A STUDY ON WORK LIFE BALANCE AMONG BANKING EMPLOYEES IN SHIVAMOGGA

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1 A STUDY ON WORK LIFE BALANCE AMONG BANKING EMPLOYEES IN SHIVAMOGGA SUBHADRA P.S 1 Dr KADAKOL A.M 2 1 Asst. Professor, Dept of Management Studies, JNN College of Engineering, Shimoga, Karnataka. 2 Associate Professor, Koushali Institute of Management Studies, Karnatak University, Dharwad, Karnataka. INTRODUCTION: Work-life balance is about the interaction between paid work and other activities, including unpaid work in families and the community, leisure, and personal development. Work-life balance is about creating a productive work culture where the potential for tensions between work and other parts of people's lives is minimised. This means having appropriate employment provisions in place, and organisational systems and supportive management underpinning them. Work-life balance for any one person is having the 'right' combination of participation in paid work (defined by hours and working conditions), and other aspects of their lives. This combination will not remain fixed, but may change over time. NEED OF THE STUDY: An orderly approach, strong time management skills, personal efficiency, communication, business acumen in the behavior of employees gives out for success. The researcher is interested in knowing to what extent the employees at banks maintain the work life balance. Work life balance is nothing but the satisfactory level of involvement between the multiple roles in a person s life. The banking professionals undergo a lot of psychological pressure due to the increase in the volume and multiplicity of the tasks and responsibilities. There is a need to find out the extent of impact of working environment and work pressure on work life balance. Hence is the study, A Study on Work Life Balance among Banking Employees in Shivamogga. LITERATURE REVIEW: Dr. Sindhu, Mr. S Suman Babu (2008) in their article, deliberated on the concept of work life balance and its importance for the women employees. The development in general and higher per capita incomes are supposed to lead to more employment for women workers. Work Life Balance from the employer perspective benefits the organization such as increased employee productivity, reduction in absenteeism reduced over head etc. whereas from the employee perspective, good quality of life, training and development, good health, affordable childcare or elder care from the women perspective Work life balance includes life based issues, work based issues and organizational issues. Rama Subramanian (2009) in her concentrates on the growth momentum that produces great pressure on individuals and business. Just as a balanced diet is necessary for the physical well-being of an individual, a balanced life is necessary for the mental /emotional and psychological well-being of people WLB assumes importance in creating happiness in employees, their families, productive firms, happy societies leading to prosperous nation more steps have to be taken from individual and organizational fronts for successful Work life Balance. Reimara and Vasanthi found that the familial influence appeared as a important factor in life choices on work and family for all women. All the women had very strong male role models who were technical professionals. There were two types to the role conflict the traditional element of time balance and role of independent case. Nancy R Lock Wood (2003), has given a detailed account of the concept of 78

2 work life balance. While deliberating on the genesis of the concept, she has stated that work life balance is a mention of equilibrium in which the demands of both a person job and personal life are equal. Two from of psychological interference exist viz., work to family and family to work.diversity and work life initiatives can be found at the of the new social contract being discussed between employers and employees. A common thread that joins the WLB benefits to the organization is organsition culture. This work life policies have the potential to significant by improve employee morale, reduce absenteeism, and retain firms knowledge, especially during difficult economic times. Work And Family Issues In The Hospitality Industry: Perspectives Of Entrants, Managers, And Spouses stresses the need or requirement to work long, irregular, and unpredictable hours emerged consistently as the most prevalent job stressor for managers in a variety of types of hotels and locations. Managers and spouses largely agreed on this point, and entrants were well aware of these expectations R Baral & S Bhargava, in their article, emphasize the need to go beyond the welfare concept and adopt Work-Life Balance strategies such as family supportive culture, congruence between individual needs and organizational solutions. The organizations should change themselves from employee friendly to family friendly practices. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY: To understand work l the relationship work life balance of the employees in banking sector. To study the relationship between individual related factors and work life balance of the employees. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: The study was carried out in different banks in Shimoga consisting as many as 100 samples including different categories of employees namely Officers and Managers. The samples of the population were selected on the basis of random sampling method. The primary data was collected through it questionnaire consisting of the 3 major dimensions of Work Life Balance namely Individual, Family and Organizational factors including demographic details. The data analysis is carried out and the hypotheses are tested by using the statistical tools like percentage method and chi-square analysis. The interpretations are followed by suggestions and conclusions. SCOPE OF THE STUDY: The scope of the study is to know the work life conflict of the banking employees with special reference to their personal, family, organizational point of view and is limited to Officers and managers at different banks. To study the time balance, involvement balance, satisfaction balance of the employees in their life. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY: The sample size is very small and the attempt had been completed in a period of 3 weeks. The researcher was able to interact only with small percentage of both officers and managerial staff. The conclusion of the study is made on the assumptions that the respondents have given unbiased information. Since analysis is based on opinions and attitudes, the result at best are near to truth. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY The study of work life balance involves the examination of people s ability to manage simultaneously the multi-faceted demands of life. Although work/life balance has traditionally been assumed to involve the devotion of equal amounts of time to paid work and non-work roles, more recently the 79

