Organizations are adopting changes in their work management for getting established
in this competitive world. More flexibility options are offered by keen and smart employers
in order to reduce unwanted and underutilized time, energy and space. As massive benefits
are generated as a result of work place flexibility, employees avail this option provided to
them. There are many flexible work arrangements provided by employers and the types
offered may vary from organizations to organizations. The predominant reason for employees
to choose flexibility as cited by many researchers is to balance their work and family life.
Many of the business giants now believe that the traditional 9-5 working hours has
now weeded out of the box, and that new ways of scheduling work is essential. It was
revealed from many studies that the adoption of flexible working arrangements by employees
has grown substantially for the past few years. While employees provide this option for
reasons like increased productivity, job satisfaction and better recruitment and retention,
employees view it as a tool to fulfil their work and family responsibilities.
Work and Family are two closely linked terms for an individual. Work-Family
Interface is a concept which explains about Work-Family Conflict and Work-Family
Enrichment. Work-Family Conflict and Work-Family Enrichment are again bidirectional.
While Work-Family Conflict describes how work interferes with family and vice versa,
Work-family Enrichment says how work can prosper family and vice versa.
Work-family conflict is said to occur when an individual faces difficulty in
participating in work and family due to incompatible demands from both the roles. High
levels of work-family conflict can lead to physical and mental health problems and low job
performance. Work family enrichment occurs when participation in one role leverages the
quality in the other role. It can lead to job satisfaction, organizational commitment and life
satisfaction.