The work-life balance involves balancing of work-place stress with the routine pressure of family, friends and self. Maintaining a balance between one’s personal and professional life has become an important topic in the society of India.
In order to have an effective work-life balance, one should have the flexible working time. Stress level increases when there is imbalance between professional life and personal life. This imbalance can lead to relationship compromise, physical as well as mental well-being. Furthermore, it reduces the efficiency and effectiveness at work.
To balance the life in India, you need to understand your work. It’s really important to know your responsibilities, understand your own motivations, aspirations and see if the job fulfills them. This work-life balance needs to be looked in the circumstances of four segments: Family, Self, Work and Friends. Each of these four segments is mutually dependent on one another. Most people agree that they need to change their work priorities assuming that whatever change they make, will give them evasive balance that they are seeking.
The work-life balance in India has always been an issue. In fat, The traditional Indian joint family includes three to four living generations, including grandparents, parents, uncles, aunts, nieces and nephews, all living together under one roof. Although India has a traditional culture from the time that husband earned and the wife stays at home. But coping up with the time now, Husband and wife both earns to fulfill their desires. Careful planning and personal efforts is the advice for those who want to balance career and home life.
The Factories Act has provided annual/earned leave of 12 working days for all the workers who have worked at least 240 days in a year. If a worker takes four or more days leave at a time, his wages are paid before the leave begins.
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National holidays contribute to a harmonious lifestyle
There are 52 Sundays and 53 Saturdays in a regular Indian year. Apart from that India has three national holidays and 22 major religious public holidays. India has the National and Festival Holidays Act, which is applicable to all establishments in the country. On national and public holidays in India every shops, banks and super markets shall remain entirely closed. While, Restaurants and theaters are remains open whole day. Transportation services and other services are available on these days.
Overview of holidays in India:
- New year’s day Jan 01
- Makar Sankranti/Pongal Jan 14
- Republic day Jan 26
- Maha shivaratri around Feb/March
- Holi March
- Gudi Padwa March
- Ram Navmi around March/April
- Mahavir Jayanti around March/April
- Good Friday March 30
- Labor day May 01
- Eid-Ul-Fitr June
- Independence day August 15
- Onam August
- Raksha Bandhan August
- Janmashtami around Aug/Sep
- Muharram Sep
- Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti Oct 02
- Dussehra Oct
- Diwali Nov
- Christmas Dec 25
Working hours can impact the equilibrium
Opening hours
Large stores and super markets do not have any standard timing in India. You may find malls and department stores open until 20:00 hours, 7 days a week. One of the important rule to which most businesses in India are subject to is “the shop and Establishment Act”.
The Act includes:
- Hours of work
- Interval for rest and meal
- Prohibition of employment of children
- Opening and closing hours
- Close days
- Weekly holidays
- Leave policy
- Wages for holidays
Most companies start around 9AM and end around 6PM for 5 days a week, Saturday is a half day and on Sunday everything is closed except for restaurants and petrol pumps.
Working times regulation can contribute in favour of the work-life balance
The Indian working times for any organization is regulated by the Factories Act 1948. As per the act, every adult cannot work for more than 48 hours in a week and not more than 9 hours in a day. Work timing includes working hours, overtime, leave, notice pay, working conditions of employees etc. It extends to whole India and applies to every factory. The first set of working hours is from 9AM to 1PM, and the second session starts from 4PM to 8PM. Sundays and national holidays are off for all the factories.
For further information please visit:
https://paycheck.in/labour-law-india/work-and-wages/work-hours-in-india
https://www.rightsofemployees.com/2018/01/28/working-hours-and-overtime-rules-in-india/
Working culture
The “Namaste” forms an important part of Indian culture and is generally used while greeting and saying goodbye. Work culture is a set of collective beliefs, values, rules and behavior which organization as whole conforms to.
- A good understanding of basic values, beliefs and assumptions of Indian culture and how they apparent themselves in the market and workplace is essential for the success of your business.
- The humble office culture and design has evolved hugely over the past few decades. Along with the modern office design, the culture has greatly shifted to a casual and friendly work environment.
- In India, guests are treated with utmost respect and courtesy. International travelers can expect to enjoy the Indian hospitality. At the same time culturally and as a mark of politeness, Indians have difficulty in saying no.
- It is fully acceptable for strong hierarchy to occur in most Indian organizations. They have high need of structuring relationships, with an aim to attach a set of responsibilities and expectations to a particular person in a senior position.
- The importance of hierarchy in Indian culture can also be witnessed in the daily work environment. People of different management levels are treated differently.
- Indian people are flexible when it comes to punctuality. Arriving at a meeting 15 minutes after the official starting time is not rare.
- In India, it is uncommon to set up an appointment to meet a colleague working in the same organization, unless that person is on senior management level.
- The office space culture in the country today is adopting new and adventures ways of working like co-working or working in shared spaces and virtual offices.
- Indian working hours are flexible as far as IT companies are concerned. Normally office timings go from 9 AM to 5 PM.
- The relationship between boss and employee is rarely close/personal. In general company meeting, only few people dominate, even though their decisions are wrong. However, it may different from company to company.
- In Indian working culture, people do not accept change easily. Lot of oppositions is encountered in order to implement change.
- Indians have a greater sense of ownership towards work and we value work more than our personal life.
- The Indian dress-code is relatively casual. Male employees will wear trousers and collared shirts to work. A suit and a tie can be added when needed or for the more senior managers. Often female workers wear a colorful salwar kameez.
Organizational work culture can either be good or bad. In the sense that good work-culture is one that is beneficial for high level of organizational performance, the indices of which are productivity, profits and growth.
Health Insurance
Medical emergencies come unannounced. To get the best medical facilities in India without a financial burden you will need a health insurance. When health related contingencies strike, then a good health insurance policy acts as a safeguard which gives some sort financial stability. Without health insurance, even those Indian people who are financially stable sometimes find themselves difficult to manage expenses in case of medical emergencies. This shows that despite having resources, urgent needs and lack of planning can put a hole in one’s pocket during medical emergencies. Then in such situations health insurance comes to rescue, helping one avail of instant medical treatment when the need occurs. By taking health insurance in India, the possible financial turmoil and risks that health emergencies bring along with them can be effectively tackled.
Out of 1.2 billion of Indian population, only less than 15% of the population is covered with health insurance. The Indian government has made health a priority in its series of five years plans, each of which determines states spending priorities for the coming five years. The health care system in India is primarily administered by the states. In order to address lack of medical coverage in rural areas, the national government of India launched The National Rural Health Mission in 2005. This mission focuses resources on rural areas and poor states which have weak health services. In addition along with financial protection and medical cover, health insurance offers tax benefits as well.
For further information please visit:
http://www.forbesindia.com/blog/health/5-things-to-know-about-the-indias-healthcare-system/
https://www.internationalstudentinsurance.com/india-student-insurance/healthcare-system-in-india.php