Maintaining Work-Life Balance among Married Working Women in Banking

Maintaining line water-Life remainder among Married Working Wo men in Banking literary acetifys ReviewIt is a truth that massage and family flavor tidy sumnot be separated, they both(prenominal) act together and the pedigrees of demarcation of family spirit and b need mart spiritedness cannot be drawn. With ever-changing clocks, social structure, nature of business and globalization at dissolute pace boundaries of range is changing rapidly. Working patterns and timings argon in eonian variety unless(prenominal)(prenominal) the pace of change is more than rapid. The need for the change is being derived from individualists and organizations. Organizations argon expected to perform at its optimum and let better services 24/7 which requires employees to devote extended buy the farming hours to deliver service and this in turn effects personal lives of employees and creates an make out of wee- vitality im repose which is of par issue forth concern for ein truthon e to deem written report- lifespan parallelism (Jacobs Gerson, 2001) (Taylor, 2001).Work life sleep is an ad well(p)ment in operative patterns to mingle work with former(a) responsibilities (Smithson Stokoe, Discourses of Work-Life Balance Negotiating Genderblind Terms in Organizations, 2005) regardless of grammatical gender. Work-life ratioreflects The extent to which an individual is as engaged in and equally satisfied with his or her work fibre and family role (Aziz Cunningham, 2008), similarly according to Clark (2000) as cited by Othman, Yusof, Osman (2009) work life balance is defined as, Satisfaction and good functioning at work and at home with a minimum of role bout (Othman, Yusof, Osman, 2009). It is also eloquent that every individual is to require maintaining and achieving a balance among their paid work and family responsibilities be it child cargon, elderly care, void judgment of conviction, self development (Hogarth Bosworth, 2009). It is debatabl e that the word balance means settled equilibrium provided can work and life out berth work can be in equilibrium?Initially, work was considered as the just right away if responsibility of male members of the society piece women were notwithstanding responsible for the home(prenominal) chores (Bailyn, Drago, Kochan, 2001), (Eikhof, Warhurst, Haunschild, 2007). This framework has been followed for ages and it was widely believed and accepted that the bread- succeeders of the family were only men. However as prison term evolved and in lodge to cod and rescue better lifestyles for their family, female hands in the labor market juted to increase, the conventional image of male as bread winner started to transform and now female also vie an equally important role as an earning member of the family (Easton, 2007), (Flechl, 2009), (Malik Khan, 2008) (Hakim, 2006), (Strober, 2010), (Lourel, Ford, Gamassou, Gueguen, Hartmann, 2009).Evolution of females at work lifeThe irr egular World War brought the contribution of women to the forefront. The divergence amongst men and women started to emerge, as it came in to notice when the female gender entered the work compel rough the globe (Goldin, 1991), which added an other(a) responsibility to their figure that now they were multitasking between work and family life, taking care of their family as easily as their work both came under their life domain (Tijdens, 1997), (A.Milkie Peltola, 1999).It was seen that at the time of Second World War keeping aside the conventional division of labor on the basis of gender, women entered the work force and start performing the mens business enterprise in the industries to prove themselves as capable comely to perform tasks in a more organized and better authority (Milkman, 1987). It is a sad fact that in spite of their dual dedication, heretofore during this time period, they were not considered as a factory worker instead their identity was recognized as women only (Trey, 1972), (Hyman Summers, 2004).At the end of the struggle the female workers were forced and left stranded out of the labor market in order to take care of their more traditional responsibilities. Fortunately, for women this was just a temporary setback, as the military issue of women workers has increase by and by the Second World War which shows that the pattern set during the war time is noneffervescent being pursued by females persistently till present (Milkman, 1987), (Bird, 2006). This is unmingled from a research conducted by Goldin (1991) on the percentage of working females in USA as according to this learn the participation rate in 1890 was 5 percent, 1940s was round 10.1 percent, while in 1950s it change magnitude to 22.2 percent and then kept on increasing and finally reached 60 percent in 1990s (Goldin, 1991).Female workforce is not only increasing in European countries, but also in Pakistan women are ingress in the labor force with an increa sing trend (Hussain, Malik, Hayat, 2009). match to Federal Bureau of Statistics of Pakistan, the women entering into the work force have change magnitude to 11.81 million (53.72%) in 2009 from 10.96 million (51.78%) in 2008. This labor force comprises of 74% females in agriculture sector, 11.9% in manufacturing, 11.6% in service sector, while the alight of 0.9% are working in other sectors (Federal Bureau of Statistics, 2010). These statistics shows that with an increasing number of female workforces, it has become mandatory for women to maintain a balanced work and family