Work Life Balance: Work And Family Roles

The term “Work life balance” is used to explain the balance between an individual’s work and personal life. It intends to provide satisfaction and good functioning at work and at home, with a minimum of role conflict. It is a generally agreed fact that work-life balance is important for an individual’s psychological well-being. High self-esteem, satisfaction and overall sense of harmony in life can be regarded as indicators of a successful balance between work and family roles. In the past women were considered as homemakers and they are not allowed to go outside their home. But now the scenario has changed. Because of the high cost of living and increased educational and employment opportunities they started working outside their home. As

Compared to men, women were found to undertake the majority of the household duties and therefore more likely to suffer from role overload and moreover women were more likely to have made sacrifices with regard to having children (Bridge, 2009). Major factors that affect work family conflict among women are harmony in home and office, organisational support, family expectations, parenting effect and professional skills, nature of organisation, education etc. (Sandhu and Mehts, 2006). Workplace characteristics can also contribute to higher levels of work life balance. Researchers have found that the number of hours worked per week, the amount and frequency of overtime required, an inflexible work schedule, unsupportive supervisor and an inhospitable organizational culture increase the likelihood that women employees will experience conflict between their work and family role. According to Fan Wei and Liangliang(2009), the major factors that lead to women's work family conflict are education, incoming ratio, professional experience, spouse stress and work load. Women employees' personal and professional lives are just like the two sides of the same coin. Compromising one for the other or spending more time pursuing one as opposed to the other can have serious negative repercussions (Nair,

According to Mathew and Panchanatham (2011) role overload, dependent care issues, quality of health, problems in time management and lack of proper social support are the major factors influencing work life balance of women employees in