Work-Life Balance Rough Draft: Introduction Work. Up until the late 20th century, adults would go to work, do their jobs, and come home after an eight-hour shift. Work was done at work. With the advancement of technology, the internet and mobile phones have changed the landscape of the typical workday. Except for a small amount of service jobs, an 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, eight-hour work day no longer exists. The 40-hour work week has been stretched significantly. Shutting off the lights at the office used to be the moment when work stopped and life began. Since our society has become equipped with instant communication, the line of work versus life has blurred. Regardless of industry, location, and level of the corporate ladder an employee works, he or she never stops being an employee. The same can be said about not being at home either. With the same technology of being instantly connected to everyone, an employee’s personal life now constantly has his or her attention during the work day. Text messages, Facebook updates, and phone calls, all come into the work place from the outside in such the same matter as emails from work, reports needing to be done by the next morning, and calls from clients and employers find employees at home. When the technology came available, employers used instant communication as a tool to have employees being readily available for clients. Firms also used this technology to expect employees to be readily available to their supervisors. As
A revolution is spreading through the world of work because of changes in information, technology and communication. Information and technology has lessened the gaps between individuals and it is no longer necessary for people to be in close geographic location to enhance working capabilities. Telework means working at a distance and technology makes this possible. Teleworkers are defined as employees or contractors who work at least one day per month; they are also referred to as telecommuters. Research shows that teleworkers work nine days per month at home with three hours per week during normal business hours. Teleworkers seek to blend work responsibilities and personal benefits to enable them handle their work better and life responsibilities.
Studies have shown that personal email, games and social media are frequently accessed by employees on company workstations (“Everything You Need to Know About Computer Usage Policies,” 2011). This increases exposure to company resources, especially with respect to personal email and potentially damaging attachments. Mr. Thomas has expressed a desire for a reasonable level of personal use balanced against the primary needs of the
Workplace privacy is one of the biggest issues facing businesses today. Do you feel like you are being watched all the time, all your e-mails being read, and every key stroke is being monitored by your boss? Some people feel this way and that is why privacy in the workplace is a problem with many businesses today. Employees feel like they are not being trusted, or feel the company invades on their personal privacy, or violates their fourth amendment rights. On the other hand many businesses have many federal and state laws to follow, and must keep their assets safe, and their employees. Technology makes communications of all sorts as easy as a few pushes of a button. This technology makes it
Work and its role in society has become the subject of considerable public commentary and debate in recent years. Work, for many Americans, has changed significantly over the past 25 years. Some people believe that the world of work is changing so thoroughly and quickly that we should consider ourselves pioneers of a new historical era. Some say that the idea of a job has become antiquated.
In most Canadian cities, Wi-Fi connections are available to anyone at a local café or fast food restaurant. In additional other technology has become more affordable. Whereas before computers, were rare, now it is rare for a family to not have at least one. Due to increased technology, employees in many professions no longer have to be at the office to receive instructions, or to submit their completed work in a timely manner. Companies can use email, messaging, video chats and a number of other innovations to communicate with workers. Current technology is giving workers the possibility to work where and when they want, instead of scheduling life around work, it can allow work to be scheduled around
| The ever advancing technology of mobile devices have affected almost every aspect of our everyday lives. Mobile devices have made it easier to communicate. With the way mobile devices right now, people are able to multitask and increase effectiveness of their business. Our devices can search, pay for merchandise and connect you to a business conference on the golf course. In today's business world, people are expected to do more in a lesser amount of time, making devices that can handle this type of behavior more of a necessity. Storage of information can be done on portable (flash) drives and taken with you anywhere you go, making it possible to have information at your fingertips without being tied to an office or home computer. You can send emails from your phone or a tablet making the virtual office a place of regular business. Social media has not only impacted our personal lives, but it has definitely invaded the work environment as well. With the use of Facebook
When working in an organisation it is important to maintain a work-life balance. This means that you are able to separate work life from your home life. It is important when working in an organisation to put in as much effort as possible into your role and to achieve goals that you have set yourself to impress employers and earn personal satisfaction. When you are in a work place for long periods of time it can be hard to shut off emotions that you are feeling at work ready for when you go home this means that when you go home sometimes you may still feel as though you are still at work, even if you enjoy your job this can be hard to deal with and can become too much for some people to handle. Not being able to maintain a work-life balance
As far as innovation, institutions can implement innovative approaches, such as telecommuting. In telecommuting, “employees can carry out their regular work activities from the privacy of their own home” (Lazar, et al., 2010). In the Healthcare Clinic, telecommuting can be applied so that nurse practitioners can perform uncompleted task at the privacy of their own home. This may reduce the toll of working long hours and receive compensation while working at home. The other advantages of telecommuting are that it reduces “commuting time, to be able to work in a less disruptive and stressful environment, reduce work-related expenses, and most importantly, allows the employees to organize their work around their family and personal needs”
The Balance of Work and Leisure Jonathan A. Watson Florida Institute of Technology Abstract In this paper I will be discussing what work is and how it relates to leisure. I will be going over the dictionary definitions of the two and my own interpretation of what they mean. I have based my opinions of this topic on various philosophical and literary works.
