Work Life Balance Policy and its Impact on Employee Engagement

 

Dr. Shalini Wadhwa, Dr. Krishna Shetty

Bunts Sangha's UKS Institute of Management Studies and Research, Mumbai

 

ABSTRACT:

The study was designed to assess the Impact of work life balance policies on Employees performance in organizations. Specific objectives of the study cover the measuring the level of satisfaction with respect to work-life balance policies and its impact on the level of performance of Employees. Study also tries to find out the importance given to the work-life balance policies and how it affects the job satisfaction and the performance of the employees.

The study population was the employees of 36 companies. Data presentation and discussions are supported with pie charts and tables to make the whole work easy to read and understand by all.

The study reveals to which extent the level of performance and level of satisfaction is affected by work life balance.

 

 

 

1.      INTRODUCTION OF BANKING

1.1 Objectives of the study:

1.        To identify the various work-life balance policies prevalent inorganizations.

2.        To find the importance given to work-life balance policies by the employees.

3.        To know the level of satisfaction with respect to the work-life balance policies.

4.        To understand the level of employee engagement in the organizations

5.        To know the impact of satisfaction with respect to work-life on employee engagement in organizations.

 

1.2 HYPOTHESIS:

1.        There is association between level of satisfaction with respect to work-life balance policies and level of employee engagement.

2.        There is association between level of importance given to work-life balance policies and level of satisfaction of the employees

3.        There is association between demographic factors and level of satisfaction of employees.

4.        There is association between demographic factors and level of employee engagement

 

1.3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

Significance of the study:

Notably, work-life balance policies are given lot of importance by the employees; therefore, organizations have introduced several policies in this regard. This study would bring to light the various work-life balance policies adopted in the organizations to engage employees. This research will find out the extent to which work-life balance policies impact the .engagement of the employees in the organization. The study will also reveal the level of satisfaction with respect to work-life balance policies in the organization.

Sample Size:

The Sample for the study was collected from employees of the 36 Companies. The sample unit of the study constituted all lower, middle and higher level staff of companies. The Researcher limited the sample size to (100).

 

Sampling Method:

Convenience sampling technique was adopted in the selection of the sample units or respondents from the departments.

 

Data Collection:

Primary and secondary sources of data were used in the research.

 

Primary source:

Questionnaire consisting 34 questions was used in the collection of the primary data. Interviews were also taken wherever found necessary.

 

Secondary Source:

Secondary data was collected through the use of books, articles, journals, and handouts on human resource development. Electronic search engines such as the internet and Encyclopedia were also used.

 

Limitations of the study:

The research finds that the time span within which to complete this work may not be enough to allow for a comprehensive study of the research area. Again the study was constrained because of limitation of financial resources available.

 

1.4 Introduction of the topic Work:

Work is defined as membership in a market or employing organization that compensated the worker for his/her contributions. The primary goal of work is to provide extrinsic rewards to the employee. These include bonuses, paid holidays, profit-sharing, etc. However, work may also provide intrinsic rewards, such as increased responsibility and freedom on the job, opportunities for growth, more challenging work, etc.

 

Family:

It is a social organization that demands certain contributions from its members. These contributions are required for the maintenance and well-being of the family.

 

Traditionally, work and family life were seen as competing priorities. The employees were expected not to allow personal life interfere with work-life. Recently, the trend has changed and it has been realized that the two are complementary to each other. It is very difficult to compartmentalize the two. Therefore, a large number of organizations have started adopting ‘work-family programmes’ or ‘family-friendly’ practices.

 

The focus on work-life concerns is more recent. It is a broader concept than work-family issues. Work life issues/concerns encompass all non-work related demands and hence are not restricted to only family demands.

 

Employee Engagement:

An engaged workforce produces better business results, does not hop jobs and more importantly is an ambassador of the organization at all points of time. This engagement is achieved when people consider their organization respects their work, their work contributes to the organization goals and more importantly their personal aspirations of growth, rewards and pay are met.

 

It has been observed that work-life balance policies play an important role in engaging the work-force. Some of the work-life balance initiatives adopted by the organizations are depicted in Table 1.

