Topic 3. Work life balance Flashcards
Explain why in 2001 the quality of work life got worse.
Because:
- Increased work intensification and pressure
- Perceived need to slow down to have more time for persronal interests, environment and family.
In the 1990’s downshifting appeared. What is downshifting?
Downshifting is swapping a life of total commitment to work and high rewards for less demanding, part-time work or self-employment.
True or false: there are increasing numbers of employed women.
True.
What are the wishes in the ageing workforce?
- Wishes to work fewer hours or different shift patterns
- Wishes to combine easily work with family, other commitments and any healthy problems.
True or false: The ageing population. Employees have caring responsibilities, but only for their children.
False. They have caring responsibilities for their children AND elderly parents.
Employers are forced to attract and retain talented workers. But how?
By:
- Introducing work-life balance policies
- communicating the image of a progressive organisation
- focussing on recruitment and retention
- by encouraging work-life balancec initiatives.
Wat are the drivers for work-ife balance?
- The demographic factors
- The 24/7 society
- Work intensification
- Social responsibility of the organisation.
24/7 society. What does this mean?
The traditional working hours from 9:00 to 17:00. These are not always respected.
True or false: work intensivation is the cause of greater levels of stress. Anxiety, work overload, loss of control, pressure, long hours and insufficient personal time.
True.
What is the contra reaction of work intensification?
Change of values.
Who are willing to sacrifice their personal lives for total commitment to work? Especially younger workers, average workers or old workers?
Especially younger workers.
True or false: Social responsibility of the organisation. Employers have a dury of care and they have to promote a healthy working environment.
True.
To respond to family responsibilities, legal regulations have been introduced since several years. Which regulations?
- Ante-natal care
- Maternity leave
- Maternity pay
What is ante-natal care?
Pregnant employees have the right to attend medical appointments without losing any pay.
What is maternity leave?
Women have the right to take time off before, during and after their baby is born.
What is maternity pay?
Employees will receive at least 75% of their salary during maternity leave. (paid by the mutual health insurance company)
To respond to family responsibilities, legal regulations have been introduced since several years. Which?
- Parental, paternity and adoption leave.
- Time off for family members.
- The right to reques flexible working.
What is parental, paternity and adoption leave?
Both parents have the right to take up unpaid leave, also in case of an adoption.
What does time off for family members mean?
The right to take time off for urgent family reasons, such as falling ill, giving birth or being injured.
What is the right to request flexible working?
The right is only to make a request, which means that the request can be turned down in some occasions.
True or false: family-friendly practices are very costly and make organisations internationally less competitive.
True
True or false: an argument against the family-friendly practices is that it is unfair for the employees who don’t have families.
True
Which one is no argument in favour of the family-friendly practices. The combination of working with family responsibilities.
Encouragement of single mothers to work.
Father doesn’t ake a greater share of domestic responsibilities.
Needed skills and experience at the disposal of a tight labour market.
Father do take a greater share of domestic responsibilities.
True or false: while legislation mainly addresses to parents, there is a strong demand for flexible work options for some employees.
False. For ALL employees.
Name the three different types of work flexibility
- The numbers of hours worked
- When these hours are worked
- Where these hours are worked
True or false: the meaning of WLB depends on the perosn and at present flexible options are mostly taken by men.
False. Present flexible options are mostly taken by women.
True or false: part-time work is always recognized as a flexible option.
False. Part-time work remains the most popular option, but it is so common that it is not always recognised as a flexible option.
Page 14 & 15 tabel!
Don’t forget
Name 5 benefits of work-life balance.
- Reduced absenteeism
- Raise of morale
- Increased job satisfaction
- Increases job motivation
- Positive impact on retention and recruitment.
- Increased job performance by working more effectively as employees are less tired.
- Sabbaticals (space and time to develop in other ways & fresh ideas into the workplace)
Name the four problems with work-life balance.
- The take-up gap
- The manager’s role in implementing WLB
- Limits on access
- Lack of strategic approach
(explanation in the sheets)
The perception that WLB is for a particular group, that is women with children, creates two problems. Which?
- These women are seen as employees not interested in a real career which limits their career development.
- They can be aliented from the rest of the workforce who are not allowed to these special privileges.
What are the two reasons of the take-up gap?
- It costs the organisation a lot of money
2. Some people are financially committed to full-time hours.
True or false: the role of the manager in implementing WLB can disturb the introduction and implementation.
True
How can manager’s disturb the introduction and implementation of WLB?
– They think flexible working damages the performance targets of
the team
– They think flexible working for some means higher workloads for others
– Pressure on them to be fair; they have to decide who will be
allowed to work flexible.
Increasing the independency of employees so that they can make autonomous decisions without consulting. Which concept is this?
Empowerment.
True or false: the most common mistake in WLB is transforming full-time work into part-time work without thinking about the long-term objectives, the nature of the job and the workload in general.
Very true
True or false: part-time workers always feel satisfied with their job.
False. Part-time workers can have the impression doing full-time job in part-time hours and with a part-time staff.
