WORK PLACE HEALTH PRACTICES AND WORK-LIFE BALANCE

114

This article can be downloaded from http://www.ijmrbs.com/currentissue.php

Int. J. Mgmt Res. & Bus. Strat. 2014 Sahana Maiya and M M Bagali, 2014

WORK PLACE HEALTH PRACTICESAND WORK-LIFE BALANCE

Sahana Maiya1* and M M Bagali2

The rising levels of employment among women not only brought changes in the attitude andvalues of women, but also of developments in the wider economy. The Indian women, who wereconfined only to the socially acceptable jobs like banks, teaching, nursing, etc., are now steppinginto various sectors. Managing work and family responsibility can be very difficult for the womenemployees in dual income families. Professional women especially working mothers has toperform multiple roles in balancing their work life and personal life. Each role has its own set ofdemands and when such role demand overlaps/interacts, an imbalance is created leading tostress, attrition, absenteeism, etc. Thus, there is an increasing need for organizations to addressthese demands of working mothers by implementing innovative HR policies. Work-life balanceis one such HR practice that enables the employees particularly working mothers to give properprioritization between work and life roles. The present paper based on empirical work, providesa deep insight of work-life balance of working mothers at various fields including IT, ITES, Banking,Insurance, Manufacturing, Public sectors, etc., All the sectors were evaluated on 6 sub scales,viz: personal factors, balancing factors, organizational support, motivational factors, careeradvancement and psychological factors. The present paper explores the areas of balance requiredfor work-life and personal-life of working mothers having kid(s) at different age level. The resultsreveal the picture of difficulties faced in balancing the work demand and the life (family)responsibility. There was high correlation between the difficulties faced and the balancing act tobe performed. The significant results reflected in the areas of organizational support, motivationalfactors and personal factors. The study defines certain specific HRM interventions for betterwork-life balance, per se.

Keywords: Work-life balance, Age of children, Motherhood

*Corresponding Author: Sahana Maiya [email protected]

INTRODUCTION: WORK-LIFETO BE BALANCED OR TO BEMANAGEDGlobalization has brought an influx of Multi National

1 Management Science, Jain University, Bangalore.2 Research in Management, Jain University, CMS Business School Annex and Ph.D Guide, Jain University, Bangalore.

Int. J. Mgmt Res. & Bus. Strat. 2014

ISSN 2319-345X www.ijmrbs.comVol. 3, No. 3, July 2014

© 2014 IJMRBS. All Rights Reserved

Companies to India. Hence, labor market haswitnessed increasing employment opportunities,creating a way for young talented manpower,changes in demographic profile of employees,high pressurized jobs, opportunities to travel

115



abroad, creation of dual career families, etc. Buton the other side of the coin employee isbecoming much more ambitious, career orientedneglecting other aspects of life outside work.1

More women are venturing into areas that weretraditionally dominated by men.2 Women havenow become a visible part of the workforce. Thereis a paradigm shift from men treated as breadwinners and women as house keeper or childbearer into women as both bread winner and theone who is capable of handling multiple roles.

Working mother is an institution in herself.Aiming at successful career with financialindependence, she has to also nurture hergrowing child to accomplish motherhood. Boththese jobs are extremely demanding and doingjustice to each other without neglecting the otheris a formidable task. Many moms struggle findingbetter ways to balance these two domains andoften are confronted with this guilt from outsidesources like pressure from husband, family andfriends. Work-life balance acts as a boon forworking mothers which enables them to balancebetween work (career and ambition) and life(family, leisure, pleasure and personaldevelopment).

Having different working environment, worktimings, nature of work, etc., all selectedorganizations value the necessity of work-lifebalance to the employees. In this paper an attempthas been made to study the effectiveness of work-life balance among working mothers having kid(s)of different ages that directly or indirectly influencetheir stress level and have repercussion in work-life balance paradigm.

CONCEPT OF WORK-LIFEBALANCEGreenhaus et al. (2003) defined work-familybalance as “the extent to which an individual isequally—self engaged and equally satisfiedwith—his or her work role and family role”. Work-life balance does not mean an equal balance inunits of time between work and life. It is not atight rope walk between two poles acting as anorganizational commitments and home demandsat the same time, but it is about properunderstanding of the priorities of the professionaland personal level.

