A STUDY ON WORK LIFE BALANCE AMONG THE EMPLOYEES WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO POLLACHI TALUK M.NITHYA

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1 ISSN: ONLINE ISSN:7-6 - PRINT IMPACT FACTOR:0.75 VOLUME, ISSUE, SEPTEMBER 05 A STUDY ON WORK LIFE BALANCE AMONG THE EMPLOYEES WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO POLLACHI TALUK M.NITHYA Assistant Professor in Department of B.Com (BPS), Sree Saraswathi Thyagaraja College, Pollachi. ABSTRACT The issue of work life balance is increasingly becoming important in India as more and more women with children are joining the workforce, and there are more and more families that are becoming increasingly nuclear and dual-earner. Many possible reasons for this escalation in workfamily conflict have been posited including more dual career couples, greater participation of women in the work force, changing conditions of employment and family-role expectation. The resulting imbalance between work and family has consequences for the individual, family, organizations and the society at large. In this backdrop the present study has identified the level of work life balance of general public at large. The variable Age, Educational qualification, Types of dependent and Economic status of the public are the key factors that determines work life balance. INTRODUCTION In the last decade there is an upheaval in the growth and development of the Indian economy, which was accompanied by the revolution in the technological front and a radical change in the way of business were done (Venkateshaiah, 0).The Indian employment market is in a state of change especially with the advent of knowledge based industries. With the phenomenal growth of Information Technology and Information Technology Enabled Services (IT & ITES) industry in the country in the nigh ties the employment market and work culture have undergone total transformation (Hari Babu, 00). These developments are happened only because of hard working Human force. Human resources of an organization are considered as a source of sustainable competitive advantage. It is important for organizations to have knowledge about the various factors influencing the behavior of their employees to bring out the best in them. One such factor influencing the behavior of employees in the workplace is their perception about their work-life balance (Mihir Dash, 0). Work life balance means, Meaningful daily achievement and enjoyment in each of four life quadrants: Work, Family, Friends and Self (Angelin, 006). Balancing home and work to achieve a good quality of life is a major issue for everyone. For those with children and other dependents, it can be about finding a job with flexibility to fit around these responsibilities, for others, it is finding the balance between earning a decent wage and having time to relax and pursue other interests. In today s fast-paced society, employers have to provide various options to positively impact the bottom line of their companies, improve employee morale, retain employee s valuable company knowledge, and keep pace with workplace trends ( Gunavathy, 0). Sharmini Srivasterva, Urmila R Srivasterva, A K Srivasterva (00) have investigated the relationship between four personality traits (i.e., neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness) and work-family facilitation (i.e., work-to-family and family-to-work facilitation).the finding has implications for designing effective training and development programs to enhance work-family facilitation. Abdul Gani and Roshan Ara (0), highlighted that, the levels of conflict in working women vary and are dependent on the family as well as the organizations where 7 icmrrjournal@gmail.com

