Is Digital Nomadism the Answer to Work Life Balance?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole Gustave ◽  
Abdullah Alarfaj
Keyword(s):  
Work Life ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Work Patterns ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Employment Contracts ◽  
Work Arrangements ◽  
Flexible Working ◽  
The World ◽  
The Face ◽  
History Of

Abstract The world is currently experiencing a rude awakening because of the COVID-19 pandemic and in a matter of months businesses averse to trust the benefits of remote working have been compelled to adapt. This advantage has enabled many Human Resource (HR) Professionals to revisit the dreaded topic of flexible working, as the new normal has shown that it is not where you work but the work you produce that matters. Ironically, the age-old question of work-life balance surfaces as individuals search for the purpose of life as the pandemic brings everyone to their knees and philosophically people question what exactly is this balance. For HR Professionals this question is not personal but a matter of their profession in providing companies with a wider lens to understand that in order to remain competitive they need to adapt to change. One of the ways is to develop an open mindset and flexibility to revise their policies on types of flexible working, which offers work-life balance and positively impacts their ability to retain and attract highly skilled talent. This article examines the concept of Digital Nomadism as one of the radical yet realistic ways to achieve work-life balance. Digital Nomadism puts a new spin on work arrangements and is a movement of highly mobile workers who dictate where they work, how they adapt to the demands of work to suit their lifestyle and find balance; with digital technologies. The concept has been around since 2014, the history of nomadism even longer but what is new, and why this subject adds value is the ingenuity of technology, how it makes this way of working a reality and the increasing numbers of digital nomads. The research suggests that approximately several hundred thousand of digital nomads exist throughout the world and numbers continues to rise due to globalization and the need for talent to be flexible with their lifestyles and work. Interestingly, while many companies are convinced of the technological disruptors and how it changes the face of work from a technical perspective, the flexibility of work patterns remains a hard sell in some cases. Consequently, recruiting for talent, employment contracts and the way work is organized, remains the same and lacks flexibility. This limits the opportunity to remain competitive, retain or attract top talent and drive innovation at all angles of the business. This paper will confirm whether the solution to work-life balance is the notion of digital nomadism, detailing how it works, its benefits and issues, with the intention to offer an option to forward thinking companies, reasons to adapt their flexible working policies.

Flexible Work Arrangements: A Human Resource Development Tool to Reduce Turnover

2021 ◽  
pp. 152342232098293
Author(s):  
Marvin Bontrager ◽  
M. Suzanne Clinton ◽  
Lee Tyner
Keyword(s):  
Human Resource Development ◽  
Employee Development ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Black Swan ◽  
Flexible Work Arrangements ◽  
Flexible Work ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Work Arrangements ◽  
Development Tool

The Problem. An increasing number of organizations are experiencing concerns from employees regarding work-life balance. Organizations that have chosen to implement formal flexible work arrangements (FWAs) have experienced reluctance from their employees to participate. COVID-19 has forced the hand further toward FWAs, and created additional work life balance concerns. The Solution. FWAs present an opportunity for organizations to address work-life balance concerns, especially amid the black swan event of COVID-19. Implementing FWAs provides opportunity for organizations to reduce turnover and facilitate employee development through work life balance programs. The Stakeholders. The informal processes of FWAs should receive due attention by HRD practitioners and scholars alike.

scholarly journals Gender, Flexibility Stigma and the Perceived Negative Consequences of Flexible Working in the UK

2018 ◽  
Vol 151 (2) ◽  
pp. 521-545 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heejung Chung
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Working Time ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Flexible Working ◽  
Part Time ◽  
Negative Perceptions ◽  
The Uk

AbstractThis study examines the prevalence and the gender differences in the perceptions and experiences of flexibility stigma—i.e., the belief that workers who use flexible working arrangements for care purposes are less productive and less committed to the workplace. This is done by using the 4th wave of the Work-Life Balance Survey conducted in 2011 in the UK. The results show that 35% of all workers agree to the statement that those who work flexibly generate more work for others, and 32% believe that those who work flexibly have lower chances for promotion. Although at first glance, men are more likely to agree to both, once other factors are controlled for, women especially mothers are more likely to agree to the latter statement. Similarly, men are more likely to say they experienced negative outcomes due to co-workers working flexibly, while again mothers are more likely to say they experienced negative career consequences due to their own flexible working. The use of working time reducing arrangements, such as part-time, is a major reason why people experience negative career outcomes, and can partially explain why mothers are more likely to suffer from such outcomes when working flexibly. However, this relationship could be reverse, namely, the stigma towards part-time workers may be due to negative perceptions society hold towards mothers’ commitment to work and their productivity. In sum, this paper shows that flexibility stigma is gendered, in that men are more likely to discriminate against flexible workers, while women, especially mothers, are more likely to suffer from such discrimination.