Work-life balance, in its broadest sense, isdefined as a satisfactory level of involvement or‘fit’ between the multiple roles in a person’s life(Hudson, 2005). Work-life balance is about theinteraction between paid work and other activities,including unpaid work in families and community,leisure and personal development.

NEED AND SIGNIFICANCEOF THE STUDYMehta (2012) in her study on work-life balanceamong women employees found that femaleemployees face the problem of balancingpersonal and family life, out of which moreimbalance is observed in married women due tomore family responsibilities. Irrespective ofeducation, income and employment professionalwomen in India are still doing three jobs-office,housework and child care. Professional womenhardly find space for themselves to accomplishbasic necessity of life like adequate sleep,exercise and a healthy diet3. They do not get

1 Other aspects of life , here necessarily means spending quality time with family, leisure time, time for spiritual development,time for own interest etc.

2 Jobs which were branded as men’s jobs like: technicians, managers, chemists, astronauts, etc.3 Healthy diet includes good variety of nutritious food that helps to remain healthy and active.

116



enough time to get updated with the latest trendsin their field to have career advancement.Domestic pressure, stress at work, child mentalor physical distress due to lack of attention addson to the psychological effect among workingmothers. In jiggling between child care and highpressurized work, women often find it difficult tocope up and discontinue their job. They also findit difficult to make up for the loss of experienceand hence maternity leave can cause a majorsetback to their career advancement andpersonal growth.

Organizations always seek employees whoare more flexible, productive and who can adjustto the corporate world. Work pressure, longworking hours, night shifts, insufficient holidays,pressure to complete the tasks in time due to cutthroat competencies, etc., create an imbalancein work-life (Susi et al., 2010). This results in lessproductivity at workplace, giving way forabsenteeism, high attrition, low morale, highemployee turnover, etc4.

To retain and engage talented workforce,organizations are stepping towards better andreliable work-life balance policies. Hence, work-life balance is need of the hour for both workingmothers as well as for organization. The presentstudy gives a comparative analysis of work-lifebalance among working mothers having kid(s) atdifferent age levels.

LITERATURE REVIEWWork and personal life is mutually dependant andplay an integral part in an individual’s life.Considerable research has highlighted the factthat work-life balance is an important indicator of

organization development.

The research work by Susi et al. (2010)explains how work-life balance and employeeengagement becomes a visible benchmarkamong high performing organizations. The studysuggested that an effectiveness of work-lifebalance policies and practices must incorporatethe effects of workplace culture and supervisorsupport of employee’s efforts to balance work andfamily responsibilities.

Chawla and Sondhi (2011) in their surveyconducted among teachers and BPO womenprofessionals revealed that job autonomy andorganizational commitment are in positive relationwith work-life balance. The study indicated thatthe more proactive schools/BPO companieswhich value the contribution of a committed andcontributing human resource will need to providemore autonomy to sustain their employees work-life balance. While work load and work familyconflict indicated negative relation with work-lifebalance.

Ignacia Levy (2012) in his study of workingmothers and their perceived work-life balanceshowed that the age of the children is not thatsignificant but the child care support remains animportant factor in determining perceived work-life balance. The study also highlighted anotherparameter called role conflict having negativeimpact on work-life balance.

Shanti and Sundar (2012) in their study ofwork-life balance of women employees in IT5

industry analyzed that programs implemented byIT firms of Chennai satisfy different categories ofemployees differently. Data were collected from

4 Findings of Susi.S and Jawaharrani.K (2010) in their research article ‘Work-life Balance: The Key Driver of EmployeeEngagement’.

5 IT companies refers to all types of software, hardware and consulting services.

117



350 women employees working in various ITcompanies .The study measured the satisfactionlevels of the respondents across various work-life balancing parameter. 55% of the employeeswere highly satisfied with the current work-lifeinitiatives. Results revealed that the set of factorsfacilitating work-life balance is different fordifferent groups.

Pandu et al (2013) analyzed work-life balanceof professional women among IT and ITES6

based on demographic information, work load,work environment, feelings about work, familydependents and absence from work. The sectorwise regression analysis demonstrated thatfeelings about work, family dependents andabsence from work are the strong contributorsfor a sense of balance for an employee. However,no significant relationship has been obtainedbetween work environment and work-life balance.

