Pacific Business Review International
Volume : 8, Issue : 5, November 2015 Article Section
Issues and Challenges of Work Life Balance in
Banking Industry of India
Dr. K.A. Goyal
Associate Professor
Business Finance and Economics
Jai Narayan Vyas University, Jodhpur
Arpita Agrawal Babel
Research Scholar
Business Administration MLS University,
Udaipur
Abstract
Banking industry is an emerging industry in India, the entry of private sector and foreign banks have brought various essential
changes in the banking industry. The menace of work- life imbalance is noticeable in banking industry. Employees in the
banks take painful effort to deliver the various needs of its customers. Work deadlines are getting compact and the individual's
jobs are loaded and added with quality output. Due to work in pressure, it becomes hard to maintain balance between
professional and family life. The output of the banking sector is dependent on the quality of human resources. The basic
function of human resource development is to facilitate performance improvement, measured in terms of finance indicators
of operational efficiency and quality of financial services provided. The twin challenges faced by the banks' managements are
that of retaining the prevailing employees and providing a satisfying work environment for all employees. The study attempts
to find out the issues related with managing professional and personal life of employees in banking industry. The major
objective of this paper is to identify specific issues and challenges in work life balance in banking industry and to suggest
measures to improve work life balance.
Key Words: Work-Life Balance, Banking Industry, Working Condition, Employers, Employees
Introduction The best work-life balance is different for each of us
because we all have different priorities and
Now a day's managing work life balance is a challenge for
different lives, a good working definition of Work-
both employers and employees particularly in service
Life Balance is:
industry where employees are loaded with work at
workplace and at the same time they have to balance their Meaningful daily Achievement and Enjoyment in each
personal life. Work life and personal life are two sides of the of the four life quadrants:
same coin. Creating and managing a balance between the
Family, Friends, Self and Work
work and personal life is considered to be a work life balance
issue. Increasing work pressure, globalization and Work–life balance is a concept which includes proper
technological advancement has an impact on balancing prioritizing between "work (career and ambition) and
professional life and personal life. "lifestyle“(health, pleasure, leisure, family and spiritual
development/ meditation) Work-life balance does not mean
Greenhaus et al. (2003) operationalized the concept
that there must be equal balance across all aspects of an
of work-family balance as comprising three
individual's life. The best work-life balance will be different
components. These are:
for each person. There is no one size fits all in work-life
Time balance, whereby equal amounts of time are balance.
devoted to work and family;
All over the world the organizations are demanding more
Involvement balance, whereby an equal level of and more from their employees; parallel to this, these are
psychological involvement in work and family focusing more on the motivation and recognitions of the
roles exists; and employees to enhance productivity. Present workforce
consists of many working fathers and mothers; whose aim is
Satisfaction balance, whereby an equal level of
to find a balance between work and family roles is a matter
satisfaction is derived from work and family roles.
of concern for them and the organizations.
113
Volume : 8, Issue : 5, November 2015 Article Section
Importance of the Study Review Of Literature
Work life balance necessitate in attaining equilibrium The review is to scrutinize what has already been done on the
between professional work and other topic or problem. It gives a deep insight and clear
perspective of the overall field. It helps in creating a base for
activities, so that it decreases friction between official and
the research and helps in churning out a number of ideas for
domestic life. Job satisfaction
investigation in the domain area. The scrutiny of literature
refers to the attitude people have towards their job and the provides a great understanding of the topic and its crucial
organizations they work for. The quality of work life policies aspects. It ensures the avoidance of unnecessary duplication
is gradually becoming a part of the business strategy and the in the studies.
focus is on the potential of these policies to persuade
Work life Balance brings greater influence to all aspects of
employee's quality of working life and more importantly to
life. Employees work better when they do make time for
help them maintain work-life balance with equal attention
family and personal interests. Thus, the issue has become
on performance, commitment at work andWork life and
pertinent not only in India but has become major issue of
personal life are inter‐connected and interdependent. concern for all kinds of Industry worldwide. Lot of work has
Spending more time in office, dealing with clients and the been done by researchers in order to explore the ways to
pressure of job can restrain and affect the personal life, maintain proportionate balance between work and life.