2 ISSN: ONLINE ISSN:7-6 - PRINT IMPACT FACTOR:0.75 VOLUME, ISSUE, SEPTEMBER 05 they work. The study suggests that, employers need to be encouraged to introduce more flexible work practices. Lata Sujata.T and Sapna Singh (0) have identified the major issues which have an impact on work life balance. Health-related problems are faced by most of the women working in Call Centers, as their working hours are different. Due to night shifts, their lives get disturbed in their family sphere and leads to unbalanced relations with family members and relatives. Vijayalakshmi. K (0) is of the opinion that, most of the women police personnel were dissatisfied with work life balance. Suspicion by society, family-related issues and personal problems caused problems for women police personnel. The study suggested that the police department can implement family-friendly approaches to encourage women employees to balance their work-family challenges. Satinder Singh (0) pointed out, that in general the employees at ONGC had a good work-life balance, but a lot more needs to be done in line with the present scenario of globalization. The study also suggests that there is a need to have a customized work-life balance policy considering the age group of the present working force. The studies which are reviewed are helpful to identify the research gap. Many of the researchers have undertaken their research regarding Work Life Balance in different categories of salaried class of population, none of them are related with general public. Work life balance amidst the cross section of general public has been carried out to fill the research gap. In this background, the present study have made an attempt to measure the level of work life balance and the factors that are associated with that. In addition, it identifies the problems relating to work life balance, the caring responsibilities of an individual and to find ways and means to sustain or to enhance the level of work life balance. Sampling A sample design is a definite plan for obtaining a sample from a given population (Kothari, 00). Convenient Random Sampling was adopted to select the employees. The area of the study has been confined to Coimbatore District of, Pollachi taluk only. Of the total number of employees in Pollachi taluk, 50 employees were selected at random. The data for the study have been collected through the structured questionnaire. 50 questionnaires were distributed among the employees, the response rate was 6%. Out of the responses received, responses were found to be incomplete. The results of the study are based on the responses of the remaining 0 employees. Framework of Analysis The data required for the study is primary in nature. The data collected have been analysed by using different statistical tools. The level of work life balance has been measured by constructing an index called Work Life Balance Index. Three point Likert scale has been adopted to measure the level of work life balance. The Work- Life Balance Index has been ascertained by converting the score of each employee into percentage. The overall work life balance index ranges between. to 0.00 and their overall average work life balance index is 6.. Null hypotheses have been framed and tested to ascertain the factors that are significantly associated with the level of work life balance. Significance of the study The findings of this study are useful to both the employer and employee. That is to say by understanding the result of this study, the employer of an organization will find the ways and means, to make flexible policies, thereby solving the expectations of the employee. 7 icmrrjournal@gmail.com

3 Similar to this, the findings of this study are also useful to employee. To be more specific by giving the details of this study the employees are able to understand the position of an employer they will also get a chance to know the situations of their co-workers and subordinates. Socio, Economic and Organizational Profile of employees The description about the socio, economic and organisational profile of the sample employees are explained in Table.. Table. Factors Age Young Middle Old Gender Male Female Educational level Up to HSC Diploma Under graduate Post graduate Designation Employee Profession Others ISSN: ONLINE ISSN:7-6 - PRINT IMPACT FACTOR:0.75 VOLUME, ISSUE, SEPTEMBER 05 Year of Experience Less than years -0 years Above 0 years Types of dependents Older people Adults with disabilities Children with disabilities Children Employees (N = 0) 0 (.75) 7 (60.6) (0.6) 0 (56.5) 70 (.75) 56 (5.00) (07.50) (.) 5 (.) 0 (56.5) 5 (.) (.7) 7(.) 7(.7) (6.5) Factors Number of working hours hours More than to hours More than hours Type of organization Private Government Salary per month Up to Rs.,000 Rs.,000 Rs.0,000 Rs.0,000 Rs.0,000 Rs.0,000 and above Number of working day 5 days 6 days 7 days Types of family Nuclear Family Joint Family 57 (5.6) (.7) (.00) 6 (0.00) Family income Up to Rs.0,000 Rs.0,000 Rs.0,000 Rs.0,000 Rs.0,000 Rs.0,000 and above Employees (N = 0) (5.7) 6(.) (0.75) 0 (6.50) 60 (7.50) 5(.) 66(.5) (0.00) 7(.6) (.) (6.75) (.7) 6 (60.00) 6 (0.00) (0.75) 57 (5.6) 5 (6.7) 0 (.75) It is clear from the Table., out of 0 employees, 60% of them are in the middle age group which ranges between and 50 years and majority 56.5% of them are male employees. Around.50% of their educational level is only up to Diploma of the employees are alone in the salaried class. Of the total sample,.7 percentage of the employees have to 0 years of experience in their work and 60% of the employees belong to nuclear family. Out of the total number of employees the earnings of % of the employees is ranges from Rs.,000 to Rs.0,000 salary per month. Of the total number of employees 0% of them are with responsibility of taking care of their children and 6.5% are working in private organization. Out of 0 employees, 6.75% of them are working six days for a week and 5.7 % of the employees work eight hours for a day icmrrjournal@gmail.com

