Balancing Work and Life

Studies suggest that when the number of children in the home rise, and as the age of the youngest child decreases, there are more conflicts within the family. In establishing relationships with children, parents struggle to manage work and family, including having insufficient time to completely focus on both the necessities of work and family (Cichy, Stawski, & Almeida, 2012). Due to new job obligations, MJ experiences work stress independently, enhancing personal and financial stressors. There can be an adverse effect between job security and father-child relationship due to fathers striving to secure careers so they are able to provide for their family. As personal stressors are experienced more regularly, so are perceptions that one’s work obligations increase negative effects on their family life (Minnotte, Pedersen, & Mannon, 2013).

Work-life balance has been a popular topic for employees across all age and occupations for years, representing a rising concern of contemporary human resource management and labor policies. This topic has attracted the attention from the millennium generation, who is stepping into the market and beginning to grow a career. Therefore considering the increasing demand, well-designed workforce planning with diverse scheduling options offered to employees appears to be extra credits for most companies. This research paper aims to communicate the positive effects of four-day workweek, and providing support for why employers should adopt this schedule for employees and themselves through 1) introducing background and history of four-day workweek as a work schedule option and 2) demonstrating benefits of four-day workweek from both employer and employees’ perspectives.

Thirty-eight percent of Americans report some tension between their work and home lives. Today’s highly publicized work/life balance conflicts are multiple, and their nature differs significantly depending on the jobs individuals have and on their family situations. Tensions between work and family life clearly have implications for the well-being of individuals and their children and ramifications for society in general. Yet because the personal needs, desires, motivations, and economic circumstances of Americans are so varied, there appears to be no single way to resolve these tensions, no universal best practices with regard to work/life balance. For example,

According to Statistics Canada, the amount of two parented full time working families has gone up 17% since the 1980’s. As a result of such an outcome, more employees in larger and smaller based companies are finding it harder to keep up with both risen work loads and home life necessities, which in turn have caused more absentees in the work place. The reason being for this is due to

A healthy work/life balance to me means that I am meeting my goals and fulfilling my commitments to the people in those realms of my life. For example, if I am able to, in the time and resources I am given, be able to spend time with friends while being able to pay my bills while meeting my objectives at work; that to me is a successful balance.

“Finding balance in life in between work and personal

Some people may not get to see their family as often as they want to because of the struggle to balance both family and work. These articles, “Double Daddy” by Penny Parkers, “Diary of a Mad Blender: A Week of Managing Every Spare Minute” by Sue Shellenbarger, and “The Child’s view of Working Parents” by Cora Daniels and Ellen Galinksy, are all based on facts about balancing work and family. Balancing responsibilities, goals, and a personal life is a struggle for many people, but the most important priorities in life, such as family, should not be neglected. Work time can get in the way of family time. In Penny Parkers article, “Double Daddy”, she writes, “These men are saying, ‘I’m working my tail off to get ahead, for the most

Each persons work/life balance is different because we each have our own priorities and lives. To have a good balance between work and life doesn’t mean you need to schedule an equal amount of hours in each day between the two. It means to have a

It is imperative that the employee can balance his/her working life against his/her personal life. With sufficient time off and rest periods, employees will feel “looked after” and be motivated to put in more effort. There will be a reduction of mistakes because the employee has had adequate rest which results in a more positive working environment. Employers who introduce such practices in the work place in order to help employees achieve a better and satisfactory work/life balance can expect to see an increase in motivation, enhanced performance/productivity and greater staff loyalty. By implementing a positive work/life balance, companies are successful, secure a good reputation and promote positive employee relations. The Working Time Regulations 1998 stipulates that employers should provide employees with the following basic rights:

If your work life is stressful, overwhelming, and you have a had a hard time at work recently, it will cross over and affect your family life if you do not have a balance between the two. If you are having a marital conflict, like filing for a divorce, it can affect your mood that you have at work and you will not work as well as you have in the past. Balance is a great work, every time I think of balancing work and family I think of a weighting scale (the one with the stand in the middle and the two bowls, one on each side of the stand), this visual helps me see how an unbalanced work and family life can negatively effect everyone around

Ms. Isabel Rimanoczy made great points in this article. Though some may view her as a work body, she and I share a mutual understanding when it comes to work-life balance. Ms. Rimanoczy is not buying the idea that there is some sort of balance between the two aspects of our lives. “Work-life balance is dead” and it may be a good thing” (Rimanoczy, 2015). I agree with her statement because if anyone takes the time to think about it, they will soon come to terms with the idea that it really becomes impossible to separate work and personal life. Some of us grow up with moral values, standards, and family traditions carried on through religious beliefs. When we go to work we will bring along our character because our personal life defines us as

In the textbook, Family Life Now, the author, Kelly J. Welch, discusses the ten strategies for family and work balance. Obviously, sometimes the stressors in life and the struggles that work brings can definitely effect people and inhibit a relationship from being successful. According to a 2001 study examining “47 married couples who appear to successfully manage both spheres” (Welch, 409), the 10 major strategies to balance family and work are as follows: “Value Family, Strive for Partnership, Derive Meaning from Work, Maintain Work Boundaries, Be Focused and Productive at Work, Prioritize Family Fun, Take Pride in Dual Earning, Live Simply, Learn to Say “No”, and Value Time” (Welch, 410). Out of these ten strategies, I would like to focus on the seven that I think are the most beneficial and necessary to have in a balanced relationship.

I control the areas of life that I can and do not dwell on the things that I cannot control. These two categories work together to keep me goal oriented. Life Balance helps me stay realistic when I set goals and evaluate my progress and the way I spend my time. Being Proactive keeps me accountable for the goals that I set. For example, now that I have begun graduate school, these two areas are a big part of my life. As a working professional, I must balance my work responsibilities, school responsibilities, and personal life. I often plan my time in specific blocks to dedicate appropriate amounts of time and energy to all areas of my life. As a teacher, the to-do list is never finished. It is easy for teachers to spend most of their time both at work and at home completing their work tasks. I have made it a point to complete as much grading and planning as I can during my work hours and save the rest for the next day. During my hours at home, I have planned specific times to work on graduate courses that will not interfere with my home life. I study and complete school work on evenings that my husband is working so that we can spend time together when neither of us are

A healthy work-life balance has many benefits including better general health for the employees, higher job satisfaction, reduced stress in both the professional and personal life and greater focus on meeting the work objectives.

·     Balance - "Management's recognition of the importance of personal and family life remains the top driver of employee loyalty. Employees who spend a moderate amount of time each week attending to personal matters while at work have a higher level of commitment to their employer than those who spend no time." (America @ Work 1999," Aon Consulting, Chicago, Illinois; 312.701.4844) Employers who provide a work/life/family balance