The Hindu Business Line : Extra large weekends alone won't balance work and life

THIS Diwali brought with it a special kind of bonus: With a couple of days personal leave, employees in many organisations were able to manage a nine-day vacation, given the string of public holidays around the same time. Sensing this, some organisations went as far as proactively declaring a nine-day block holiday.

A similar trend of clubbing weekends with public holidays happened around Pooja time and even on Independence Day, which was a Monday.

It is quite natural for any employee to seize the opportunity of a little extra respite from a hectic work schedule. So why write about something as normal as this? Because this impatience to run off on such extended weekend holidays reflects the poor work-life balance among Indian professionals. In fact, our employment 2010 survey (September 2003) quite clearly identified this trend.

Let us look at the factors that influence this behaviour. We will also examine whether a reasonable part of the workforce has begun to succeed in its efforts to find that "elusive" balance. Finally, we will ask ourselves if organisations have begun to acknowledge this need and are doing something about it.

A review of public holidays and paid holidays across a sample of countries, including Australia, China, France, Germany, Singapore, the US and the UK shows that India is actually quite comparable in terms of the number of days of vacation and holidays provided by law and general practice. It would, therefore, be fair to assume that the intent of law as well as the espoused values of organisations seems to be in favour of providing a fair amount of leisure and balance. Whether it has translated into reality is another matter.

What, then, are the real drivers of this desperate desire to seek some leisure?

The week is long: The truth is that most employees in India work around 55-60 hours a week — well over the 48 hours one is normally expected to put in. This is owing to the strong orientation towards performance, eternal short-staffing and the constant pressures to meet expectations and compete in the market place. Add to this the challenges of working in a global environment. Naturally, employees look forward to these periods of respite to recuperate from the week-long grind.

Home and office merge: Earlier, once an employee left the office, all official work stayed behind. This is not the case any more. Technology has blurred the line between office and home, and with a laptop, you are on call at your virtual office 24 hours a day.

As a result, employees look forward to the time when they can "get away from it all", when their auto replies can tell the world that they will have "limited access to mail" and their phones can claim to be "out of range". A long weekend is a great boon.

Migrant workforce: Another interesting facet is that a fairly large percentage of the workforce in the metros today is migrant in nature. Given the scarcity of talent, organisations have been forced to hire from smaller towns far removed from the metros. With no essential family base in the metros, this large migrant population wait for the chance to "go back home". It was the same with the blue-collar workers decades ago when they went back to their villages during festivals.

And it is happening now with knowledge workers. Try booking a train ticket to any of the smaller towns during vacation time and you will know what I am talking about.

Women at work: The entry of women into the workforce in large numbers is yet another contributing factor.

A recent ILO report has suggested that women at work continue to wear two hats — that of breadwinner and homemaker.

Naturally, any leisure for them is an opportunity to spend quality time with the family.

More money, more leisure: The abundance of disposable income and the myriad ways to spend it is yet another reason.

So, has a reasonable part of our workforce succeeded in finding that work-life balance? Sadly the answer is no.

For the large majority, issues such as work-life balance are way down the priority list.

The pressures to remain employable, to save and de-risk the uncertainties that surround them far outweigh issues such as balance.

For some, there is growing recognition about the issue and the realisation that one needs to do something about it soon. But it is mostly good intention, with little action.

Further, for the millions of employees in service businesses such as hospitality, health-care, retail and transportation as well as those in all emergency services and the thousands in uniformed services, work-life balance has always been a challenge.

Finally, it is only fortunate few who, out of their dominant position in the labour market or their own preference or thanks to their organisations' sensitivity, have been able to find any semblance of balance.

What is evident is the fact that employees will be able to aspire for and accomplish any level of work-life balance only after they secure a fair degree of economic stability and freedom. That goal is still far away, for most in the Indian workforce.

Organisational response

How have organisations responded to this need? Driven by the need to differentiate themselves, preserve their "preferred employer" status, and uphold the value of concern for employees, larger organisations have been introducing a slew of programmes to bring about work-life balance. These include flexible work timings, the option of work from home and so on.

Such organisations are also willing to recognise the fact that if "work enters home" they should accept the reality of "home entering the workplace".

However, these positive examples are too few to make any significant impact. It is also restricted to the small section of employees who work with these employers.

For the vast majority of organisations in both the modern and traditional businesses, work-life balance is still way down on the agenda and for their employees it remains a distant dream.

(The author is the founder and CEO of totus consulting, a strategic HR Consulting firm that designs and implements HR systems and process for organisations across industries. He can be reached at ganesh@totusconsulting.com)

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