4 Factor Age Up to and above Gender Male Female Edu. level Up to HSC Diploma Under graduate Post graduate Designation Employee Profession Others Year of Expnce Les than yrs -0 yrs Above 0 yrs Types of family Nuclear Family Joint Family ISSN: ONLINE ISSN:7-6 - PRINT IMPACT FACTOR:0.75 VOLUME, ISSUE, SEPTEMBER 05 Emply s (N = 0) Table. Range and Average Work life balance Index Avg of WLB Range Factor Emply s (N = 0) Avg of WLB to0.to 0.6to0.to0.to0.to0. to.7. to..to 0.to 5.to 0 Salary per month Up to Rs.,000 Rs.,000 Rs.0,000 Rs.0,000 Rs.0,000 Rs.0,000 and above Types of dependts Older people Adults with disabilities Children with disabits Children Type of organization Private Government working hrs hours More than to hrs More than hrs Family income P.M Up to Rs.0,000 Rs.0,000 to 0,000 Rs.0,000 to.0,000 Rs.0,000 and above to0 It is clear from the table., the work life balance index ranges between. and The sample employees are classified in to three groups as employees with low level of work life balance, employees with medium level of work life balance and employees with high level of work life balance. The employees are classified by using mean and standard deviation. The employees whose level of work life balance which is below 7.5 are treated as employees with low level of work life balance, the employees whose level of work life balance which ranges between 7.5 and 76. are treated as employees with medium level of work life balance and employees whose level of work life balance ranges above 76. are brought under the group called employees with high level of work life balance. Range.to..5 to 0 6. to 0.to 0.7 to.7.7 to.7.to 0. to..5 to..6 to.6.7to..to to icmrrjournal@gmail.com

5 Table. Nature and Strength of Relationship between Employee Attributes and Work Life Balance The selected socio, economic and organisational variables are compared with work life balance to know about the association between them. The chi-square test has been applied to find out the association between the selected variables and the level of work life balance. Factor Age Up to and above Gender Male Female Edu. level Up to HSC Diploma Under graduate Post graduate Designation Employee Profession Others Year of Expnce Less than yrs -0 yrs Above 0 yrs Types of family Nuclear Family Joint Family ISSN: ONLINE ISSN:7-6 - PRINT IMPACT FACTOR:0.75 VOLUME, ISSUE, SEPTEMBER 05 Level of Level of WLBI χ Factor d.f WLBI Low Med High Low Med High * Salary per month Up to Rs.,000 Rs.,000 to 0,000 Rs.0,000 to.0,000 Rs.0,000 and above 0.7 Types of dependts Older people Adults with disable Children with disable Children 6.60*.5 Type of org Private Government working day 5 days 6 days 7 days Rs.0,000 and above 5 Here the selected socio-economic, occupational and family oriented variables are compared with work life balance. Totally twelve variables have been tested in order to identify their association with the employees work life balance. It is found that only five variables such as Age, Educational qualification, Types of Dependent, Salary per month, Family income are significantly associated with work life balance working hrs hours More than to hrs More than hrs Family income P.M Up to Rs.0,000 Rs.0,000 to 0,000 Rs.0,000 to.0, d.f χ.5* 6.0* icmrrjournal@gmail.com

