Work - life balance programmes for personnel: background and context

Tkalych M. H. Work - life balance programmes for personnel: background and context.

Work - life balance has been an important area of research into organizational psychology. The paper described the background and content of the work - life balance phenomenon and also the implementation of work - life ballance programmes. The main components of the work - life balance are: load balance; time balance; work planning; job complexity; balance of environment; social contacts; balance of pleasure. These components of the work - life balance are influenced by negative factors (work - family (life) / family (life) - work conflicts) and positive factors (resources and benefits of work - family (life) / family (life) - work interface). We also considered theoretical and methodological foundations of work - life balance programmes in psychological support of personnel. The analysis of the problem has shown the changes in the social, economic and psychological conditions of organizing the activities of enterprises. However, there has been an absence of investigations of this phenomenon in Ukraine. We have identified the following conditions for the implementation of work - life balance programmes: involving personnel at all levels, team approach, clear indicators of job performance and quality of life of the staff, warranty for the staff, remuneration, communication, the inclusion of the work - life balance concept, training of gender interaction for the staff into the HR strategy of the organization. In our opinion, these programmes should be implemented in organizations on a regular basis - this will ensure their consistency and validity in psychological support of personnel.

Keywords: work - life balance, psychological support, personnel of organizations, work - family conflicts, work - life benefits.

Introduction. An important condition for the efficient operation of modern organizations is psychological and organizational accompanied of the staff, which not only increases the efficiency of modern organizations and helps to improve the organizational relationships, but also promotes personal and professional development of employees.

Over the past decades scholars across the globe have focused their attention on work - life balance. The work - life balance is a category that is defined by researchers as a subjective overall individual situation between the work and other spheres of employee's life, as well as the presence of a number of components, which determines this balance [12].

The development and implementation of the work - life balance programmes at the personnel policy of organizations is one of the main directions of new positive approach in HR in organizations. The lack of work - life balance of personnel reduces the level of job satisfaction, leads to emotional burnout, affects the efficiency and competitiveness of the company.

Analysis of the current research allows us to identify the theoretical and methodological basis of this phenomenon:

- studies, which reflect theoretical and methodological foundations of organizational development, management of modern organizations, organizational interaction in the period of changes (T.Y. Bazarov, O.I. Bondarchuk, I.V. Vashchenko A.A. Derkach, L.M. Karamushka, S.D. Maksimenko, L.M. Mitina, V.V. Moskalenko, L.E. Orban-Lembryk, J. Arnold et al., D. Bartram, H.S. Becker et al., R. Beckhard, G.R. Bushe et al., T.G. Cummings et al., A. Furnham, N. Ramamoorthy et al.);

- some studies of work - life balance of personnel (T.D. Allen et al., T.K. Billing et al., C. Emslie C et al., M.J. Grawitch et al., N.R. Lockwood, P. Rayman et al., K.L. Scott et al., Sh. Self, D. Stork et al., C. Straub);

- the studies of work - family / family - work conflicts and their interface (Y.-P. Chen et al., M.R. Frone, U. Kinnunen et al., M. Roche et al., K.G. Vivien et al.).

The purpose of the study is to determine the content and the structure of work - life balance, its benefits and also to analyse the main strategies of implementation of work - life balance programmes.

The results. Let's start with the definition of the structure and components of the work - life balance. Among the components that determine this balance, the researchers distinguish the following: time balance (equal distribution of time between work and life), the balance of the environment (the equivalent psychological force), the balance of pleasure (the same satisfaction from the professional and family roles) [12]. In our research we have been also singled out the following: load balance; job planning; complexity of the job; social contacts [1].

