A STUDY ON QUALITY OF WORK LIFE BALANCE IN XENON AUTO SPARE

PARTS PRIVATE LIMITED AT COIMBATORE

INTRODUCTION

MEANING

Maintaining a balance between work life and personal life is called Work Life Balance.
The meaning of work/life balance has chameleon characteristics. It means different things to
different groups, and the meaning often depends on the context of the conversation and the
speaker's viewpoint. The following are working definitions of terms used regarding work/life
balance; some definitions overlap and some are continuing to evolve.

WORK/FAMILY

It is a term more frequently used in the past than today. The current trend is to use titles
that include the phrase work/life, giving a broader work/life connotation or labeling referring to
specific areas of support (e.g., quality of life, flexible work options, life balance, etc.)

Work/family conflict

Work/family conflict is a push and pulls between work and family responsibilities.

Work/life balance from the employee viewpoint

It is a dilemma of managing work obligations and personal/family responsibilities.

Work/life balance from the employer viewpoint

Work/life is the challenge of creating a supportive company culture where employees can
focus on their jobs while at work.
Family-friendly benefits

The benefits that offer employees the latitude to address their personal and family
commitments, while at the same time not compromising their work responsibilities.

Work/life programs

This programs (often financial or time-related) established by an employer that offer

employees options to address work and personal responsibilities.

Work/life initiatives

This policies and procedures established by an organization with the goal to enable
employees to get their jobs done and at the same time provide flexibility to handle
personal/family concerns.

Work/family culture

It is the extent to which an organization's culture acknowledges and respects the family
responsibilities and obligations of its employees and encourages management and employees to
work together to meet their personal and work needs.

Indicators

When you have balance you are

 Satisfied with your work and home lives.

 Able to fulfill your responsibilities without guilt or regret.
 Healthy physically and emotionally.
 In control of your life

Loss of balance may cause you to

 Miss work more often and not be as productive at work.

 Your involvement in the community may go down.
CHANGING &INCREASING WORK PRESSURES

A decade back, employees used to have fixed working hours or rather a 9 to 5 job from
Monday to Friday. The boundary between the work and home has disappeared with time. But
with globalization and people working across countries, the concept of fixed working hours is
fading away. Instead of just 7 or 8 a day, people are spending as much as 12-16 hours every day
in office.

The technological blessings like e-mail, text messaging and cell phones which were
thought of as tools to connect them to their work being away from their workplace, have actually
integrated their personal and professional lives. Now professionals find themselves working even
when they are on vacations.

The ever-increasing working hours leave the individuals with less time for themselves
and to pursue his hobbies or leisure activities. This hinders the growth of the person as an
individual in terms of his personal and spiritual growth. Professionals working in the BPO
industry, doctors and nurses and especially IT professionals are the few examples who are facing
the brunt of the hazard constantly.

REASONS OF IMBALANCE:

There are various reasons for this imbalance and conflicts in the life of an employee.
From individual career ambitions to pressure to cope up with family or work, the reasons can be
situation and individual specific. The speed of advancement of information technology, the
increasing competition in the talent supply market has led to a "performance-driven" culture
creating pressures and expectations to performance more and better every time. Also, many a
times, many people find it difficult to say "NO" to others especially their superiors. They usually
end up over burdening themselves with work. The increasing responsibilities on the personal
front with age can also create stress on personal and professional fronts.
 There was a time when employees showed up for work Monday through Friday and
worked eight- to nine-hour days. The boundaries between work and home were fairly clear then.
But the world has changed and, unfortunately, the boundaries have blurred for many workers.
The main reasons are:

GLOBAL ECONOMY

As more skilled workers enter the global labor market and companies outsource or
move more jobs to reduce labor costs, people feel pressured to work longer and produce more
just to protect their jobs.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

Work continues around the world 24 hours a day for some people. If you work in an
international organization, you might be on call around the clock for troubleshooting or
consulting.

ADVANCED COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

Many people now have the ability to work anywhere — from their home, from their car
and even on vacation. And some managers expect this.

