INTRODUCTION:

The work-life balance has become fairly universal in conversation about management and organization life. We hear about work-life balance from employers, through extensive discussion in the media, and increasingly in academic research. Given this broad usage of the term “work-life balance”, we assume that the concept is much more complex than it may seem to be at first glance. Researchers defined work-life balance is a harmonious interface between different life domains Abendroth and den Dulk (2011).

The complexity of this concept is evident when we think about a person’s limited resources, such as time, energy and money. Lyness and Judiesch (2008) explain the scarcity theory by using an example of a “balanced employee”. This balanced employee is supposed to be more involved in a family role, thus having less time or other resources for work, than an employee who is more exclusively focused on work. Due to the fixed amount of resources, these theories support a negative relationship between family life and career advancement (Graves et al., 2007; Lyness and Judiesch, 2008; Netemeyer et al., 2005).

Work life balance (WLB) has become an essential element in sustaining and achieving balance between individual life and work life. Although emerged as solution oriented attempt to ease the women workforce of conflict arising as a result of their involvement in the workforce, WLB gained wide attention and has gone beyond a women oriented strategic solution. The practice of WLB was solidified in the 1990s after Kellogg Company first introduced the practice through structured work-life program of four-six-hour shifts to replace the traditional three daily eight-hour shifts. During the 1980s, organizations such as Merck, Deloitte and Touché, and IBM began to change their internal workplace policies, procedures, and benefits.

The changes included maternity leave; employee assistance programs (EAPs), flextime, work from home, and child-care referral. The practice of WLB draw the male workforce attention and by the late 1980s when men also began voicing work-life concerns and the need for them to be involved with WLB and not just women. The solidification was with the recognition of WLB as a vital issue for everyone including women, men, parents and non-parents, singles, and couples. Numerous studies have shown that the generations from baby boomers to new college graduates are making job choices based on their own work-life issues and employers’ cultures Bird (2006). The prominence of WLB has now gone beyond only women other factors such as technological advancement, globalization, and, aging population, the young workforce are paving ways for work flexibility Naithani (2010).

Difficulties in balancing the act of work and life occurs as a result of time based conflict which is the inability to balance time, strain based conflict- which refers to the strain that occurs as a result of inability to achieve balance and behavioural based conflict- which refers to behavioral changes detrimental to work and personal life due to the inability to balance work and life spheres (Greenhaus et al 2003; Dizaho et al 2016). Therefore, in addressing and achieving work life balance, workplace flexibility is essential. Flexible work schedule and arrangement creates the avenue for employees to address other life challenges, thus encouraging work life balance (Williams, 2008). There are different types of flexible work schedule/ arrangements but for precision purpose, this study address how WLB is achievable through flexible work schedule/arrangement comprising of flexi-time, part-time work, work from home, shift work.

OBJECTIVE:

The objective of this paper is to critically analyze the existing knowledge on how work life balance can be achieved through flexible work schedules.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

Definitions:

Flexible working:

Flexible working refers to un-rigid patterns and structures of work and working arrangements (Tipping, 2012). Flexible working describes individuals work environment such as home working, or the structure of work such as part-time working, flex time, shift working, overtime, compressed hours, and annualized hours (ACAS, 2015; Beauregard et al., 2009). “In this study, flexible working refers to working schedule that provide employees flexibility which occurs in terms of flexi-time, part-time working, shift working, working from home.”

Work Life Balance:

Dundas (2008), affirmed that work-life balance is about efficiently managing the pressures between paid employment and all additional activities that are essential to people such as family, community activities, voluntary work, individual growth and spare time and amusement. Greenhaus et al., (2003), defined work-life balance as the degree to which an individual is evenly occupied in and evenly satisfied with his or her work role and family role. Thus, people who have WLB are those who are evenly dedication to work, and other life non-work responsibility. Hudson, (2005) also defines WLB as a satisfactory level of participation or ‘fit’ between the numerous roles in a person’s life with specification to work and personal life of each individual.

Flexi-Time:

Flex-time refers to a working arrangement in which employee can choose the time of work i.e. choosing the start and finish times of work on an agreed amount of hours weekly or monthly (Tipping, 2012).

Shift Working:

Shift work is a work schedule whereby one employee replaces or takes over the same job from another employee within a 24-hour period (ACAS, 2013).

Part Time:

Part-time is when individuals are contracted to work for anything less than the standard Fundamental fulltime hours (ACAS, 2013).

Work from Home:

Working from home or home working is a working arrangement where an employee regularly works all, or some of, their time at home (Tipping, 2012).