 

Table 1: Work-life balance initiatives by Organizations

S. No.	Type of Employer Support	Focus
1	Time and Place Flexibility	Part time work, Flexible scheduling. Leaves of absence,  maternity/paternity
2	Information	Resource and Referral programs for providing information about dependent care, pre-retirement planning, supervisor training
3	Financial	Financial spending accounts in which employees set aside pre-tax money each year into an account from which they get reimbursed
4	Direct	DCC, family counseling,  personal financial planning and holiday and vacation care

 

1.5 LITERATURE REVIEW:

Work- life balance is considered an important area for organizations (Poelmans 2005; Spinks 2005). Work-life balance relates to equilibrium between work and personal activities (Clarke, et al 2004, 121). Work-Family, Work-life and more recently Work-Integration policies help employees to manage their work and non-work time in a better. In recent years, the term “work-life balance” has replaced what used to be known as “work-family balance” (Hudson Resourcing, 2005).Notably, childcare is not the only non-work responsibility which has to be paid attention to and the issues are not particularly restricted to women. A wide range of issues are addressed through work-life balance policies like elder-care, education of employee, children education, foreign travel etc.

 

It is observed that overwork causes stress which results in absenteeism, attrition, low creativity and unethical employee behavior. Therefore, managers can’t afford to overlook work-life balance policies. (David Clutter buck, 2013) Several researches have indicated that there is an association between work-life balance policies of the organization and organizations outcome (Boxall, Mackyand Rasmussen 2003; Burudand Tumolo 2004; Forsyth and Polzer Debruyne 2007).

 

Research by Toyaz Shekhar (2016) indicates that work-life balance policies assist in creating healthy and positive environment in an organization this result in increased employee engagement that in turn leads to increased productivity.

 

This study is conducted to know whether work-life balance policies at all exist in companies located in Mumbai, if yes, are employees aware about all these policies, how important are these policies for them and how these impact the engagement of employees. The sample is taken from various industries. This will help in identifying which industry is taking more steps in implementing work-life balance policies in India.

 

II. DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION:

Table 2: Frequency analysis of Work Life balance policies existing in the organizations

Ques. No.	Work life Balance Policies	Yes	No	Don’t know
1	Study/training leave	83	10	7
2	Careers leave	80	11	9
3	Unpaid maternity/paternity and adoption leave	60	21	19
4	Paid maternity leave	43	29	28
5	Paid Paternity leave	29	30	41
6	Paid Adoption leave	17	34	49
7	Opportunity to return to the same job after maternity/paternity and adoption leave	78	6	16
8	Employer assistance with childcare	52	19	29
9	Job sharing	47	28	25
10	Time off in lieu, rostered days off	43	31	26
11	Opportunity to negotiate part-time work for fulltime employees	65	14	21
12	Self-rostering and/or staggered start and finish times	53	27	20
13	Telephone for personal use	83	9	8
14	Counseling services for employees	50	25	25
15	Health programs	45	30	25
16	Exercise facilities	54	31	15
17	Equal access to promotion, training and development	71	17	12
18	Organization Encourages the involvement of employees' family members in work celebrations	60	29	11

Level of importance: VI- Very Important, I – Important, DK- Don’t Know, UI- Un Important, VUI- Very Un Important

 

Table 3: Frequency analysis of the importance given to various work-life balance policies

Ques. No.	Questions	VI	I	DK	UI	VUI	Total
1	Study  /  training leave	36	42	20	2	0	100
2	Careers leave	30	44	24	1	1	100
3	Unpaid maternity/paternity and adoption leave	19	33	43	3	2	100
4	Paid maternity leave	16	28	44	12	0	100
5	Paid Paternity leave	10	19	60	10	1	100
6	Paid Adoption leave	6	16	66	3	9	100
7	Opportunity to return to the same job after maternity/paternity and adoption leave	11	42	35	1	11	100
8	Employer assistance with childcare	19	27	49	4	1	100
9	Job sharing	20	24	52	1	3	100
10	Time off in lieu, rostered days off	13	27	57	2	1	100
11	Opportunity to negotiate part-time work for fulltime	22	37	39	2	0	100
12	Self-rostering and/or staggered start and finish	23	25	41	2	9	100
13	Telephone for personal use	40	35	21	2	2	100
14	Counselling services for employees	21	27	39	4	9	100
15	Health programs	20	28	39	9	4	100
16	Exercise facilities	26	28	29	7	10	100
17	Equal access to promotion, training and Development	21	39	39	0	1	100
18	This organization encourages the involvement of employees' family members in work celebrations	23	35	28	4	10	100