3 concept has been recognized as more complex and has been developed to incorporate additional components. The various factors in an individual s work and non-work life act as facilitators (resources) or barriers (demands) of work life balance. In turn, the same impacts upon the individual s health, wellbeing, work performance and finally, work and life satisfaction. The indicators of work life balance can be Time balance- the amount of time given to work and non-work roles. Involvement balance- the level of psychological involvement in, or commitment to, work and non-work roles. Satisfaction balance- the level of satisfaction with work and non work roles. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Type of Research Descriptive and Emperical Population Officers at different banks Total No. of Samples 100 Sampling Technique Simple Random Sources of Data Primary and Secondary Method of Collection Structured Questionnaire Sampling Frame Population Bank Officers Statistical Methods used Percentage Analysis, Chi-Square Test The data analysis is carried out and the hypotheses are tested by using the statistical tools like percentage method and chi-square analysis. The interpretations are followed by suggestions and conclusions. Hypothesis-1 Ho: The Employees at banks are not able to spare equal amount of energy for the organisation and house work significantly. And H1: The Employees at banks are able to spare equal amount of energy for the organisation and house work significantly. Hypothesis-2 Ho: There exists no flexibility with respect to time and pattern of carrying out the tasks. H1: There exists flexibility with respect to time and pattern of carrying out the tasks. DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION Table No.1 Indicating Gender-wise distribution of the respondents. Gender No. of Respondents Percentage Male Female From the above table it is evident that 73% of the respondents are male and only 27% are female. Hence it is hospital industry we find that male officers have been the majority. Table No.2 Indicating the age group -wise distribution of respondents. Age No. of Respondents Percentage 18 to to and above

4 The organisation consists of less employees belonging to 18 to 35 years age group and only 90% have been above 35. Table No.3 Indicating marital status -wise distribution of respondents. Marital Status No. of Respondents Percentage Married Unmarried From the survey it is clear that 48% of the respondents are married and 52% are unmarried. The married respondents may have the additional responsibility and work-life balance will be more challenging. Table No.3 Indicating the number respondents with number of dependents (Elders) 0 to to and above 7 7 Table No.4 Indicating the number respondents with number of dependents(children) None to and above Nil Nil Table No.5 Indicating the experience as officers in banks Years of experience No. of Respondents Percentage 1 to to and above From the above table experience between 1 to 3 years consists 56% and 4 to 8 years of experience is 27% and only 17% of are 8 and above years. Table No.6 Indicating the work schedule of the employees Work Schedule No. of Respondents Percentage Fixed Flexible Irregular

5 From the above table it is evident that 92% i.e., majority of employees have fixed work schedule and only 08% have flexible work schedule. Table No.7 Indicating the frequency in demands of family responsibilities of the respondents. Never Rarely Sometimes Often 3 3 Always From the above table it is evident that family responsibilities are not abstract to the career development. Because 27% of employees will feel family responsibilities are never highly demanding and 28% of employees feel rarely. Other 20% of employees feel sometimes family responsibilities interrupt to career development and other 22% feel Always and only 3% feel often. Table No.8 Indicating difficulty in accommodating the time for family related work. Never Rarely Sometimes Often 3 3 Always The majority of employees are successful in balancing work and personal life because the majority is satisfied with demands of family and life. Because 42% employees are feeling its never difficult for accommodate time for family related work. 31% will feel sometimes and 12% feel rarely, always only 3% feel often. Table No.9 Indicating family responsibilities are highly demanding so career development cannot happen. Never Rarely 6 6 Sometimes Often 1 1 Always From the above table it is clear that 57% of employees feel family responsibilities are not abstract to career development and 26% of employees will feel sometimes and 16% of employees feel 82

6 Child Care( %) Elderly Care( %) Domestic Duties( %) Leisure Activities( %) Religious/Spiritual Activities( %) Community Ventures( %) Self care and development( %) INTERCONTINENTAL JOURNAL OF HUMAN RESOURCE RESEARCH REVIEW rarely and always only 1% feel often. For work-life balance the amount of time spent on personal life and work life matter. A small variation in work-life balance will affect on career development. Table No.10 Indicating opinion regarding activities work-life balance. Q.13 Highly Satisfied Satisfied Neutral Dissatisfied Highly dissatisfied Table No.11 Indicating Job effect on personal life Particulars No. of respondents Percentage Never Rarely Sometimes Often 1 1 Always nil nil From the above table it is evident that job gives bread and butter to employees. So job gives economical security to life. 62% of employees will not feel job makes personal life difficult. And do to stress and pressure in job 23% of them feels sometimes,15% of them feel rarely and often. Table No.12 Indicating response w.r.to whether family/life demands will make work suffer. Particulars No. of respondents Percentage Never Rarely 8 8 Sometimes Often - - Always From the above table it is evident that 61% of employees will feel work will never suffers because of the family/life responsibilities. Do to family size and responsibilities 20% employees feel sometimes and 11% feel always. And 8% of employees feel rarely. Work-Life Balance depends on various factors like members in family and distance from work place to home/residing place