Flexible work schedule:

Flexibility of work schedule is an essential aspect in circumventing role load for both men and women. Findings from previous research by Tipping, (2012) has shown the degree of the effectiveness of WLB by identifying that flexible working for those who had been privileged to do so, where believed that WLB helped amplified and resulted to quality family time, and augmented into better expediency while virtually (48 percent) of individuals working flexibly did not feel that there were any drawbacks of work flexibility. According to (Williams, 2008) flexible work schedules result to better work-life balance and can make up for work pressure.

Organizations that offer more flexible work practices appear to have lower turnover and higher employee engagement and satisfaction North Coast (2014).

World at Work (2013) report that flexible work arrangement have a positive relationship on employees motivation, satisfaction, engagement and reduces organizational turnover rates, besides, the accumulation to higher degree of work/life fit, flexible working also arrangement promote good health, improves better sleeping, provide time for more exercising and works well in reducing stress level. Additionally, (Corporate Voices for Working Families, 2011) discovered that employees with access to effective flexible work arrangement are most likely to have increased job satisfaction, employees’ engagement and stronger intentions to stay in the organizations. Studies by (Levin-Epstein 2006; Sanjeevkumar 2012; Albertsen et al., 2005) has shown that flexibility in working arrangement is one of the reasons why many employees choose to remain and stay in organization.

Findings by (Perry-Smith and Blum, 2000; Burke and Moffett, 1988; Bloom et al., 2012) also indicate that the provision of job/workplace flexibility boomerang into employee’s satisfaction and productivity. (Corporate Voices for Working Families, 2011) reports that work flexibility improves financial performance and productivity as well as amplifies revenue generation and increases customer service. Flexible working also encourage employees efforts to facilitate sense of balance to their occupation and personal lives, remain connected with friends and family and handle caring everyday jobs, whether kids, grandchildren, parents, partner or friends and neighbours (CIPD, 2012).

Flex-time:

Flextime originated in Germany in the 1970s, and has gained wide attention Western and Northern Europe, the U.S. and some part of Asia (Avery and Zabel, 2001), Flex-time refers to a working arrangement in which employee can choose the time of work i.e. choosing the start and finish times of work on an agreed amount of hours weekly or monthly (Tipping, 2012). Flexible working arrangements provide married women with youthful offspring who need the maximum parental time, to balance work and home (Hill et al 2004). This is an effective practice of WLB, where employees can choose when they start and finish, for example, an employee may choose to work from 8am to 4 pm daily where the employee can have the remaining day off to take care of other personal issues. Time has been pointed out as an imperative factor in achieving work life balance. Researchers found that Time is the best predictor of work life balance; this is so because achieving work life balance is impossible without time, time defines the availability of an individual to achieve balance. The availability of an employee to give time and attention to one aspect of life means forfeiting time in the other aspect of life Lockwood (2003).

Flextime provides employees with the choice of creating flexibilities to achieve and enhance work life balance by permitting them to schedule their working time in accordance to their availability. According to (Bloom et al 2012), flexi working time has a positive impact on employee’s productivity. Similarly, the provision of flexi time by the organizations has been associated to work satisfaction and organizational dedication for women and for all workers with family responsibilities (Scandura and Lankau, 1997). There is a well-built belief by both men (97%) and women (92%) that time flexibility will augment work life balance (Doble and Supriya, 2010). Moreover, apparent control of work schedules, that is choosing working time increases work-life balance in terms of family and work (Tausiq and Fenwick, 2001). According to (Pocock and Clarke, 2005) flexible working hours will increase work life balance.

Part-time work:

Part time work has been identified by (Kossek and Michel, 2013), as one of the most common and effective method of flexible work schedule/arrangement worldwide. Part time work schedule became acclaimed and recognized during the World War II as a means of creating allowances for employers to cut and reduce labor costs as well as to accommodate women in the workforce and has since being widely practiced worldwide Tilly(2006).

Albertsen et al (2005), shows that both career women and wage-earning mothers in part-time employment experienced lower levels of work family interference than the full-time employed persons did. This finding proves therefore that part time working schedule provides a more sufficient WLB for employees by reducing the level of work interference with their home and personal responsibilities compared to employees who worked full time. This also means that employees who work full time have a lesser advantage of balancing their work life conflict. According to (Subramanian et al., 2010) many married working mothers prefer part time work in balancing their home and work life. Doble and Supriya(2010) indicates that both men and women professed that work life balance would advance if they were able to work flexibly, thus providing privileges for a part time worker is another means of balancing employees work life conflict.

Shift Working:

While this sort of work arrangement is not always assumed to be a flexible work schedule, it work arrangement does not tally with the common standard working time and creating room for some flexibility (Kossek and Michel, 2013Albertsen et al (2005), reported shift work to be found prospectively related to higher work-home meddling where backward-rotating shifts were found to be worse than forward-rotating shifts, while found night and evening work more detrimental to work life balance than rotating shift. Working shifts has been perceived to be harmful to employee’s wellbeing, and cause difficulties in the arrangement of family activities (Levin-Epstein 2006; Halpern 2005).

