WORK-LIFE BALANCE OF WORKING WOMEN- A STUDY OF FEMALE

NURSES IN HEALTH CARE SECTOR OF J&K

INTRODUCTION

The colossal transformations in the social, political, technological and economic aspect of
countries have greatly influenced peoples life inside and outside the work. The new world
order in the shape of interlinking of countries, technological innovations and easy movability
of all resources has transformed the way work is done. At the same time, it has added
challenging demands on individuals and families to catch up the pace. Out of this realization,
the employees and employers alike are incessantly put into pressure to meet demands of work
and non-work. This has put work-life balance (WLB) in the limelight in todays ever
dynamic work environment. WLB refers to the simultaneous pursuing of the roles in work
and life without any conflict or imbalance work interference with personal life, personal life
interference with work and work personal life enhancement (Fisher 2001).
WLB is a global phenomenon for most employees, who are struggling in balancing domains
of work and life. Although the concept of WLB and its research has evolved from the west
and other advanced countries, the issue is no longer restricted to them. Already, most
employees are witnessing work-life merge where work obligations are merged with life
responsibilities. The merge of work and life domains owes to technological innovation in the
work space telecommuting, high-speed internet and other facilities. The spatial separation
between work and life which was physical is getting blurred, giving way to virtual space.
The outcomes associated with WLB include life satisfaction, job satisfaction quality of
work, quality of life, organizational commitment, organizational citizenship and negative
outcomes include turnover, absenteeism, stress, health and others. In the present era, these
outcomes are more relevant, as competition is heading from survival to sustainability.
Companies in order to sustain and reach newer heights of progress, its human resource
potential play a corner stone. For achieving that, employees with proper WLB can produce
better commitment towards work for increasing productivity and growth of an organization.
Further, at the individual level, a healthy and less stressed employee can maximize its
potential to realize personal goals. Therefore, WLB is a win-win situation for both employees
and employers alike, if proper policies for maintaining WLB are in place.
Working Women and WLB
The labour market is globally up surged with the participation of women in recent years.
Women are now-a-days important part of work environment, be it public or private sector.
Their involvement and contribution are increasing day by day in the work environment. Their
contribution historically with agriculture, nursing, etc. has broadened to more professional
work. They have joined professions like entrepreneurship, scientists, engineering, and sports.
On the down side, the change of higher increase in the workforce by women has increased
their stress levels. The change of winds has touched them in professional roles, but their
household roles have remained untouched. In India, working women are incessantly
challenged by the demands of work in an office, but their day is not done yet as they have to
manage home responsibilities as well. Females face more challenge of balancing between
work and family than males due to heavy load of family obligations (Bird, 2006).
Literature Review
Mani, V. (2013) has revealed the major factors influencing the Work Life Balance of Women
professionals in India such as role conflict, lack of recognition, organizational politics, gender
discrimination, elderly and children care issues, quality of health, problems in time
management and lack of proper social support. Santhana Lakshmi et al, (March 2013) have
examined that the Educational institutions should address the Work Life Balance related
issues among their staff, specifically women and take a holistic approach to design and
implement the policies to support the teaching staff to manage their WLB. Kumari Thriveni
et al, (2012) have studied and analysed the significant relationship between the demographic
variables and WLB. Sheel and Khosla (2012) reported in their study, Quality of work life is
being used by the organizations as a strategic tool to attract and retain the employees and
more importantly to help them to maintain work life balance with equal attention on
performance and commitment at work. Heather et al, (2011) suggested that the individual
harmony and its effects has developed a new Harmony based on conflict and enrichment.
Krishna Reddy et al, (2010) concluded that the married women employees indeed experience
Work Family Conflict (WFC) while attempting to balance their work and family lives. Thus,
Organization needs to formulate guidelines for the management of WFCs since they are
related to job satisfaction and performance of the employees. Doble and Supriya (2010) have
studied the work based factors and family related factors that are considered to contribute to
work life balance. Work based factors are flexi time, option to work part time and freedom to
work from home and the family related factors are child care facility and flexibility to take
care of emergencies at home.
Rationale of the Study
There is considerable work done on WLB at the global level, mostly in the west and
European countries. It was recognized from available literature that less of research
endeavours in WLB are directed towards studying it from particular socio-cultural context.
As context based socio-cultural environment frames the overall frame of reference for
employees and their behaviour. The study got direction to select few socio-cultural
dimensions (family environment, work environment, religiosity and social relationships)
which influences individuals WLB. Further, as women constitute more or less half of the
population of every society at an average and with increasing contribution in the workforce,
there is a need to study of work-life balance issues for them. In addition, the health sector is
one of the fields where women are highly participative in different designations. Also, the
health sector happens to be one which has to work 24x7, there is an added stress on
employees and other professionals to be called to work at any time. With this in mind, the
study aims to find issues of WLB of working women in this sector.
Statement of the Problem The health sector is one busiest sector where employees have to
work under stress to provide medical services. Doctors and nurses are two specialized
designations which have a constant interface with the patients. Quite naturally, they have
more pressure and expectations than other designations in the health sector. Further, female
doctors and nurses have family responsibilities too, which puts them under the duress of dual
responsibilities. With these responsibilities of family and work for female doctors and nurses,
their WLB is under constant threat. This puts them in a vulnerable group which makes them
susceptible to psychological, physiological and emotional problems.
Objectives of the Study
1. To investigate the awareness level of WLB among working women.
2. To study the effect of family in the maintenance of WLB among working women.
3. To examine the effect of work environment on the WLB for working women.
4. To evaluate the effect of religiosity in the maintenance of WLB among working women.
5. To investigate the effect of social relationship on the WLB for working women.
Hypotheses of the Study
H1: Family has a significant impact on the maintenance of WLB among working women.
H2: Work environment has a significant impact on the maintenance of WLB among working
Women.
H3: Religiosity has a significant impact on the maintenance of WLB for working women.
H4: Social relationship has a significant impact on the on the maintenance of WLB for
working women.
Research Methodology

