Effect of Work-Life Balance on Employee Performance in the Apparel Sector of Sri Lanka

Abstract

Work-life balance (WLB) has emerged as a critical concern for several individuals worldwide in today's fast-paced corporate climate. Maintaining work-life balance is being more acknowledged as a strategic problem for organizations as well as an issue for individuals. The Sri Lankan apparel industry began in the 1960s, producing clothes for the domestic market before shifting to the export-oriented production of readymade garments in 1970, after the liberalization of the economy of the island in 1977. During the 1980s, garment exports grew rapidly. Since 1992, the garment sector has been the nation's largest foreign exchange earner (US$400 million), surpassing the tea sector. Furthermore, after 1992, the Board of Investment offered the "Two Hundred Garment Factory" initiative, which was an enticing package for all clothing manufacturers to relocate manufacturing to rural areas of the country, and this is regarded as the "turning point" in Sri Lanka's garment sector. Local producers provide 178 big brand names such as Pierre Cardin, Gap, Victoria's Secret, CK, Mark and Spencer, Nike, Liz Claiborne, and so forth. It grew to become a significant contributor to Sri Lanka's export income. The Sri Lankan clothing industry is the country's largest employer in the manufacturing and services sectors, employing about 75% of the workforce both directly and indirectly. And the industry holds a strong position in the international market. Since its peak, the apparel sector has been a significant contributing factor to the economy of Sri Lanka especially in terms of export revenues and job creation. There is a significant blooming of clothing manufacturing in south Asian region, putting Sri Lankan apparel sector in a serious pressure to be more agile and lean to support best conversion rates in the manufacturing and supply chain processes. Hence the workload allocation to employees and utilization of employees have become critically important. As a result, there is a tendency to lose the worklife balance of the employees which affects to the performance of the employees and there by the performance of the organization. Contribution of such performance downturn of an organization is resulting a negative impact on the apparel sector of the country due to its extremely competitive nature. Hence ensuring WLB of the employees considered as an important factor for the whole apparel sector of the country. This research has been based on the secondary data published within last 10 -15 years of time against the same domain. Also, author has discussed international trends on the work life balance in the recent past with different ideas on the concept of WLB against baby boomer generations. The goal of this research is to examine at several ideas on the impact of work-life balance on employee performance. In this comprehensive study, a qualitative technique is used. The findings suggest that work-life balance affects employee performance, and firms must address the issue in a variety of practical ways in order to remain competitive. In this research author describes the positive and negative influences of the WLB to the employee performance depending on the analysis of published data and relevant theories. Importantly author has recommended practical approaches and solutions to ensure sustain better employee performance and reduce employee performance related issues.