The negative effect of shift work can be as a result of the inability of the shift-working employees to balance reconcile their work and personal life, for example, an employee who works at night on a shift basis, will most likely return home the next morning tired and sleepy and therefore sleep and wake up in the afternoon, get only a few hours to sort personal things out and en route back to work; this arrangement can affect an employees by turning the day to night and night to day which is naturally unhealthy. (William, 2008) found that employees who work on shift were considerably more probable to be frustrated with their work-life balance than normal daytime employees. Employees contracted to work on shift basis were also more likely to experience difficulties from role overload.

Those working on call or other shifts had broadly higher levels of unhappiness with work-life balance than day workers (23%). Interestingly, all shift workers were more likely to slash back on sleep when they wanted more time and were more likely to worry about not having quality time with their families Dizaho and Othman (2013). The ability to balance this sort of work schedule can be challenging and as such the employers have a duty to help their employees balance their work life conflict and ensure organizational effectiveness. Therefore, due to the notable negative effect shift working has on employees ability to achieve balance, organizations practicing shift work schedule should take extra precautions in promoting their employees wellbeing by providing them ways to balance their work and personal life.

Work from home:

Work from home is one of the best means of achieving WLB especially for working mothers because it provides the employees with all the flexibility needed to achieve quality work and quality life. While employees work at home, the employee will be settled, at peace because the environment provides him/her with the opportunity to address individual issues as well as work related matters and therefore conflict between the two will be at a minimum. Study by Doble and Supriya (2010) revealed that both men and women expressed the need of freedom to work from home, thus exposing the fact that working from home is not only beneficial to women only but for men as well. According to Pocock and Fenwick(2001), home working is another aspect of working schedule which is favored by both men and women and it has been proven to amplify work life balance. Although working from home provides flexibility and independence in addressing work life conflict, the home environment independence in addressing work life conflict, the home environment can be challenge, Varatharaj and Vasantha (2012) revealed that home atmosphere plays a very significant role in increasing work life balance and the quality of life, however the environment of home working could be traumatic if little children have to be managed.

According to Valcour and Hunter(2005) home working can lead to higher flexibility and autonomy, but it can also make concerned employees work for longer period of time, including weekends and evenings but may not necessarily interfere with effective performance. ACAS (2013) defined a mutual consideration and relationship that is based upon confidence and trust that support employees to manage their own work for organizations who choices to implement working from home. Working from home reduces financial strain on the employer and reduces sick leaves, time offs/emergency leaves, absenteeism, turnover and low performing employees while increasing employees satisfaction, loyalty and productivity Dizaho and Othman (2013).

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

This is a conceptual paper based on secondary data. In this paper, the secondary data’s used include various previous literatures on flexible working schedule and arrangement, which includes, flexi-time, part-time, working from home, and shift working, as well as literature on work life balance. Various literatures were critically analyzed and findings were sum up to construct this paper.

CONCLUSION:

The prominence of achieving work life balance is paramount, therefore, organizations are encouraged to take necessary actions in providing employees with the opportunities to balance their home and work life. Flexible work schedule and arrangement does therefore facilitate the need for employees to achieve balance in their home and work life. According to Osmowitz (2005), most employees are interested in work flexibility and most employees consider work flexibility especially women when considering a job. Moreover, flexi time and working from home are the most preferred flexible work schedule by both men and women compare to part time. Flexible work arrangement has increasingly become a preferred means of achieving work life balance in most western countries while interestingly, research by Osmowitz (2005), discloses that most Malaysian employees misunderstands the notion of part time and as such, they are mostly not fanatical to this structure of flexible work schedule. While work life balance is encouraged due to the tremendous benefits it earns to the organization such as increased in productivity, loyalty, satisfaction, increase in morale, attitude and behaviours of employees, and etc., work life balance is also beneficial to the employees by increasing flexibility, increase in family and leisure time, childcare privileges, less work life conflict, reduce burnout, and improve emotional, physical and psychological wellbeing. Lastly, Shift working, working should be taken into serious consideration due to its notified potential of meddling and interfering with work life balance rather than boosting it and thus organization should not be fast in implementing shift work and if necessary then they should take careful consideration and strategize on ways to reduce conflict arising from work and life spheres of shift workers to ensure less work-life difficulties and promote work life balance.

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Received on 23.08.2017 Modified on 05.10.2017

Asian Journal of Management. 2018; 9(1):307-312.

DOI: 10.5958/2321-5763.2018.00046.X