Work Life Balance, Stress, Working Hours and Productivity ...

Journal of European Studies

Work Life Balance, Stress, Working Hours and
Productivity: A Case Study of Fashion Retailers in the UK

Syed Shabib ul Hasan

Introduction
London’s retail sector contributes about 13% to the GDP of the
UK which amounts to around $24 billion, thereby making it the
largest retail sector of Europe and the hub of financial activities of
the world, competing with New York.1 There is no denying the
fact that retail stores are now an essential part of Londoners’ lives.
With London, hosting the 2012 Olympic Games, there will
inevitably be more pressure on the retail sector to perform better to
meet the challenges of this mega event. Although London is
universally recognized as one of the most thriving cities, pulling
millions of retail customers, the inside story of the employees who
work for the retail industry is quite disheartening. It has been found
that, despite the constant excitement and variety, since the 1990s
the lives of most employees in the retail sector and those with a
career in retail management, are more stressful than ever before.2
The situation is even more complicated if we make a gender wise
analysis, as comparatively men were found to have a lower ‘work
life’ balance in comparison to the opposite sex. Even in the UK, a
relatively lower proportion of women work for long hours as
against men, who usually work for long hours.3

This paper aims to discuss and analyze the impact ‘work life’
balance has on productivity in the employees at the leading fashion

1 Visit at www.thinklondon.com/downloads/london_sectors/retail/retail_briefing
_v2.pdf.

2 A. Broadbridge, “Retail Managers: Stress and the Work-Family Relationship”,
International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management 27, no. 9, (1999).

3 Saroj Parasuraman, Claire A. Simmers, “Type of Employment, Work-Family
Conflict and Well-Being: A Comparative Study”, Journal of Organizational
Behavior 22, no.5, (2001): 551-568.

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retailers in the UK. It involves drawing a concise picture of the
various work life practices among these employees and to asses
their impact on the business and on career progression. It also aims
to gather their views regarding a more efficient application of the
work life balance initiative to provide maximum benefits for both
the business and their own lives. A proper work life balance can
ensure a satisfied and efficient workforce in the long run as well.

The term work life balance was coined in the 1980’s, although its
usage in everyday language was sporadic for a number of years.
Interestingly, work life programmes existed as early as the 1930s.4
It must be mentioned here that all three of the words in this much-
used phrase have a high ambiguity of meaning. There are a number
of factors that have brought about change during the 1990s
stemming from technological advancements, ever-increasing
globalization, and expurgating expectations of consumers that have
enhanced competition, requiring a new approach to balance
effectively the differing demands which may arise.5 The concept of
‘balance’ itself can be highly problematic: there is a need to
recognize that balance can have both an objective and subjective
meaning and measurement, that varies according to circumstances
and also varies from individual to individual.6

The current promotion of work life balance in the UK reflects
change in the economic and political climate as well as social
change. Despite political and social pressure for work life balance,
the drive for more flexible working is strongly related to the needs

4 Muhammad S. Howlader, An Investigation of Work Life Balance For Male
Employee Perception in the Retail Sector of Sainsbury’s UK, Masters Thesis,
University of Bedfordshire, Business School, 2008.

5 Jeff Hyman and J. Summer, “Lacking Balance? Work-Life Employment
Practices in the Modern Economy?”, Personnel Review 33, no. 4 (2004): 418-
429.

6 David E. Guest, “Perspectives on the Study of Work-Life Balance”, A
Discussion Paper prepared for the 2001 ENOP Symposium, Paris (2001).

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of employers.7 Within businesses, globalization has resulted in
changes in customer demands and expectations for access to goods
and services under the 24/7 concept (24 hours 7 days a week). It is
becoming binding for organizations to have people in their sales
force who are willing and prepared to work flexibly outside
conventional working hours. However, it is not a one way traffic,
for the employees too have the right to pursue activities and
responsibilities outside work place, which implies that employers
have to be sensitive to their needs and organize and manage
business more effectively and intelligently.8 Glass and Estes have
identified three main areas of work life balance policies
summarized as follows:9

• Flexibility to allow workers to fulfil their parental duties –
such as more access to part-time work, term-time only
employment, and the provision of leave for maternity, child
care and care of other dependents.