scholarly journals Work-Life Balance and Job Satisfaction among Malaysian Healthcare Employees

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 271
Author(s):  
Muhamad Khalil BIN Omar
Keyword(s):  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
Publishing House ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Work Arrangements ◽  
Standard Work ◽  
Participation Of Women ◽  
International Publishing ◽  
Open Access Article

Increasing participation of women and dual career couples into the employment world, together with the establishment of non-standard work arrangements have affected the employees' ability to juggle between work and life and therefore influencing the satisfaction in performing their job especially among those who are working in 24-hour operating companies such in a healthcare industry. Hence, this study among 681 employees of a Malaysian healthcare organization has found that there was a positive and significant effect of satisfaction with work-life balance towards job satisfaction and male workers were significantly more satisfied with their jobs as compared to the female counterpart.© 2016. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.

scholarly journals Flexible Work Arrangements and Their Impact on the Employee Performance of Egyptian Private University Employees: (A Case Study on the Arab Academy for Science, Technology, and Maritime Transport)

2021 ◽  
Vol 04 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed Eshak ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Employee Performance ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Flexible Work Arrangements ◽  
Flexible Work ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Work Arrangements ◽  
The Impact

This study aimed to analyse the impact of flexible work arrangements on the employee performance of employees in private Egyptian universities in Alexandria, mediated by work-life balance (applied to the Arab Academy for Science, Technology, and Maritime Transport). institutions to retain talented people, raise the efficiency of employee performance, and thus raise the efficiency of institutional performance and competitive capabilities of organizations. The researcher used the descriptive analytical method and the questionnaire as a tool for data collection, to measure the impact of flexible work arrangements (focusing on reducing working hours, benefits provided to employees, work policies towards parenting) on the work-life balance, and the extent of the impact of all this on raising the efficiency of employees' employee performance. A stratified random sample of 423 employees was used, and the data collected was analysed using SPSS and AMOS statistical software. The findings revealed a positive relationship between flexible work arrangements (reduced working hours, benefits provided to employees, and work policies toward parenting) and employee performance, as well as a positive relationship between flexible work arrangements and work-life balance, as well as a positive relationship between work-life balance and employee performance, and the researcher recommends implementing such policies.The recommendations also include the need to review current labour laws before legislators, and update them in line with contemporary technological development and the requirement to achieve a balance between the requirements of life and work. This study also recommends the adoption of reducing working hours as one of the flexible work policies offered by organisations to employees. The study concludes that flexible work arrangements and programmes are in fact a competitive tool that organisations can use to increase loyalty, improve performance, achieve commitment and job satisfaction, which enhances the organization's productivity.

Work-life Balance: the Case of Sweden in the 1990s

2002 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 303-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gunn Johansson
Keyword(s):  
Labour Force ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Work Load ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Employment Contracts ◽  
Work Routines ◽  
Large Groups

This article presents an overview of Swedish conditions with regard to work-life balance in the 1990s. This decade was characterized by high unemployment, increasing frequency of insecure employment contracts and downsizing, but also by increasing productivity. National statistics and scientific surveys indicate that large groups of the Swedish labour force experienced increasing work-load and intensification of work routines. At the end of the decade national costs of long-term sick leave doubled in two years. Two empirical studies performed with a stress and health approach are reported. Results show that a majority of workers experienced work-nonwork im balance, rather than balance. Work tended to interfere with nonwork activities rather than impact in the opposite direction, and individuals reporting work-nonwork balance reported better health and well-being than those reporting imbalance.

Teleworker performance in the COVID-19 era in Japan

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-37
Author(s):  
Toshihiro Okubo ◽  
Atsushi Inoue ◽  
Kozue Sekijima
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Work Environment ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Working Time ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Japanese Workers ◽  
Good Mental Health ◽  
Flexible Working

This paper investigates teleworkers' efficiency in Japan in the COVID-19 era by using unique survey data on telework. Many Japanese workers started teleworking during the pandemic and found both benefits as well as impediments. Overall, we find that telework experience and the work environment (e.g., having clearly specified tasks and a flexible working system), changes in work-life balance (e.g., working time), and good mental health improves teleworkers' efficiency.

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