Contemporary Issues in Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Contemporary Issues in Management - Essay Example Table of Contents Introduction Organizations’ view of Work Life balance Theories on Quality of life Advantages of Work Life balance Programs Best Practices to Improve Quality of Life Effect of Quality of Life programs on employees Conclusion Contemporary Issues in Management - Quality of Life and Work Life Balance Introduction Recent decades have seen a change in the working style. Not only are more people part of the workforce now, they are also working more hours (Chick, 2004). The stressful work life often becomes overwhelming and it’s easy to lose perspective of what is really important. As a result people end up making bad decisions and often neglect their personal life as shown in a study conducted by the Families and Work Institute (Bond, 2002). Balance is always the key to a healthy living. If a person works too much and sacrifices quality family time, he might be successful professionally, but the achievement and material gain is not proportionate to the price he has to pay for a neglected family. According to Caliguiri and Lazarova (2005, pp.124), â€Å"Work-life balance can be defined as maintaining a happy and healthy personal life while being successful at work, and attaining a broadly defined sense of personal fulfillment†. The phrase â€Å"time poverty† is commonly used now with more and more people complaining they have more work to do in less time. This paper deals with the concept of work-life balance and its importance in organizations by specifically looking at Four Seaons Inc, which is a leading hotel chain that has presence in over 35 countries. Many enterprises have realized the benefits to a workforce which has an improved quality of life, as employee satisfaction has a direct relationship with the success of the organization (Wickham, Parker and Fishwick, 2006). Organizations’ view of Work Life balance There is a growing realization among organizations that quality of life needs to be improved because of the multiple roles being played by an employee. It’s difficult to juggle home and work life and often results in lower productivity (Lockwood, 2003). Four Seasons is an organization that has remained an employer of choice by providing them with not just good salary and perks, but also by facilitating a good work-life balance among the employees. For this reason, it figured as no.55 on the Fortune list of top employers across the world (money.cnn.com, 2011). If the employee at Four Seasons feels in control of his work life and does not have stress, it can lead to higher productivity and less absenteeism. This is because work-life balance has a growth and profit impact, producing a positive return on investment (Quinlan, 2005; Purcell, 2002; Bird, 2006). Better policies towards employees at four seasons help in maintaining a healthier and happier work force also help reduce health care costs at four seasons which often results in greater loyalty and motivation and decreases the turnover rate (Lockwood, 2003; Quinlan, 2005, Landy and Conte, 2010).Employee retention may also be seen as an important benefit(Joshi et al, 2009). In the 70s employers thought of work-life balance as an issue of working mothers alone. During the 80’