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Nicholas Savett
Work and Family Balance
Siena Heights University
MGT 360--Human Resource Management
Dr. Ball; Winter, 2015
Work/Family Balance
What is work/life balance? According to an online article from humanresources.about.com work-life balance “is a concept that supports the
efforts of employees to split their time and energy between work and the other important aspects of their lives.” For the employee to be able to
balance their work and life the employers need to be able to force policies, procedures, actions, and expectations that the employee can use to
make this balance possible. This will not only make these easy for the employee, but it will also help reduce stress on the employee (Heathfield,
S. (2015).
There’re a few opportunities that an employer can do to assist the employees to be successful in the work-life balance:
- Flexible work schedules
- Paid time off policies
- Responsible time
- Communication expectations
- Company-sponsored family events and activities.
Another aspect of being able to help employees be successful in work-life balance is the support of the managers. If a manager implements a
work-life balance in their own lives should be able to help their employees implement a successful balance. What a manager needs to do is make
sure the employees understand that they expect, enable, and support their needs for the work-life balance (Heathfield, S. (2015).
I believe the balance of your personal life and your professional life has been a social justice issue for Human Resource Managers for a very long
time. Obviously as a Human Resource Manager you want your co-workers to give everything they can to make sure the business runs as
successfully as possible. The problem is that with most people if they have a family issue it’s hard not to bring that to work. When people have
some type of personal issue it will start to affect their professional life just as much as their personal life. There a many things Human Resource
Managers can do to help their employees with personal issues, and in turn they will have an employee that will work harder.
A Human Resource Manager and an organization needs to find a way to help the employee to be able to spend time with their family and not
worry about the professional life. There needs to be a way to help the employee be able to balance it without making it seem as a Human
Resource Manager that you work needs to come first. With many organization today they do offer paid personal days, sick days, and vacations
that is a great way to help employees find ways to spend time with the family.
An article from the Huffington Post called “Working From Home Is Good For You And Your Boss” talks about a winter storm that has hit the
Northeast and how many employees have been getting the chance to work from home instead of commuting to the office. There was two new
studies done that said that working from home does not only make it comfortable for the employees, but it is said to help with their health and
productivity. It was also found that they not only had more work satisfaction and less exhaustion, but the employees were able to sleep better at
night. Stanford University conducted a study of 255 employees of a Chinese travel agency that allowed half of their employees to work from
home for nine months, and the other half continued to work at the office. To keep things fair both groups worked the same shifts at the same
time. The results of the study showed that the performance from the group that worked out of the office stayed stable while the group that
worked from their performance increased by 13 percent (Gregoire, C. (2015, January 27).
A Human Resource Manager needs to be able to show the company how they can benefit from the work/life balance. Some great points that
an HRM can use is that encouraging a work/life balance for the employee can help on attendance, help increase and keep talented employees,
and increase employees productivity. It would also be helpful as an HRM to be able to link the benefits of work/life balance to the organizational
goals and objectives. One way it that you could offer customers more services hours with a flex schedule, improve employee’s commitment and
attitude, and in turn the employee will want to put the customers need as a top priority. I think a good link that an HRM can make is that a
work/life balance will help create a safe and healthier workplace, which is a great strategy for any organization. I don’t believe that a work/life
balance is only an HRM issue, and I think that upper management can play a huge part in implementing a balance (Holmes, B. (2012, July 09).
According to an online article from hrworld.com there is many ways that employers can encourage work/life balance for their employees.
Obviously I think one of the biggest things is for upper management to let their employees know that hard work is not the only thing that will
help them rise in the company, but they want to see the employee have time for personal life as well. I think another helpful tool an employer
can implement is flextime and telecommuting. Having a flexible work schedule would be help for the employee that’s has child or even other
family obligation that could cause schedule changes. I think having some type of telecommuting could also help with a flexible work schedule,
or if the employee has to stay home on occasion to take care of a sick or dependent family member. The last thing I think could be helpful if it is
offered is encouraging employees to use vacation or sick time, and a good way to make sure they use it is have a use-it-or –lose-it policies so it
may force the employees to instead of just letting it build up (Hakala, D. (2008, April 16).
The ability to be able to balance work and family has been an issue that I have faced in the past and is something that can break someone
down mentally and physically. When an organization pushes their employees to work so much it will start to push someone to their breaking
point. I remember working so much and traveling that I got to the point that I was starting to shut down, and it started to break me down
physically as well. I remember take it out on my family by not wanting to spend time with them. I was tired and my body was in so much pain
that I didn’t know what to do. I worked so much and so hard to provide for my family when in fact all they wanted was for me to spend time with
them. The problem was my company did give me that piece of mind that taking off time or my family was important. Now that I found a
professional organization to work for balancing my work and family seems so easy that I sometimes think why did waste so much time and
energy on a company that didn’t care.
