CENTRAL ASIAN JOURNAL OF THEORETICAL

AND APPLIED SCIENCES

Volume: 04 Issue: 09 | Sep 2023 ISSN: 2660-5317
https://cajotas.centralasianstudies.org

Work-Life interface
Shahzoda Umarova Iqboljon qizi
English teacher, Cambridge International College, Tashkent

Received 4th Jul 2023, Accepted 6th Aug 2023, Online 6th Sep 2023

Abstract: By using their intelligence, creativity, collaborative and cooperative skills in order to lead to
the betterment of their life with the help of science and technology, art, education and other several
features of civilization, human beings are trying to find ways to deal with these difficulties. Especially
creative and innovative skills are of the importance in such issues as something that enables all the
possibilities available is continuous innovation, breakthroughs and outcomes of changes. This paper is
dedicated to one of the most common problems of human being, work-life interface, and exploration of
both practical and creative approaches to handle, manage and solve this issue including its
implementation process, strengths and limitations. It also explains creative working process on the
problem and some learning outcomes from the project.
Keywords: imbalance, organizational commitment, family devotion, time management.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Introduction
The world is filled with lots of issues and challenges some of which are very common, something people
are confronted with in their daily life and some are big, serious, well-known ones many people,
governments, societies or even countries as a whole are struggling with. Actually, all the people face
personal problems with their physical (disability, heart diseases, obesity and etc.) and mental (depression,
anxiety, addiction, concern, self-doubt, stress and etc) health problems as well as relationships with
people around them. Societies, on the other hand, heaps on more serious issues such as high levels of
crime, racism, terrorism, poverty unemployment and violence, political discord, economic and
environmental problems. All of the issues are very complex, and the ways to resolve them are elusive and
various. Yet they have a link in common since they are all caused by humanity and their activities. To be
more precise, people’s behaviour is by far the most significant and single cause of these challenges.
Description of the problem, reasons and effects
It is true for contemporary society that work has already become superior to any other things in people’s
lives. Their desire to have successful career and better future prospects always push them to try to reach
high achievements and set aside their own well-being. The balance or integration between work and life is
critical as it is difficult to create. Before calling it as a problem, the meaning should be identified. What is
work-life interface? It is mostly seen when a person’s work interferes with life or life sometimes interferes
with work Clearly, work-life balance is the state in which one equally deals with meeting the demands of

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CENTRAL ASIAN JOURNAL OF THEORETICAL AND APPLIED SCIENCES
Volume: 04 Issue: 09 | Sep 2023, ISSN: 2660-5317

their professional and and personal life. The most common reasons which lead to failure of balancing both
are as follows:
 Increased working hours
 Increased responsibility both at work and in the family
 Having children
 Lack of time management skills
 People’s personality to be a perfectionist
 Stringent rules
 Excessive workload
 Time pressure
 Hostile working environment
Work/life balance attainment is becoming mythical quality which is issued by not only individuals but
also by the organizations that employ them. This issue has an impact on everyone despite their gender,
race, age, religion, profession, family structure or the level of education (McMillan, Morris & Atchley).
Employee job performance is mainly deterred by stress which is associated with juggling personal and
professional life. Lockwood (2003) found in his recent research that more than 70% of employees
complain about absence of healthy work-life balance, while additional research showed that 90% of
working adults find it difficult to spend enough time with their family members. In terms of
organizations, Job Satisfaction Survey which was done by Society for Human Resource Management in
2007 reported that being flexible in balancing work and life issues is ranked as “very essential” for 52%
of total respondents and HR professionals (Frincke, 2007). What is interesting about the survey is that
individual workers ranked work life balance as fourth most important after compensation, benefits, job
security which means for majority the balance between their work and life has already become less
significant. This research findings shows only the “tip of the iceberg” in comparison with deep and broad
work/life problems workers and organizations are facing. Traditionally, work/life balance is defined as a
concept “absence of conflict” between both domains. For instance, balance happens when there is a short
of interference between work and family roles rather than concentrating on involvement and equality.
However, most of the employees have to work more hours than expected. The research by Holly and
Mohnen shows that working hours for both full-time and part-time employees are more or less different
from desired ones (see appendix 1).
Regarding the effects, work-life imbalance come at a cost for workers, workplaces and societies. A
conflict between them negatively impact on the life quality and career achievements for employees.
Vlems (2008) states that both personal and social outcomes of work/life imbalance involve:
 increased level of stress and stress related to illness;
 lack of life-satisfaction;
 enhanced rates of family disagreements, violence and divorce;
 increasing frequencies of drug abuse;
 rising difficulties with parenting, upbringing of children and adolescents as a result of which juvenile
delinquency and violence may occur;
 shrunken productivity;