So, the main components of the work - life balance are: load balance (optimum number of working hours, the ability to separate work from leisure time, to take a vacation, not to think about work all the time); time balance (equal distribution of time between work and other spheres of life); work planning (influence on the content of the job, the possibility of an open-plan working hours); job complexity (curiosity, the complexity of the tasks, the optimal number of tasks to solve problems); balance of environment (equivalent psychological efforts to workers and resolve family and personal problems); social contacts (friendships with colleagues, leader support, no feeling of loneliness, satisfaction of needs in social contacts at work); balance of pleasure (the same satisfaction from professional, family, interpersonal roles).

These components of the work - life balance are influenced by negative factors (work - family (life) / family (life) - work conflicts) and positive factors (resources and benefits of work - family (life) / family (life) - work interface).

So, managing the interface between work and life remains a central challenge for employees and employers. The negative aspects of this interaction have been defined as work - family / work - life conflict and the positive as work - family / work - life enrichment. Due to M. Roche et al., work - life balance is connected to work - family / family - work conflict, which is negatively related to autonomy, while family - work conflict is also negatively related to competence and relatedness. Work-family enrichment is positively related to autonomy, while family-work enrichment is positively related to competence and relatedness [11].

These differing perspectives on the work-family interface seek to explain fundamental tensions and benefits on an individual's capacity to coordinate obligations of work and non-work roles. However, it is also reported that work-home inference depleted job resources for employees, and their ability to have the needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness met [2; 3; 11].

So, the employee benefits from work - life balance. There are many factors that improve it, like: the employees' happiness; the relations with the management: a good relationship between the workforce and the management is important if you want to adopt a good communication within the company; the employees' self-esteem, health, concentration and confidence: of course these are all important factors if you want productivity to increase; loyalty and commitment; the fact that the employee will no longer bring family problems to work and visa versa; the time to focus on life outside work; the control of their working lives; the motivation of the staff: when people are happy, there are several factors that improve and one of them is motivation; they feel fulfilled through work - life balance policies, they will be more motivated to work; the level of stress among employees: employees who found the right balance between work and life, don't have to worry about stress, because there is nothing to stress about; the sense of ownership and responsibility [5; 7; 12].

There are also some benefits from the work - life balance for the organization: maximised available labour: the workforce will be very motivated and so the employer can benefit from maximised available labour; the balance makes employees feel valuable and as a result, they will work harder; the workforce will be more loyal and motivated; the environment will be less stressful; by applying work-life balance policies, a wider range of candidates will be attracted; productivity will increase; absenteeism will be reduced; retraining valued employees: when the employees' knowledge will expand, flexibility will increase and it will help ensure ongoing employment, teamwork and involvement. It also will increase human interaction, motivation and communication [12].

T.K. Billing et al. [3], T.G. Cummings et al. [4], C. Emslie et al. [5], M.J. Grawitch et al. [7], U. Kinnunen et al. [8], M. Roche et al. [11] in their studies have shown that psychological and organizational work with personnel, namely responsible organizational social policy, care about the welfare of the staff. The organizational culture focused on a person and its needs, is bringing many benefits to organizations: it is a resource in implementing the main organizational goals and it helps the organization to achieve high levels of competitiveness and effectiveness on the labour market.

A.D. Masuda et al. [9] also notes the need for special programmes for personnel in organizations due to an increasing number of women on the labour market, couples in which both partners work, families with one parent, and those, who is caring for elderly parents. Thus, employees today more than ever, expect and require flexibility in the workplace, "family friendly" organizational policy to cope with family commitments.

From our point of view, the need for work - life balance programmes in psychological and organizational support of personnel is determined by the following changes in the social, economic and psychological conditions of organization activities:

- demographic and social changes that led to an increasing number of women in the professional sphere, to the appearance of working mothers with infants, who have become the norm and not the exception, to rising of the average age of employees;

- development of technologies (mobile telephones, Internet, email) that ensure reconciliation of work and personal and family life, can help to organize the work away from the workplace;

- modern challenges, that have increased requirements for flexibility of employees and organizations to increase their capacity to respond to changes;

- the increasing number of employees with more than one job;

- the increasing of working hours, leading to personnel overload and therefore the working environment becomes more stressful and requires a "discharge."