LONGER HOURS

Employers commonly ask employees to work longer hours than they're scheduled.
Often, overtime is mandatory. If you hope to move up the career ladder, you may find yourself
regularly working more than 40 hours a week to achieve and exceed expectations.

CHANGES IN FAMILY ROLES

Today’s married worker is typically part of a dual-career couples, which makes it

difficult to find time to meet commitments to family, friends and community.
EFFECTS

Constant struggle and effort to maintain a balance between the work and personal life
can have serious implications on the life of an individual. According to a survey, 81 per cent of
the respondents have admitted that their jobs are affecting and creating stress in their personal
lives. The pressures of the work or personal life can lead to stress. According to studies, it has
been found to that such situation can take a toll on the person's health both physiologically and
psychologically. Heart ailments, cardiovascular problems, sleep disorders, depression,
irritability, jumpiness, insecurity, poor concentration and even nervous breakdowns are
becoming common among the victims of such imbalance. Pressure, stress or tension in work
life can lead to bad social life and vice versa.

SOLUTIONS

Many experts have given different solutions to this problem.

 Time management is one of the best solutions which can help to reduce the imbalance
between the personal and the work life of the employees. Prioritizing the tasks and
planning the activities can help to take out some free time which can be utilized for other
purposes.

 Taking some time out for hobbies and leisure activities, spending time with loved ones
can help to beat the stress.

 Learn to say "no" if required.

 Sharing the responsibilities will help and don't commit for something which is practically
impossible.

 Utilizing the flexible working hours option of the organizations to get some free time.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES

 To analyze how far the employees of XENON AUTO SPARE PARTS PRIVATE
LIMITED AT COIMBATORE are able to maintain balance between their work life
and personal life.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES

 To analyze factors contributing to work life balance of employees.

 To study the factors this hinders work life balance and creates imbalances.
 To suggest measures that should be concentrated to improve work life balance.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

 People would like to have a neat balance of Work & Life. The scope of balancing
both work and life by a person would be leading to good quality of life and an
enjoyable work life and career progression.
 Work and Life Balance will make a person to maintain the good health and affordable
childcare and eldercare.
 One can concentrate on their personal interests and voluntary work.
 The balancing of work and life keep the persons away from pressurized mentality
which in turn reflect in happier life and good productivity at work.

NEED OF THE STUDY

 The present study concentrates deeply in “Employee Work Life Balance” which
refers to how the employees are balancing the work as well as life.
 The concept of “Employee Work Life Balance” is flexible and elastic and differs
widely with time, industry, social values, degree of industrialization, it is also
 molded according to age-group, gender, social-culture, marital, economic status,
and educational level of employees.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

 Even though the concept of Organizational Commitment maybe and universally

applicable concept, by nature of present study, it has got only a limited scope with
reference to the organization studied.
 Further the researcher has limited the scope of the study only up to the conforming the
association between personal variables and organizational commitment, even though the
scope for higher level analysis is possible.
 The busy work schedule of the employees was a constraint for the study.
 CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

REVIEW OF LITERATURE
The Work-Life Balance Concept

The importance of managing an employee’s WLB has increased markedly over the past
20 years (De Bruin & Dupuis, 2004). There have been changes in several areas that directly
impact on this issue. Firstly, jobs have become more complex and employees have been put
under pressure to produce quality results in shorter timeframes and with fewer resources (Hosie,
Forster &Servatos, 2004) that has resulted in a redefinition of ‘normal working hours’. Secondly,
the demographic make-up of the labour force (i.e. gender, ethnicity, dual career couples, religion,
multi-generational workplaces etc), and thirdly the very nature of the employment contract has
necessitated that organisations effectively manage their employee’s wellbeing, stress and job
satisfaction (Greenhaus& Powell, 2006).

Organisational interest in the management of the WLB derives from evidence that “there
is little doubt any more that there is a clear connection between the way people are managed and
organisational performance” (Purcell, 2002:1), and that with the onset of predicted skill-
shortages, the ability to offer effective WLB employment opportunities may become a source of
competitive advantage.

