Work life integration

1. Work Life Integration
Dr. G C Mohanta, BE(Mech), MSc(Engg), MBA, PhD(Mgt)
Professor
Al-Qurmoshi Institute of Business Management,
Hyderabad - 500005

2. Work‐life Integration
 Work‐life Integration is an outcome of people exercising
control & choice in their life to meet life’s challenges
 This can be managing work responsibilities alongside
their personal & family needs.
 The areas of a person’s life which require integration will
change based on the individual’s life stages
 A person in his or her 20s may be balancing career
development and social activities
 In 30s, when a person gets married & starts a
family, family & job responsibilities become competing
challenges

3. Why Work-Life Integration Is
Important?
 Work & life stressors will continue to increase, as
expectations & choices compel us to seek for what is a
“good life”.
 Our core values & life goals become the skill‐set that
enables us in work‐life balancing and in living &
working efficiently and effectively.
 When organisation takes cognizance of this work‐life
imperative and designs a conducive work environment,
it motivates the employees to work more efficiently and
productively.

4. What are the roles of stakeholders?
 To implement a successful Work‐life Strategy, the
organisation, supervisors and employees all need to
play their parts.
 Work‐life programmes succeed in organisations where
there is a workplace culture based on reciprocity & trust
 The work‐life integration responsibilities are shared
among the organisation, supervisors and employees.

5. Role organisation
The organisation
 develops and communicates a Work‐life Strategy
suitable for its business and its employees
 makes its work‐life programmes available to as many of
its employees as possible,
 has a sound performance management system that
allows it to evaluate all its employees objectively and
 trains its supervisors to support Work‐life Strategy.

6. Role of Supervisors
The supervisors
 support the organisation’s Work‐life Strategy;
 help tailor an employee’s flexible work arrangements
in consultation with the employee and other relevant
departments in the organisation,
 evaluate employee performance by outcomes and
deliverables rather than hours clocked and physical
presence in the office.

7. Role of Employees
The employees
 familiarise themselves with the organisation’s work‐life
programmes and makes use of them appropriately;
 work with their immediate supervisors to design
flexible work arrangements and other work‐life
programmes that do not compromise business
outcomes; and
 engage themselves in their work and add value to the
organisation throughout their period of employment.

8. Four steps to a successful Work‐life Strategy

9. Establish need to implement
Work-Life Integration
Organisations implement work‐life programmes
for one or more of the following reasons:
 Attract and/or retain talent
 Raise morale
 Increase productivity
 Save on real estate and overhead expenses
 Reduce healthcare costs
 Provide work flexibility in response to changing employee
needs
 Increase commitment
 Combat burnout
 Be an Employer of Choice
 Stay ahead of the competition

10. Assess business needs
 Business needs include corporate values, objectives
and operational standards that cannot be
compromised for any reason.
 If a business revolves around customer-facing services
(e.g. in a retail outlet) it may be possible to implement
flexi-time with some creative scheduling
 On the other hand, if there is a need for 24-hour
operations (e.g. in a hospital), rotating 12-hour shifts
with more days off might be appropriate, but a flexi-
time would not.

11. Assess employees’ work‐life needs
 Different organisations have different employee profiles
and these employees have differing needs.
 To assess employees’ work-life needs , there are three
methods:
 Workforce profiling - mining information within an
organisation from existing employee records.
 Employee surveys - employee surveys reveal attitudinal
information that may be used to gauge employee
sentiments
 Focus groups - It involves an organised discussion with a
selected group of individuals to gain information about
their views and experiences of a topic, e.g. a particular
work-life programme

12. Designing Work‐Life Programmes
 Flexible Work Arrangements (FWA) - An effective
FWA takes into account the nature of the employee’s
job and his/her requirements
 Leave Benefits - annual leave, childcare
leave, maternity leave and sick leave
 Employee Support Schemes - dependent care
support, health and wellness programmes, flexible
benefits and time-saving services
 Companies that already provide a service as a business
could extend it to their employees at marginal
cost, e.g. transportation, laundry, childcare, etc.

13. Implementing Work‐Life Programmes
 Develop a communication plan - Successful
implementation of work-life programmes hinges on
proper communication of the programmes to employees
 Employees need to be aware of work-life programmes to
reap its benefits, thereby improving employee
engagement & turnover.
 Senior management support - Support from senior
management for Work-life Strategy, will make employees
feel comfortable in supporting, participating and using
the work-life programmes.
 Clear policies and guidelines - Work-life programmes
need to be supported by clear policies & guidelines to
address the values, eligibility criteria & operational details
of the programmes

14. Evaluating Work‐Life Programmes
 Measuring the effectiveness of work-life programmes
allows us to determine whether we have met the
objectives.
 The following are evaluated in Work-Life Programmes:
- Utilisation rate of the work-life programmes
- Absenteeism
- Employee job satisfaction, engagement, etc.
- Turnover rate
- Feedback from employees about the work-life
programme in meeting their needs
- Feedback from supervisors on difficulties faced in
implementing work-life programmes
- Feedback from exit interviews