Work-Life Balance: Strategies for Employees and Organizations

This essay delves into the critical concept of work-life balance, advocating for a proper prioritization between career ambitions and personal life aspects such as health, leisure, and family. It explores various strategies organizations and employees can adopt to achieve this balance. The essay emphasizes the importance of flexible work hours, family-friendly policies, and initiatives focused on employee well-being. It discusses the benefits of flexible working arrangements, including increased productivity and employee satisfaction, while also acknowledging potential challenges such as trust and fairness. Family-friendly strategies, like childcare and parental leave, are highlighted for their role in supporting employees' personal lives and fostering motivation. The essay also examines how health and well-being programs can improve employee proficiency and productivity, discussing the associated benefits and challenges. Ultimately, the essay underscores the need for these strategies to create a harmonious and supportive work environment, enabling employees to effectively manage the demands of both their professional and personal lives.

Running head: WORK LIFE BALANCE
WORK-LIFE BALANCE
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1WORK LIFE BALANCE
Work life balance refers to the concept that advocates the proper division of
prioritization among the work and the lifestyle of a person (Burg-Brown 2013). The work life
of a person refers to the career and the ambitions of a person. The lifestyle of the person on
the other hand refers to the health, leisure times, the pleasure-providing activities and the
family life of the concerned person. The balance between the work and the life of a person is
dependent on the enjoyment and the achievement of a person (Richmond and Rohlfing 2013).
The following essay deals with some strategies that may be used to achieve a balance in the
work and the life of an individual. The essay looks in to the strategies of implementing
flexible workhours, focusing on the strategies that help the employee to spend more time with
their families. The essay also focusses on the strategies that aims to look after the well-being
and the health issues of the employees working in the concerned organization.
The work life balance may be achieved in a number of ways. One of those ways is to
get a flexibility in the working hours of the staff. The employer may provide provisions for
the employees to avail the staggered hours at the workplace. This allows the employers and
the employees to fix arrangements regarding the working conditions that suit both the parties.
The work may be balanced by attempting to schedule a fixed number of working hours for
each of the work-related activities. This helps to improve the efficiency and the productivity
at the concerned workplace. According to Rife and Hall (2015), the employers may promote
the positivity in the work-life culture in order to attain the goals of the balance between the
work and the life of a certain employee. The employer may set the flexibility of the working
hours for the employees. He may also implement telecommunication, which may lead the
employees to work while not being present at the office. The larger companies like Telstra
and Westpac have attempted to bring about a balance in the work-life culture by allowing
flexible working hours for the staff (Patty 2015). According to Larsen (2017), the employees
may be provided with the appropriate arrangements so that they could work from their own

2WORK LIFE BALANCE
place of convenience. The employees at a computer manufacturing company based in the
U.S., the employees are allowed to work while being absent at office (Fenton, 2017). The
advantages of the system of flexible working hours lead to the productivity and the efficiency
of both the employer and the employee. The employee has chances of working according to
his or her preferred timings and consequences leading to the higher productivity on the part
of the employee. The challenges of this may include the issues of trust on both the parts of
the employer and the concerned employee. The other employees may complain of the
biasness on the part of the employer if the employer seems to allow an employee or a group
of employee the liberty to work from their places of convenience.
The other strategies that can be used to attain work life balance are the family friendly
strategies. The family friendly strategies are those that help the employees of an organization
devote time to their families as well. Some of the family friendly strategies of the
organizations may include the policies that involve the activities of childcare and eldercare.
These strategies may also include the provisions needed for the parental care and the
conditions of breastfeeding that the employees may need at some point of their career at the
workplace. According to Delina and Raya (2013), the female employees of an organization
require to be awarded these facilities more than their male counterparts. They need to balance
both their professional and personal lives. They remain active participants on the personal
fronts as well as struggle to achieve success in their professional lives. Prolonged work hours
may prove to be a challenge in case of the women employee during their pregnancy or the
post-natal period. The employees must be granted paid parental leaves in order to help them
to spend more time with their children (Safework.sa.gov.au 2017). The family friendly
strategies help the employees to remain motivated towards the organization thereby
increasing the productivity if the employee. The efficiency of the employee increases with the
allowance of the employer that the employees would be able to share the jobs that they are

3WORK LIFE BALANCE
assigned thereby increasing the interaction within the employees. The strategy also has some
challenges that needs to be overcome on the areas of the communication. The employees
should be able to communicate with the management regarding their issues that they might be
facing in their personal lives. The cost of the employer may be seen to be on the rise in order
to provide the employee with these benefits.
The company may also resort to the health and well-being strategies in order help the
employees to attain a balance in their work-life. These strategies are used to support the
mental and physical health of the employees, which in turn help them to increase the
proficiency and the productivity of the employees. The concerned company must organize
certain events to boost the morale of the employees. The concerned management must
arrange wellness programs, sport events in order to engage the employees in activities other
than those related to work. The employer should keep an eye on the factors that relate to the
personal development of the staff. They should also hold counselling programs for the staff
as and when required. According to Fenton (2017), there are companies that hold counselling
sessions for those employees who are stressed out while doing their assigned jobs. There are
companies that allow their employees to take leave on the grounds of tiredness. The benefits
of having these strategies in the workplace helps in increasing the productivity of the
employees thereby increasing the happiness factor in both the employer and the employee.
The challenges of this strategy include the cost inflation on the part of the employer
(Crampton et al 2003). The communication factors of both the employer and the employee
pose to be a challenging factor for this strategy. The infrastructure of the company may also
pose to be a challenge for well-being and health strategies of the company.
In summary of the above discussion, it might be said that these work-life balance
strategies are needed to establish a harmonious atmosphere in the workplace. These strategies
also provide the employees with the ways to cope up with the various problems that they face

4WORK LIFE BALANCE
due to their involvement at the concerned workplace. These strategies help them to establish
a balance between their work and their personal lives.

5WORK LIFE BALANCE
References
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Crampton, S., Douglas, C., Hodge, J. and Mishra, J., 2003. Job sharing: Challenges and
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women. International Journal of Commerce, Business and Management, 2(5).
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[Accessed 13 Nov. 2017].
Richmond, G.L. and Rohlfing, C.M., 2013. Work-Life Balance.
Rife, A. and Hall, R. 2015. Work-Life Balance. SIOP White Paper Series.
Safework.sa.gov.au 2017. [online] Safework.sa.gov.au. Available at:
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