Ideally, the WLB concept requires organisations to effectively integrate employees’ work
and non-work roles such that levels of multiple-role conflict, and the associated stress and job-
dissatisfaction, are minimised or avoided (De Bruin & Dupuis, 2004; Greenblatt, 2002). In
attempts to achieve a WLB, however, western organisations have tended to adopt a limited set of
policies such as on-site child-care facilities, on-site gymnasiums, telecommuting opportunities,
and even on-site sleeping quarters for the employee and their family (Hacker &Doolen, 2003;
Hyman & Summers, 2004). Each has attempted to increase the flexibility by which employees
can enact their work-roles whilst simultaneously enabling them to enact their family-based roles
to the minimum extent necessary.
ISSUES IN WORK-LIFE IMBALANCE
 Despite their best intentions, there remains considerable contention about the
effectiveness of organisational WLB policies in delivering flexibility and reducing stress and
job-dissatisfaction in the modern workplace (Eates, 2004; Kirrane& Buckley, 2004).
Researchers have identified two empirical shortcomings within the WLB literature that have
served to undermine its theoretical and practical usefulness. The first relates to the WLB
literature’s almost exclusive focus on the work-family interface at the expense of other important
life-balance issues. Buzzanell et al, (2005) notes that the WLB literature typically portrays role
conflicts for white, married, professional and managerial women, with little reference to the
many other demographics represented in the modern organisation. Shorthose (2004) and Wise
and Bond (2003) go so far as to state that the WLB discipline is essentially flawed, as it is ‘one-
dimensional’, assumes a unitary HR perspective, and that its underlying management has been
one of maintaining the status-quo rather than the adoption of competitive and future-oriented HR
policy.

The second relates to the literature’s inability to clearly define the interaction of work and
non-work roles that impact employees’ working-life (i.e. stress, job satisfaction etc.). Elloy and
Smith (2004) and Spinks (2004), for example, state that because an individual’s non-work roles
are inherently ambiguous and idiosyncratic, organisations are incapable of understanding how
their enactment (or otherwise) impacts each individual. Spinks (2004), in particular, suggests
that organisations are either incapable (or unwilling) to understand their workforce in sufficient
detail, and have instead defaulted to a ‘one-size-fits-all’ policy regime that has simply enabled
employees to ‘stay at work longer’ rather than enable them to enact their important non-work
roles. The inadequacy of current WLB policy regimes is highlighted by Kiger’s (2005) study
that revealed that less than two percent of employees actually participate in available WLB
programs.

Dex and Smith (2002) cite two main causes for this low figure. The first relates to
equity, with many employees reporting that they did not wish to appear a ‘special case’ or to
require ‘special treatment’ to their colleagues. This is supported from the results of Waters
&Bardoel’s (2006) study that found a range of workplace cultural factors that reduced the
willingness of Australian university staff to access WLB policy options.
The second is that the wide range of policies adopted by organisations has been based on
an ill-informed conceptualisation of contemporary WLB, and that this has led to its ineffective
formalisation in HRM practices. The consequence for organisations not taking a more holistic
approach to WLB is increased issues in attraction and retention of employees in the context of
skills shortages in significant occupational groups. The work expectations of Generation X (born
1965 to 1979) and generation Y (born 1980 onwards) (Mackay, 1997) place higher importance
on WLB than previous generations and these employees will be attracted to and remain longer
with organisations that provide flexibility in accordance with individual employee expectations
(Henry, 2005). There is evidence of an increase in women managers holding values and goals
with greater emphasis on WLB who are opting to leave organisations and undertaking consulting
or contracting work which can permit greater control of WLB conflict (Beck & Davis, 2005).