Madipelli et al. (2013) in their research onfactors causing work-life imbalance amongschool teachers showed that most of theteachers feels stress with too many workdemands, working conditions and long workinghours. The multiple roles played by women atwork place and home reflecting boredom,frustration and stress lead to work-life imbalance.Marital relationship, attitude, co-operation ofhusbands and family members are highlyinfluencing factors which create imbalance toworking women.

The present work tries to identify theparameters of work-life balance related topersonal, psychological or balancing factors thatcreate a pressure of being a mother or being apart of the family in contemporary India. The study

also suggests some HRM interventions relatedto career growth, organizational support andmotivational factors to fill the gap betweeninitiatives taken and implementation.

STATEMENT OF THEPROBLEMWomen, especially Indian women give moreprominence to family than their career. The needto take care of the children while away from homeis a vital factor which disturbs their mind anddiverts their attention from their office work. Nanstone (1989) found that women with children,frequently live under great pressure. Balancedliving occurs when activities and aspirations inone domain do not have negative effects onactivities in the other one. Women want work-lifepolicies based on the pre-requisite demands7 thatconfer on them as ‘the gift of time’. Fororganizations to attract and retain women in workforce, HRM interventions can play a vital role indesigning innovative work-life balance policiesand creating a female friendly work place.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY1. Comparative analysis of demographic profiles

in relation to work-life balance.

2. To identify the influencing factors towardswork-life balance of working mothers havingchild/children of various age levels.

OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONSOF THE SUB SCALES UNDERINVESTIGATIONFor the purpose of present study, six subscalesare operationally defined with reference to work-

6 An ITES company refers to Information Technology Enabled Services with Business Process Outsourcing units.7 Pre-requisite demands includes flexible timings, work from home options, flexible leaves etc.

118



life balance of working mothers. Work-life balancevariable was measured by these sub scales,based on five point interval scale.

Personal factors: This includes factors whichare personal in nature like getting time for self,having healthy diet, sound sleep, etc.

Balancing factors: This refers to the factorswhich enable to balance work and life like timemanagement, spending quality time with children,awareness of organization policies, etc.

Organizational support: This includes theextent of support and the initiatives taken by theorganization in implementing work-life balanceamong employees, which includes workshoprelated to work-life balance, paid holidayprograms, flexible working hours, etc.

Motivational factors: These are the factorswhich motivate the employees in balancing theirwork and life such as family support, child careprovisions, passion about the work etc.

Career advancement: The factors affecting thecareer growth of an employee includes denial ofdeputation,maternal wall discrimination8, updatingwith latest trends, etc.

Psychological factors: The factor which arepsychological in nature such as handling domesticpressure9, stress at work place, feeling as lessvaluable, etc.

SCOPE OF THE STUDYThis study is conducted in various organizationsat Bangalore, Karnataka, India. The respondentsinvolved in the study were restricted only to

working mothers. The scope of the study is limitedto the objectives opted for this research. The listof companies/institutions under study is as shownin Tables 1 to 4.

8 Maternal wall discrimination refers to denied of major responsibilities after returning from maternity leave.9 Domestic pressure refers to pressure related to responsibilities /work at home

Table 1: List of Private Organizations

Private Companies Nature

TCS IT

IBM IT

Wipro IT

Mind Tree IT

Yahoo IT

Target Corporation IT

Cisco IT

Infosys IT

SIGMA Info Solutions IT

HP IT

STAG Software IT

JSoft Solutions ITES

Digitranics ITES

Mind Teck Pvt. Ltd ITES

Crimson logic ITES

Pace Micro Technologies ITES

QualComm ITES

Public Companies Nature

BHEL Manufacturing

BEL Manufacturing

HAL Manufacturing

Oriental Insurance Insurance

State Bank of India Banking

Table 2: List of Public Organizations

119



LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY1. Respondents are limited only to Bangalore city,

Karnataka.

2. This study is confined only to working mothers.

3. It is assumed that the respondents have givengenuine inputs and reflect true experience.

METHODOLOGYData collection: The present research is anempirical study and is based on primary data. Astructured questionnaire was adopted forcollecting primary data as also the literature andnotes that are available from the companies underthe purview of the study. Secondary sourcesinclude information from the journals, periodicals,magazines and the related websites and thepolicies of the organizations related to work-lifebalance issues.

