A STUDY ON FACTORS INFLUENCING WORK LIFE BALANCE OF WOMEN EMPLOYEES IN SELECT COMMERCIAL BANKS IN ERODE DISTRICT

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1 A STUDY ON ACTORS INLUENCING WORK LIE BALANCE O WOMEN EMPLOYEES IN SELECT COMMERCIAL BANKS IN ERODE DISTRICT M.PREMA 1 Dr. S.SURESH 2 1 Ph.D Research Scholar (External), Department of Commerce, Annamalai University, Annamalainagar, Tamil Nadu. 2 Professor, Department of Commerce, Annamalai University, Annamalainagar, Tamil Nadu. ABSTRACT Nowadays women are working in almost all kinds of professions demonstrating that there is no gender difference at work place. This is a positive development that women are making their presence which reflects in different walks of their life. Nevertheless, every woman should also manage their home and personal life. The present scenario with increasing demands at work place and the interface between work life and personal life assumed more work pressure which demands more attention towards work life balance issues. There are different factors those affect work life balance among them one set of factors could be demographic variables. The present study is undertaken to determine the relationship between the demographic variables and work life balance. The women employees working in banking sector at Erode district constitute the universe for this study and a sample size of 566 employees is chosen. The hypotheses are tested using ANOVA and it has revealed that there is significant relationship between demographic variables and work life balance. This study concluded that the work life balance initiatives should be designed to help employees based on the demographic variables and work life balance issues that would help the employees work life and personal life. Keywords: Demographic variables, Work Life Balance, Women employees. Introduction Work life balance is a concept that supports the efforts of employees to split their time and energy between work and the other important aspects of their lives. Work life balance is a daily effort to make time for family, friends, community participation, spirituality, personal growth, self-care and other personal activities, in addition to the demands of the workplace. It means creating a balance to schedule an equal number of hours for each of the various work and personal activities. The right balance between professional and personal life of today will probably be different on tomorrow. Thus the core of effective work life balance definitions is two key concepts: daily achievements and enjoyment. The tremendous increase in industrialisation and rapid changes in education paved employment opportunities for women in a massive increasing trend. Nowadays the career women are continually challenged by the demands of full-time work and when the day is done at the office, they carry more of the responsibilities and commitments to home. Women are growing more ambitious as they become key players in the world of work, contributing to major company successes. Majority of women work lives are a juggling act that included multiple responsibilities at work, heavy meeting schedules, and business trips. In this fast growing and competitive world, as every possible opportunity for employment is increased, the organisations need to create a congenial atmosphere where employees can balance their professional and personal life. So employees need to properly deal with work and family transitions and define a boundary between them otherwise the overlap of work and family results in burnout. 1 icmrrjournal@gmail.com

2 Review of Literature The earlier studies made on factors affecting work life balance of employees are briefly reviewed here: Rincy and Panchanatham (2011) have identified that role overload, dependent care issues, quality of health, problems in time management and lack of proper social support are the major factors influencing the work life balance of women entrepreneurs of South India. The authors recommended that human resource professionals, management consultants, academicians and women entrepreneurs themselves must deal with the major work life balance issues faced by the Indian women entrepreneurs to resolve the imbalance. Thriveni and Rama (2012) examined that there was a significant relationship between demographic variables namely age, experience, marital status, income, type of family, number of dependents and perception of work- life balance. They also articulated the importance of these relationships for designing appropriate policies for employees to deal with work life balance issues. Srikanthverma et al (2013) analysed that the support from boss, support from colleagues at work, flexible working hours, time off for family engagement/events and different kinds of leaves holidays and parenting and pregnancy policies help in balancing the work and life. This study directed that the employee specific initiatives to improve work life balance could be implemented by organisations. Objectives of the Study The following are the main objectives of the study: 1. To study the perception of women employees towards the factors influencing work life balance. 2. To offer valuable suggestions to enhance the work life balance of women employees. Methodology The present study is mainly based on primary data collected from 566 women employees working in public and private sector banks at Erode District. A structured questionnaire based on Likert s five point scale was administered among the respondents. Multi stage random sampling is used for choosing the sample respondents. ANOVA is used to determine the factors influencing work life balance. Hypotheses There is no significant relationship between Age, Marital Status, Designation, Type of amily and the overall score of Work life balance. Data Analysis and Interpretation Age and Work Life Balance The mean scores for each age group were found out and are given below: 2 icmrrjournal@gmail.com

