbeing and job satisfaction? And how can these effects be prevented?

• Much attention has been paid to the belief that working in groups will yield greater productivity than individuals working alone. The increasingly global nature of organizations has made groups comprised of individuals from different cultural backgrounds commonplace. Thus employees are being confronted with co-workers of diverse cultural and socio-demographic backgrounds. Discuss the impact of this phenomenon on effort levels of group members and the implications for organizations.

• Critically evaluate the use of key motivational theories in increasing employee engagement. In your answer, use examples to support your arguments and consider the practical application of the theories relative to improving employee engagement within the organisation.

Importance of Work-Life Balance

Work-life balance is the most important part of an individual’s life as it helps an individual to align is personal and professional goals in the effective manner.  The work-life balance if manage effectively could led to high level of satisfaction among the individuals. In today’s world of busy life, it has become highly difficult to manage the work and home in the best manner (Anacleto, 2020). Huge amount of the conflicts arise when an individual’s has to be available in both the areas at the same time. Further , the growing competency in the professional world where an individual’s has to answer the call of duty even beyond the normal working hours become quite tiring leading to the state of chaos in the individuals life. The increasing pressure of the professional life and never –ending responsibilities of a personal life affects the productivity of an individual’s finally leading to the situation of complete chaos. Further, due to the increasing cost of living both of the partners have to work to achieve the good financial balance in life. Besides the reason for achieving the financial balance, most partners want to work because to create their own space for freedom.  It has become essential to achieve the goals of the professional life and personal life that can only happen by the interference of the organization and management skills of the people in the best manner possible. The following essay will be discussing about the consequences of achieving the work –life balance so that it can be achieved in the best manner.

In today’s world, people have become more focused on their professional life, as they want more finances to manage their things. Most of them want to sustain their professional life as they believe that it grants them freedom for achieving the goals. According to Anacleto, most of the people want to achieve the work-life balance as it grants them good amount of peace and satisfaction (Anacleto, 2020). According to research, the work life balance helped to bring the goof level of satisfaction among the people leading to the achievement of the goals (Anderson M. , 2017).  Due to the globalization and digitization, there is increasing pressure on the individuals to be available for the duty 24 hours when required. Such pressure creates misbalance in their professional and personal life making them less productive and energetic to do the chores in the best possible manner. According to Anderson K. S,  Around 85 percentage of the people working in corporate complain of their inability manage their work and personal life in the best possible manner (Anderson K. S., 2017). Most of the employees blame o the inefficiency of the organization to achieve the same in the best possible manner.  Various negative consequences come up with the mismanagement of work and life balance that include lesser productivity, lack of satisfaction, increased pressure or stress, and affected relationship.  One of the most prominent negative consequences is the decreased productivity. As individual who gets overworked, either in their professional life or in the personal life have decreased sense of motivation to achieve to get the things done in the best manner. The employees get mentally and physically exhorted thus making them achieve less productive in their work to get the things done. According to Antonioli , never- ending responsibilities of the personal life and undue pressure of the professional life makes them mentally and physically exhausted to point where they lack the sense of motivation to work in the productive manner (Antonioli, 2017).  The loop of less productivity continues if any  positive intervention is not installed in between to reverse the cycle of lack of motivation, the other negative consequences  of not achieving the work-life balance is increased physical and mental stress.

Negative Consequences of Mismanaging Work-Life Balance

The increased pressure of the professional life where the employees have to achieve the target results in the stipulated time and which have to be managed with the personal life leads to the continual mental stress in an individual where they become depressed as they are unable to manage the stress in the best manner. According to Anwar,  increasing number of depressed cases among the employees of the organization happen due to the inability to manage the work and personal life (Anwar, 2017).  It further depletes their self-esteem of an individual as they start believing themselves to be incompetent to achieve the balance in their areas.  The lack of self-esteem leads to the mental problems thus making them achieve the right goals.  The other negative consequences of mismanagement of the work and personal life are the affected bonding and relationships with the people. The increased pressure of the professional life affects the relationship of the individuals with the family members as the people have greater targets to fulfill in the best manner. According to Banks , relationships are the worst affected in the crises of the work-life balance as the individuals ignore the relations to get the things done in the best manner possible (Banks, 2016). Relationships are helpful in achieving the goals leading to better achievement of the goals. The affected relationship them affect s the lack of satisfaction in their lives further leading to the loop of inproductivity. The other negative effect is the lack of satisfaction as employees are unable to find time for themselves so that they could invents in the recreational activities, which are highly important for recharging an individual towards the better achievement of the goal.

 According to Ba?,  increasing number of depressed cases among the employees of the organization happen due to the inability to manage the work and personal life (Ba? & Beyhab, 2017).  It further depletes their self-esteem of an individual as they start believing themselves to be incompetent to achieve the balance in their areas.  The lack of self-esteem leads to the mental problems thus making them achieve the right goals.  The other negative consequences of mismanagement of the work and personal life are the affected bonding and relationships with the people

These negative consequences have really made the lives of various employees miserable as they are unable to enjoy their work and professional life to their best leading to the lower productivity in various areas.

