IMPACT OF WORK LIFE BALANCE ON WORKING
WOMEN: AN OVERVIEW
Dr. Anju Sigroha*, Ms. Yogita Girdhar** and Dr. Sneha Sangwan***

ABSTRACT
Female participation in the workplace has grown dramatically over the past couple of decades. This growth has been especially noticeable in the professional and managerial fields where women now occupy a significant number of positions. The increased female workforce participation has been accompanied by its own challenges like managing time, roles & responsibilities at workplace & at home. Work life balance is seen more as women issue due to the traditional mindset, where the woman is considered primarily responsible for the smooth running of the day to day affairs of the family irrespective of her job profile and official responsibilities. However, over the years, women have started receiving support & understanding at home, especially from their spouses. Nonetheless, there are some unspoken challenges which need to be dealt with constantly. If family responsibilities are allowed to interfere with work responsibilities on a regular basis, it may hinder women’s career progression, lower the job satisfaction levels, result in lack of concentration at work, increase absenteeism & may eventually lead to turnover. No matter how well they prove themselves, women find it increasingly difficult to climb up the career ladder as they are perceived to be more committed towards family than workplace. Even at family front, a working woman has to always face the notion of not being there when there family needs them. This article examines the challenges faced by working women in establishing & sustaining work-life balance and also outlines the factors that could help to create a healthy work-life balance for working women.
Keywords: Work life Balance, Quality of Work Life, Work Life Imbalance
* Assistant Professor, Deptt. of Management Studies, DCR University of Science & Technology, Murthal (Sonepat)
** Lecturer,Hindu College, Sonepat, *** Lecturer, KIIT College, Gurgoan
Introduction:
Since 1990’s, riding on the Globalisation wave, India has moved to a higher growth trajectory. While the thrust has fuelled the economy & increased per capita income, it has also resulted in greater pressure on working individuals- men & women equally. There are no two thoughts about increasing stress levels but it also goes without saying women have to face certain stereotypes & biases both at work & at home which adds to high level of stress. In every working woman’s life, there are four key stakeholders- her own personality, job, family & society. If the balance is not maintained in any of these, than there is conflict in various relationships. When a woman faces such a conflict, she gets no peace of mind, loses her harmony with life and becomes increasingly less efficient in every sphere of life.
The imbalance in the work life of an woman has attracted a great deal of concern because a large number of problems related to woman health ,monotony at work place, declining levels of productivity and competence at the employee level had started surfacing. Such imbalance has a negative effect on personal life of working women which in turn have taken form of social hazards such as increasing number of divorces, infertility due to high stress levels; starting nuclear families etc. An organization, which successfully addresses these issues, leads to a healthy synergy in the working atmosphere of the company and its employee. Although there has been a significant increase in incomes and material possession in the last decade, these tangibles have come at the cost of intangible. These intangible are very important part of women life.
Refer to Table No: 1

The ultimate performance of any organization depends on the performance of its employees, which in turn depends on several factors. These factors can be related to work or can be familial or personal matters. How an employee manages various aspects of her life helps achieving in balance at work and in private life. Work-Life balance can be understood as the equilibrium point on see-saw, one side of which is occupied by personal goals & family responsibilities and the other side is occupied by workplace necessities. Work-life balance does not necessarily mean equal balance between work & personal life rather it is the happy medium between the maximum & minimum. Work life balance is meaningful achievement and engagement in everyday life

Work life balance is defined as" effectively managing the juggling act between paid work and other activities that are important to people. It is a state of equilibrium in which the demand’s of both a person’s job and personal life is equal”.
According to Clark “Work-life balance is satisfaction and good functioning at work & at home with a minimum of role conflict”.
According to Hughes
“The ability of individuals, regardless of age or gender, to find a rhythm that will allow them to combine their work with the non-work responsibilities, activities and aspirations”.
There is no agreed definition of work-life balance but it does appear that the right balance may differ from person to person. Moreover, each woman perceives a different purpose for achieving work-life balance and follows different ways to achieve the same.
Review of Literature:
The Demand for work life balance solutions by employees and managers is expanding at an unprecedented rate as a result work life balance is an increasingly hot topic in board rooms & government halls today. Over the coming decade it will be one of the most important issues that executives and human resource professionals will be expected to manage. For the purpose of systematic analysis & examination of the problem at hand, the studies by the several researchers have been reviewed.
Ghalawat Suman and Dahiya promila (2010) Examines that most critical factors related to worklife balance and investigate the impact of work life balance on employees professional and personal life . The focus is also to find out the outcomes of work life imbalance and to identify the flexible work arrangement available in the organization. The study is based on primary and secondary data. primary data has been collected with the help of of structured questionnaire having 26 statement from 15 banks and insurance companies’ sample of 50 employee from top, middle and lower level have been taken The research found that most critical factors related to work life balance are multi roles, long work hours; peers pressure .work life balance has good impacts on employee’s professional and personal life. The major outcomes of work life balance are poor health, bad health, bad family relations, blood pressure, and headache.
Indradevi.R.(2010) Examines the factors that affect work life balance among the women employees of the selected ITES Companies in Chennai and to study the impact demographic variable have over the balance of work and family lives. The data has been collected from self administered questionnaire. One way ANOVA test was used to find out the relationship between demographic factors and the factors affecting work life balance. The study found that targets, type of work, no of hours are the factors that makes work life balance difficult.demograhic variable i.e. martial status have a great impact on work life balance.
Buddhapriya Sanghamitra (2009) examines the perception of women professionals with regards to the barriers against their advancement to senior management position and the impact of family responsibility on women professional career decision. The focus is also to find out the organizational support women professional would like to get to achieve better work life balance and to analyse the impact of demographic factors on the work life balance. The data has been collected from 121 professional women through a structured questionnaire. The respondents were from government sector, public sector, pvt sector and non govt sector. The research found that family responsibility considerably effects the career decisions and women professionals. They think that they are not able to utilize their full potential and at time they have to make career trade-offs because of the family responsibility.

REFERENCES:
Buddhapriya Sanghamitra (2009)”Work-family challenges and their impact on career decision:A study of Indian women professionals”,Vikalpa vol 34,No 1.pp.31-44.
Ghalawat Suman and Dahiya promila (2010)”work-life balance and organisation practice-A Study of selected Banks in Sirsa” KAIM journal of management and research, vol.3,no.1, pp.94-101.
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Indradevi.R.(2010) “Work-life Balance-A hamper for career women” Journal of Business Management,Vol.2,No .1,pp.13-20

Ratna Rajnish (2008) “Work-life Balance in IT Sector”, Journal of IPM Meerut,Vol. 9,No.1, pp 26-36.

Singh Shyodan and Chowdhury Aheli (2007) “Understanding Work-life balance : An Empirical Study of IT sector” Global Journal Of Business Management. Vol.1, No.1, pp.1-9.

Straub Caroline (2007) “A Comparative Analysis of the Use of Work-life Balance Practices in Europe”, Women in Management Review, Vol. 22, No.4, pp. 289-304.

Woodward Diana (2007) “Work-life Balancing strategies used by women managers in modern universities” Journal Equal Opportunities International, Vol.26, No.1, pp 6-17

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