Work-Life Balance: Crucial for Malaysian Workers - Essay Sample

Introduction

Workers place a lot of significance in workplace-life balance since it minimizes their workload and minimizes their stress (Wong, Bandar & Saili, 2017). Employees value the life and also their work, hence the management of the two is crucial in the life of an individual. Life is not all about work since the worker has to cater to other aspects of life such as life and social activities. In Malaysia, workers spend a stipulated time in their job and then allowed to enjoy a relative level of security (Husin et al., 2018). Many workers prefer to manage and plan for their work-life balance, however, the private companies compel them to strictly comply with the rules and regulations set by the company. Work-life balance has been found to be attractive to a competent job applicant and reduction of work-related conflicts (Beauregard and Henry 2009). Also, work-life enhances the performance of an organization.

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In Malaysia, more workers and companies are realizing the benefits of work-life balance and there has been increased productivity in all sectors. For instance, a study conducted by Husin et al. (2018) found that in 2015, the Malaysia Department of Statistics recorded a gross domestic product of RM853.0 billion. This huge productivity of the entire country was attributed to the effort of the working Malaysians. In a bid to satisfy their life needs, the idea of work-life balance has played critical roles. Majority of the working population is the young graduates from the university and higher learning institutions (Husin et al., 2018).

In the working world, where individuals work for the money it has been observed that such individual struggle to strike balance between work and life aspects (Hossain et al., 2018). Although this feature is different from one another, they are mutually dependent. For example, a good salary motivates individual to work hard and enables one to meet family responsibility well. According to Hossain et al. (2018), the interdependence of these facets results to balance or misbalanced emotions. For instance, the fulfillment of family roles enables one to have the right emotions as well as receive support from family members. However, work-life balance at times becomes complicated to manage if one of the two demands more than the other. The millennial generation highly values their work flexibility and this puts a heavy demand on organizations to suit their needs. Despite that, the organizations and the government sector are not willing to be flexible albeit, creating work-life balance aids in productivity (Hossain et al., 2018). Failure of the government to ensure balance of work-life among the millennials creates a stressed generation.

Statement of the Problem

Millennials were said to be the most stressed generation at work due to lack of Work life balance. This caused decreased work productivity and performance (Laura Thomas, 2017). Various researches have indicated the lack of work-life balance had caused stress to employees. In his research, Buzza (2017) considered work-life balance to be policies and programs that companies can offer their employees to ease family pressure and conflicts when balancing a career and a family. Other researchers suggest that the current generation prioritize their relationship and lifestyle rather than work. They frequently use technologies whether at work or their unbound time. There is hence a preference to choose who they work with across functions, geographies, government and companies. Furthermore, the urge to come up with a portfolio of diverse concerns means that there is a need for future employers to offer jobs that contributes to something tangible for the betterment of their personal life and the world, and jobs where the core skills and competencies can be devoted to improving humanity (Tapia, 2008).

With the majority of Millennials filling up the post in public sector, and with the mix of generation in public service, it is a challenge for the Public Service Department or relevant human resource department in government agencies to find the right policies and measures in dealing with work-life balance among the Millennials. Lack of awareness and failure to determine the needs, trends or expectations of this echo boomers cohort, will eventually result in low productivity and negative work environment. Therefore, the solution to this problem requires an urgent solution and this study aims at unraveling the problem.

Significance of the Study

This study will be conducted to provide the government with a better understanding of the Millennial generation and to identify and evaluate the work-life balance factor that might influence Millennials' work productivity. Hence, the study will be very important in that it will contribute knowledge to the government sector for better improvement and necessary action. Knowledge advancement is one of the ways through which organizations can improve their work environment, hence, through this study; knowledge advancement will facilitate improvement in the sector. Through the recommendations, the study will suggest the solutions to the problem in the government sector and hence become a solution rather than a problem creator. It is hoped that this study will help in order for the Malaysian government to address the best policies to promote work-life balance and also to recruit and retain the best employees within this cohort. Productivity is vital for any organization that intends to remain relevant in the market. Moreover, an organization with great intentions to improve its profits and workability should not neglect the power of work-life balance which plays a critical role in the performance of the organization. In this regard, the study will be significant and purposeful by giving the case scenario of the status of the government officers and how they are affected by different facets of work-life balance. The study will be significant since it evaluates critical issues that affect the employees and consequently the organizations. When an organization is affected, the probable likelihood is that its profitability and productivity will also be affected. In this regard, this study will investigate the relationship between the work-life balance and work productivity and hence provide ways through which the organization can be improved. In addition, work-life balance is a rampant factor that affects the work productivity hence shading light on the topic is of great significance to the government sector. Although various research studies have been carried out on work-life balance and how they affect work productivity in Malaysia, little have been explored on the government sector especially the millennial officers. Hence, this study will be a unique one that will bring new knowledge into the sector and filling the gaps not addressed by previous researchers.

Aims

This paper aims and objectives are:

1. To understand the Millennial generation, who they are and their position in the government sectors nowadays
2. To evaluate current work-life balance perception of the millennial officers
3. To identify and understand their current and future expectations towards WLB in the government sector
4. To identify which factors of work-life balance have more influence on employee productivity.

Research Questions

The following are the research questions that guided the research study:

1. Who is the Millennial generation, what is their position in the government sectors nowadays?
2. How is the current work-life balance perception of the millennial officers?
3. What are the Millennial's generation current and future expectations towards WLB in the government sector?
4. Which factors of work-life balance have more influence on employee productivity.

Scope of the Study

This research study will be restricted to Malaysia for millennial officers in the government sector. Hence no other people will be involved in the study even if they work in the sector. Only the millennial officers in the Malaysian government will be required to provide pertinent information about the workplace balance and its influence on work productivity. Besides, the study will be confined into two variables, independent and dependent variables namely work-life balance and work productivity respectively.

Gaps in Research

Most of the studies conducted have so far focused on developed countries and not on developing countries. Malaysia is a developing country as it has not reached the threshold for the developed country. Moreover, as identified by Muchiti (2015) studies have focused on work-life balance and its influence on work productivity on companies and industries and not on the government sector. Muchiti (2015) also suggested research to establish the contemporary trends of work-life balance on work productivity. Therefore, this study seeks to fill such gaps identified in the literature and doing so will help in knowledge advancement.

Ethical Issues

Ethical issues that will be faced during the study will encompass factors such as privacy and consent. When collecting data through self-administered questionnaires, the respondents need to be made aware of the purpose of the study and the objectives. Hence, the self-administered questionnaires will be accompanied by a cover letter explaining the objectives and purpose of the study. Also, since the questionnaires will be self-administered, the researcher will be available to explain any unclear information or clarify anything in question. Moreover, privacy is yet a very sensitive issue that cannot be neglected when carrying out a research study involving people. In this regard, the researcher will assure the respondents that the information provided will not be used for any other reason other than the ones pro...