The contribution of the WLB literature, therefore, appears limited in its ability to provide
a useful framework for both academics and practitioners alike (Hyman &Summers, 2004).
Despite its name, the WLB literature has remained largely focused on the work-family interface
and fails to accurately identify and define the array of work and non-roles that impact inter alia
on an individual’s stress levels and job satisfaction (Hacker &Doolen, 2003; Mellor, Mathieu,
Barnes-Farrell &Rogelberg, 2001; Noor, 2004; Pocock, 2005). In order to overcome these
issues, Elloy and Smith (2003: 63) suggest that an effective conceptualization of the WLB
requires:

Guest (1987, 1997 & 2002) suggests for the WLB literature to incorporate a holistic
approach to HR management and better inform organisational HR policy development, its design
and implementation should adopt the following four criteria:
 That the WLB literature maintains a focus on the integration of HR policies with
the organisations vision, goals and strategy. Central to this point is the consistency
between the organisations espoused culture and the context of its WLB approach;
 That the implementation of WLB policies create a set of internally consistent
employment polices intended to produce employee commitment, flexibility and
 quality – mutual flexibility and commitment being a cornerstone of the concept of
a WLB programme;
 That there is recognition of the importance of human resources and of the need to
engage in practices which reflect this understanding. Therefore, managers
internalising (and demonstrating by their behaviour) the importance of human
resources is fundamental to the link between WLB goals and their achievement;
and
 That there is a response by employees to the WLB policies (i.e. an ‘up-take’ of
WLB opportunities by employees) and to the behaviour of the line managers (i.e. a
recognition by employees that their superiors are committed to the achievement of
a meaningful WLB).

Therefore, the degree to which employers can support the achievement (and benefits
associated with) effective WLB/HR policy depends on two main considerations: the manner in
which the WLB is defined and formalised within HR policy, and/or how managers respond to
employee requests for WLB relief. In terms of its formalisation, organisations need to be aware
of the extent to which WLB is operationalised– that is, whether it is to be regarded as a ‘right’, a
‘right to request’, or as a matter of managerial discretion. In terms of managerial responses,
organisations need to decide whether to apply an authoritarian approach (i.e. ‘hard HR’), a
paternal approach (i.e. ‘benevolent’), or a commitment (i.e. ‘Soft HR’) approach to employee
requests for WLB relief. It is this intersection between corporate culture, as enacted, in rituals
and practices modelled by organisational leaders that set the tone for employees’ responses to
WLB initiatives. Where leaders work very long hours, tend to take little annual leave and then in
small amounts, demand travel at short notice (Sinclair, 2005) and require employee availability
at the leader’s whim and wears these sacrifices as ‘badges on honour’, it follows that employees
are, at best, cautious in utilising WLB.

The achievement of an effective WLB-HR policy interface has largely failed in Australia
given the issues discussed above, and an exploration of possible remedies represents the research
opportunity for this paper.
QUALITY OF WORK LIFE IN FOURRTS, CHENNAI: AN OUTLOOK FROM
JEROME M.ROSOW’S PERCEPTION (2008)
-by PremaManoharan, 2010

The QWL is one of the aspects useful to retain resources. This approach considers people
as ‘assets’to the organization rather than as ‘costs’ and motivates people by satisfying not only
their economic needs but also their social and psychological ones.

 Quality of work life focuses on all aspects of workers’ life and the satisfaction of the
workforce in an organization. The definition of Jerome M Rosow, President of the Work
in American Institute, about QWL is considered for the study. The identified seven
critical factors which will affect the quality of work life-pay, employee benefits, job
security, alternative work schedules, Occupational stress, participation and democracy in
the workplace are studied.

 Good health is the primary goal of the society and this study was done by researcher to
find out whether a company in health care industry takes care of its employees too.

 The researcher opted a descriptive study done among employees of FOURTTS, a firm in
Pharmaceutical industry.

 Questionnaires were used to collect the primary data and the statistical tools used are
percentage analysis, chi-square test.

 The sample size and the time limitation were the main constraints.
EMPLOYEES MIRRORING ON QUALITY OF WORK LIFE- AN EMPIRICAL
EVALUATION (2010)
- byJ.ARTHI & DR.KIRUPA, PRIYADARSHINI.M

In this paper researcher through light on Quality of work life (QWL) that has increasingly
gained recognition, as employees want to feel respected at work for what they do and who they
are. Today's business climate is increasingly characterized by rapid change and Fierce
competition. Organizations must adapt to this environment if they are to survive and prosper.