Mode of Data Collection• Identified the companies under various

sectors.

• Approached the HR for respondents list.

• Approached the respondents, with briefdescription about the research enquiry andwere asked to fill in the questionnaire.

• The respondent was asked to give his/heropinion freely. Any doubts raised by therespondents were clarified so as to gainhonest answers.

• The maximum time set to respondent wasthree weeks.

· Responses were collected personally andthrough emails.

· Approached the respondents again forcompleteness.

The Tool: A structured questionnaire wasdesigned on six sub-scales measuring personalfactors, balancing factors, organizational support,motivational factors, career advancement factorsand psychological factors. The questionnaire wasanalyzed based on five point Likert10 scale rangingfrom 1 = no, 2 = to some extent, 3 = somewhat(neutral), 4 = to great extent and 5 = yes, againstthe factors, per se.

Sample frame: The lists of companies asmentioned in the Table 1, 2, 3 and 4 wereconsidered for the study.

Sample size: Samples of 110 responses werecollected for this study.

Sampling method: As the focus of the study wason working mothers, Purposive sampling methodwas adopted. It is a non probability samplingtechnique which was selected based on theknowledge of the population and the purpose ofthe study. Respondents holding various positionsat senior, middle and at entry level at variousorganizations were considered.

Descriptive Statistics: Frequency distribution

Company Names Nature

TD Power Solutions Manufacturing

JSW Steel Manufacturing

Deutsche Bank Banking

Oracle Financial Services Finance

Table 4: List of Private Non ITand ITES Companies

Company Names Nature

Manipal Education and Medical Group Education

St. Joseph PU College Education

Table 3: List of PrivateEducational Institutions

120



The Tables 5, 6 and 7 show the statistics andfrequency distribution of the age group ofrespondents and their children.

Table 5 shows that the average age ofrespondents is approximately 39 years. Themedian value signifies that almost 50% of therespondents in the sample are below 35 years ofage. The most recurring age of the respondentsis 33 (mode = 33).

From the Table 6, it can be inferred that 35%of the respondents are in the age group of 31 to35 years. 31% are above 40 years, 18% are lyingin the age group of 25 to 30 years and only 16%are of age group between 36 to 40 years.

Table 7 and Graph 1 clearly indicates thatmore than half of the respondents (57%) arehaving single kid and remaining 43% are havingtwo kids. Almost 27% of the respondents arehaving children both of above ten years. 26% of

the respondents have a single kid of age withinthree years. Only 4% of the respondents do havekids at age group between four to ten years andabove ten years.

Findings and Analysis: Responses werecollected on various determinants of work lifebalance under the purview of six sub scales ofstudy, viz., organizational factors, motivational,psychological, personal, career advancementfactors and balancing factors.

Table 5: Statistics of Respondents Age

N Valid 110

Missing 0

Mean 38.51

Median 35.00

Mode 33

Table 6: Age Group of Respondents

Age Group Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent

25-30 20 18.2 18.2 18.2

31-35 38 34.5 34.5 52.7

36-40 18 16.4 16.4 69.1

Above 40 34 30.9 30.9 100

Total 110 100 100

Table 7: Age group of children

No of Children Age Group of Children (Yrs) Frequency Percent (%) Valid Percent Cumulative Percent

1 (57%) 0-3 28 25.5 25.5 25.5

4-10 19 17.3 17.3 42.8

10+ 16 14.5 14.5 57.3

2 (43%) 0-3, 4-10 13 11.8 11.8 69.1

4-10, 10+ 4 3.6 3.6 72.7

10+, 10+ 30 27.3 27.3 100

Total 110 100 100

121



Role of HR DepartmentInterpretation: Table 8 and Graph 2 shows theresponses of the respondents having kid(s) atvarious age groups. Least response is recordedfrom the respondents having two kids of age groupwithin three years and between four to ten years(mean = 2.62). Almost same response is obtainedfrom the respondents having single kid of youngage (mean = 2.86). The respondents having kid(s)of young age are satisfied with the role of HRdepartment only to some extent. This clearlypoints to the fact that respondents with small kid(s)are much affected by the organizational supportfactors. Maximum response is obtained from therespondents having two kids of age groupbetween four to ten years and above ten years(mean = 4.5).

