HYDERABAD: IT employees struggling to achieve work-life balance may be old news. But, the problem is ballooning into scary proportions despite several measures initiated by corporate companies to keep employees satisfied.
Steady retrenchment of staff, fears of automation and artificial intelligence taking over jobs and changing visa policies have only added to the woes of ground-level staff, say experts.
Interestingly, the skew in work-life balance has impacted women more than men, says a recently published study from Hyderabad. The study titled ‘Gender Differences in the WLB Satisfaction among Employees of IT Companies in Hyderabad’ published in the International Journal of Research in Management, Economic, and Commerce surveyed 300 IT professionals working in five companies in Hitec City which has a workforce of more than 5,000 professionals.
The study incorporated a T-test analysis and recorded responses on a scale of 5-1, where 5 is for ‘strongly agree’ and 1 for ‘strongly disagree’. The findings say more men surveyed (3.2) feel there is flexibility in work compared to women (2.13). Also, more male respondents (3.06) felt there was support from managers compared to women (1.91). However, in striking contrast, more male respondents (4.33) claimed to have felt family stress compared to women (3.67). Even dependent care issues are found to be more among men (4.35) than women (3.99). Gender differences are found to have a strong positive correlation with work-life balance due to industry’s nature,” reads the study’s conclusion.
Work-life-balance tilts
Experts say that familial responsibilities could be higher on female employees, making them feel the work-life balance is tilted against them. “Women are increasingly becoming financially independent. But still, there is no clear division of household chores and labour among spouses,” says the author of the study, Vijayalakshmi Kanteti. “Many men working in IT sector have parents living back in villages. They have to take care of financial needs of their family and manage expenses of living in the city. This could be the reason they feel more family stress,” she adds.