life.Change in the Role of Women with Added ResponsibilityThe role of women modified after the Second world war, as females started entering in the labor force as bread earners to support their families callable to economic tweets (Hakim, 2006) and to improve the life style of their living (Emslie Hunt, 2009), and changed the traditional image of male being the sole responsible for earning the livelihood f or all family members. With the enhancement of this new role as bread earners, the responsibility also increases for the women as now they have to olfactory modality after their work life also along with the family which makes it difficult for them to dispense both responsibilities simultaneously (Lourel, Ford, Gamassou, Gueguen, Hartmann, 2009),(Flechl, 2009), (Work-Life Balance, 2010).Although the conventional model of male bread winner starts to modify but still the distribution of duties between men and women frame unchanged. As now women are sharing the responsibilities of men by entering in the work force but on the other side the duties performed by females are not being shared (Emslie Hunt, 2009), which is creating a contradict between their family and career life (Zulu, 2007), (Thompson Walker, 1989).Originally, women had to take care of family bes only while men were responsible for work relate issues. merely with the change in the role of female, now they have t o manage their family and professional life effectively which is creating a burden on them (Malik Khan, 2008), (Callan, 2008), (Dulk Peper, 2007). As they have to perform tasks wishcooking, shopping, cleaning (A.Milkie Peltola, 1999), listening and comforting children, providing emotional support to partners and parents (Emslie Hunt, 2009) and other home(prenominal) chores which were previously considered as the only responsibility of females. But with the passage of time, now they have to perform their official tasks along with all these household chores but men are still only responsible for work related issues.Due to this unending list of duties women had to perform at home which are less tensile, demanding and experience interruptions (Aziz Cunningham, 2008) effects professional life or relaxing time of females which leaves negative impression on work life balance as compared to men (A.Milkie Peltola, 1999). Hence, in order to run work and family life smoothly women a re expected to make larger breaks because they possess less power and authority imputable to the tradition and cultural norms of the society. Women can equally enjoy roles as mothers and workers but still feel more pressure than men because home responsibilities are greater and require more sacrifice (Stephen, 1977), (Thompson Walker, 1989).According to Coltrane (2000), Greenhaus and Parasuraman(1999), Rothbard and Edwards (2003) as cited by (Malik Khalid, 2008) it is a known fact that women typically do a bigger share of the household labor than men and that extra work at home partially constrains the time women can spend in paid work. Straub (2007) identifies that women tend to spend more time to family activities as of men and the same amount of work hours as of men.Challenges confront by Women while Handling Work and Family LifeWith the amount of responsibilities added to the role of women, it has given rise to multiple challenges that they are facing in their occasional lif e. Performing various tasks and playing different roles which includes mother, wife, caregiver (for parents and elderly) and employee simultaneously becomes very difficult for women to fulfill (Straub, 2007), (Beauregard Henry, 2008). It is a challenge for women to give proper time and attention to children especially who are very demanding under age of 13 (Thompson Walker, 1989), husband to maintain healthy relationship (Jacobs Gerson, 2001), other members of the family (parents, elderly) (Lourel, Ford, Gamassou, Gueguen, Hartmann, 2009) and to their work life for career progression (Aziz Cunningham, 2008). A balance between all these responsibilities is outright linked with the career performance as well as bodily and mental wellbeing of women (Whitehead Kotze, 2003), (Creating Work Life Balance, 2009).Female workers also have to face up lots of social pressures which do not allow women to have late sittings at the work place for official matters or to take in places rel ated to work (Hakim, 2006), (Jacobs Gerson, 2001). These restrictions are nearly raised by the members of the family which includes husband, in-laws, buddy and parents which creates hurdles in their career progression (Schwartz, 1989). Women also encountered issues interchangeable stereotyping, inner harassment and discrimination which make them feel insecure and confused close whether they should raise voice against inequality or remain quiet and face it (Ibrahim Marri, 2008), (Lee Brotheridge, 2005).According to Easton (2007) and Zulu (2007), Glass jacket is also one of the obstacles which hinders women while acclivity ladders of hierarchy in organizations because business environment for women is more stressful and not at all easy as compared to men. As women are in minority and mostly perceived by men as die of doubt, attraction, respect, confusion, competitiveness, pride and animosity therefore this mixed perception creates glass ceiling at the time of promotions (Fle chl, 2009), (Lourel, Ford, Gamassou, Gueguen, Hartmann, 2009).As managerial positions require strong finale making skills while women are considered as emotional and required commodious amount of