• Flexibility in working time and the location of work. This
involves flexible working hours; compressed working
weeks; job sharing; and teleworking or working from
home.

• Assistance with childcare, eldercare, care of school age
children during school holidays or when sick.

In practice, these work life balance policies are often referred to as
flexible working, and include the following different ways of
working:

7 Celia Stanworth, Niels Wergin, Geoff White, “Work-Family Integration in the
UK – A Review”, in Geoff White et al. (eds.), Proceedings of the 14th
International Employments Relations Association Conference (London:
IERA, 2007), available from http://www.ugbs.org/weru.

8 S. D. Friedman and J. H. Greenhaus, Work and Family-Allies or Enemies?
What Happens when Business Professionals Confront Life Choices (New
York: Oxford University Press, 2000).

9 Jennifer L. Glass and Sarah Beth Estes, “The Family Responsive Work Place”,
Annual Review of Sociology 33 (1997): 289-313.

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Part-Time Term-Time Compressed Career Breaks
Working Working Hours

Tele- Study Leave
Job Sharing Shift Working Working /

E-Working

Flexitime Annualized Home Zero Hours
Hours Working Contracts

The concept of work life balance has gained acceptance in society,
as well in politics.10 In Europe policies and programmes have been
adopted to make Europe the most competitive and dynamic
knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable
economic growth, with more and better jobs and greater social
cohesion. The European Union is in the forefront in this regard.
Besides, Europe has set itself a goal of increasing employment
rates, especially the participation rate of women.11

Work life balance is not only about families, childcare or eldercare,
nor is it about working less.12 It is about working smart; about
being fresh enough to work efficiently and be able to spend quality
time at home, without jeopardizing one for another. It is a
necessity for everyone at every stage of life. A good number of
researches have been carried out, whose results support a positive

10 Jean Lambert, “I Must Work Harder? Britain and the Working Time
Directive”, Mental Health Brochure (13 February 2006). The Greens and
European Free Alliance in the European Parliament for London.

11 EWCO, “Quality of Work and Employment in Europe, Issues and
Challenges”, Foundation Paper, Eurofound 1 (2002).

12 John Macinnes, “Work-Life Balance and Demand for Reduction in Working
Hours: Evidence from the British Social Attitudes Survey”, British Journal of
Industrial Relations 43 (2002): 273- 295.

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relationship between work life balance and productivity.
Productivity is defined as the summation of output divided by
input in terms of labour and is considered as a necessary, though
not sufficient in itself, condition for long-term profitability and
success.13 The Department of Labour in New Zealand in 2006
surveyed employees and found a strong relationship between
employees’ ratings of productivity in the workplace and their own
work life balance.14 Similarly, a UK survey of 597 working parents
found a correlation between self-rated productivity, flexibility and
satisfaction with work life balance, and between satisfaction with
work life balance and enjoyment of one’s job.15 Productivity
usually comprises several complex factors, however flexible
working options are perceived by working parents to be a key
factor in their productivity. Many other research results indicate
that work life balance and family-friendly initiatives can lead to
significant improvements in retentions, organizational
commitments, loyalty and job satisfaction.16 Woodland et al
identified a high level of support for the principle of work life
balance, with 94 percent of employers and 95 percent of
employees agreeing that people work best when they can achieve a
good balance between work and personal life.17

Employers have their own reasons to be interested in work life
balance, especially in flexible working hours. Having to service a
24/7 economy, employers need to deviate from the usual 9 to 5

13 J. Guthrie, “High Involvement Work Practices, Turnover and Productivity:
Evidence from New Zealand”, Academy of Management Journal 44, no. 1
(2001): 180-190.