6 Table. Nature and Strength of Relationship between Employee Attributes and Work Life Balance r Variables R Step- wise Regression Age (Age) Educational Qualification (E.Q) -0.0** -.055** 0.0 Type of Dependents (T.D) Salary (S.Y) Family Income ( F.I) -0.7* -. * Significant at five per cent level ** Significant at one per cent level Constant: 6.7 Std. Error of Estimate : 5. R : 0.07 R : 0.** The following regression equation has been framed to ascertain the impact of variables on work life balance. WLB = a + b Age + b E.Q + b T.D + b S.Y + b 5 F.I + e Where, WLB : Work Life Balance a : Intercept term e : Error Term The Table. shows the results of Correlation, Regression and Step-wise regression. Based on the results of chi-square test five variables are associated with work life balance are further analyzed, to know about the native and strength of relationship and the magnitude of change of one variable over the other. The result of Correlation analysis reveals that, of the five variables, educational qualification and the family income of the sample employees are found to be negatively associated with work life balance. Next to that the selected five variables are regressed and to find out the magnitude of impact of the said variables over the work life balance. The result of the Regression analysis reveals that, of the five variables, only one variable alone is found to have a significant impact of the work life balance. The value of Regression Co-efficient indicates that a unit of change in the level of education of the employee shall increase the work life balance level by.055. The value of R is found to be significant at per cent level this shows that the Regression equation framed is a good fit. The Step-wise regression is employed to locate the order of importance of variable. It points out, only the variable educational qualification alone is the reason for differences in work life balance of the employees. Findings ISSN: ONLINE ISSN:7-6 - PRINT IMPACT FACTOR:0.75 VOLUME, ISSUE, SEPTEMBER 05 The study reveals that, the factors like Age, Educational Qualification, Dependents care, Monthly income of the individual and family are found to be associated with Work-Life Balance. To sum up educational qualification is playing a major role in attaining the work life balance among the employees. Employees are having less awareness about the work life balance policies. Organizations have realized the importance of work-life balance, and the organizations needs to offer a suitable environment that is conducive for work-life balance will be able to grab the talent and will be to an organization to retain the employees. Suggestions to the Employer. The organization should have more concentration in the interpersonal relationship between the superiors and the employees, by providing opportunities to interact amongst themselves.. The employers have to provide suitable training to their workforce to balance work and their personal life..the employers may thought of providing customized work life to their employees based on their age. 7 icmrrjournal@gmail.com

7 ISSN: ONLINE ISSN:7-6 - PRINT IMPACT FACTOR:0.75 VOLUME, ISSUE, SEPTEMBER 05 Suggestions to the Employee. Employees need to be more aware of their work-life priorities and strive for its attainment.. Employees have to educate their family members about their organization commitments on its goals. Conclusion This study pointed out, in Indian organization, from both affiliated to government and private sector organizations, is not much exposed to work-life balance policies, and even their employers have not done much in terms of designing and implementing work life balance policies and practices. There is a need for designing such policies and programs to enable the employees to balance their work and personal life needs. The first step in balancing our lives has to be thinking through our values and being intentional about the choices one has to make. Value are not what we say, they are how we live ones those of our lives are gone they cannot be retrieved and replayed. Re-evaluate what you really need. Balancing work and family is important to the health, wealth, well being and economic success. References. Abdul Gani and Roshan Ara (0), Correlates of Work-Family Conflict among Dual Career Women, Management & Change, Vol. XIV, No., pp Angelin Michael. D (006), A Study on Work Life Balance among the Employees of Service Sector;Working In Chennai,Organizational ManagementVol.XXII.No.pp... Gunavathy.J.S (0), Work-Life Balance Interventions prevalent in the Indian Industry, South Asian Journal of Management Vol., issue No., pp.-0.. Hari Babu. V (00), Work Life Balance amongst IT Professionals,HRD Times Review, pp.. 5. Kothari, C.R (00). Research Methodology, New Age International Publishers, New Delhi. pp Lata Sujata.T and Sapna Singh (0), A Study on Work-Life Balance Issues of Women at Call Centers, The IUP Journal of Management Research, Vol. X, No., pp Mihir Dash, Vivek Anand and Ashwini Gangadharan (0), Perception of Work-Life Balance amongst IT Professionals,The IUP Journal of Organizational Behavior Vol. XI No. pp Ramesh Kumar Miryala and Nagapriya Chiluka (0), Work-Life Balance Amongst Teachers, The IUP Journal of Organizational Behavior,Vol. XI, No. pp Satinder Singh (0), An Empirical Study on the Status of Work-Life Balance in Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC), Prabandhan: Indian Journal of Management, Vol. 7, No., pp Sharmini Srivasterva, Urmila R Srivasterva, A K Srivasterva (00), Role of personality in work life facilitation: A study of IT professionals, The IUP Journal of Organizational Behavior Vol.III, pp.7-.. Venkateshaiah.M and K. Ramachandran (0), Assessment of Quality of Work life in BPO at Bangalore, Southern Economist Review, pp icmrrjournal@gmail.com