Child Care Provisions and Motivation toWorkInterpretation: Only to some extent therespondents having single kid are motivated bythe child care provisions of their organization as

shown by the Table 9 and Graph 3. Henceorganizations must take more active measurestowards providing onsite child care facilities.However, maximum response is obtained fromthe respondents having two kids of age groupbetween four to ten years and above ten years(mean = 3.5).

Domestic Pressure and Peace of MindInterpretation: Table 10 and Graph 4 shows thatthe influence of domestic pressure is high for therespondents having kid(s) at younger age, i.e.,within three years and between four to ten years(mean=3.69). This may be due to higherresponsibility of small kid, presence ofdependents, lack of care takers, etc.Respondents having younger kid(s) within threeyears are much affected by the psychologicalfactors.

Time for Self-CareInterpretation: From the Table 11 and Graph 5,it can be inferred that respondents having kid(s)

Graph 1: Graphical Representation Of Number Of Children And Their Age Levels

122



Table 8

No Of Children Age of Children Mean SD

1 0 to 3 2.86 1.35

1 4 to 10 2.89 1.59

1 10+ 3.25 1.53

2 0 to 3 & 4 to 10 2.62 1.33

2 4 to 10 & 10+ 4.5 0.58

2 10+ & 10+ 3.29 1.33

Graph 2

Table 9


1 0 to 3 2.15 1.69

1 4 to 10 2.42 1.71

1 10+ 2.13 1.3

2 0 to 3 & 4 to 10 2.46 1.61

2 4 to 10 & 10+ 3.5 1.91

2 10+ & 10+ 3 1.6

Graph 3

Table 10


1 0 to 3 3.46 1.37

1 4 to 10 2.88 1.32

1 10+ 3.31 1.5

2 0 to 3 & 4 to 10 3.69 1.3

2 4 to 10 & 10+ 3 0.82

2 10+ & 10+ 2.77 1.5

Graph 4

of younger age hardly get time for themselves.Least response is obtained from the respondentswith kids within three years and between four toten years (mean = 1.89). Hence, respondentshaving kid(s) of younger age within ten years aremuch affected by the personal factors. However,

respondents with grown up kids above ten yearsshown maximum response (mean=3).

Motherhood as Hindrance to CareerGrowthInterpretation: From the Table 12 and Graph 6it is observed that respondents having younger

123



Table 11


1 0 to 3 1.89 1.1

1 4 to 10 2.89 1.33

1 10+ 2.75 1.4

2 0 to 3 & 4 to 10 2.31 1.03

2 4 to 10 & 10+ 3 1.4

2 10+ & 10+ 3 1.2

Graph 5

Table 12


1 0 to 3 2.56 1.3

1 4 to 10 1.82 0.88

1 10+ 1.88 1.2

2 0 to 3 & 4 to 10 2.38 1.4

2 4 to 10 & 10+ 1.25 0.5

2 10+ & 10+ 2.07 1.44

Graph 6

kid(s) within three years age group (mean = 2.56)are more affected by the motherhood that ishindering their career growth, when compared torespondents having higher age level kid(s). Thisindicates that respondents having kid(s) withinten years are much affected by the careeradvancement factors. Respondents having twokids above ten years and between four to tenyears are not much affected by the motherhood(mean = 1.25).

Frequent Health Problems of ChildrenInterpretation: To some extent respondents withtwo kids face frequent health problems of theirchildren. As shown in Table 13 and Graph 7maximum response is obtained from therespondents having two kids within three yearsand between four to ten years (mean = 2.77).

This clearly shows that respondents having twokids aging within ten years are much affected bythe personal factors. Least response wasobtained from the respondents of single childabove ten years (mean = 1.25).

Initiatives Taken by the Organizations toManage Work Life BalanceMost organizations are cognizant of the fact thatwork life balance is the key driver of an individual‘scareer decision, and have taken proactive stepsto create an enabling environment in their HRpolicies.

