Emerging Trends: Work–Life Balance Is the New Perk Employees Are Seeking

Work-Life Balance Is the New Perk Employees Are Seeking Name: Institution: Course Title: Instructor: Date: Work-Life Balance Is the New Perk Employees Are Seeking Case summary The case highlights the issue of work-life balance as an emerging trend that employees are seeking. According to the case, nowadays most employees are tied to their work such that they lack the time to spend with their families and friends. This kind of work imbalance is common to employees holding top positions in an organization. The case illustrates how senior employees are charged with more responsibilities, roles and functions in their work. Although the top positions have higher salaries and benefits, employees are busy working or traveling due to demand of their positions. Consequently, when looking for jobs employees have to negotiate the terms of the nature of the position to ensure a work-life balance. In addition, employees who are likely to have work-life balance in regards to flexibility in work hours and office location are those that are disciplined, self-motivated and accountable through a clear set of performance measures. Answers to critical questions Question 1 Flexibility in work hours has several benefits to the employees, including avoiding rush-hour commutes, more control over time-off, work-life balance, and more. On the other hand, flexibility of office location benefits employees through spending less time in commuting, more control over when to work, avoidance of daily disruptions to an office environment, and improved work-life balance. According to Torpey (2007), there are several jobs that offer flexibility in working hours and office location, including job sharing, temporary and part-time jobs, on-call jobs, seasonal work and contract jobs. Such jobs are available for registered nurses and caregivers, court reporters, child care givers, freelance writing jobs, translators and interpreters, sign language, telemarketers, tax specialist and more (Torpey, 2007). However, they a...