Professional Documents
Culture Documents
INTRODUCTION
Working people have always faced the challenge of balancing their time
between work and their personal life. This is true for most businesses, including professional services firms. Millennials are making choices that prioritize
their relationships and lifestyle rather than work. The term work-life balance
refers to people spending sufficient time at their jobs while also spending
adequate time on other pursuits, such as family, friends, and hobbies.
Regardless of how successful, rich, or poor a person may be, everyone has
the same 24 hours per day to spend in pursuit of his or her goals.
In the modern work environment, employees face many pressures in
their jobs. Changes in consumer behavior, the economy, information
Address correspondence to Katherine T. Smith, Ph.D., Department of Marketing, Texas
A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4112. E-mail: dr.kathy.smith@gmail.com
434
435
436
K. T. Smith
437
438
K. T. Smith
Flex-Time
Under flex-time, there are typically certain hours of the day when employees
are expected to be at work, while the rest of the day is flexible in that
employees can choose when they work. The employee may be expected
to work a certain number of hours per day or week, or may be required to
accomplish a specific task.
Telecommuting
With telecommuting, employees have some flexibility in their work location
and hours. Through the use of mobile telecommunications technology, a
person can work from locations other than the office. Telecommuting is also
referred to as e-commuting, e-work, and telework.
439
Part-Time
Part-time employees work fewer hours.
.
.
.
.
440
K. T. Smith
441
442
K. T. Smith
TABLE 1 Survey Responses Regarding Work-Life Balance, Job Performance and Job
Satisfaction
Questions
Overall M
Male M
Female M
1.64
1.64
1.63
4.47
4.05
4.43
3.96
4.51
4.13
4.03
3.88
4.16
4.24
4.13
4.34
Note. Scores were on a range from 1 strongly disagree to 5 strongly agree. The survey included 482
students in junior and senior-level marketing classes, 228 males and 254 females.
p < .01; T tests showed overall means significantly different from neutral (3). p < .01; ANOVA showed
male and female means to be significantly different.
The studys first research question is: Do Millennial job candidates think
work-life balance affects job performance and career decisions? Results indicate that the answer is a definite yes. Millennial job candidates think that a
healthy work-life balance leads to better job performance. In addition, they
think that a healthy work-life balance promotes better ethical decision making on their part. The respondents averaged 4.05 for Statement 3: Work-life
balance leads to better ethical decision making. This corresponds to the
results of the Deloitte & Touch 2007 study linking ethics and work-life balance (cf., Schurr, 2007; AFP, 2007; Meyer, 2007).
The second part of the survey gathered data about flexible work
arrangements. Respondents were asked which of the following flexible work
arrangements would be important to them in their future job: flex-time, part-time work, work at home options, special summer or holiday hours, or
telecommuting. Millennial job candidates responses regarding flexible work
TABLE 2 Survey Responses Regarding Work-Life Balance and Flexible Work Arrangements
Flexible work arrangements
In my future job, the availability of the
following flexible work arrangements will
be important to me:
1. Flex-time
2. Part-time work
3. Work at home options
4. Special summer or holiday hours
5. Telecommuting
Overall M
Male M
Female M
4.07
3.00
3.49
4.24
3.69
4.04
2.91
3.45
4.11
3.66
4.09
3.08
3.53
4.37
3.77
Note. Scores were on a range from 1 strongly disagree to 5 strongly agree. The survey included 482
students in junior and senior-level marketing classes, 228 males and 254 females.
p < .01; T tests showed overall means significantly different from neutral (3). p < .01; ANOVA showed
male and female means to be significantly different.
443
% Total
(n 482)
% Females
(n 228)
% Males
(n 254)
12.7
56.2
31.1
11.9
55.1
33.0
13.5
57.1
29.4
100.0
100.0
100.0
Note. The survey included 482 students in junior and senior-level marketing classes, 228 males and 254
females. There were no significant differences between male and female responses.
444
K. T. Smith
good employees; they are competing for them. Since Millennial job candidates regard work-life balance issues as very important in their future careers,
employers can use work-life balance issues as incentives in recruiting.
Employers should offer ways for employees to achieve work-life balance.
One method of facilitating work-life balance is to offer flexible work
arrangements for employees. Flexible work arrangements are alternate schedules to the traditional working day. Employees may require a flexible work
schedule to meet personal needs. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics
of the U.S. Department of Labor, 27.5% of all full-time wage and salary workers had flexible work schedules that allowed them to vary the time they
began or ended work (U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics,
2004). Flexible work arrangements previously described include: Flex-time,
telecommuting, work at home options, part-time, and special summer or
holiday hours.
