The Perception of Managers on the importance of a Work Life Balance Strategy: An Exploratory View

The concept of Work Life Balance has grown in importance in organizations. The challenges of long working hours, work life conflict and social strains are that employees and employers in modern organizations are trying to strike a balance.Purpose: the purpose of this paper is to investigate the perception of managers on the importance of having a work life balance strategy. The perception of the manager of a start up and that of an established company is analysed.Design: The study carried out was based on in depth interviews and thus of a qualitative nature. The interviews were semi structured and captured the perception of the managers on the types of work life conflict that arose in the organization, the types of policies implemented to restore a work life balance, the extent to which dissatisfaction could be removed by deling with work life balance. Findings: The managers interviewed were very clear on the benefits of having a work life balance strategy, the imbalance is a matter of concern and it leads to high level of dissatisfaction, according to the managers. The younger workers, having less ommitments outside work, have the urge to do well and to move up in their career and are thus more willing to have a work weighting heavier in their life. However the existence of work life balance strategy will regulate their lives in the long term. The older workers are more concern about being able to meet commitments outside work and perceive a work life balance strategy as a must for any organization.Originality: This work is investigating a pertinent human resources issue in organizations. The importance of policies and practices of work life balance have been evaluated and it suggests that there may be a need for regulations. This area of research is still to be fully explored and the work undertaken is a stepping stone for further work.