sometimes making it impossible to even complete the Some of the research review are as follows :
household activities. On the other hand, personal life can
also be demanding if you have a kid or aging parents, Modi, Chima (2011), examined the extent to which Work
financial problems or even problems in the life of a dear Life Balance policies and practices are a reality for
relative. It can lead to absenteeism from work, creating employees in Banking Sector. The study also examined if
stress and lack of concentration at work. Work life and there were any barriers and reasons for mutual adoption of
personal life are the two sides of th job satisfaction. This Work life balance policies in Nigerian Banking sector. The
study proves to be a milestone for the researchers, policy study suggested an urgent need to communicate clearly
makers and students to properly understand the concepts of about the Work Life Balance policies and practices to its
employee's job satisfaction, work life balance and their employees, to raise awareness further and improve the
relationship. knowledge and understanding of relevant policies.
This study focused at the theme of work-life balance, and to Lalitha Kumari (2012) in her study emphasized that each
describe the importance of the said subject .Work-life of the work life Balance factors on its own is a salient
balance is a key area for quality concern gurus, who consider predictor of job satisfaction and there is significant gap
that balance between work and life is of crucial importance between male and female respondents with job satisfaction
when it comes to performance of the workforce in general with reference to various factors of Work life balance. The
and service industry in particular. But increasing work result of the study had practical significance for human
pressures, globalization and technological advancement resource managers of especially banks to improve staff
have made it an issue with both the sexes, all professionals commitments and productivity along with designing
working across all levels and all industries throughout the recruitment and retention of employees.
world. Attaining "work‐life balance" is not as simple as it Vartha Raj & Vasantha (2012) studied the Work Life
sounds. Work‐personal life conflict occurs when the balance of working women in service sector. They specified
burden, obligations and responsibilities of work and family that the ultimate performance of its employees which in turn
roles become incompatible. Obligation of one can force an depends on numerous factors. The relationship between
individual to neglect the other. personnel and professional life can be achieved through
Work life balance= Time management + Stress emotional intelligence.. Better emotion management is
management. necessary in order to accomplish objective of life.
Objective of this paper is to identify issue related to work life Shariq Abbas, Vandana Premi (2011), tried to look at the
balance in banking industry in India. Most of the studies awareness, attitude perceived importance and formalization
have been carried out with a focus on various issues and of Work Life Balance policies in Banking sector, both
dimensions of personnel administration, HR policies and Private and Public sector banks. Findings suggest that
practices, HR strategies, HR Innovative etc. But there are employees perceive flexible working arrangements as most
very few studies with regard to Work life Balance. important Work Life balance policy; nonetheless say the
perceptions towards the implementation of Work life
balance in their organizations are negative. The study also
revealed that the extent formalization of work life balance
114
Article Section Pacific Business Review International
policies in Public and Private sector banks had no written Lewis,(2000)The concept of work-life balance is based on
documents for the same in both the systems. the notion that paid work and personal life should be seen
less as competing priorities than as complementary
Carmeli (2013), examined the extent of which senior
elements of a full life. The way to achieve this is to adopt an
managers with high emotional intelligence, employed in
approach that is “conceptualized as a two way process
public sector organizations develop positive attitudes
involving a consideration of the needs of employees as well
behaviour & outcomes. Results show senior managers who
as those of employers”
had high emotional intelligence were more likely to be
effectively control work-family conflict than those who Verma, (2007) As early as 1960's researchers have begun to
have low emotional intelligence. study and find some imbalance between work and personal
life. Various studies on work life thereafter finds that what
Alan Felstead (2007) in his research on “opportunities to
happened at the workplace have significant impact on
work at home in the context of Work-Life Balance” finds
individuals and their families. Work life balance means
work-life balance & Family friendly employment is much in
adjusting the pattern of work so that your employees can
vogue among politicians and business leaders.
benefit from a better fit between their work and areas of their
Skinner and Pockock (2008) investigated the relationship personal life and in long run hope to achieve sustainable
between Workload, work schedule control, work hours and development and profitability.
