Work-Life Balance, Step 7-Support

 

 

Work – Life Balance, Step 7- Support

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS.gov) has beautifully explained the complexities of the work-life balance as, “One of the biggest challenges facing employees today is balancing personal and work responsibilities. Finding ways to manage childcare, elder care, retirement planning, and more on top of other pressing obligations is not always easy”. This has given the realisation to the corporate world that every employee has a life outside the organisation, which is of equal importance if not more. Therefore organizations are increasingly participating in work-life support oriented programmes for their employees for creating enabling working environment. An article, “The Surprising Benefits of Work/Life Support” published in Harvard Business Review (September-October 2022), has aptly correlated that corporate programmes supporting work-life balance promote productivity, reduce turnover and improve mental and physical health of the employees. 

With the increasing advancement in science and technology fuelled by increasing mobility of factors of production including labour, workforce has become more competitive, efficient and focused but these developments have added to the complexities at the work place leading the exponential increase in the workplace stress. These workplace stresses are not watertight compartments in themselves but permeate into other walks of life thereby complicating and diversifying the issues of work-life balance. These complications and diversities are further compounded by the multiplicity of occupations and approaches of the management and employees. 

These imbalances are at various levels, which can broadly be classified as: individual, professional, organizational and external levels. Every individual is unique in himself and every profession has its differentiating characteristics with differing organizational values and cultures. The interplay of these forces sometimes lead to challenging individual and organizational behaviours which sometimes lead to personal, socio-psychological or health issues requiring support of external professionals. These challenges have to be undertaken at different levels, which can broadly be at four levels: family and friends, trade bodies and peers, organizational management and external professionals. This can be diagrammatically represented as under:

                                  Diagram – Issues and Support System

                                                                   


The diagram is just suggestive in nature where upper half of the diagram deals with issues and lower half deals with support system. The real life situations can be much more complex and may require a host of combination or even other support systems. Furthermore these classifications are not watertight in themselves but overlapping in nature.

The support system serves as excellent resource in creating a healthy and fulfilling work-life balance.

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