Work and Family Balance
Siena Heights University
MGT 360--Human Resource Management
Dr. Ball; Winter, 2015
Work/Family Balance
What is work/life balance? According to an online article from humanresources.about.com work-life balance “is a concept that supports the
efforts of employees to split their time and energy between work and the other important aspects of their lives.” For the employee to be able to
balance their work and life the employers need to be able to force policies, procedures, actions, and expectations that the employee can use to
make this balance possible. This will not only make these easy for the employee, but it will also help reduce stress on the employee (Heathfield,
S. (2015).
There’re a few opportunities that an employer can do to assist the employees to be successful in the work-life balance:
- Flexible work schedules
- Paid time off policies
- Responsible time
- Communication expectations
- Company-sponsored family events and activities.
Another aspect of being able to help employees be successful in work-life balance is the support of the managers. If a manager implements a
work-life balance in their own lives should be able to help their employees implement a successful balance. What a manager needs to do is make
sure the employees understand that they expect, enable, and support their needs for the work-life balance (Heathfield, S. (2015).
I believe the balance of your personal life and your professional life has been a social justice issue for Human Resource Managers for a very long
time. Obviously as a Human Resource Manager you want your co-workers to give everything they can to make sure the business runs as
successfully as possible. The problem is that with most people if they have a family issue it’s hard not to bring that to work. When people have
some type of personal issue it will start to affect their professional life just as much as their personal life. There a many things Human Resource
Managers can do to help their employees with personal issues, and in turn they will have an employee that will work harder.
A Human Resource Manager and an organization needs to find a way to help the employee to be able to spend time with their family and not
worry about the professional life. There needs to be a way to help the employee be able to balance it without making it seem as a Human
Resource Manager that you work needs to come first. With many organization today they do offer paid personal days, sick days, and vacations
that is a great way to help employees find ways to spend time with the family.
An article from the Huffington Post called “Working From Home Is Good For You And Your Boss” talks about a winter storm that has hit the
Northeast and how many employees have been getting the chance to work from home instead of commuting to the office. There was two new
studies done that said that working from home does not only make it comfortable for the employees, but it is said to help with their health and
productivity. It was also found that they not only had more work satisfaction and less exhaustion, but the employees were able to sleep better at
night. Stanford University conducted a study of 255 employees of a Chinese travel agency that allowed half of their employees to work from
home for nine months, and the other half continued to work at the office. To keep things fair both groups worked the same shifts at the same
time. The results of the study showed that the performance from the group that worked out of the office stayed stable while the group that
worked from their performance increased by 13 percent (Gregoire, C. (2015, January 27).
A Human Resource Manager needs to be able to show the company how they can benefit from the work/life balance. Some great points that
an HRM can use is that encouraging a work/life balance for the employee can help on attendance, help increase and keep talented employees,
and increase employees productivity. It would also be helpful as an HRM to be able to link the benefits of work/life balance to the organizational
goals and objectives. One way it that you could offer customers more services hours with a flex schedule, improve employee’s commitment and
attitude, and in turn the employee will want to put the customers need as a top priority. I think a good link that an HRM can make is that a
work/life balance will help create a safe and healthier workplace, which is a great strategy for any organization. I don’t believe that a work/life
balance is only an HRM issue, and I think that upper management can play a huge part in implementing a balance (Holmes, B. (2012, July 09).
According to an online article from hrworld.com there is many ways that employers can encourage work/life balance for their employees.
Obviously I think one of the biggest things is for upper management to let their employees know that hard work is not the only thing that will
help them rise in the company, but they want to see the employee have time for personal life as well. I think another helpful tool an employer
can implement is flextime and telecommuting. Having a flexible work schedule would be help for the employee that’s has child or even other
family obligation that could cause schedule changes. I think having some type of telecommuting could also help with a flexible work schedule,
or if the employee has to stay home on occasion to take care of a sick or dependent family member. The last thing I think could be helpful if it is
offered is encouraging employees to use vacation or sick time, and a good way to make sure they use it is have a use-it-or –lose-it policies so it
may force the employees to instead of just letting it build up (Hakala, D. (2008, April 16).
The ability to be able to balance work and family has been an issue that I have faced in the past and is something that can break someone
down mentally and physically. When an organization pushes their employees to work so much it will start to push someone to their breaking
point. I remember working so much and traveling that I got to the point that I was starting to shut down, and it started to break me down
physically as well. I remember take it out on my family by not wanting to spend time with them. I was tired and my body was in so much pain
that I didn’t know what to do. I worked so much and so hard to provide for my family when in fact all they wanted was for me to spend time with
them. The problem was my company did give me that piece of mind that taking off time or my family was important. Now that I found a
professional organization to work for balancing my work and family seems so easy that I sometimes think why did waste so much time and
energy on a company that didn’t care.