7 Hours of work/day( %) Hours of work/week( %) Role clarity( %) Scope for creativity and variety( %) freedom with respect to time and pattern of carrying out the task ( %) The relationship with colleagues( %) INTERCONTINENTAL JOURNAL OF HUMAN RESOURCE RESEARCH REVIEW Table No.13 Indicating whether work drains of energy of a person. Particulars No. of respondents Percentage Never Rarely Sometimes Often 7 7 Always From the above table it is clear that 36% of employees feel that work drains their energy and 30% of employees feel sometimes work is on pressure so drains energy.14% of employees will not have high pressure in work always so their opinion is rarely and 13% of employees feel always and only 7% of them feel often. Table No.14 Indicating existence of extra load and pressure in the job Particulars No. of respondents Percentage Never Rarely Sometimes Often 2 2 Always From the above table it is clear that 31% of employees feel work is not extra load and pressure the work and the work schedule will affect the employee to have different feeling about their opinion. 34% of employees feel sometimes because of the roles and responsibilities they are carrying and 20% of employees feel always work in on pressure and it is extra load.15% of employees feel rarely and often. Table No.15 Indicating satisfaction level to followings. Q. 18 Highly Satisfied Satisfied Neutral Unsatisfied Highly Unsatisfied

8 TESTING OF HYPOTHESES: Hypothesis-1 H o : The Employees at banks are not able to spare equal amount of energy for the organisation and house work significantly. H 1 : The Employees at banks are able to spare equal amount of energy for the organisation and house work significantly. Sl. No. Response received No. of respondents Percentage 1 Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree 0 0 (Source: Primary Data) Observed Expected (O-E) (O-E)2 (O-E)2/E Frequency Frequency From the above analysis it is evident that, Alternative Hypothesis is accepted and Null Hypothesis is rejected. The calculated value of Chi-Square is where as the table value at 5% level of significance is less than the table of critical value. Hence it is inferred that the employees spare an equal amount of energy for organisation and house work. Hypothesis-2 H o : There exists no flexibility with respect to time and pattern of carrying out the tasks. H 1 : There exists flexibility with respect to time and pattern of carrying out the tasks. Sl. No. Response received No. of respondents Percentage 1 Highly Satisfied Satisfied Neutral Unsatisfied Highly Unsatisfied 1 1 (Source: Primary Data) 85

9 Observed Expected Frequency Frequency (O-E) (O-E)2 (O-E)2/E From the above analysis it is evident that, Alternate Hypothesis is accepted and Null Hypothesis is rejected. The calculated value of Chi-Square is 110.3, where as the table value at 5% level of significance is less than the table of critical value. Hence it is inferred that the employees at banks are satisfied with the freedom of time and pattern of carrying out the tasks. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, SUGGESTIONS and CONCLUSION The test of the hypothesis-1 has proved that the employees spare an equal amount of energy for organisation and house work. The test of hypothesis-2 reveals that the employees at banks are satisfied with the freedom of time and pattern of carrying out the tasks. The banks may design some activities through which they can expect high level of performance from employees. There are no refreshing programs to the employees in the organization. By implementing such it acts as a means of motivation to the employees. The organization can provide some programs to the employees related to work life balance, by which employees can make use of it and can work & manage things effectively. The banks may provide some free health check-ups or master health checkups to the employees and their family members so that they feel secured to work in the organizational setup. The HR orientation is to a largest extent more centralized. The banks may initiate the customization on the basis of the local requirements. The employees may be given more opportunities to utilize their creativity and enhance their performance. BIBILOGRAPHY 1. Seema Sanghi, Human Resource Management Page No: Work-life balance concept and perspectives edited by P.L. Raju. 3. Dr. Sindhu, Mr. S Suman Babu Achieving Work Life Balance, Women Perspectives ISSN 2320:7787, Volume 2, No. 2, Feb Rama Subramanian Work life Balance Volume No. 47, No. 7, Page Reimara and Vasanthi Srinivasan Work- Family Balance of Indian Women Software Professionals- a Qualitative Study. 6. Nancy R Lock Wood in her work, Work Life Balance Challenges: Solutions. 7. R Baral & S Bhargava, HR interventions for Work-Life Balance evidences from organizations in India, International Journal of Business, Management And Social Sciences, volume 2, No, 1, 2011, page no Jagdeeep Singh, individual and organizational strategies to balance work life with Indian, ISSN , Volume 3, no 3, 2013, page no A K M Mominul Haque Talukder, A shifting paradigm of WLB in service content- An empirical study, Indus Journal of Management and Social Sciences 5(1):10-23(spring 2011). Website