Journal Press India^®

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There has been a growing interest among both academics and practitioners in the issue of work-lifebalance (WLB) across the world. This article discusses different causes and consequences of WLB. It argues that today WLB is not just a concern of certain groups of people but all people. The major causes responsible for WLB are societal, organizational and individual in nature. Societal drivers play an important role in creating variations in WLB. They include factors like Government, family structure, societal values, occupation, career, etc. Organizational drivers regulate the behaviour of people, thus creating structures and choices for WLB. They consist of organizational values, HR policies and WLB practices. Finally, individual drivers are the major factors of WLB for people. Individual values, needs, work centrality, work holism, gender, and marital status are some of the important individual drivers. Poor WLB is often manifested in a range of physical and psychological strains in an individual. Further, it is conducive to low productivity, quality, employee retention and employee engagement in the organizational context. There are also several negative societal consequences of poor WLB. Finally, the paper suggests various organizational and individual level interventions to strike a balance work and life.

Keywords

Agrarian Societies; Flexitimmings; Job Sharing.

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