Work-Family Balance of Managerial Employees: A Study in a Sri Lankan Firm

Abstract

Work-family balance of managers is critical for organizational success as their inability to have the balance can lead to significant bad consequences. An empirical study was carried out to achieve three objectives: (1) to investigate whether the managerial level employees consider the balance between work life and family life as important; (2) to investigate the reasons for their perceptions; and (3) to investigate as to how the managers who work in the organization under the study maintain work-family balance. The qualitative method was adopted and one particular private company was selected for the study purpose. 15 managers who are married and having a family life were considered for the purpose of collecting data to achieve the research objectives. The interview technique was used along with a carefully prepared interview checklist in order to collect data. The findings reveal that to have work-family balance is very important because the life has a family aspect other than the work aspect; therefore there is a need of avoiding work-family conflicts. There are many ways of maintaining the balance between work-life and family life followed by the managers and they have been specifically mentioned in the study.

Key Words: Managers, Work-Family Balance, Work-Family Conflict