Work/life Balance

Work/life balance is an important aspect for an employee, it is very important to make a clear distinction between life and work, anyone that doesn’t usually faces symptoms of stress and might even lead them to burnout, and that is due to the fact that if someone doesn’t take the time to recharge their abilities to perform day to day activities decreases and eventually their performance decreases too.

Also people who ignore the work/life balance are usually getting sick more due to the fact that they are not eating healthy, exercise regularly, or get enough sleep at night.

Local legislation and law influences this aspect in many ways, some include:

• Holidays: Local law dictates a minimum number of days for the national and religious holidays.
• Working Hours: Local law puts guidelines on what are the regular working hours, and when does overtime starts, and also puts a maximum number of working hours a day
• Health Safety and Environment issues: The safety of the employee is the number one concern of the organization and local authority, thus, local law has put a very strict guidelines that companies follow regarding areas such as working in loud factories, working in chemical factories where certain PPE is required.

 

An employee is given support in many ways as a family member; one way is legal support, legal support can be given in numerous areas, some include:

• Maternity Leave: Female employees have an added legal right to a maternity leave, and also, the right to her job after the maternity leave is over.
• Flexible Working Hours: Sometimes, when the job and the organization are compatible with such, flexible time is offered to an employee to allow him/her to get the most out of the work/life balance.
• Time Off for Dependent Care:  It is very hard for the employee to focus on their everyday job duties when a dependent is in need of care, so, the organization offers time off for the employees to take care of their dependents, and also guarantees the job for the employee when they return.
• Annual Leave: By law on a yearly basis an employee is entitled to a minimum of 22 working days of leave with full pay, and if the company offers more as per the company’s policy, the employee is entitled to the highest one.

 

Other than obvious legal and humanitarian reasons to treat employees fairly when it comes to pay, there are also logical reasons to do so, some include:

Transparency

• Positive employee outcomes: Employees that feel there is a fair atmosphere in the company, especially when it comes to pay, will be performing with more enthusiasm and commitment.
• Direct representation of your brand: Employees are one of the best way to show off an organization’s brand, and when they are diverse and happy, that means that the company is diverse and treats the employees fairly.

 

There are various areas when it comes to discrimination, some include:

• Sex: Discriminating in the case of male vs. female. This form has been –and still is- being tackled by companies. This includes unfair treatment to women in job offerings, salaries, and even career progression.
• Race:  Discriminating in the case of race or ethnic background, this is slowly becoming non-existent, and it also includes unfair treatment to minorities in job offerings, salaries, and career progression.
• Age: Discriminating in the case of age is basically rejecting an employee due to his/her young/old age.
• Religion or Belief: Discriminating in the case of religious background or belief system, it also includes unfair treatment to certain members of a religion in job offerings, salaries, and career progression.

 

According to David Guest a psychological contract is: “…the perceptions of the two parties, employee and employer, of what their mutual obligations are towards each other”

So, looking at the perception of the two parties we will see:

• Employer:
  • Rights:
    • Selection: The employer has the right to put the requirements of the job, and also has the right to select the best suitable candidate for the job without any discrimination.
    • Terminate: The employer has every right to terminate any contract that is found in breach of any of the company’s code of business conduct, and according to any local law and legislation and/or company policy without any discrimination.
  • Responsibilities:
    • Develop: The employer is required to develop their staff to grow their career.
    • Pay staff on time: The employer is required to pay the staff the agreed upon salary on time.
• Employee:
  • Rights:
    • Fair pay: Employees have the right to be paid fairly regardless of any discriminatory reason.
    • Annual leave: Employees have the right for an annual leave as agreed upon in the contract, and as per local law and legislation.
  • Responsibilities:
    • Deliver quality: The employee is accountable to deliver the best quality of work that employee is capable of with all the resources available to him through the company.
    • Confidentiality: The employee is responsible to keep any/all data that he/she receives during/after his/her tenure in the company absolutely confidential, unless there is direct harm to anyone, then proper channels should be used to report such incidents.