Work-Life Balance of Mothers in Managerial Sector of Apparel Industry

Abstract

Work-life balance is a crucial topic for quality concern gurus, who believe that a balance between work and life is essential when it comes to carrying out daily work. The subject of work-life balance has gained more attention recently due to the reason that a person’s work life and family life may present conflicting demands on one another while the demands from both the globes are equally important. This is one of the most challenging issues being faced by the women in the 21st century. This problem is heightened for working mothers in the managerial sector because of the nature of the role they play at home; both as a spouse and a mother. The research problem addressed under this study is to investigate what factors affect the work-life balance of working mothers in the apparel sector. As this research topic is still in its exploratory stages, empirical research and other relevant literature are limited. Based on the available literature the researcher has identified three main factors that influence work-life balance of working mothers as: personal, work environmental, and home environmental factors. The research was carried out with individuals representing four main apparel companies in Sri Lanka. Further, both primary and secondary researches were carried out in order to critically explore “work-life balance” issue in the apparel sector. Accordingly, 10 working mothers in the managerial sector of the apparel industry were interviewed based on the interview guide that was developed. Thereafter the qualitative findings were analyzed using thematic analysis and were presented in a meaningful manner.