Research is held to demonstrate that employers are becoming more and more apprehensive about their employees’ off-duty conduct as times progress. Businesses’ reputations are at stake as a result of the way workers handle themselves while outside of the work place. Due to the increase of reputable concerns companies are now attempting to control their staff’s lives away from the job site. This is being done by monitoring vehicles and cell phones with GPS systems and by tapping into phone calls, e-mails, and internet usage outside of the work environment. Policies are also being implemented to restrict weight gain, and other physical appearances of employees. The line between off-duty conduct federal and constitutional laws are put up against
The relationship between employment related stress and workplace uncertainty directly impacts health today. Studies have identified employment strains caused by uncertainty of work that may be measured by scheduling and earning uncertainty (Tompa et al, 2009). The effort required in commuting to the workplace and effort required to handle multiple jobs are also strains that will be addressed in relation to this theme while drawing on my own experience. With the significant rise of working hours among Canadians in past years have caused conflict among family and individuals and has increased workplace accidents while reduced productivity and quality
If simplified, the disconnect in family life can be put into a broader category of the consequences that come with the length of time an individual spends in the workplace. Thus, the disconnect in family life transforms from merely a personal trouble for the Filimundus employees into a social issue of the length of time spent in the workplace. The historical factors behind the traditional eight-hour workday come from the Industrial Revolution, where new companies started to maximize the output of their factories by having workers in the factory all day in order to run the machinery. Eight-hour shifts allowed for exactly three rotations of employees running the machines for twenty-four hours straight, repeating each day. However, companies began to exploit their workers and made them grind out even longer shifts. Henry Ford was the man who officially installed a policy of an eight-hour workday, giving his employees a limit to how long they could work (Widrich 2014). The Industrial Revolution also brought about the disconnect in family life. No longer were families a unit, because they did not have to toil together on the farm. Instead, parents entered the work force and children attended school, separating the family. This history behind the eight-hour workday shows how it affected and still affects the modern and postmodern
I believe that it is extremely important to have mutual support from colleagues for the best work-life balance. If your colleagues understand that you have obligations at home or children at home then there wont are much debate when they need you to do extra things at work. They will already know that unless you tell them so that you cannot stay past the time you come to work or that you can’t come to work early because you have life obligations. In order to leverage my colleague’s support as a administrator I would want everyone to gather initially to discuss what our obligations are outside of our job so that everyone can understand the needs of
Today’s business world is constantly evolving, technology is improving exponentially and international business relations are a necessity for global companies to function. This is an amazing time we live in, society is fortunate that technology has enabled interaction across the globe. This communication technology also comes with challenges to maintain an acceptable level of balance between work and personal time management. Always being available, plugged into social media, email, text messages and calls; leads to information overload and little time for human minds to reflect upon the massive information coming in. This leaves people distracted constantly and not
Employers believe employees are taking advantage of the Internet while at work to access inappropriate websites such as shopping, gambling, pornographic material, and illegal downloading. Therefore, employers are searching for ways to reduce Internet exploring and increase work production, and remain within the state and federal guidelines (Young, 2011). To combat these issues, monitoring technologies are put in place to make employees more productive during company’s work hours. Monitoring technologies are classified as the use of computerized system that automatically collect, store, analyze, and report information about how an employee is performing his/her job (Wen, Schwieger & Gershuny, 2007). This helps companies to track their employee’s Internet movements, obtain detailed information (Wen, Schwieger & Gershuny, 2007), and protect the privacy of their company. In return, employers hope this will limit or eliminate employees from extensive use of the Internet.