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Volume: 04 Issue: 09 | Sep 2023, ISSN: 2660-5317

 expanded healthcare costs;

 diminished job satisfaction
 lessened devotion and organizational commitment
 employee exhaustion coming into existence with its negative organizational effects
Most researches primarily focus on its work-related outcomes which include turnover, work involvement,
job performance and career outcomes. Less attention is usually given to family-related outcomes which
primarily consist of family satisfaction, functioning and performance. For instance, proof of important
assocciations of work/life balance with job and family satisfaction have been shown with examples of
workers drawn from several national cultures (O’Driscoll & Spector, 2004). Evidence also confirms that
balance in work and life also mediates job stress and serious mental health issues for employees (Timms,
2015).
Descriptions of solutions
It is true that balance consists of different components such as emotional, developmental both mental and
physical. Balance is life of present, balance is acting, balance is conveyed in lots of various ways, for
example, satisfaction, awareness, peacefulness, mobility, persistence, easiness, connections and reflection
(Haddock, 2000). Considering these expressions, measures to the problem of work/life interface should be
taken by individuals themselves, organizations and certainly, with the help of education. What can be
done by individuals to balance their work and life so that they can lessen stress levels and have better life?
First, they have to question themselves about what needs to be changed, what actually is working now,
what the consequences of their choice are. Then assessment of the areas which are inbalanced in life is
very important. People have to think about making small adjustments. Considering that everyone is
individual and distinctive, the notion of balance has a great link to our own personal experiences, aims,
health and finances. Therefore, we have to realize our priorities that means true mission of our life should
be digged deeply. In order to do this, one should seek the resources to keep self-awareness.
Regarding the technology as a drug, addictive one but can be controlled by just switching off laptops,
phones or televisions. Another way is respecting values of other people about work/life balance with the
help of listening actively, coaching or mentoring. Observation is one of the most significant steps to
change one’s life to the betterment. By analyzing advantages others could get from different methods and
putting them into practice could be useful for majority. Being more courageous and taking more risks are
handy in an attempt to get out of the comfort zone and make changes to the life. Risktakers, in most cases,
have better results and outcomes from their efforts to change their life. All above mentioned ways are
greatly connected with people’s personality and their way of thinking. People’s try to change their mind
could be one step to solve the issue. Creativeness and innovativeness of these ideas are not in their
meanings but they are more or less linked to the implementation of them. Finding one’s own creative way
to practice the methods is very individual. People can use different creative ways to set priorities by
listing every time they are doing something and highlighting those are considered important or give good
results.
For organizations, it is mostly reliant on the working environment, boss-employee relationship and,
certainly, relationship with colleagues. The notion of work/life balance is fundamental to the idea of paid
work and private life which have to be observed less as opposite priorities. Kirrane and Backley (2008)
made and observation on the ways to achieve it and stated that adopting a system is a process including
two ways, namely, the needs of employees as well as employers. The process of implementing the ways
to encourage work/life balance attitudes in employees is a complex issue for organizations. People’s
values should be met in organizations and family situations. I suggest the way of educating the executives

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CENTRAL ASIAN JOURNAL OF THEORETICAL AND APPLIED SCIENCES
Volume: 04 Issue: 09 | Sep 2023, ISSN: 2660-5317