Research methodology provides a description of overall approach followed by the researcher

to fulfill the objectives of the study. The present study has followed descriptive cum

exploratory type of design which basically banks on the quantitative set of data, with the

scope of qualitative data. Since in social sciences, the researcher has limited flexibility to

control other variables which may impact the results, accordingly the design of the present

study is ex-post facto. Further, information stood collected at one time, lending the study time

frame which is cross-sectional one.

Research Sample

The sample is selected subset of populations which serve as a basis to generalize results to

the entire population. Ideally, the researcher selects the sample based on certain sampling

technique and with some criteria in mind regarding sample size (n). The sample will be

employees from the various public and private hospitals of Jammu & Kashmir. Accordingly,

the researcher will approach the respondents in their work environment. The questionnaires

will be personally distributed by the researcher to the respondents.

Age, Gender, Qualification, Experience will also be included to get the demographic data.

The collected data will be tabulated as per the objective of the study and suitable statistical

tools will be used accordingly. Based on the outcome of the analysis, obtained result will be

discussed in the light of literature and other novel findings. Accordingly the conclusions will

be drawn and suggestions will be made based on the discussions of the result of the present

study.

Tentative Chapter Scheme

The entire study shall be broadly divided into following chapters:

Chapter-1: Introduction

It shall give an introduction of the concept of Work life balance in general and shall highlight

its importance for organizations.

It shall envisage the existing literature related to the Work life balance. Emphasis shall be laid

on existing literature available on managing Work life balance among working women. It

shall also present the rationale of the study in light of the essence of the study for the

hospitals in order to achieve effectiveness and high performance.

Chapter-3: Research method and Design

It shall present research approach and methodology adopted.

Chapter-4: Data analysis and Interpretations

It shall present the analysis and interpretation of the data with respect to each objective of the

study.

Chapter-5: Conclusions and Suggestions

This chapter will include the conclusions drawn on various aspects Work life balance on

basis of results obtained from the analysis and interpretation of data obtained. It will also

state the suggestions on the basis of results of the study for further improvement.

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