Annotated Bibliography

Annotated Bibliography
Waller, A. (2012). The impact of e-mail on work-life balance. Aslib Proceedings, 64(2),
154 – 177. doi:10.1108/00012531211215178
Purpose. This paper examines how the 24-hour e-mail culture impacts employees ' lives away from work during their non-working hours. The study aims to calculate the amount of time spent on work e-mails by employees per day outside of working hours and identify the impact these e-mails had on employees ' work-life balance. The paper described a case study approach whereby employees from a multinational service organization were asked to complete a questionnaire and keep a diary to quantitatively and qualitatively collect data about their use of email.
Results. The study found that email has a negative effect on the lives of employees outside of the work place during non-working hours. The study also found that despite of the negative impact, middle and senior level managers expressed a need to check emails and do work outside of working hours as a dependency of their jobs. This need resulted in feelings of missing out on other things during out of office hours.
Relevance. The paper suggests that employees could make short term improvements by change their email habits. One such change would be to refrain from copying others or replying to all with non-essential emails. Another suggestion is to ensure that emails sent out are more meaningful and accurate. In addition, it is suggested to provide new employees with training on email file management and policies. To make longer term improvements, the paper suggests that changing behaviors is crucial, and that those in authority could set an example by re-evaluating their own priorities and setting good work-life examples to their staff. These recommendations are helpful in that they will help to shape recommendations for our upcoming team project on work-life balance.
Human Resource Management International Digest. (2013). Working parents can bank
on

Bibliography: Waller, A. (2012). The impact of e-mail on work-life balance. Aslib Proceedings, 64(2), 154 – 177. doi:10.1108/00012531211215178 Purpose. This paper examines how the 24-hour e-mail culture impacts employees ' lives away from work during their non-working hours. The study aims to calculate the amount of time spent on work e-mails by employees per day outside of working hours and identify the impact these e-mails had on employees ' work-life balance. The paper described a case study approach whereby employees from a multinational service organization were asked to complete a questionnaire and keep a diary to quantitatively and qualitatively collect data about their use of email. Results. The study found that email has a negative effect on the lives of employees outside of the work place during non-working hours. The study also found that despite of the negative impact, middle and senior level managers expressed a need to check emails and do work outside of working hours as a dependency of their jobs. This need resulted in feelings of missing out on other things during out of office hours. Relevance. The paper suggests that employees could make short term improvements by change their email habits. One such change would be to refrain from copying others or replying to all with non-essential emails. Another suggestion is to ensure that emails sent out are more meaningful and accurate. In addition, it is suggested to provide new employees with training on email file management and policies. To make longer term improvements, the paper suggests that changing behaviors is crucial, and that those in authority could set an example by re-evaluating their own priorities and setting good work-life examples to their staff. These recommendations are helpful in that they will help to shape recommendations for our upcoming team project on work-life balance. Human Resource Management International Digest. (2013). Working parents can bank on support from Lloyds. Human Resource Management International Digest 21(2), 26-28. doi:10.1108/09670731311306805 Purpose. The purpose of this paper is to describe the e-learning program that Lloyds Banking Group is offering to employees taking maternity, paternity and adoption leave. The e-learning program was developed with UK executive-coaching company Talking Talent. The training involves real-life case studies, and short videos. The paper explains that the aim of this enhanced support will be to ensure that employees have a consistently good experience and that Lloyds retains employees before, during and after significant life transitions. The paper investigates some of the pinch points in women 's career paths and considers how these can best be overcome. Results. The paper contains useful information on helping employees taking maternity, paternity and adoption leave to make the most of the experience. Some of the training tips include transition advice for new working parents in regards to communicating their leave to customers and coworkers, managing turnover of work duties, keeping in contact while on leave and returning to work with confidence. The report also identified a strong appetite for personal development among the women. It identified soft skill development, such as self-belief, confidence and networking as keys to progression and revealed that greater management support, coaching and development are the most important tools to break down barriers and help women progress, closely followed by improvement in flexible working. Relevance. This paper is relevant to our team project on work-life balance as it provides a positive example of an organization that is seeking to improve work-life balance through innovative programs and management support.