Introduction to Work-Life Balance and its Importance for Women in the Workplace

Work Life balance is the term which is used to describe the balance between the times allocated for work and other aspect of life. The theory of work life balance is related to the lifestyle of an individual. This theory is achieved success when an individual work effectively and efficiently by maintaining his personal life with work life without any problems. It is difficult for an individual to maintain the balance because there are many obstacles comes in the way of personal life and work. Women employees faced the more issues in the real life as compare to men. It is the necessary for the organisation to adopt the work life balance policy in the organisation so that the women maintain their life style. Work life balance policy is the framework within which the departments can consider the flexible working hours and work environment so that the employees can manage their work with the family. Under this policy, it was regulated that the document of work life balance policy should be signed by the employees as evidence. This policy is relates to all categories of UCL staff (Hougaard, Carter, & Coutts, 2016). It helps the employees to take care about their family with their work life. It is more beneficial for the women because they have more responsibility towards her family and maintenance of house member. In this paper, the discussion is made on the topic of the Work life balance policy for women. I believed that the women get the benefit from the work life balance policy. The statement is briefly defined that how women get the benefit from work life balance policy.

Now days, women face the challenges in the way of their career. The full time work is a biggest challenge for the women because after the end of the day they have more commitments towards their family and home. The large numbers of women are working 40-45 hours in a week due to which they are not able to spend time with their family members and themselves. It has been seen that 53% of women are struggling to maintain the personal life with their work life (Adame-Sánchez, Caplliure, & Miquel-Romero, 2018). The work-life balance policy is the only way to help the women in maintaining the balance and getting the benefits at the workplace. Concentration of women is increases in the organisation towards their work.  It is fact that the high concentration power helps in increasing the productivity which is beneficial for the workplace. Having a healthy work life balance is not only helps in maintaining the wellbeing but also helps in maintaining the productivity. The weekend time is that time where the women employees have more time to spend with their family by switching off the work phone.  It is necessary to give time to themselves and spend with the family because women are more emotionally attach with their family. After all the time spend with family and perform all the responsibility towards the family they can go with the fresh mindset to do the office work. The fresh mindset increases the productivity of an individual which is beneficial for the workplace. It can be possible by the work life balance policy in the organisation because it can create the solid line between works and play (Wadhwa, & Shetty, 2017). Both the work is equally essential to enhance the productivity and to stay healthy in all the conditions for women because they carry responsibilities of family with their office work. Keep the life balanced by maintaining the amount of work, recreation and rest in order to stay fully functional. These techniques help to increase the concentration of women in their work which increased the productivity. Increased productivity means helps in getting the promotion quickly in the workplace (Adema, et al., 2017).

Challenges Faced by Women in the Workplace due to Lack of Work-Life Balance Policies

For example- Indra Nooyi is the CEO of Pepsico., she is appreciated for her excellent performance and that is why she is promoted at CEO position. She performs well her responsibility with her understanding. She makes differences between her family and her work to perform well in the workplace (Julie, 2018).

Work life balance is beneficial for women in the terms of stress free. It has been seen that the women give more focus on their work which helps them in getting the promotion. With the help of work life balance policy, women live stress free in the workplace which improves their performance quality (Terera, & Ngirande, 2014).

The efficiency of women is increases in the terms of their work. The efficiency of employees is also beneficial for the organisation as well as for the employees. Stress free women build the positive relationship with the other people and also maintain the positive environment. The positive relationship with the others develops the unity in a group which is beneficial for a tem to do the work. Positive relationship develops the positive perception of the people towards the women. It is beneficial for the employees because they are promoted quickly just because of the positive perception of employer toward the employee (Schwartz, et al., 2018). Women are motivated due to maintaining the balance between personal life and work. Motivated employees live free and perform their functions well from which they get the good result in return. It has been seen that the women gets frustrated when they have lot of stress of work. The whole work will be messed due to frustration of women and the capacity of doing the work is also reduces. But with the help of work life balance policy, the women can easily maintain the work with the high capacity of work. The quality of work is improved due to less stress (Chhabra, 2017).