 

Fig. 1: Level of Importance Work-life Balance Policies

 

Level of Satisfaction: SA – Strongly Agree, A – Agree, N – Neutral, DA – Disagree, SD– Strongly Disagree

 

Table 4: Frequency Analysis of Satisfaction level of employees with respect to various Work-life Balance policies

Que No.	Questions	SA	A	N	DA	SD	Total
1	This organization gives male and female employees the same level of access to 'work-life balance' policies	66	20	9	5	0	100
2	Employees are encouraged to use 'work-life balance' policies at this organization	42	45	12	1	0	100
3	The management of this organization is accommodating of family-related needs	42	31	22	4	1	100
4	Employees are expected to put their jobs before their family or personal life	39	28	23	8	2	100
5	In this organization, employees can combine career and family	42	28	14	14	2	100
6	I can use sick leave for caring	42	43	11	2	2	100
7	I can use flexi-start /finish time	46	23	17	13	1	100
8	I can avail unpaid leave/flexi hours for out of work commitments	43	29	12	2	14	100
9	I can arrange to work part-time	42	31	11	5	11	100

 

Fig.2 : Level of Satisfaction of Employees_Work Life Balance Policies

Level of Engagement: SA – Strongly Agree, A – Agree, N – Neutral, DA – Disagree, SD – Strongly Disagree

 

Table 5: Frequency Analysis of the level of employee engagement in the organizations under study

Que No.	Questions	SA	A	N	DA	SD	Total
1	When needed I am willing to put in extra effort at work to get the job done	66	32	1	1	0	100
2	I am proud to work for my organization	61	32	5	1	1	100
3	I am enthusiastic about my work	65	23	10	2	0	100
4	I intend to stay with this organization for at least another year	62	31	5	1	1	100
5	I feel I am very  productive in my job	66	29	3	1	1	100

 

Fig.3: Level of Employee Engagement

 

 

Hypothesis testing

Null Hypothesis: There is no association between level of satisfaction with respect to work-life balance policies and level of employee engagement. Alternate Hypothesis There is association between level of satisfaction with respect to work-life balance policies and level of employee engagement. To test the above hypothesis Bivariate table of Level of satisfaction and level of Engagement is presented below

 

Chi-Square Tests

 

a.        0 cells (0.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 5.94.

 

1.       To test above hypothesis Chi-square test isapplied. Results of test are as follows:

2.       above table indicate that p-value of Chi square test  is 0.001 which is less than standard table value 0.05. Therefore test is selected.

3.       Hence Null hypothesis is rejected and alternate hypothesis is selected

4.        Conclusion is there is association between level of satisfaction and Level of Engagement

 

 

Null Hypothesis:

There is no association between level of importance given to work-life balance policies and level of satisfaction of the employees

 

Alternate Hypothesis:

There is association between level of importance given to work-life balance policies and level of satisfaction of the employees

To test above hypothesis Bivariate table of Level of Importance and level of satisfaction

 

 

 

 

Chi-Square Tests

a. 4 cells (44.4%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 1.98.

 

o    To test above hypothesis Chi-square test is applied. Results of test are as follows.

·         Above table indicate that p-value of Chi square test is .000 which is lesser than standard table value 0.05. Therefore test is Selected.

·         Hence Null hypothesis is rejected and alternate hypothesis is accepted.

·         Conclusion is there is association between Level of Importance and Level Of satisfaction

 

 

Null Hypothesis:

There is no association between different types of companies and level of satisfaction with respect to work-life balance policies prevalent in the organization.

 

Alternate Hypothesis:

There is association between different types of companies and level of satisfaction with respect to work-life balance policies prevalent in the organization.