14 Visit at http://www.dol.govt.nz/worklife/snapshot-summary.asp.
15 Working Families, “Is Less More? Productivity, Flexible Working and

Management”, available from www.workingfamilies.org.uk.
16 Janet Walsh, “Work-Life Balance: Challenging the Overwork Culture”, in

Stephen Bach (ed.), Managing Human Resources: Personnel Management in
Transition, 4th edition (Oxford: Blackwell, 2005), 148-177.
17 S. Woodland, N. Simmonds, M. Thornby, R. Fitzgerald, and A. Mcgee, “The
Second Work Life Balance Study: Results from the Employers Survey”,
Employment Relations Research, Series No. 22 (2003).

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working day. Flexible working hours schemes are offered as part
of work life balance policy. It allows employers to appear
employee-friendly, whilst meeting business needs. Other useful
work life balance provisions, such as crèches are a more expensive
option for employers and less common. Schneider et, al., found
that 83 per cent of employers in Rheinland-Pfalz in Germany
offered flexible working hours and only 30 per cent other types of
work life balance provisions.18

Flexible working arrangements contribute to business quite
positively by improving the quality of recruitment and increasing
the retention of staff. Furthermore, it enhances employee
satisfaction and productivity.19 Governments in Europe have begun
to take initiatives to promote work life balance. Private
organizations have also initiated several surveys to probe into the
application of work life balance. Dex and Smith have pointed out
that adoption of family friendly policies brings about a positive
impact on employee motivation and commitment, as nearly 90% of
employers found that adopting work life balance policies is more
cost effective, reflecting a positive co-relation between work life
balance policies and employee performance.20

It has also been observed that globally distinguished and leading
employers prefer work life balance policies and practices, probably
believing that work life balance would yield clear benefits to their
businesses. It has also been argued that by offering flexible and
special arrangements to employees, organizations can reap rewards
in terms of reducing absenteeism and employee turnover. In other
words, work life balance is a positive contributor to the

18 N. Schneider, S. Ruppenthal, and J. Ha¨user, “Lippenbekenntnis zur Work-
Life-Balance?” Personalfu-hrung 1 (2006): 26-9.

19 Internal Revenue Service, “Hanging in the Balance”, Employment Review,
no.766 (2002): 6.

20 S. Dex, and C. Smith, The Nature and Pattern of Family-Friendly
Employment in Britain, Joseph Rowntree Foundation (Bristol: The Policy
Press, 2002).

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profitability of the firms for it strengthens customer-employee
relationship and in turn customer satisfaction.

The work life culture profit chain

Work – Life Balance Culture 

Employee    Employee 
Satisfaction    Well‐being 
Customer 
Employee  Satisfaction  Productivity 
Retention 

Reduced  Sales/  Effective 
Labour  Customer  Business 
Retention  Processes 
Cost 

Profitability 

Source: Managing Work life Balance; A Guide for HR in
Achieving Organisational and Individual Change.21

21 David Clutterbuck, Managing Work-Life Balance; A Guide for HR in
Achieving Organisational and Individual Change (London: CIPD, 2003).

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Apart from productivity, the number of hours people work and the
times at which they work have an important bearing on how
individuals manage their work and family commitments.
Hochschild (1997)22 has argued that parents in the US are working
longer and longer hours and therefore finding much less time for
family life. Likewise in the UK, in 2001 full-time employees
worked on average for forty four hours a week compared to the EU
average of forty hours.23 Green suggests that employees are not
only working longer hours but they are also working more
intensively.24 Numerous studies have found a relationship between
work life balance and workplace culture. An unsupportive
workplace culture is usually associated with poor work life
balance. The study is of the view that employees feel their
workplace culture has made work life balance harder to achieve,
particularly owing to the expectations and attitudes of managers,
supervisors, colleagues and workmates.