time to make decision for important matters (Aziz Cunningham, 2008), therefore women are not easily designated for senior managerial positions because of perception that they are opera hat regarded as housewives and mothers (Dulk Peper, 2007), (Kafetsios, 2007).The other challenge for women is the career development and promotion in their professional lives. Senior positions require long hours commitment, work related seminars, conferences, workshop and tours which makes it difficult for women to reach due to family responsibilities (Beauregard Henry, 2008), (Hochschild, 1997). Also the fact that creates hurdles in womens progression is pregnancy and childbirth because they have to take pregnancy leaves which results in missing out opportunities for promotion (Straub, 2007), (Dohe rty, 2004), (Schwartz, 1989).Although there are many women who necessity to achieve career advancement with fulfilling other house hold tasks (Kafetsios, 2007), but organizations fail to realize that talented and motivated women can be affiliated to family as well as career and can do topper for the middle management (Saltzstein, Ting, Saltzstein, 2001) but as organizations are loth to narrow pressure and provide flexibility this leads to recruit other employees rather than providing bringing up to women employees (Clutterbuck, 2003), (Doherty, 2004).Consequences of Imbalance Work and LifeDue to the challenges faced by women in their work life, it becomes difficult for them to maintain a balance between their work life and family life. Therefore it leads to number of negative consequences, not only at part of individuals but organizations also have to face certain setbacks (McPherson, 2007), (Hyman Summers, 2007).IndividualsAs women have to execute variety of roles in their family and work life, it becomes tough for them to cover diverse tasks effectively at the same time providing equal amount of attention to every role. When women were unable to manage all these roles, it results in sensual as well as psychological problems (Kirrane Buckley, 2004) which includes increased level of stress, anxiety, need of concentration and decrease in levels of alertness, energy and general health (Beauregard Henry, 2008), (Franche, Williams, al, 2006)Work life imbalance also has implications on the relationship among family members as due to the demanding nature of work, it becomes difficult to spend time together which results in lack of bonding among family members (Lee Brotheridge, 2005). Hence due to this situation, women may experience guilt and repent because they are unable to meet expectations of their families (Abercromby, 2007), (Creating Work Life Balance, 2009).OrganizationsUnbalanced work and family life also have negative impacts on the part of organizations, as when women workforce are not satisfied with the roles they are playing it reflects in their performance at work place (Tausig Fenwick, 2001), (Nolan, 2005). According to Straub (2007), Kafetsioss (2007) and Lambert et al., (2006) hit in work and family life results in cut levels of job satisfaction, loyalty, organizational commitment, work effort, performance while increased the level of absenteeism and swage.Policies and Steps taken by Organization to Support Work Life BalanceWith the changing trends of economic development, equal employment opportunities and others, the issues regarding work-life balance has gained frequently attention from media and researchers globally (Kirrane Buckley, 2004). The work-life balance debate mostly discussed the fact that individuals have too much work to do that very little time left for themselves or family (Eikhof, Warhurst, Haunschild, 2007). As the time spend on work does not only include the contractual hours of em ployment but it also include the amateurish activities such as unpredictable long journey times, hence the line between work and family is becoming more blurred than before (Hyman Summers, 2004).These issues make employers realize the importance of work-life balance in womans daily lives in order to get optimal outcomes from the female employees (Leeds list the benefits of better work life balance, 2004), (Jacobs Gerson, 2001). Hence during 1980s, many organizations starts to change their internal workplace policies, procedures and benefits. The changes included motherhood leave Employee assistance programs (EAPs), flextime, telecommuting, paid maternity leaves, home-based work, vacation, professional counseling, and child and elder care referral (Bird, 2006), (Hudson inc), (Sunil Joshi, 2002). At present, the work-life balance issues are assumed as the most discussed topic in the field of Human Resource world due to the recognition of its value and need in the lives of females (Smithson Stokoe, 2005).Considering these consequences resulting from imbalance work and family life, European companies have shown interest in reducing this imbalance and have launched numerous work-life balance programs specifically for females (Sikora, Moore, Grunberg, Greenberg). According to a research conducted by Caroline Straub on average 95 percent of European companies offer flexible timings facility to their employees, 79 percent employers allow employees to work from home, 23 percent provides opportunity to take paid vacations and only 34 percent emphasis on child care facilities (Straub, 2007).However still, a question asked by most individuals today is as to why do work-life balance matter to policy makers, and why it might be of importance to employers? Which has been