 

To test above hypothesis Bivariate table of Level of Satisfaction and different companies is obtained and presented as follows.

 

 

 

 

Chi-Square Tests

 

104 cells (96.3%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .18.

o    To test above hypothesis Chi-square test is applied. Results of test are as follows:

·         Above table indicate that p-value of Chi square test is 0.001 which is Lesser than standard table value 0.05. Therefore test is Selected.

·         Hence Null hypothesis is rejected and alternate hypothesis is Selected.

·         Conclusion is there is association between Company And Level Of Satisfaction

 

 

Null Hypothesis:

There is no association between no. of elders in the home of employees and level of importance given to work-life balance policies.

 

Alternate Hypothesis:

There is association between no. of elders in the home of employees and level of importance given to work-life balance policies.

 

To test above hypothesis Bivariate table of no. of elders at home and level of importance given to work-life balance policies.

 

No. of Elders in house * Level of Importance

 

 

 

 

 

 

Null Hypothesis :

There is no association between different companies and level of importance of work-life balance policies.

 

Alternate Hypothesis:

There is association between different companies and level of importance of work-life balance policies.

 

To test above hypothesis Bivariate table of company and Level Of Importance is given below:

 

Crosstab
Count
		Level of Importance			Total
		High	Low	Medium
Company Name	Aarti Enterprises	0	0	1	1
	Akshar Advertising	0	0	1	1
	Ashapura Enterprise	0	0	1	1
	Assam Tea Company	0	0	1	1
	Bajaj Allianz	7	0	46	53
	Balaji Cement Products	0	0	1	1
	Bank of Maharashtra	0	0	1	1
	Bharat Parikh and Co.	1	0	0	1
	Bucon Engineering	0	0	1	1
	Capgemini	0	0	1	1
	Chandan Steel Ltd.	0	11	0	11
	Chemie Links	0	0	1	1
	First Source Solution Limited	1	0	0	1
	Future Group	0	0	1	1
	Ganesh Transport	0	0	1	1
	Gaurav Agency	0	0	1	1
	GIA	0	0	1	1
	HLL Lifecare Ltd	1	0	0	1
	Ishita Agency	0	0	2	2
	J.K enterprise	0	0	1	1
	Jiya Tours and Travels	0	0	1	1
	Madhu Enterprise	0	0	1	1
	Mafatlal	0	0	1	1
	N.P.Patwaand Co.	0	0	1	1
	Orange consultancy	1	0	0	1
	PVS Diagnostics pvt ltd	0	0	1	1
	Raj Enterprise	0	0	1	1
	Raj Marketing	0	0	1	1
	Roof N Proof	0	0	1	1
	ServeTechPvt Ltd	1	0	0	1
	ShreejiKosh Services	1	0	0	1
	Swastik Bulk Movers	0	0	1	1
	TATA Agency	0	0	1	1
	Thakkar Corporation	0	0	1	1
	The Giftopio	1	0	0	1
	Vishal shipping Agencies Pvt Ltd	0	0	2	2
Total		14	11	75	100

 

Chi-Square Tests

 

a.        104 cells (96.3%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .11.

 

o    To test above hypothesis Chi-square test is applied. Results of test are as follows.

 

·         Above table indicate that p-value of Chi square test is 0.000 which is Lesser than standard table value 0.05. Therefore test is rejected.

·         Hence Null hypothesis is rejected and alternate hypothesis is selected.

·         Conclusion is there is association between Company and Level of Importance given to work-life balance policies

 

 

IV CONCLUSION:

4.1  Summary of Findings:

Major findings of the present study are mentioned below:

1)       Most of the employees say that their organization have Study/training leave policy (82%), career leave policy (80%), policy of joining work after maternity/paternity/adoption leave(79%), policy of using office phone for personal use (82%) and have equal opportunity to promotion, training and development(70%)

2)       Notably, most of the employees agree that either there is no policy of paid adoption leave (15%) in there organizationor they don’t know about it (55%)

3)       Only 50% of the organizations have childcare facilities at the work-place

4)       25% of the employees say there are no counseling services in their organization and about 255 are not aware about it.

