WORK-LIFE BALANCE (WLB) IS ONLY OF IMPORTANCE TO MOTHERS

According to researchers, the term work-life was actually coined in the year 1989 but different organizations dating back to as early as 1930s had always created programs that would see their employees able to handle their personal life and still become more productive in the work place. In the modern day world, majority of people most especially those entering the worKforce have taken the work-life balance with the seriousness it deserves and insisted on the same unlike their predecessors who might have put all their attention on work and personal life as a lesser issue (Chan et al., 2016).

Work-life balance is therefore the satisfaction that comes when there is creation of an environment that is healthy and supportive to one’s life that is in the personal and professional level. The last three decades especially since the start of feminist movement have seen a lot of women join and make changes in the workforces in a world dominated by men. This moreover  have made a difference by erasing the gender roles  since with women making earnings relative to those of men, men also started engaging in roles traditionally believed to of women such as doing house chores and spending more time with their children. Research further shows that in every five men, three of them happen to be facing problems arising from families and their place of work, a number that has increased by 25% since 1970s.  In conclusion, this therefore means that the challenges that comes with having to balance between family and work affects both men and women hence creating the importance of WLB for both mothers and fathers  and not to mothers only (Russo et al., 2016).

A PERSON’S COMMITMENT TO THEIR JOB DECREASES AS THEY AGE

In the workforce, a person’s commitment to his/her job mostly depends on their level of motivation, motivation being the reasons that directs or prompts one to behave in a certain way. Two of the major things that determine employee’s level of motivation is that which they value and need and which change with age at different stages of life. The values and needs may include; balancing between work and personal life, financial growth and job promotion. In the modern workforce, people referred as older are those of 50 years and above and the young 40s and below and this is not say that because there exists different reasons for the two groups motivation then that translates to low commitment to job with an increase in age but the major difference is seen in their priorities in goals (Herzberg, 2017).

The society’s perception on the ability of the older people to deliver may have also been influenced by the young employees need to become independent of which those of 50s usually have achieved.  Research shows that the young employees work for money to achieve their independence that comes with job promotions. The older on the other hand in regards to this usually have achieved their recognition and already have the influence which builds on their career satisfaction but the young are always working to get to this level hence portraying a picture of being more committed but in real sense performance and outcomes are usually at an equal level. The young would even most likely give up their personal life to their careers while the older employees have their first priorities on balancing between work and their families (Kanfer et al., 2017)

References

Adame, C., Caplliure, E. M., & Miquel, M. J. (2016). Work–life balance and firms: A matter of         women?. Journal of Business Research, 69(4), 1379-1383.

Chan, X. W., Kalliath, T., Brough, P., Siu, O. L., O’Driscoll, M. P., & Timms, C. (2016). Work–family enrichment and satisfaction: the mediating role of self-efficacy and work–life balance.                       The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 27(15), 1755-1776.

Herzberg, F. (2017). Motivation to work. Routledge.

Kanfer, R., Frese, M., & Johnson, R. E. (2017). Motivation related to work: A century of         progress. Journal of Applied Psychology, 102(3), 338.

Russo, M., Shteigman, A., & Carmeli, A. (2016). Workplace and family support and work–life balance: Implications for individual psychological availability and energy at work. The Journal      of Positive Psychology, 11(2), 173-188.