their fit with preferences and work life conflict among full
M. N Jane, and N. M James(2014) The aim of this research
time employee N=887). It was found that the strongest
was to analyze the relationship between work life balance
association with work life conflict was demonstrated by
policies and employee job satisfaction. Work life balance
work overload followed by work schedule control and work
entails attaining equilibrium between professional work and
hours fit. Time based work life policies, procedures and
other activities, so that it reduces friction between official
interventions were found necessary but not sufficient, for
and domestic life. Job satisfaction refers to the attitude
addressing work life conflicts.
people have towards their job and the organizations they
Sundar, Sundarraj, Ashok kumar (2011), indicated that work for. The quality of work life policies is increasingly
despite job security and strong welfare measures protect in becoming part of the business strategy and the focus is on the
private sector banks and opportunity for qualification potential of these policies to influence employee's quality of
upgradation by women employees it is the fear of promotion working life and more importantly to help them maintain
that keeps the women folk to continue to languish in lower work-life balance with equal attention on performance,
cadres but the plight of women folk in new generation banks commitment at work and job satisfaction.
is different in that they do not have a job security and their
Bachmann and Schwartz (1994) discussed on the
pay is performance linked. Study revealed that women
literature that work and balance is quite varied. Family-
executives in Private sector banks are found to be more
Friendly work environment, such as flexi-time, tele-work
knowledgeable about work, maintain a cordial relationship
has been portrayed as an important component of an
with customers and have positive attitudes towards work.
individual worker's preferences towards work time. It has
Gururaja, Umesh Maiya, Elsa Sanatombi Devi, Anice been suggested to the organisations that if work and non-
George (2013), conducted descriptive Survey among 67 work lives environment should be provided to the
nursing faculty towards their perceptions and attitude employees with a means of recruiting, retaining and
towards Quality of Work life showed that majority motivating their work force.
experienced well balanced Work life, 9 expressed
Kumari T.K and Devi R.V(2013)The concept of work life
moderately work-life and none of them rated under poor
balance has stemmed from the fact that an individual's work
work life balance. Data regarding job satisfaction showed
life and personal life may put forth conflicting demands on
that majority had moderate job satisfaction and had high job
one another and the demands from both the domains are
satisfaction. The correlation between Work life balance and
equally important. Work life balance refers to maintaining
job satisfaction showed positive correlation which can be
the balance between responsibilities at work and at home.
inferred saying that high quality of Work life balance will
Work life balance is one of the most challenging issues being
improve job satisfaction.
faced by the women employees in the 21st century because
Voydanoff (2001) have found significant interdependence of the type of roles they play at home and the spill over of
between the roles that each requires workers to perform personal life over work life.
work-family conflict practices when balance cannot be
Lubana Riz V(2013) This paper is aimed at the theme of
achieved between the two roles. Either role may demand
work-life balance, and to explain the significance of the said
more time or more responsibilities, potentially leading to a
subject .Work-life balance is a key area for quality concern
reduction in.
115
Volume : 8, Issue : 5, November 2015 Article Section
gurus, who believes that balance between work and life is of Stay for a longer period.
vital importance when it comes to performance of the
workforce. The paper conducted study on effectiveness of · Better teamwork and communication.
workforce in the banking sector in Pakistan where the aim Employee's Benefit:
was to find out whether the employees are able to practice a
sense of control. · Work life balance policies provide the ability to
manage work and Individual commitments.
Lewison, 2006. Balancing work and family has overtaken
benefits and compensation as a key factor in employee job · It leads to improved personal and family
satisfaction. relationships.
Trauth, Quesenberry Huang, 2009. Work-life balance is · It guides to have increased focus, motivation and
one of the factors that affect women employees' retention in
job satisfaction knowing that the family and work
the company.
commitments are being met.
