Work-Life Balance Interventions Prevalent in the Indian Industry

The increasing prevalence of work-life conflicts and increasing concern about work-life issues in the corporate arena present both a challenge and opportunity for Human Resource (HR) professionals. Work-life conflicts affect employee well-being in a myriad ways. Work-life balance initiatives designed to help employees balance their work and personal lives are not only an option, but also a necessity for many employers today. There is a need for organizations to adopt human resource strategies and policies that accommodate the work-life needs of a diverse workforce in the current business environment. This paper presents the results of the study on organizational policies and provisions regarding work-life balance of the employees, which was carried out among a cross-section of leading corporate entities (N = 30) in Chennai representing equally the three industrial sectors, namely, manufacturing, information technology and services. The results reveal the commonalities and differences in work-life balance provisions across the three sectors and also the impact of the global economic slowdown on the same.