Striking a balance

Work life balance is becoming an important topic of discussion in the working segment of people. I feel this is a very important term that needs to be discussed in today's situation.
In an Indian IT working environment, the peer pressure is very high. Because of this some people are forced to work more than what they can actually can. Moreover there are a lot of managers who feel working long hours means the person is a hard worker and that person gets better benefits in appraisal compared to a person who works the required hours but still more efficient than the person who works long hours. This mentality of the managers forces the efficient employees to stretch their day just to appear in the good books of their managers.
There is a saying which goes as follows which applies to many workaholics in today's IT industry... Its goes like "Work to live. Don't live to work."
I feel we Indian do not give importance to family when compared to work. Work is important i dont deny that, but work is not the only thing. People need to spend more time with their family and also enjoy doing some hobby.
Extended hours of work can create stress to the employees, especially when the employee does not enjoy doing the work much. Some of the conditions in work force that create job stress are :-
1. Hectic and routine tasks give little sense of control for the employee. Heavy work load and long work hours create stress.
2. Lack of Support from supervisors and coworkers creates stress.
3. If employee has little say on decision making creates stress.
4. If the job expects too much from the employee, it creates stress.
5. If the employee feels there is lack of opportunities for growth and promotion it creates job stress.
6. Working environment such as crowded, noisy or polluted office environment creates stress.
Studies have shown that psychologically demanding jobs put employees at greater risk of cardiovascular disease, greater risk for developing back and upper-extremity musculoskeletal disorders and Psychological disorders.
Some of the suggestions for employers are:
1. Have flexible timing for employees.
2. Option of working from home.
3. Employer regularly doing a review of work life balance of their employees on regular basis.
4. Adequate leave options should be given to the employees.
Employees should also take conscious effort to improve their own work life balance. They should choose to work fewer hours and spending more time with their family.
But I have seen that due to bad estimations and due to heavy competition to win a project, most of the projects are executed in crunch time with lots of slogging by employees. So in order to curb this problem, I feel a union should be started like how it exists in mechanical industry. I feel so because the employee do not have much say if their managers expect them to slog for a project which was estimated badly.

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