46
B. Kolny
local, regional and national culture, as well as the economic situation of the country,
especially the labour market (Borkowska 2004).
This balance translates into satisfaction with the whole life, both professional
and personal, and surprisingly, when time is properly organized and managed, this
balance can be achieved even during long hours of work. The very balance between
working and private life does not mean that people devote the same amount of time
to each of these spheres. Trying to plan the same number of hours for each of them is
rather unreal, because human life is and should be flexible (Meenakshi et al. 2013).
It is difficult to achieve the same balance between work and private life for everyone,
because its achievement is preceded not only by a precise determination of how a
person wants to spend time, but also by the adaptation of life and work to changing
needs. The balance point between work and private life changes over time; the one
desirable by an individual today will probably be different tomorrow. This results
from different needs in the various spheres of life when people are single, when they
start a family, when they have children, when they start a professional career or are
near the age of retirement. For example, if an employee has responsibilities related
to caring for children or elderly sick parents, they would like to have the possibility
of flexible forms of work, and if they have no such duties, they would more eagerly
like to have a gym membership or a cinema ticket. There is no ideal or universal
balance that everyone should strive for. The balance is different, because everyone
has different priorities at a certain moment of life, and everyone lives a different life
(Meenakshi et al. 2013). That is why programs in the field of work-life balance are
supported by employers who establish rules, activities and procedures and who meet
the employees’ expectations in terms of dividing time and energy between work and
other important aspects of life, while enabling easy pursuit of a more sustainable life
(Heathfield 2018).
Information technology has a considerable impact on how one spends time at
work and outside of work. Technology has changed and improved people’s lives
in many different ways. Thanks to technology, their life is longer, more comfortable and healthier. They have access to huge information resources; they can see
people from the most distant places in the world. Changes in the way people can
access information, communicate with each other, and perform tasks have enabled
the development of flexible forms of work. They include on-call work, employment
in the form of shared workplaces (machines) by several people, employment on
the basis of flexible working time agreed with employers, employment within the
task-oriented work system, temporary work, telework, contract work, work at home,
employment within individual working time, as well as employment in the system of
compressed (extended) daily working time (4 days × 10 h and 3 days off) (Bieniok
2010).
People who work partly or exclusively from home can influence the division of
time into work and the pursuit of non-professional interests. If people can decide
for themselves how to plan their work, it is much easier for them to go to the gym
in the middle of the day, to go to a hairdresser, to visit friends or just to go to the
cinema or for a walk. Flexible working time allows for managing time in the way
that enables exchanging life streams (Clutterbuck 2005). If an individual does not
B. Kolny
local, regional and national culture, as well as the economic situation of the country,
especially the labour market (Borkowska 2004).
This balance translates into satisfaction with the whole life, both professional
and personal, and surprisingly, when time is properly organized and managed, this
balance can be achieved even during long hours of work. The very balance between
working and private life does not mean that people devote the same amount of time
to each of these spheres. Trying to plan the same number of hours for each of them is
rather unreal, because human life is and should be flexible (Meenakshi et al. 2013).
It is difficult to achieve the same balance between work and private life for everyone,
because its achievement is preceded not only by a precise determination of how a
person wants to spend time, but also by the adaptation of life and work to changing
needs. The balance point between work and private life changes over time; the one
desirable by an individual today will probably be different tomorrow. This results
from different needs in the various spheres of life when people are single, when they
start a family, when they have children, when they start a professional career or are
near the age of retirement. For example, if an employee has responsibilities related
to caring for children or elderly sick parents, they would like to have the possibility
of flexible forms of work, and if they have no such duties, they would more eagerly
like to have a gym membership or a cinema ticket. There is no ideal or universal
balance that everyone should strive for. The balance is different, because everyone
has different priorities at a certain moment of life, and everyone lives a different life
(Meenakshi et al. 2013). That is why programs in the field of work-life balance are
supported by employers who establish rules, activities and procedures and who meet
the employees’ expectations in terms of dividing time and energy between work and
other important aspects of life, while enabling easy pursuit of a more sustainable life
(Heathfield 2018).
Information technology has a considerable impact on how one spends time at
work and outside of work. Technology has changed and improved people’s lives
in many different ways. Thanks to technology, their life is longer, more comfortable and healthier. They have access to huge information resources; they can see
people from the most distant places in the world. Changes in the way people can
access information, communicate with each other, and perform tasks have enabled
the development of flexible forms of work. They include on-call work, employment
in the form of shared workplaces (machines) by several people, employment on
the basis of flexible working time agreed with employers, employment within the
task-oriented work system, temporary work, telework, contract work, work at home,
employment within individual working time, as well as employment in the system of
compressed (extended) daily working time (4 days × 10 h and 3 days off) (Bieniok
2010).
People who work partly or exclusively from home can influence the division of
time into work and the pursuit of non-professional interests. If people can decide
for themselves how to plan their work, it is much easier for them to go to the gym
in the middle of the day, to go to a hairdresser, to visit friends or just to go to the
cinema or for a walk. Flexible working time allows for managing time in the way
that enables exchanging life streams (Clutterbuck 2005). If an individual does not