Work life strategies

Schneider Electric’s new global

family leave policy
• Schneider Electric has announced a global family leave policy for
its employees across all countries.
• Under the new family leave policy, the employees will be
provided with fully-paid parental, care and bereavement leave.
• The leave policy will allow employees across the globe to avail
paid personal time and better manage their life and work.
• The new policy will be adopted in more than 40 countries
including the US, Mexico, China and India by January 2018. By
January 2019, it has plans of deploying this policy all over the
globe.
 Work–life balance defined
• Work–life balance is a concept including proper prioritizing
between "work" (career and ambition) and "lifestyle" (health,
pleasure, leisure, family and spiritual
development/meditation). This is related to the idea of
"lifestyle choice.“
• As a satisfactory level of involvement or a fit among the
multiple roles in a person’s life.
• the life component of work life balance includes family ,
friends,& self.
• It is a dynamic phenomenon , it is not a simple structure but
an ongoing process.
• There cannot be any perfect & one size work life balance that
fits all.
 Issues to be considered
• Double day of paid & unpaid work –particularly demanding for
women
• Role conflict: psychological effects of being faced with sets of
incompatible expectations or demands.
• Role overload: the difficulties of meeting these expectations.
• The secretary being asked to work overtime on short notice &
must find child care. May experience both conflict (feeling guilty &
torn between two obligations) & overload (calling baby sitters
while typing the overdue report)
• Incompatible mother & worker roles. may lead to guilt, anxiety &
depression
 Work life balance issues
• Flexi schedules, work part time, turn down opportunities for
promotion, use their own sick days to care others.

• Adjust family lives around their paid work by having less

children, cutting back on housework, hiring live in child care
help

• Mutual strategies between couples: sharing childcare &

housework, hiring domestic helper
 Psychological conditions serve as
antecedents of personal engagement
• William Kahn - Psychological Conditions of Personal Engagement and
Disengagement at Work” (1990).

1. Psychological meaningfulness

2. Psychological safety- employ one's self without fear of negative consequences of

self-image, status or career

• Improves likelihood that an attempted process innovation will be successful

• Increases amount members learn from mistakes
• Boosts employee engagement
• Improves team innovation[

3. Psychological availability

• He developed a scale to assess the expression of oneself physically, cognitively &

emotionally in one’s work role.
 Reasons for imbalance
Societal drivers

Organizational drivers

Individual drivers
Types of Work/Family Conflict
• Time based conflict

• Strain-based conflict

• Behavior based conflict

• Women directors are expected to be authoritative, decisive at

work but at home, these behaviors may be dysfunctional.

What are factors associated with work/family
conflict?

Demographics

Attitudinal

Workplace characteristics
 Are there barriers in implementing
organization family-friendly programs?
• Ingrained cultural values & assumptions on work & non work
domains
• Structural difficulties
• Lack of support from managers
• Perception family issues are women issues

• A disturbance in the status quo-clad change the privileged

position at home for men
• Striking equity among all employees – gender mainstreaming is
a difficult process
• Lack of evaluation data on work/life programs
ILO checklist concerning family
friendly policies
• Survey the business needs
• Survey the workforce to find out their needs
• Identify & obtain agreement on its aim
• Engage employees at an early stage in the process & listen to their views.
• Collaborate with trade unions to encourage it.
• Demonstrate/document both business & employee benefits
• Include a long term perspective when weighing the benefits against costs
for implementation.
• Provide relevant information so that everyone can take part in the policies.
• Clarify & agree eligibility criteria , which staff have a priority claim on the
provisions made?
• Establish channels for open & ongoing communication
• Top management support
• Provide support & relevant training to managers throughout the org.
 Varieties of policies & programs

• 1. Time based

• 2. Information based.

• 3. Money based

• 4. Direct services.
 HR initiatives
• Nokia – work life balance tool ,NokiaE71,a sleek device that is
designed for smooth life-in-balance
• Microsoft –flexible work arrangements , grocery services ,
adoption service , smoking cessation ,weight management ,
tuition assistance , new mothers rooms.
• IBM’s mobility program enables employees to access
information & perform work from anywhere & at anytime.
• Flexible work week schedules , dependable child care , family
counseling & leave of absence .
• Infosys’s health assessment & life enhancement (HALE) world
class gym , aerobics, tennis courts.
• Tech Mahindra’s Josh program
 Work life strategies
• Flexible working hours & flexible working place
• Telecommuting
• Home care & home services
• Dual career (spouse posting, accommodation near place of
work)
• Introduction of stress releasing measures
• On the job training for imparting skills to do the job the smart
way
• Conducting frequent surveys to understand the work balance
issues & designing appropriate measures to reduce the
imbalances
 Role of trade unions
• Educating & encouraging their members about the need for role
/goal clarity & cultivating habits & attitudes conducive to
promotion of better work life balance.
• Counseling employees about ways of dealing with trade
offs/compromises concerning time –money squeeze in terms of
their approach to converting Work life balance amenities into cash
• Advocating influencing public policy & policy at industry/enterprise
level
• Taking up work life balance issues in work committees & on the
collective bargaining agenda
• Directly undertaking work life measures themselves either on free
or fee paying basis , depending on resources from within & outside
or with or without the partnership with other stakeholders