Work-Life Balance
1.1 INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY
Work life balance is the separation between the work life and the personal life. It is the boundary that is created between one’s profession, career, or business and every other segment that makes up the life. Work-life balance, in its broadest sense, is defined as a satisfactory level of involvement or ‘fit’ between the multiple roles in a person’s life. Work-life balance for any one person is having the ‘right’ combination of participation in paid work (defined by hours and working conditions) and other aspects of their lives. This combination will change as people move through life and have changing responsibilities and commitments in their work and personal lives. In the current economic environment, work life balance now ranks as one of the most important workplace attributes. The economic downturn has placed tremendous pressure on employees over their long-term job security. Employees are responding by seeking out employers that offer a better work-life balance, and research shows they work harder for those that do.
In the early years of communal living usually the entire family engaged in work for subsistence at home or near home. In pre industrialization period growing size of trade and craft business partially segregated the workplace and family life. During the industrial revolution in mid 1800s use of machines for mass production necessitated setting up of factories away from home. Men dominated the workforce in factories while household work was taken care of primarily by women who stayed back at home. During late 18th and early 19th century due to division of labor and between early 19th century and 1950s due to technological factors (which depended on physical strength, giving men an advantage over women at the workplace) separation of work from family was more consolidated and men took the main role of earners and women took primarily the charge of home and family work. In early part of second half of the 20th century
Work life balance is the separation between the work life and the personal life. It is the boundary that is created between one’s profession, career, or business and every other segment that makes up the life. Work-life balance, in its broadest sense, is defined as a satisfactory level of involvement or ‘fit’ between the multiple roles in a person’s life. Work-life balance for any one person is having the ‘right’ combination of participation in paid work (defined by hours and working conditions) and other aspects of their lives. This combination will change as people move through life and have changing responsibilities and commitments in their work and personal lives. In the current economic environment, work life balance now ranks as one of the most important workplace attributes. The economic downturn has placed tremendous pressure on employees over their long-term job security. Employees are responding by seeking out employers that offer a better work-life balance, and research shows they work harder for those that do.
In the early years of communal living usually the entire family engaged in work for subsistence at home or near home. In pre industrialization period growing size of trade and craft business partially segregated the workplace and family life. During the industrial revolution in mid 1800s use of machines for mass production necessitated setting up of factories away from home. Men dominated the workforce in factories while household work was taken care of primarily by women who stayed back at home. During late 18th and early 19th century due to division of labor and between early 19th century and 1950s due to technological factors (which depended on physical strength, giving men an advantage over women at the workplace) separation of work from family was more consolidated and men took the main role of earners and women took primarily the charge of home and family work. In early part of second half of the 20th century