Interpretation: Above Table 14 and Graph 8shows that flexible working hours (42.73%) ,flexible leaves (46.37%) and child care leaves(50%) forms the major initiatives adopted by theorganizations. Thereafter, the prominence is given

124



Table 13


1 0 to 3 1.81 1.11

1 4 to 10 1.84 1.17

1 10+ 1.25 0.77

2 0 to 3 & 4 to 10 2.77 1.4

2 4 to 10 & 10+ 2 1.15

2 10+ & 10+ 1.34 0.67

Graph 7

Table 14

S. No Initiatives taken by organizations Frequency of the Responses Percentage

1 Flexible working hours 47 42.73%

2 Work From Home 31 28.19%

3 Job Sharing Options 22 20%

4 Flexible Leaves 51 46.37%

5 Recreational facility 16 14.55%

6 Workshop on parenting 16 14.55%

7 Mentoring and Coaching 20 18.18%

8 Child Care Leaves 55 50%

Graph 8

125



to work from home (28.19%) and job sharingoptions (20%). Mentoring and coaching gains only18.18% and the rest are occupied by recreationalfacility (14.55%) and workshop on parenting(14.55%).

CONCLUSIONThe concept of age of children becomes verysensitive factor in perceiving work-life balance forworking mothers. In India men are more engagedin paid work and women in household, child careand elder care. Professional women in dualincome family are always confronted with lion’sshare of domestic responsibilities.

One of the key findings of this paper is that theages of children do influence various factors ofwork-life balance. Burden of child care occurswhen kid(s) are of young age and graduallydecreases as the children mature. Respondentshaving kid(s) at age group below three years aremuch affected by the organizational support likerole of HR department in implementing work-lifebalance policies. Motivational factors like provisionof child care facilities was much needed for therespondents of younger kids. Such facilities couldhelp to those women who return to work soonafter their maternity leave. The influence ofpsychological factors like domestic pressure wasmore seen in respondents having two kids belowten years. The predominance of motherhood wasmore hindering to the respondents having bothsingle and two kids below ten years affecting theircareer advancement factors. Personal factorssuch as sparing time for own interests, healthhazards of child etc., were found more affectedto those respondents having two kids below tenyears. On contrary to this, respondents havingkid(s) above ten years and between four to tenyears were not much affected by personal factors,

career advancement factors and psychologicalfactors.

Proactive efforts are needed to improve in theareas of job sharing, recreational facility, work -shop on parenting and work from home optionsto the needy persons.

POLICY IMPLICATIONSThere is a need for organizations to develop andimplement effective work-life balance policies andencourage employees to make use of availablepolicies.

• Provision of hygiene and comfortable crèchesin the office premises.

• Consideration to employee’s request to returnto work after maternity leave on a part timebasis.

• Issues of work life balance have to beaddressed from the angle, like Mentoring,Counseling and coaching people to face theissues as they arise.

• Counseling sessions for better work lifebalance for employees to be organized onregular basis.

• Limited or not travel policy for women withyoung kid(s).

• Awards and prizes for managing work-lifebalance should be instituted, so that it worksas motivation for all others to benchmark.

• Promoting family-friendly policies viz: flexiblepolicies, work from home options for thosewith younger kids, job sharing options, strongsupervisory support etc.,

• Prominence given to the role of HR departmentin implementing work-life balance policies with

126



regard working mothers having kid(s) atvarious age levels.

Scope for Further Research

• The study was conducted in Bangalore cityonly but can also be done across cities.

• The study was based on age of therespondents, further studies can be done onnumber of dependents, family type, etc.

• The study was conducted only on workingmothers but can be extended to workingwomen and men.

REFERENCES1. Chawla Deepak and Neena Sondhi (2011),

“Assessing Work-Life Balance AmongIndian Women Professionals”, The IndianJournal of Industrial Relations, Vol. 47,No. 2, pp. 341-351.

2. Francis, Valerie and Helen Lingard (2004),“A Quantitative Study of Work LifeExperiences in the public and privatesectors of the Australian ConstructionIndustry”, Published by ConstructionIndustry Institute Australia Inc., MelbourneUniversity.

3. Greenhaus J H, CollinsKM and ShawJD(2003), “The Relation Between Work –Family Balance and Quality of Life”, Journalof Vocational Behaviour, Vol. 63, pp. 510-531.

4. Hewlett Sylvia Ann (2002), “ExecutiveWomen and the Myth of Having It All”,Harvard Business Review, pp. 66-73.

5. Hudson (2005), 20:20 series The Case ForWork /Life Balance: Closing The GapBetween Policy and Practice, Hudsonhighland group Inc. pp. 4-5.

