Background

The rise of flexible workplace came as a result of the need to accommodate women in the workplace that allow them to balance between their lives as mothers and at the same time as career people at work (Kumari & Pradhan, 2014). The biological nature of women allowed them to qualify for the work-life benefit which came as a result of the effects of affirmative and the increasing number of women in the workforce (Kvande, 2012; Jery & Souai, 2014)). In the current twenty-first century, women have steadily risen to management positions since the workplace recognizes and allows them to work and be mothers at the same time. However, Shoss, Witt, & Vera (2012) add that, as the society advances and keeps on allowing women to penetrate the workplace, new challenges of women being home managers emerge challenging their success and limiting their careers since men do not enjoy similar opportunities with them when they need to step in and assist in taking care of the family. According to Saridakis, Lai, & Cooper (2016), the inflexible nature of the workplace on men limits the career of women since they spend more time at home than on their careers. This report analyses the article to present human resource issues and recommendations for addressing the concerns.

One of the issues in the story is work and life balance which allows employees to balance between individual needs and time allocated for them at work. This is the strategic role that HRM plays in an organization by ensuring that employees are motivated through creating conditions that increase retention and flexibility at work (Stones, 2017). This approach mainly focusses on areas of personal interests, social life and family needs. The functional flexibility model suggests that structures need to be put in place to address flexible issues within the organization to create a better workplace (Boushey, 2016). Three mediators of gender, family characteristic and time spent at work shape the work-life balance requirements for the individual. This means that employee time is divided equally between their work and personal life. From Maslow’s theory, people have needs that are to be met in order of their importance (Nuangjamnong & Maj, 2017). Since work provides for basic needs and safety that arises from income but at the same time allows them to belong to a societal group that boosts their self-esteem (Alterman, Luckhaupt, Dahlhamer, Ward, & Calvert, 2013). In most organizations, women enjoy this privilege especially mothers who are allowed to work part-time so that they can address their life needs. On the other hand, men enjoy less work-life balance privileges since most organizations have not embraced this approach (Akhter, Malik, Khwaja, & Mehmood, 2018). This allows people to pursue personal aspirations like raising children and progressing in education which makes them more satisfied with their work.

Issues with Work-Life Balance

Another issue noted in the story is the lack of gender balance on issues that relate to employee benefits. From the study, there is a difference between male and female differences when it comes to work and life balance related issues (Ford, Heinen, & Langkamer, 2013). According to Stones (2017), organizations need to be structures in place for addressing cross-cultural issues that affect gendered aspects of employee management. From a human needs point of view, there are gender differences between men and women which have to be considered when planning for human resource needs. Since the society is patriarchal in nature, caregiving roles are treated as feminine roles which makes it difficult for some organizations to work on gender-related issues. Reynolds (2015) adds that in most organizations, work-life policies mostly affect women since men are not keen on taking such privileges. This is because the society by nature is stratified along gender lines making it difficult for men to claim some benefits that will lead to career progression of men. The difference in sexes at work makes it difficult for men to step aside and allow women to prosper in their career. This means that there is limited support for the career success of women through work-life balance benefits directed at men who are willing to support their women.

Lastly, human resource planning needs to be used to balance the workforce in the organization to assist bridge the gender gap and at the same time create conditions for women to prosper (Stones, 2017). The role of human resource is to meet the strategic needs of the organization through aligning employees to organizational goals. This entails planning for future human needs of the organization and at the same time increasing employee development for succession. Since the human resource plays a strategic function, managers need to plan for their employees so that the organization can get the required needs. This is because gender differences are inherent in the social structure of the society. According to Colgan (2017) argues that affirmative action and other gender approaches only create opportunities for women but do not address the barriers that women face at the workplace. The reason why most women have failed to advance and attain high career goals is that there are no support structures in the society that allow them to advance their careers (Stones, 2017). For example, good paying jobs are not part-time related because they require personal presence all through. For example, management positions have annual leaves but are limited since managers have to be present in the organization the whole time.  According to Eacott (2018) suggests that the gender differences in pay are at 14.6% in Australia and cannot decrease any further than that unless the structural differences between men and women are addressed. These differences keep women down and deny them the ability to progress in their careers.

The Need for Gender Balance in the Workplace

One way of achieving work-life balance in the organization is developing employee-related policies that guide the way how strategic human resource management objectives can be met. Stones (2017), suggests that the strategic role of human resource systems is to work on employee performance through creating motivating conditions for employee performance. The fact that there is a gender conflict in work-life balance means that structures have to be put in place to address such concerns. Such policies create conditions in which men and women benefits from such needs and at the same time allows them to understand the requirements that they obtain from the organization (Malik, McKie, Beattie, & Hogg, 2012; Bal & Lange, 2014). These policies can be cemented by developing work-life balance practices through reduced working hours. Strategies like job sharing, part-time work, compressed work periods telecommunicating, on-site child care facility and parental leave can be used by organizations to achieve the policy. Such strategies create conditions for other men who are willing to support women advance their careers by taking the caring role for children. Once structures have been put in place, it becomes easy for men and women to

Since the society is patriarchal and full of stereotypes, Sullivan & Smithson (2013) suggest that there is need to build the capacity of men to make them understand the benefits of supporting women aspirations and participating in their life. This means that men need to be made to understand how they can support women in achieving their careers as seen in the story. The two fathers Rick Breumelholf and Graham Eacolt have made huge strides in their life but the society still has difficulties understanding their work and life balance. Grzywacz & Carlson (2017) add that this means that there is the need for greater insights to be developed in couples to ensure that they learn how to support their partners in progressing their careers. By supporting each other, organizations can have opportunities for both men and women to progress without having to affirmatively support women who are tied down by the patriarchal society.

Lastly, there is the need for organizations to understand the needs of their employees and align work arrangements according to the needs of such employees. The functional flexible approach requires the organization to align personal and professional needs so that an employee can balance them out to avoid stress and burnouts. To meet the strategic needs of the organization, the human resource system must have a plan for organizing employee needs since they inform their motivation and performance. Despite having work and life balance initiatives in organizations, there is the need for employers to understand the varying needs of employees and put a proper structure in place. For example, married men and women will require better arrangements than having general work-life balance practices (Smith, 2013). This means that organizations have to review their policies and develop these programs based on the needs of employees so that they can address any challenges that such employees can face. For example, married women will have more challenges as compared to unmarried women. Therefore, Warren (2014) suggests that organizations have to work with career developments needs of employees so that their specific needs can be addressed. This strategy works better than initiatives focusing on giving women soft spots in their careers. Such strategies have not been effective since they fail to address latent factors that inhibit the progress of women.

Human Resource Planning for Gender Balance and Work-Life Balance

Conclusion

Work-life balance issues in organizations have been seen as feministic approaches that seek to support women in their careers. This is seen as a strategic of human resource systems of motivating employees and making satisfied with their work (El-Ghalayini, 2017). Therefore organizations have to put structures in place that support men who are willing to work on flexible work so that they can support women to grow their careers. This is the only way that gender differences can be achieved since women have to find conditions that allow them to advance in their careers. Therefore, work-life balance initiatives need to be put in place at the organizational level rather than industry level. This can then be broken down to a personal level if there are specific employee needs that have to be met at an individual. By incorporating personal work-life balance requirements in organizations, it becomes easy to support men and women who are inhibited by personal lives to progress. 

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