5)       30% of the respondents say there are not health programs in their organization and about 25% are not aware bout these.

6)       About 40% of the respondents are of view that either their organization don’t have any policy to involve family members in work celebrations or they are aware of it.

7)       10% of the employees give high importance to work-life balance policies and about 70% of the employees fell these policies are of medium importance

8)       20% of the employees are highly satisfied with the Work Life Balance policies in their organization whereas 52% employees have medium level of satisfaction.

9)       60% of the employees have above average level of engagement and 40% of the employees have below average level of engagement

10)     About 80% of the employees agree that work-life balance policies should be customized to individual needs

11)     83% respondents perceive that they have good work-life balance

12)     According to the chi-square test conducted there is association between level of satisfaction and level of engagement of employees. 24 out of 25 employees having high satisfaction levels also have above average engagement levels

13)     22 out of 75 respondents giving medium importance to work-life balance policies have high satisfaction levels and remaininghave medium satisfaction levels

14)     22 out of 53 Bajaj Allianz employees are highly satisfied with the work-life balance policies of their organization

15)     The respondents having no elders at their home(53) give high (5) to medium (46) level of importance to work-life balance policies.

16)     Strikingly, the employees (11 out of 11) of Chandan steel give low importance to the work-life balance policies

 

4.2  Recommendations:

This study was conducted to know how important are the work-life balance policies and to what extent these policies help in engaging the employees. In light of the summary of findings listed above the following recommendations are made:

a)       Existence of the Work-Life Balance policies:

It is evident from the data that either the policies of paid adoption and paternity leaves don’t exist or employees are not aware about these policies. Furthermore, most of the organizations don’t provide counseling services and health programs to the employees. Also, employees’ family members are not involved in work celebrations by most of the organizations.

Employees experience lot of stress at work these days, therefore, it is very important to have health programs and counselors at work place. Organizations should work towards providing child-care facilities at work place to engage the employees especially women at work.

 

b)       Customization of Work Life Balance Policies:

All people have different responsibilities and different needs, therefore, to engage employees it is necessary to customize policies according to the needs of the employees.

 

c)       Impact of Level of satisfaction of employees on Employee Engagement:

It is established by the study that Work life balance policies contribute towards job satisfaction and satisfied employees are more engaged at work. It is a proven fact that well- engaged employees perform better. Therefore, it is suggested that organizations should work towards improving the work-life balance.

 

d)       Importance given to Work-Life Balance Policies:

It is evident from the findings that those employees who give lot of importance to work-life balance are more satisfied then those who don’t. This means that when the organizations meet the work-life balance requirements of employees they feel satisfied as they feel that organization is fulfilling their important requirements.

 

e)       Chandan Steel

The study reveals that there is low satisfaction amongst the employees of this organization in particular as compared to Bajaj Allianz. One reason for this can be that the management doesn’t consider work-life balance policies important. The organization is suggested to improve the satisfaction levels by adopting work-life balance policies and creating awareness about the policies amongst the employees

 

The study has examined the various policies adopted by several organizations with respect to Work Life Balance. It was observed that organizations are not that proactive with respect to the health programs and provision of the counselor for the staff. Also, either there is no provision of paternity and adoption leaves in most of the organizations or employees are not aware of these leaves. Organizations should ensure that these policies should be introduced in order to create a work-life balance for employees and if these policies already exist, employees should be made aware of these policies.

 

The study reveals that work-life balance policies have a positive correlation with the level of satisfaction w.r.t. work-life balance policies and level of engagement of the employees.

 

It can be concluded that work life balance policies are very important for the employees. These policies help employees manage their personal as well as professional life without any problems. So, every organization should not only have work life balance policies for betterment of their employees but also for improving their performance.

 

V. REFERENCES:

1.        Robbins Stephen, Organizational Behavior (Pearson Education, Prentice-Hall, 2012).

2.        P. Delecta, Work life balance, International Journal of Current Research, Vol. 33, April, 2011,pp. 186-187.

3.        Tanuja Agarwala, Strategic Human Resource Management. Oxford University Press, 2007.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Accepted on 13.08.2017          © A&V Publications all right reserved