Time management is another benefit that the women get from the work life balance policy. The working in certain hours maximizes the performance of employees and they are able to do the task on time. Completed the task on time gives them more time to start the other task and completed it before the weekend. If the team get the longer hours to do a single task they will be able to organise their time and divide it among different task. The ability of women employee to do the different task in a day is increases. Time management is a factor which is essential for an individual in their life not only in work life but also in personal life (Caesar, & Fei, 2018). The employee has the opportunity to do the new type of work and learn new things as per their interest and passion. Employees get more innovative because after the work completion they can do the new things which increase the creativity skills. A good work life balance promotes the creativity which will nourish the staff. Creativity promotes the happiness due to variety of reasons. The first thing is that the employees are getting happy with their work. The employees who stuck with the overworked employees are getting happy to do the innovative work. Innovation and creativity skills encourage the employees to pursue the new type of projects at the workplace due to which they are promoted and get the extra salary. It is indirect methods of up skilling and which helps the employees to come up with the innovative ideas and solution of problem. Women are always passionate and excited to do and learn the new type of work. (Lyness, & Judiesch,  2014). Performing the quality of work on time is beneficial for the employee as well as for the organisation. Women employee is promoted as per the quality and capacity of work. New ideas of doing the new things also help to build the image in the new department in the workplace. Due to innovative ideas and solution, the employees are appreciated with rewards and awards and even they are promoted in their positions.  (Hughes, Kinder, & Cooper, 2019).

Benefits of Work-Life Balance Policies for Women in the Workplace

For example- Flexible working hours allows the women employees to manage their time well with their personal and work life. In 8 hours shift, more work can be done in a day but if the employee maintain the report on the same day instead of the next day. They can live with the stress free mind and also come with the free mindset which increases their productivity and efficiency to do the work (Balance Careers, 2018).

Rewards and awards are the other advantage which the women get to do the quality of work or for more presence in the workplace. (Gil, & Mataveli, 2016). The women stay stress free and healthy by maintaining the time in the workplace and personal life. Flexible working hours and work hours gives the employees time to rest or exercise. The more time means improvements in employee health and well-being. Healthy employees will perform well in the workplace in their responsibilities. Performance of the employees is beneficial for the organisation as well as the employee. It is observed that the employees left the organisation due to the health issues but due to more time the health of employees is improved. The employment turnover is reduces in the workplace which is beneficial for the company as well as the employees. Existing employees are promoted and getting the appraisal with their experiences. Appraisal is the type of promotion in which the salary of an employee is increases. It is also cost effective for the company due to reducing the recruitment cost. The less employee turnover influences the company to recruit the less number of people. The company can use this cost to motivate the employee by providing them rewards in the monetary terms. The organisation awarded the employees for the best performance in a year and also provides the bonus to appreciate them. The organisation also provides the rewards in the terms of money to those employees who are more presented in the office (Neave, 2017). It is observed that the healthy employees are more presented in the workplace instead of the other employees. Work life balance helps the employee to maintain the healthy lifestyle by managing their time. It is observed that the women are more emotional and attach for their family. By managing time, the women employees spent time with their family which refresh their time and helps in back to work with the free mindset. The flexible working hours and events are more beneficial for the women employees because they also get the equal opportunity to attain the awards of the best performer (Isaacs, 2016).

For example- The perfect attendance programs and top performer recognition are the awards that are provided to those employees who are presence in the workplace. Sheryl Sandberg, is the COO of Facebook, She perform well their performance and nominated for the best performer. Her efforts are appreciated by giving her awards and promoted with the high post in the Facebook (Julie, 2018).

From the above discussion, it has been concluded that the women get the benefits in the workplace due to work life balance policy. This policy defines the balance in the personal and work life. It has been seen that the women are more closed with their family and they also give the first priority to their family which affect the work in the workplace. But after the introduction of work policy; they are able to maintain the balance between the work life and personal life. Work life balance policy plays an important role in the career path of the women employee. They get the same advantage which is earlier only achieved by men employee as per their performance and presence. The flexible hours helps the women to take rest and spent time with their family which has a positive impact on their health. Healthy employees have high attendance in the workplace as compare to the other employees. Women start getting the rewards and awards for their high presence and excellent performance. According to the work life balance policy, employees are free to do their work after the working hours or in weekends. As per this policy, women have more time to spend with their family due to which they can go with their free mindset (Powell, 2018).  Free mindset helps the women to focus more on their performance and increased the productivity. Increased productivity is also beneficial in the career path of women employee because the employees are promoted for their excellent performance.

Examples of Successful Women Achievers who have Maintained Work-Life Balance

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