Subramaniam, 2010. Family friendly policies at work
place are becoming a challenge for the employers to · It leads to less distraction.
provide. They commonly refer to policies that enable · Paving a way for high morale and motivation
employees to balance the demands of paid work and
personal life which can be in the form of workplace · Directs in increased in job security due to
flexibility or work time flexibility. organizational support through work life balance
Amita Singh (2010), based on their study on work-life policies.
balance in IT sector in India suggested that Flex time, home Work-life Balance Problems
working, child care facilities, option to work part time are
facilities that need to be introduced and recommended for There are certain health related issues which arise due to the
building a supportive work environment in the work/ life imbalances and stress at workplace.
organizations. Health Problems:
Above mentioned various “studies, standard textbooks, The outcome of stressful work are health related problems,
articles and journals elaborate that employees' motivation which generally leads to quitting of job or quitting the
and satisfaction, profitability and productivity, recruitment industry. Some of the health issues are:
and retention policies can be improved by adopting flexible
working arrangements. 1. Tension
Benefits Of Work Life Balance 2. Sleeplessness
The employees and employers need to manage well both 3. Headaches
personal and job related stresses. If this strategy is managed 4. Eye-strain
well then it can surely reap the following benefits:
5. Repetitive strain injury (RSI)
Employer's Benefit:
6. Backache
· There will be a reduction in Absenteeism rates.
Detachment from the Family:
· Work life balance paves a way for increased The employees are hardly able to give time for their families.
employee morale and commitment. Problems become more pronounced when they get married.
· It helps in reduction in stress and improved Additional responsibilities of running a family demands
more time and hence eventually people quit the industry.
productivity.
Most of the employees work on Indian holidays too, which
· It leads to the attraction of Skilled Employee. causes frustration.
· The policies of work life balance assists to decrease Depression:
in Employee Turnover. The gradual realization that there are limited scopes in
making a career owing to fewer growth opportunities is
· It provide for Lower Recruitment and Training increasing the frustration levels in the organization. Coupled
Cost with growing mental fatigue and increasingly punishing
· It increases Return on Investment as Employee physical environments, depression is the obvious end result.
116
Article Section Pacific Business Review International
Eyesight Problems: Making the working environment more attractive:
Globally bank employees have to face eye related problems. Improvements to the working environment can boost
While the quality of monitors might impact these disorders, morale and help you retain valued staff. The typical
sitting continually without adequate breaks seems to be the techniques include: free exercise classes, a free/subsidized
truer reason. While this is already a problem in the IT canteen, company days out, childcare vouchers, time-off for
industry, which some companies have overcome by use of learning.
anti-glare monitors.
Time Management:
Employer has to understand the factors which an employee
It is one of the best solutions which can help to reduce the
needs to balance their work and life if he might not
imbalance between the personal and the work life of the
understand these factors it may cause:
employees.
v High rates of absenteeism or staff sickness.
a. Time management: It is one of the best solutions
v High levels of staff turnover. which can help to reduce the work life conflict in
the lives of the employees. By prioritizing the tasks
v High levels of employee stress.
and planning the activities employees can take out
v Low productivity and profitability. some free time which can be utilized for other
purposes.
Constant struggle and effort to maintain a balance between
the work and personal life can have serious implications on b. Free time: Take out some time for hobbies and
the life of an individual. According to various studies, it has leisure activities. Spend some time with loved ones
been found that such situation can take a toll on the person's as this helps to beat the stress. Now a days
health. Heart ailments, cardiovascular problems, sleep industries, private and public companies are
disorders, depression, irritability, insecurity, poor providing these benefits to employees for better
concentration and even nervous breakdowns are becoming retention of employees and attracting talented
common among the victims of such imbalance. Pressure, employees for their organizations.
stress or tension in work life can lead to bad social life and
Telecommuting:
vice versa.
It is becoming more and more common for people to do at
Suggestions for Effective Work Life
least some of their regular work from home instead of going
There are no hard-and-fast rules on what constitutes an to the office. This type of arrangement is often called
acceptable work/life balance - this will depend on the 'telework' or 'telecommuting' and can be advantageous for
operational requirements of your business and the needs of employees by allowing them: to organize their work day
your employees. around their personal and family needs; to decrease work-
related expenses; to reduce commuting time; and to work in
Flexible Working Practices :
a less stressful and disruptive environment.