3 -1 - Age and Overall Score of Work Life Balance Age No. of Respondents Mean S.D years years years years It is observed from the table 1 that the mean work life balance score is highest (99.50) for the age group of years. The respondents in the age group of years have the lowest mean score of ANOVA for Overall Score of Work Life Balance by Age Source of Sum of df Mean Within Groups S S - Significant at 5 per cent level It is a clear evident from the table 2 that the calculated is greater (11.456) than the table (2.621) at 5 per cent level of significance. Hence the framed null hypothesis is rejected and it can be concluded that there is significant difference in the work life balance based on the age of the respondents. Marital Status and Work Life Balance The mean scores for marital status were found out and are given below: -3 - Marital Status and Overall Score of Work Life Balance Marital Status No. of Respondents Mean S.D Married Unmarried It is observed from the table 3 that the mean work life balance score is highest (98.18) for the unmarried respondents. The married respondents have the lowest mean score of icmrrjournal@gmail.com

4 -4 - ANOVA for Overall Score of Work Life Balance by Marital Status Source of Sum of Df Mean Within Groups NS NS Not Significant It is a clear evident from the table 4 that the calculated is lesser (1.040) than the table (3.858). Hence the framed null hypothesis is accepted and it can be concluded that there is no significant difference in the work life balance based on the marital status of the respondents. Designation and Work Life Balance The mean scores for different designations were found out and are given below: -5 - Designation and Overall Score of Work Life Balance Designation No. of Respondents Mean S.D Manager Officer Cashier Clerk It is observed from the table 5 that the mean work life balance score is highest (100.61) for the clerk. The officer category respondents have the lowest mean score of ANOVA for Overall Score of Work Life Balance by Designation Source of Sum of df Mean Within Groups S S - Significant at 5 per cent level 4 icmrrjournal@gmail.com

5 It is a clear evident from the table 6 that the calculated is greater (12.692) than the table (2.621) at 5 per cent level of significance. Hence the framed null hypothesis is rejected and it can be concluded that there is significant difference in the work life balance based on the designation of the respondents. Type of amily and Work Life Balance The mean scores for the type of family of the respondents were found out and are given below: -7 - Type of amily and Overall Score of Work Life Balance Type of amily No. of Respondents Mean S.D Joint Nuclear Single It is observed from the table 7 that the mean work life balance score is highest (97.99) for the respondents those who are living in the joint family. The respondents those who are living in single have the lowest mean score of ANOVA for Overall Score of Work Life Balance by Type of amily Source of Sum of df Mean Within Groups S S - Significant at 5 per cent level It is a clear evident from the table 8 that the calculated is greater (5.720) than the table (4.643) at 5 per cent level of significance. Hence the framed null hypothesis is rejected and it can be concluded that there is significant difference in the work life balance based on the type of family of the respondents. indings 1. The younger age groups of respondents can able to balance their work and family better than the other age groups because when the age advances the respondents have more responsibilities at home and at work place. 2. The unmarried women employees balance their work and family life somehow better than the married women. 3. The respondents cadre advances, the responsibilities and demands at work place also increases which let down the work life balance of the women employees. 4. The employees lived in joint family had more work life balance than nuclear because the 5 icmrrjournal@gmail.com

6 respondents need not worry about their children and other familial commitments which will be taken care by other family members. Suggestions 1. The respondents should be made to aware of the fact that prioritising their time in all these areas is must to achieve balanced life. 2. The study suggests that family and spouse members support are essential to run the cycle of work life smoothly and hassle free. 3. The unsupportive work-life cultures to career advanced women employees such as long working hours and working environment that exist in these banks should be voided. 4. The bank should provide mind relaxation programme such as meditation and yoga which improve the emotional equilibrium of the women employees. Conclusion Based on the analysis it is concluded that there is significant relationship between demographic variables and work life balance of women employees. The relationship between demographic variables and work life balance of employees will be an important input in designing appropriate policies for employees to address work life balance issues. Work life balance initiatives designed to help employees to balance their work and personal lives are not an option, but also a necessity for many employers today. Reference 1. Rincy V. Mathew and Panchanatham.N., (2011), An Exploratory Study on the Work Life Balance of Women Entrepreneurs in South India, Asian Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 16 (2), pp Thriveni, K.K., Rama,D.V.,(2012). Impact of demographic variables on Work-Life Balance of Women Employees (with special reference to Bangalore City), International Journal of Advances in Management and Economics, Vol.1(6),pp Srikanthverma, Ch., Rohit Kumar,M., and Ranapratap,V.,(2013). Work Life Balance of Public Sector Bank Employees- A Study in Warangal District, SUMEDHA Journal of Management, Vol.2 (1), pp Venkataramanan,M. and Abirami,N., (2013). A study on work life balance of women teachers in Arts and Science colleges in Tamil Nadu, Indian Journal of Applied Research, Vol.3 (11), pp icmrrjournal@gmail.com