If a person has a positive work-life balance, he or she is potentially more
content with life in general. Theoretically, a happy worker is more productive and healthier, thereby benefiting the company through lower turnover
and healthcare costs. In conducting exit interviews, PricewaterhouseCoopers
learned that many of its employees were leaving because of they did not
have a good work-life balance. Estimates are that companies incur costs of
$80,000 when an employee leaves (Dwyer, 2005).
As noted earlier, since the majority of respondents would forego
additional pay in order to have a flexible workweek or extra vacation time,
employers should put their resources into these options. An offer of a flexible
workweek or additional vacation time may sway a job candidate. Not only
may these options attract employees, but may also help retain them, as a
these options facilitate a positive work-life balance.
Providing the means for employees to achieve work-life balance will
potentially reap rewards for a company. The job candidates currently in
the market feel that a healthy work-life balance will improve their quality
of work and lead to better job performance. Further, a company will potentially have more ethical employees, as Millennial job candidates indicated
that a healthy work-life balance leads to better ethical decision-making. A
healthy work-life balance is a win-win situation for employee and employer
alike.
445
REFERENCES
AFP. (2007). Behavior of management, supervisors critical in reinforcing ethics.
Retrieved from http://www.nsfre.org
Alsch, M. (2000). The echo-boom generationa growing force in American society.
Futurist, 34(4), 4246.
Anxo, D., Flood, L., Mencarini, L., Pailhe, A., Solaz, A., & Tanturri, M. (2007,
November). Time allocation between work and family over the life-cycle: A
comparative gender analysis of Italy, France, Sweden and the United States,
Institute for the Study of Labor. (IZA Discussion Paper No. 3193).
446
K. T. Smith
Areni, C. S. & Sparks, J. R. (2005, June). Language power and persuasion. Psychology
and Marketing, 22, 507525.
Armour, S. (2003, October 8). More men seek better work-life balance. USA Today.
Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/money/workplace/2003-10-08-men_
x.htm
Barber, B. & Odean, T. (2001). Boys will be boys: Gender, overconfidence, and
common stock investment. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 116(1), 261292.
Berry, L. (1999). Discovering the soul of service. New York, NY: The Free Press.
Bloom, N., Kretschmer, T., & Van Reenen, J. (2006, April). Work-life balance, management practices and productivity (London School of Economics Working
Paper). Available from SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1012387.
Dommeyer, C. J. (2007, January). The effects of the researchers physical attractiveness
and gender on mail survey response. Psychology & Marketing, 25(1), 4770.
Dwyer, K. P. (2005, December 4). Still searching for equilibrium in the work-life balancing act. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/
04/jobs/04jmar.html
Fisher, R. J. & Gregoire, Y. (2006, April). Gender differences in decision satisfaction
within established dyads: Effects of competitive and cooperative behaviors.
Psychology & Marketing, 23, 313333.
Frame, P. & Hartog, M. (2003, October). From rhetoric to reality, into the swamp of
ethical practice: Implementing work-life balance. Business Ethics: A European
Review, 12, 358368.
Goodman, C. (2005). Generation daddy: Todays fathers struggle for balance. Herald
Today. Retrieved August 23, 2010, from http://www.fathersatwork.com/
heraldtoday.html
Gray, J. (1992). Men are from mars, women are from Venus: A practical guide for
improving communication and getting what you want in your relationships.
New York, NY: HarperCollins.
Gray, J. (1993). Men, women and relationships. Hillsboro, OR: Beyond Words.
Grey, C. & Antonacopoulou, E. (2004). Essential readings in management learning.
New York, NY: Sage.
Handrahan, L. M. (1999). Gender theory. Feminista, 3(3). Cited in Alev, K., Gunay,
G., Ece, E., & Yasemin, Z. (2010). Gender stereotyping in the account profession
in Turkey. Journal of Modern Accounting and Auditing, 6(4), 1525.
Hooft, E., Born, M., Taris, T., & van der Flier, H. (2006). Ethnic and gender differences
in applicants decision-making processes: An application of the theory of reasoned action. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 14, 156166.
Howe, N. & Strauss, W. (2003). Millennials go to college. Washington, DC: American
Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.
Karakas, F. & Lee, M. D. (2004). A qualitative investigation into the meaning of family
well-being from the perspective of part-time professionals. Equal Opportunities
International, 23(1), 5777.
Keller, A. C., Smith, K. T., & Smith, L. M. (2007). Do gender, educational level, religiosity, and work experience affect the ethical decision-making of U.S. accountants? Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 18, 299314.
Knop, K. (2004). Gender and human rights. Oxford, England: Oxford University
Press.
447