Work Life to Life Work Balance - Emerging Scenario

Work Life to Life Work Balance - Emerging Scenario

(S. B. Singh, Chairman Aryavart Bank & General Manager Bank of India)

One of the most debated issue of the human resource management is the work life balance due to migration of work force for employment opportunities. This migration has significantly impacted the socio economic fabric of the societies and families, where nuclear families are increasingly becoming the social norm for the proliferating middle income segment, which constitute the majority of the working population not only in India but also across the globe. The sociologists and psychologists have been raising this issue with all seriousness, which is impacting the economic, social, emotional and physical well-being of the society with increasing cases of psychosomatic disorders and depressions particularly in the bigger cities and percolating down to smaller cities and towns during the times of financial distress at individual or societal level. These psychosomatic disorders and depressions become more pronounced during the economic cyclical downturns and economic stress. The global society is passing through the phase of unprecedented economic and social distress due to Covid 19 pandemic adversely impacting the economic growth and employment opportunities leading to financial distress. The increasing cases of corona infections have created the fear of unknown among the majority of the population which has been compounded by the economic distress caused by economic and social lock-downs leading to disruption in production and logistics across the globe. Pandemic led fear and anxieties among the masses has further been compounded due to social distancing norms for public health and are further adding to stress and anxiety due to economic and social distress.

Covid 19 pandemic has impacted both the urban and rural agglomerations of our country also and is more pronounced in urban ones because of its wide ranging impact on our economic, physical and psychological well-being without any alternative source of employment due to lock-downs and restricted movements. Rural areas are significantly impacted by reverse migration of the workforce and slackening economic activities in micro and small enterprises in the face of lock-downs and poor demand but they are disguised employment in agriculture and allied sector. The Government has initiated rehabilitation measures in 116 districts of the country experiencing major brunt of reverse migration with launch of employment generating and skill development initiatives under Atma Nirbhar Bharat by creating rural infrastructure and skill reservoir for reviving rural economy for the economic development of the country. The rural economy due to its dependence on agriculture is highly resilient and the latest state interventions will further add to its economic bottom-line. The economic activities of the rural India are well knitted in its social fabric of work life balance.

The work life balance has undergone metamorphic changes during the last four months affecting the white and blue collar workforce engaged in industrial and service sector in this performance oriented emerging economic order, which is incidentally the worst affected. The problem has further been compounded by the confinement of the children and elderly people within the homes leading social and psychological estrangement. The most noticeable shift during this corona induced lock-down has been in the work life balance of the urban workforce rather it has seen the three hundred sixty degree reversal to LIFE WORK BALANCE, which has changed the basic dynamics of the workforce in myriad ways, some of which are:

I-The workforce is mostly confined to their homes and is working in the self-supervised mode and simultaneously attending to their family requirements.

II-The myth about the unsupervised performance has been demystified and the results are encouraging. Some of the global organizations and even Indian organizations have decided to include work from home as part of their corporate strategy.

III- Working from home has given rise to flexi work hours thereby employees having more control over their work schedules and thus improving productivity.

IV-Adaptability and resilience of the organizations and the workforce are going to define the emerging norms at the workplace.

V-Innovation and creativity demand freedom, flexibility and adaptability which will become the breeding grounds for innovation and creativity in the phase of work from home.

VI-Working from home will increase the interdependence and cooperation among the employees and will enforce stronger ties among the employees for managing time and group performance.

VII-The work force composition may undergo change as long term working schedule flexibility may allow more women to remain in the workforce owing to better life work balance.

VIII- Office automation is going to be the norm for routine and repetitive nature of work with reduced supervisory positions in the middle management.

IX- Agility of the organizations and workforce will determine their long term prospects and performance.

X- With new normal of work from home and reliance on virtual teams will provide opportunity for smaller cities with lower living costs to become the preferred work destinations for neo middle class and emerging entrepreneurs, which are better suited for improved life work balance.

The corona led pandemic has set tone for the newer order at the work place and among the workforce in a defining way in times to come, which will significantly impact the organizations and the workforce and they have to reorient themselves to suit to the changing economic order of the day. The writing on the walls is very loud and clear and it’s the time for both the organization and the employees to prepare for the flexibility and adaptability in the emerging newer order which will see gradual extinction of some of the industries and jobs whereas plethora of new opportunities are going to dominate the economic landscape. Therefore the organizations and the workforce have to proactively anticipate the emerging scenario and position themselves for proactively capitalizing on the emerging opportunities by riding on the waves of the change as has rightly been said, “Opportunities seldom knock twice”. The emerging new order will necessarily have increased focus on Life Work Balance.

(The views expressed in the article are my personal views.)