answered by (Gatrell Cooper, 2008) with citing Swan and Cooper (2005) that the concept of work-life balance developed initially as a result of European government policies designed to work on addres sing the pressures with balancing work and family life together, where both parents were employed. As further intercommunicate by Lewis and Cooper (2005) cited by (Gatrell Cooper, 2008) it has been observed that, work-life balance policies are associated with presenting employees with the misadventure to work flexibly, whereas initially the notions of flexible working were considered in equal opportunities program, with a special focus on working mothers. Today it is open to all. This leads to support the concept of work-life balance in clear terms.In New Zealand, (Kean, 2002) undertook a survey of the employees of 25 organizations which reveals that there is a clear relationship between the work-life balance policies with the employees intentions to leave the organization and actual turnover rates. This study suggests that the work-life balance policies have net positive effect on staff turnover rates.On the other side there are managers who are reluctant to apply policies whic h promote work life balance according to the study of Workplace Employment Relations Survey 2004 (WERS), 69 percent managers in private sector believe that it is solely the responsibility of individuals to balance their work and domestic demands (Hyman Summers, 2007). They have the doubt of the benefits work life balance entrust bring to their companies and perceive that it volition be costly to implement (Hughes, 2007).But this is not reality, although costs will incur at planning and slaying stage but the benefits that will be availed afterwards will be high from this cost.Benefits earned due to implementation of Work Life Balance PoliciesWork-life balance has become the focus of companies worldwide, who do not take it thin at any time. Nowadays, it is important for managers to take work-life balance seriously. The more overworked employees, the higher the demands or the expectations on the department (Clutterbuck, 2003), the more the managers have to depend on their employee s to perform at the highest possible level of proficiency, value, and quality (Jacobs Gerson, 2001), (Human Resource and Skills suppuration Canada, 2003).There are companies who believe that if employees maintain a balance between work and family, it will benefit the organization as a whole. A survey conducted of DuPont employees lead to a discovery that those who used work-life opportunities provided by the attach to were more committed to their work and believed in sticking with the organization (Clutterbuck, 2003).The U.K 2003 scoop out Companies to Work for survey states that the companies who allow their staff to work flexibly earn fine dividends. In UK, the government has been promoting the concept of work-life balance for some time now and many large corporations have started to implement this religiously (Clutterbuck, 2003). The benefits that BT, a U.K based company and one of the leading providers of communication solutions and services around the world has achieved fro m this change are colossal it results in a more flexible and an approachable workforce, recruitment and training costs have been reduced as now 98% women return to work after maternity leave which saves around 3 million, absenteeism rate has reduced to 3.1% as compared to other U.K. companies whose average comes about to be 8.5%, one of the best aspects of work-life balance has been that around 7000 BT employees now work from home which has increased its gains of 31%, and flexible working arrangements means that BT can now respond to customers demand 24/7 (Hughes, 2007).According to another research, the employee-opinion survey conducted at UK building society Nationwide, where more than three-quarter agreed with the statement that I am satisfied that Nationwide provides me with the opportunities to balance working arrangements with my personal life. Therefore it is apparent as to how Nationwide has gained the following rewards over the period of three years the number of employees returning from maternity leave has increased to 93%, employee turnover rate has decreased to 9.7% as compared to the industry average of 17%, the number of female part-time employees has increased to 50% and female home workers has risen about 150% (Job flexibility and work-life balance pay dividends for Nationwide, 2003).In a recent newspaper clause (Razvi, 2010) the writer talks about how in a country like ours, most companies apparently operate on an eight to-whenever youre absolutely stainless work hours policy. The idea of striking a work-life balance is not everlastingly something that young people are made aware about as they enter the professional territory. Even prior to people entering the job market, hardly any are actually able to keep that pastel balance between their studies and their family and social life. What the balance adds up to is in itself dynamic, and fluctuates with the changing status, as well with the altering demands of the multiple roles.Therefore, it s necessary to focus on work-life balance, because if people are out of balance or stressed or sick then they will be less committed to the results (Tremblay, 2002), they will be less devoted to the organization (Yasbek, 2004), they will be less committed to the client, the customer, the product or service that youre producing (Human Resource and Skills Development Canada, 2003).