 Proactive managers and human resource departments respond to this challenge by finding
new ways to improve productivity. As a goal, QWL aims to improve organizational
effectiveness through the creation of more challenging, satisfying and effective jobs and
work environments.
 Here researcher projects the ideas from the research conducted in a selected organization
and the consolidation of results reveal the major influential factors of QWL.
 They also give a suggestive model to achieve favorable QWL environment in
anyorganisation.

A WAY OF LIFE: JOB STRESS AND TURNOVER INTENTION (2008)

- By R.T.NIRMAL KUMAR, S.DEEPA and M.KEERTHIGA

In this paper the researcher focuses on the job stress. According to him, man's life today
faces all sorts of challenges, obstacles that hamper normal functioning and most of the time it is
too hard to handle. In a nut shell, stress is ubiquitous these days, becoming an increasingly global
phenomenon affecting all countries, all professions and all categories of workers, families and
society in general. It is a physical and mental response to everyday demands, particularly those
associated with change.
 Stress is the change that drives the worker from normal psychological and physical
condition (Behr and Newman, 1978).Stress takes heavy toll of the person’s health and his
capacity to adjust with others. They state about the few years’ evidence has accumulated from
around the world to show that the most Common cause of destructive ill health is stress at work.

As a result of which, an individual faces many psychological as well as psychosomatic

disorders. A stressful workplace is rarely a productive one. Therefore the researcher says that
employers must develop stress management key to retain the existing employees in the
workplace. As it, become very important for organizations to retain their employees, in today's
competitive environment.

This research helps to understand the relationship between job stress, Personality
Characteristics and intent to leave employment, which aid administrators seeking to attract and
retain employees.

QUALITY OF WORK LIFE IN TODAY’S ERA

- By DR. A. ARUMUGAM & K. SIVAGAMA SHUNMUGA SUNDARI(2009)

Here the researcher discusses about Quality of work life (QWL) denotes all the
organizational inputs which aims at the employee's satisfaction and enhancing organizational
effectiveness. It is referred to as favorable or unfavorable of the job environment for people.
Many early QWL efforts focus on job enrichment.

Researcher states that today QWL gives much concern about decent wages, convenient
working hours, conducive working conditions etc. In a deeper sense, QWL refers to the quality
life of individuals in their working organizations. QWL provides for the balanced relationship
among work and non-work and family aspects of life.

In this paper the researcher discusses several notable factors that influence QWL are
adequate & fair compensation, safety and healthy working conditions, opportunity to use &
develop human capabilities, opportunities for career growth etc. This study was carried out to
find out the evolution of QWL and some ameliorative criteria for measuring QWL. It is
concluded that there is vast change in QWL and to find out the latest changes in QWL.
 CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

MEANING FOR RESEARCH:

Research in common parlance refers to search for knowledge. One can also define
research as a scientific and systematic search for pertinent information on specific topic facts in
any branch of knowledge.

MEANING FOR RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

Research methodology is a way to systematically solve the research problem. It may be

understood as a science of studying how research is done scientifically. In it we study the various
steps that are generally adopted by a researcher in studying his research problem along with the
logic behind them.

RESEARCH DESIGN:

Research design is the blue print of the proposed study. It represents the overall scheme
of the study. “All research design is a logical and systematic planning and it helps directing piece
of research” the research design select for the particular study is descriptive research studies.

TYPE OF RESEARCH:

The method of conducting research deals with research design, data collection method,
sampling method. It explained about the nature of research work to be done such as descriptive
nature of research, which is used in this study.

DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH:

The researcher has adopted descriptive research design for the purpose of this survey.
Descriptive studies are that study which is concerned with describing the characteristics of a
particular individual, or of a group.
TYPES OF DATA

1) Primary data

2) Secondary data

PRIMARY DATA:

First time collected data are referred to as primary data. In this research the primary data was
collected by means of a Structured Questionnaire. The questionnaire consists of number of
questions in printed form. It has both open-end closed end questions in it.

Section I- Personal Data: This section includes questions soliciting the respondent’s details
such as Age, Gender, Marital status, Education, Designation, section and Work experience.