6. Levy Ignacia (2012), Research work onWorking Mothers and Their Perceived WorkLife Balance, unpublished thesis,Netherlands.

7. Madipelli Saritha V S, Veluri Sarma andChinnappaiah Y (2013), “Factors CausingWork Life Imbalance among WorkingWomen-A Study on School Teachers”, TheIndian Journal of Industrial Relations, Vol.48, No. 4, pp. 621-633.

8. Messersmith Jake (2007), “Managing Work-Life Conflict Among Information TechnologyWorkers”, Human Resource Management,Vol. 46, No. 3, pp. 429-451.

9. Mehta Vijayashree (2012), A Study of WorkLife Balance Among Women Employees inService Sector With Special Reference toPune city, Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertationsubmitted to Department of Management,Pune University, Pune.

10. Murthy T N, Govinda Pedi Reddy and SayyedImtiyaz (2013), “Gender Issues of WomenEmployees at Workplace in Indian BPOSector”, Abhinav National Monthly ReferredJournal of Research in Commerce andManagement, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 72-80.

11. Pandu A, Balu A and Poorani K (2013),“Assessing Work-Life Balance among IT &ITeS Women Professionals”, The IndianJournal of Industrial Relations, Vol. 48, No.4, pp. 611-620.

12. Santhi T and Sundar K (2012), “ A Study onthe Work Life Balance of WomenEmployees in Information TechnologyIndustry”, Zenith International Journal ofBusiness Economics and ManagementResearch, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 82-96.

127



13. Snell J (2010), “Job-Work Life Spillover asRelating to the Underemployed Worker”,Case study, pp. 81-85.

14. Susi S and Jawaharrani K (2010), “Worklife Balance: The Key Driver of EmployeeEngagement”, Asian Journal ofManagement Research, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp.474-483.

15. Stone Nan (1989), “Mother’s Work : Arewomen and children better off now thatwomen are working?”, Harvard BusinessReview, Sep/Oct , Vol. 67, No. 5, pp. 50-55.

16. Williams Joan C (2004), “The Maternal Wall”,Harvard Business Review, October, Vol. 88,No. 10, pp. 26-28.

APPENDIX A

Questionnaire

No Questions

1 Do you miss quality time with your children?

2 Are you satisfied with human resources department in implementing work-life balance policies?

3 Do you get enough time to sleep and exercise?

4 Do you get sufficient time to take care of yourself?

5 Do you enjoy your work?

6 Do you think time management is important in balancing work and personal life?

7 Home is second shift. Does domestic pressure influence your peace of mind?

8 Are you facing frequent health problem of your children?

9 Is the imbalance in work-life prompted in delaying (postponing) of child birth?

10 Does your manager provide you flexibility in fulfilling your parental responsibilities?

11 Does motherhood is hindering your career growth?

12 Do you get enough time to concentrate on healthy diet?

13 Do you work for long or late hours?

14 Do you face work overload that affect your work-life balance?

15 Are you aware of organization’s work-life balance policies?

16 Did ever your children show signs like distress (pretending to have leg/stomach pain etc) because of your lack of attention?

17 Are you satisfied with present work-life balance policies?

18 Are you satisfied with paid holiday programs of organization?

19 Are you facing maternal wall discrimination? i.e have you been denied with major responsibilities when you returned from maternity?

20 Are you motivated by child care provisions provided by organization?

21 Are you able to change your working hours from day to day, for example starting work later or finishing work earlier to balance worklife?

22 Does your family co-operate with you in performing your professional work?

23 Is being a mother makes you less valuable as an employee?

24 Do you think doing part time job/schedules is best for career growth when the children are very small (less than 3 years)?

25 Are you benefited by any training/workshop on work-life balance conducted by your organization?

26 Do you get enough time to get acquainted (updated) with latest trends of your job?

27 Is your work bothering you even after working hours?

28 Are you satisfied with the way your children are taken care while you are at work?

29 Do you think that denying relocation/transfer/deputation of work affect your promotion as well as your career growth?

30 Have you found yourself more easily frustrated by Co-workers?

WORK PLACE HEALTH PRACTICES AND WORK-LIFE BALANCE

Documents