When a company does not take work - life balance into account, some symptoms could turn up: women might not come back to the workplace after maternity leave; high stress levels might occur among the personnel; employees might demand flexible strategies; women might not be willing to occupy senior roles [12].

So, in our opinion, organizations today are challenged to offer to their staff flexible and innovative solutions that increase the productivity of their professional activities without detriment to the well-being, physical and psychological health, family, personal relationships and other aspects of their lives and improve organizational interaction and interpersonal relations of personnel in organizations.

One important task in creating such programmes of psychological and organizational support of personnel is the implementation of gender-oriented approach, which serves the methodological basis of research in the psychology of gender. The essence of the approach lies in taking into account the interests of all social, sexual, gender groups in the definition of special measures to achieve gender equality.

From our point of view, an effective strategy for implementing the new HR approach in organizations based on the fact that the interests and experience of all professional, age, gender groups in organizations, became an essential criterion in the development of the general concept, monitoring and evaluation of the common activities at all organizational levels and in all institutional programmes and measures of psychological support, so that employees can get the equal rights and opportunities for professional activities, career building, harmonious combination of work with personal, family and other areas of their lives.

The studies of T.D. Allen et al. [2], C. Emslie et al. [5], M.R. Frone [6], M. Roche et al. [11] indicate that organizations need to create programmes and initiatives at the level of strategic HR- management, such as: skills training, personal development training, material and immaterial compensation, motivation, updates desktop design and executive management. According to the researches, it enables organizations to be more productive and profitable. In the implementing of these programmes it is important to conduct and to disseminate systematic researches on this problem.

Analysis of gender differences in the work - life balance showed that in general, there are differences in career opportunities, access to career development opportunities, the number of hours that employees spend at work and family, work - family conflict, role stress, management strategies, work - life balance [2]. According to the research, women are more likely to experience family - work conflict and men mostly experience work - family conflict [12].

Men and women are also differences in the perception of their working roles: female employees perceive their role as having barriers to career achievements, compensation and organizational capabilities. These barriers also associated with typical gender positions, types of professional activities, the access to different professional opportunities.

We have also identified the following conditions for the implementation of work - life balance programmes:

- involving personnel at all levels - from management to employees (including diagnosis of the current situation of gender interaction, gender discrimination, the work - life balance);

- team approach that involves interrelated processes at all organizational levels;

- clear indicators of job performance and quality of life of the staff;

- warranty for the staff: increase productivity and improve interactions will not limit the professional and personal achievements and income; eliminating gender discrimination against one group does not provide its appearance on another;

- remuneration: all participants are recognized and rewarded for the risk and creativity that enable the creation and implementation of programmes;

- communication: clear mechanism, positive, harmonious way of interaction, information transmission, view on the problems;

- the inclusion of the work - life balance concept, training of gender interaction for the staff into the HR strategy of the organization.

P. Rayman et al., points that, for the development of such programmes, we have to answer the following questions: 1) How is the working process organized in a particular company? 2) How does the job affects personal life of employees? 3) How in the workflow changes will affect the life and achievements of the organization employees [10]?

Usually, researchers distinguish the following measures: a long-term cooperation, work with organizational culture, continuous monitoring and data collection, taking into account both the needs of staff and the needs of organizations that should complement each other [2; 8; 12]. It is also necessary, in our opinion, to provide the special studies to determine the work - life balance of personnel in the company [1].

Conclusion and the perspective of the future research. Work - life balance has been an important area of research into organizational psychology. The analysis of the problem has shown the changes in the social, economic and psychological conditions of organizing the activities of enterprises. However, there has been an absence of investigations of this phenomenon in Ukraine. The present study provides the content, the structure of work - life balance, conditions for the implementation of work - life balance programmes. In our opinion, these programmes should be implemented in organizations on a regular basis - this will ensure their consistency and validity in psychological support of personnel.

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