This includes part-time working, flexi-time, job sharing and
Compressed Work Weeks:
home working. Certain employees have the right to request
flexible working. Utilize the flexible working hour's option A compressed work week is an arrangement whereby
of the organizations to get some free time. employees work longer shifts in exchange for a reduction in
the number of working days in their work cycle (e.g. on a
Human Resource Department can even provide :
weekly or biweekly basis). This can be fruitful for
· Maternity leave employees in terms of additional days off work (e.g. longer
weekends allowing “mini vacations”) and reduced
· Paternity leave commuting time, whereas employers can enhance their
daily operating hours, with less need to resort to overtime.
· Parental leave Common arrangements for a forty hours work week are
working ten hours per day, four days a week; working an
· Paid leave for short period of time
extra hour a day with one day off every two weeks; or
· Working time reduction : Part time upon request working an extra half hour a day and having one day every
three or four weeks off.
· Crèche facilities.
Job Sharing:
It is an arrangement which allows two (or sometimes more)
117
Volume : 8, Issue : 5, November 2015 Article Section
employees to jointly fill one fulltime job, with Vartharaj. V and S. Vasantha. Worklife Balance as a
responsibilities and working time shared or divided between source of Job Satisfaction an exploratory study on the
them. Job sharing may be appropriate where opportunities view of women employees in the service sector.
for part-time jobs or other arrangements are limited. International Journal of Multi-Disciplinary approach
Vol 2(3), March 2012, ISSN 2231 5780.
Conclusion
Shariq Abbas S. M, Vandana Premi. Attitude and
Work Life Balance (WLB )is an important area of Human
perceived importance towards Work Life Balance
Resource Management which is gaining more attention
Policies : A comparative employee analysis of private &
from Policy Makers, Organizations, Management,
public sector banks- Journal of research in computer
Researchers, Employees, and their representatives globally.
application & Management, Vol-1(9) Nov 2001, ISSN
The pressure of the workload and personal life can lead to
2231 1009.
stress. According to the study, it has been found that such
situations affect an individual's health both physiologically Sundar K, Sundararaj J, Ashok Kumar. A study on Job
and psychologically. The Work Life Balance policies and Performance of Women Executives in private sector
programs are an investment in an organization for and new generation private sector banks in Pondicherry
improving productivity, reducing absenteeism, achieving : IJEMR Sept 2011, Vol-1(4) – ISSN 2249-2585.
improved customer services, better health, flexible working
Expatriate Work Life Balance survey. International
as well as satisfied and motivated workforce especially in
survey of Work Life Balance policies 2001 New York :
banking industry.
Industrial Relations Counselors.
Achieving work life balance in the fast pace of banking
Gautam Ramnath, Work Life Balance – Dissertation by
system and creating a balance between professional and
SDM Institute for management development.
personal life is a challenge for an individual. Employees' are
the pillars of the organization. So organization should give Ramesh K. Miryala and Nagapriya Chiluka. Work Life
its attention towards the welfare and needs of the employees. Balance amongst teachers” the IUP Journal of
So that employees can able to balance their dual role i.e., Organizational Behaviour, Vol. XI, 2012.
work as well as personal life.
S. Ashwini and Kumaraswamy M. Work Life Balance
Reference Cited with special reference to public sector bank employees
in Karnataka, Vol-3(2), Feb 2014. ISSN No 2277- 8160.
Mordi, Chima.Work Life Balance practices in banking
insights from Nigeria –Sep, 1, 2011.Publication Life Bachmann. K, Work Life Balance – are employees
Psychologia. listening? Ottawa : Conference Board of Canada,2000.
Lalitha Kumari. Employees Perception on Work Life Namita. Work-Life Balance in India- The Key Driver Of
Balance and its relation with job satisfaction in Indian Employee Engagement. International Journal of
Public Sector Banks –IJEMR February 2012- Vol 2(2). Management and Commerce Innovations, Vol-2(1), pp:
Online- ISSN. 2249- 2585. Print ISSN. 2249- 8672. (103-109), ISSN 2348-7585.
118