Steps to Restore Balance at Organizational Level

It is essential to bring the balance in the professional and personal life, as it will be the reason for the highest productivity among the workforce leading to the achievement f the good level of profitability in the organization. The steps should be taken by the organization and at the level of the employees to achieve the results in the best manner.  Some of the steps that organization can take to help the employees restore the cork and life balance are managing the shift timings, not giving them work after office hours,  deployment of the crèche facility for working females, ensuring the cab facilities, and availability of the good lunch in cafeteria.  The management of the timings is again the most important part for the employees they are able to get things done in the best manner. Any kind of strict adherence to the timing even in the case of any kind of personal emergency faced by them could led to the dissatisfaction level among the employees (Bradt, 2016). The satisfaction level could later affect their productivity and commitment towards the organization. The organization must be flexible in shift timing in the times when the employees face with some kind of personal crises.  The other step that the organization could take in ensuring the better balance between the work and personal life of its employees is not giving them work after office hours as it disturbs the balance and affects their work-life balance negatively . The employer must ensure that all the work needed to be done by the employees during the office hour so that they are able to stay productive on the consistent basis leading to higher level of productivity in the long run (Bradt, 2016). These steps could bring the huge positive changes in the life of employees and employers in the long run. The other essential steps that the organization could take is deploying the facilities of crèche as there are various working mothers who are unable to stay productive n their working hours due to the consistent worry of their children that might affect their relationship in the negative manner. The crèche facility will help them to keep the child under their supervision thus reliving them off the personal responsibility of handling children. Such steps of deploying the crèche facility will be highly helpful for the organization to restore the work-life balance in the right manner.

Steps to Restore Balance at Individual Level

Another reason for mismanagement of the work and personal life is the time taken to commute from one place to another that led to the difficulty in managing the work and life in the best possible. it is important the organization must ensure the timely  cab facilities to the employees of the companies who come from longer distances as it would minimize the time of commute.   It would help them in achieving the right productive targets in the best possible manner (The Business Communication , 2019). The other step that the organization could take to restore work and life balance is deploying the good facilities of lunch and other healthy snacks at the office cafeteria as it would help the employees to secure the home-like lunch that would be helpful in maintaining the physical and mental health. The employees also do not have to waste time in packing the lunch at home thus leading to the better achievement of the professional and personal goals effectively.  The other ways the organization can contribute to restore the balance is by organizing motivational training programs that can motivate the employees to stay productive and achieve the goals in the right manner. The motivational training session will give them focused approach to achieve the goals in the right manner (Brazhkin, 2019).

The efforts of the organization can be helpful in bringing the organization on track by restoring the work and life balance. The steps can also be taken at the individual level to achieve the work life balance in the best manner. An employees can be disciplined and honest enough to do his work so that he able to do it within the assigned time. Further, an individual must always keep some time aside for the reflection that could be done by journaling one’s thoughts in the right manner (Brayton, 2014). The other ways   that could be done is by participating in the recreational activities on week days , as the recreational activities have the power to bring back the focus on life so that the individuals is able to cultivate the discipline in one’s life (Amanchukwu, 2015).  An individual must try practicing  the meditation as it brings the calmness  to one’s mind leading to greater clarity of the job roles at work place and at home. The practicing of the mediation brings greater focus to an individual life where they are able to get the things done in the best manner possible (Brand, 2018).

Conclusion

The work-life balance can be resorted with collaborative efforts of the organization and the employees. the right steps taken by the organization will make the employees to take positive steps so that the right goals can be achieved in the best possible manner . Further, they must try understanding the priorities of every employee so that they are able to set the organizational culture accordingly leading to less conflicting situation among the people of the organization (Australian government, 2019).  The organization must try to give extra focus on their female employees so that they are able to manage the work and personal life in the best possible manner.  The efforts from the side of the employees will be required to restore the work and family balance that could be done by understanding one’s job role and responsibilities of the work and family (Bradt, 2016). The greater clarity will give them the understanding to manage their work well. The other steps that can be taken is that they follow the disciplined time table where they are able to get the things done in the best manner. Such as, they can include meditation and exercises in their regime that could guarantee greater peace of mind and overall well-being (Ba? & Beyhab, 2017).

Conclusion

Work life balance is the most important ingredient that is required to live a happy and healthy life. It is quite tough job to strike a balance between work and personal life due to the incessant responsibilities to achieve the goals and objectives in the right manner possible. The responsibilities lead to the achievement of the goals in professional and personal life. Various issues that led to the mismanagement of the work and life balance in the organization include increase pressure of work in professional life, personal responsibilities, and delay in doing the work. These personal and professional responsibilities make them achieve the goals in the right manner. The organizational must take various steps that can be taken that include deployment of the crèche facilities, conducting motivational programs, meetings and other essential ways of tackling things. These facilities will be helpful in achieving the right results in the best possible manner. Further, the individuals must also take some of the actions on their behalf so that various ways of doing things can be achieved. The individual must try to develop the exercise regime that leading to achievement of the goals. Finally, the goals can be achieved through appropriate collaboration of efforts of organizational and individuals leading to the better achievement of the results.  The right steps towards curbing the situation can result in the achievement of the good balance between the work life and personal life of the individuals.

References

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