and HRs how work/life balance positively impacts on productivity and efficiency of the work. Most
workers are pressured by overworking or non-flexible hours of working which may cause dissatisfaction
among them. Consequently, their desire to work is killed and they start working only for the reason that
their employers want.
However, work effectiveness, progress, innovation and productivity come from the job fulfillment of the
staff. Realizing this, organizations should allow their workers to do the job according to their capability to
work. Fixed working hours should be changed so that they should meet the requirements of both the
company and the staff. The research by Holly and Mohnen indicates that working hours which were
determined by employers influence negatively on life satisfaction while self-directed hours affect
positively (see appendix 2). Also, organizations could offer some workshops, meditation or some training
rooms in the workplace by setting fixed time for workers to participate so that they can either reduce the
stress resulting from the conflict between work and life or prevent from any bad consequences of
work/life inbalance. Education plays an important role in delivering this message to both individuals and
companies. I think the subject which teaches how to maintain the balance between work and life should
be added into curriculum, and thus family and work commitments are taught from the primary stage of
education. Since everyone is expected to be lost in the world of work and life, educating people from the
start could be a great foundation for future upcomings.
Target audience
Work and life interface and imbalance are inevitable issues for the masses so that lots of people cannot
avoid. Therefore, solutions provided in the essay could be used by all who are suffering from the issue.
Precisely, organizations can take the advantage of implementing the ways in the workplace or above-
mentioned individual actions could be done by people to eradicate the obstacle in their life. Also, the role
of the governments and the head of states are of the importance in working hours management. New laws
about the rights of organizations and employees in terms of balancing imposed could bring more
betterment to people’s lives. Finally, the Ministery of Education is able to facilitate the curriculum which
enables people to acquire knowledge about how to prevent the issue.
Description of the creative process
The creative process I experienced is basically ordinary and usual since it took a great deal of research
first. The creative process is, as Glaveanu states, a form of action which does not only include thinking. It
involves both the inter-dependence of mental and physical culture. He also mentions that creativity is an
outcome of more experience, seeing, reading and listening more about the issue, observing others’ works
related to it and coming one’s own creative and innovative ideas about the problem. I went through all the
stages of creative process while doing the project such doing, undergoing and impulsion. The hardest step
was facing some obstacles when the mind was blocked and did not come up with any novel ideas. This
resulted in some hesitations, anxiety and depression which is actually common for all creative processes
as nothing can be achieved without any challenges. Following the conception of Mumford (1991),
succession of stages could be achieved. As he confirmed that problem construction, idea observation and
evaluation, integration and reorganization of the most optimal fitting categories are all of the essence in
the process of finding new solutions. Lastly, to “jump” from one stage to another, to recognize some
simultaneously and to return to previous phases were all helpful in the process.
Strengths and limitations to implement creative ideas
Strengths, weaknesses or limitations are inevitable for any creative and novel ideas. Since implementation
requires more than expected, difficulties are certain to happen. As for solutions for the problem of
work/life imbalance, it requires a great deal of time commitment from individuals since they have to make

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CENTRAL ASIAN JOURNAL OF THEORETICAL AND APPLIED SCIENCES
Volume: 04 Issue: 09 | Sep 2023, ISSN: 2660-5317

decisions on their priorities and to find out more about the most beneficial ones. Organizations have to
fund more on the betterment of employees’ both work and life efficiency. For instance, offering training
or meditation projects demands more financial support from the companies and societies as some
construction should be done or more professionals should be employed. The limitation is that not all
organizations are either willing to implement it or afford and ready for these changes. Changes in
curriculum in terms of the subject including work/life balance instructions require some government
policies since some questionnaires or observations should be done. The limitation is that it is long-lasting
process since most of the societies, organizations as well as people have already got used to current
situations and are eager to maintain the status quo.
Conclusion
The study analyzed the negative impact of work/life imbalance and work/life interface as well as the
importance of work/life balance on people’s life satisfaction. It also suggested some ways both new and
novel, practical and simple at the same time to tackle the problem and improve people’s life and work
productivity and efficacy. The paper drew a conclusion that WLB has a mediating impact on the
relationship with worker well-being and work culture. To summarize, the ways to resolve this common
problem in our every day life can be prevented or reduced by attempts of individuals, organizations and
societies, the most importantly with the help of education.
References
1. Frincke, J. Job satisfaction: A survey report by the Society for Human Resource Development. 2007.
2. Glăveanu, V. P. The cultural basis of the creative process: A dual-movement framework.2005.
3. Haddock, R.J. Get the balance right. 2000.
4. Holly. S., Mohnen. A. Impact of working hours on work-life balance. 2012.
5. Kirrane and Buckley, Family Relations, 2008.
6. Lockwood, N. R. Work/life balance: Challenges and solutions. 2003.
7. Morris, M.L. Atchley. E.K, McMillan H.S. Constructs of Work/Life Interface. 2011
8. Vlems (2008) "Balance Matters: Turning Burnout Into Balance".
9. Mumford, M. D., Mobley, M. I., ReiterPalmon, R., Uhlman, C. E., and Doares, L. M. Process analytic
models of creative capacities. 1991.
10. https://ourworldindata.org/working-hours
11. https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-news/pages/remote-employees-are-working-longer-than-
before.aspx
12. https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/5244-improve-work-life-balance-today.html

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CENTRAL ASIAN JOURNAL OF THEORETICAL AND APPLIED SCIENCES
Volume: 04 Issue: 09 | Sep 2023, ISSN: 2660-5317

Appendices
Appendix 1

Appendix 2

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