Section II- Scale for measuring the issues: It comprises of single open ended type and various
close ended questions which includes yes no type, scaling and other optional questions.

SECONDARY DATA:

Data which has already gone through the process of analysis or were used by someone else
earlier is referred to secondary data. This type of data was collected from the books, journals,
company records etc.

SOURCE OF DATA:

The data has been collected from the employees of XENON AUTO SPARE PARTS
PRIVATE LIMITED AT COIMBATORE

SAMPLING UNIT:

Sampling unit refers to process of defining the target population that will be sample. Hence
for the present study, data was collected by means of questionnaire from the employees.

SAMPLE SIZE:

Sample size plays a critical role, because the generalizability of the conclusion depends on
sample size. Sample size for the present study is 100.
SAMPLING METHOD:

Sampling means the method of selecting a sample from a given universe with a view to draw
conclusions about the universe. Sample means representative of universe selected for the study.
Sampling is a process of units (e.g. People) from a population of the interest

Sampling method is divided into 2 types

1) Probability Method

2) Non Probability Method

The sampling method that was chosen is entirely non probabilitistic in nature. In non
probabilitistic method the researcher has adopted convenience sampling method.

In this method, the researcher select the accessible population members from which to get
information and the items selected are easy to approach or easy to measure.

TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES:

In this research the tools such as Simple percentage analysis, chi square, ANOVA and
correlation are used for data analysis.

Percentage analysis:

One of the simplest methods of analysis is the percentage method. It is one of the
traditional statistical tools. Through the use of percentage, the data are reduced in the standard
form with the base equal to 100, which facilitates comparison.

The formula used to compute Percentage analysis is,

Chi-Square

It is a measure to study the divergence of actual and expected frequencies. It is represented by

the symbol 2, Greek letter chi. It describes the discrepancy theory and observation. The formula
used is,

y2 = å (O-E)2

Where "O" is the observed Frequency

"E" is the expected Frequency

A STUDY ON QUALITY OF WORK LIFE BALANCE IN XENON AUTO SPARE

PARTS PRIVATE LIMITED AT COIMBATORE

QUESTIONNAIRE

PERSONAL DETAILS:

1. Name

2. Gender

a) Male
b) Female

3. Age

a) below 25 yrs
b) 25-35 yrs
c) 35-45 yrs
d) 45-55yrs
e) Above 55 years
 4. Educational Qualification

a) SSLC
b) +2
c) UG
d) PG

5. Designation

a) Superintendent
b) Inspector
c) Senior Tax Assistant
d) Deputy Officer Superintendent

6. Marital status

a) Single
b) Married

7. Experience

a) Less than 5 yrs

b) 5-10 yrs
c) 10-15 yrs
d) 15-20yrs
e) Above20 yrs

List out your satisfaction level regarding the following

S. No Pay and Privileges’ Highly Satisfied Neutral Dissatisfied Highly

satisfied dissatisfied
8 Salary and benefits
9 Work Assignment
10 Transfer policies
11 Promotion policies
12 Bonus
13 Medical Check up
14 List of recognized
hospitals
15 Quality & Quantity of
food provided in canteen
16 Rate of food provided in
canteen
17 Grievance Redressed

2. Please rate the following infrastructure

S.No Infrastructure Very good Good Average poor Very Poor

18 Seating Arrangement
19 Computer configuration
20 Ventilation, A/c
21 Lights
22 Fire extinguisher

3. List out your opinion about the following statements

S.No Statements Strongly Agree Agree Moderate disagree Strongly

disagree

23 The superiors are

cooperative
24 I am comfortable
with the present
workspace allotment
25 I am given freedom
to offer suggestions
 on official work
26 I am rewarded for
my outstanding
work.
27 I am satisfied with
training
given for me

4. List out your requirements for the following questions.

S. No Requirement Yes No
28 Do you require any specialty hospital to be
added in the list of hospitals provided?

29 Do you require health and fitness club?

5. How often will you get feedback on your performance?

Always Often Occasionally Rare Never

6. Your Opinion about overall quality of work life

Excellent Very good Typical Fair poor