Critical assessment of work life balance of women at the American University of Beirut -

Abstract

Achieving work life balance has become difficult in our modern society especially with demanding responsibilities both in the workplace and at home. Work can have a positive impact on our lives in terms of satisfaction and self-fulfillment. However, when work responsibilities become too demanding, burnout inevitably ensues making it difficult for employees to meet duties beyond the workplace. Gender issues have started to emerge as a key factor in developing work life balance policies. Women around the world are still expected to assume more domestic responsibilities compared to men and as such find it difficult to meet both home and work responsibilities. In order to rectify this knowledge gap, I aim to explore how work life balance is conceptualized in the Middle East and Lebanon in particular. The first part of the study will focus on a review of existing policies at AUB to identify what is currently being done to address challenges relating to WLB for all staff with a particular attention on women. The second part of the study will utilize semi-structure interviews with female employees to assess the degree to which they are able to achieve balance between work and personal life. This was achieved through purposive sampling of staff at the Faculty of Health Sciences and the Admissions office. Twelve respondents consented to participate in the study. Results were analyzed bearing in mind the theoretical model proposed by Guest (2002) which segregated WLB into five models, those being: Segmentation, Spillover, Compensation, Instrumental and Conflict models. Study findings indicate that no policy exists regarding WLB at AUB. The respondents clearly suffer from their inability to achieve WLB. Findings are analyzed within the theoretical model presented above. Recommendations for developing a WLB policy at AUB include integral components that should be included.