There are a number of factors that encourage the overwork culture
in an organization. In this regard managers often play an active
role by setting targets, keeping a strict eye on performance and
standing-in as a role model by displaying work patterns. Studies
suggest that employee’s work hours are also affected by the
behaviour of their colleagues, notably through a process of
positional striving that involves competition between employees to
keep pace with, or exceed the working hours of other workers in an
organization.25 The outcome is that individuals, specially women
work more hours. Moreover, the justification for long working
hour culture is that it allows employees to draw material and

22 A. Hochschild, The Time Bind (New York: Henry Holt & Co, 1997).
23 Kate Bishop, “Working Time Patterns in the UK, France Denmark and

Sweden”, Labour Market Trends (March 2004): 113-22.
24 Francis Green, “It’s been a Hard Day’s Night: The Concentration and

Intensification of Work in Late Twentieth-Century Britain”, British Journal of
Industrial Relation 39, no. 1 (2001): 53-80.
25 W. Eastman, “Working for Position: Women, Men and Managerial Work
Hours”, British Journal of Industrial Relations 37, no. 1 (1998): 51-56.

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psychological benefits from it. Employees, who are ready to work
long hours not only find themselves well remunerated but also
appear to be more psychologically involved and intrinsically
satisfied with their work.

Another issue which is increasingly noticeable among Londoners,
in the run up to the 2012 Olympic, is the growing level of stress at
workplace, and both organizations and individuals are attempting
to find ways to reduce it. Stress is defined as a state where a person
suffers from physical, psychological or social dysfunction which
results from the feeling of being unable to bridge the gap between
what they want to achieve and what they are actually able to
achieve. In other words, with regard to workplace it could be
defined as stress that arises when people come in contact with each
other in their jobs. Long working hours and intense work increases
the stress level amongst employees. Thus, the UK government has
been trying to influence organizations to improve the work life
balance to manage stress among their employees by implementing
family friendly policies.26 Companies are being persuaded to take
into account the personal needs of employees by introducing
various benefit schemes, which would prove valuable not only for
employees but also for employers. Stress usually results in low
productivity, and absenteeism and the pressure at work place is a
major cause of stress. Thus it is a vicious cycle. Under the
European directives on health and safety at work, the UK
government has put legislation in place to protect employee’s
psychological and social well-being at work.27

Cooper et al. ranked over 100 jobs according to their degree of
stress and found sales, retailing and management jobs as more

26 S. Callan, “Implications of Family Friendly Policies for Organizational
Culture: Findings from Two Case Studies”, Work, Employment and Society
21, no. 4 (2007): 673-679.

27 HMSO, (2007), visit at http//:www.Hmso.gov.uk, [Accessed: 6 March 2008].

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stressful than others.28 However in the current scenario, retail jobs
are even more stressful than two decades ago. There are reports of
high levels of work stress which lead to stress related illnesses.
However, stress in the work place has been found to have a greater
impact on home life than vice versa and therefore, the issue is
already being tackled at the organizational level as it is believed
that stressed employees lead to an increase in absenteeism and less
productivity. The UK government took significant initiatives in the
early part of the year 2000, to encourage employers to adopt work
life balance in an effective way. The main objective of the
government’s campaign was to convince employers of the benefits
of taking steps to reduce stress among employees through flexible
work practices.29

While we have referred to studies highlighting that employees
loose efficiency owing to stress, there are some studies that have
shown the positive aspects of stress as well. For the sake of
argument, some people may find a mild amount of stress
stimulating, making them more alert whilst improving their ability
to function better.30 Stress management is gaining importance in
organizations for there have been increasing cases where
employees have sued employers, accusing them of manslaughter.

There some other studies which do not support a positive
relationship between work life balance and productivity. Bloom et
al found no direct relationship between work life balance
policies/initiatives and increased productivity among employees of

28 C. L. Cooper, S. J. Sloan and S. Williams, Occupational Stress Indicator:
Management Guide (UK: NFER-Nelson, Windsor, 1988).

29 M. Coussey, Getting the Right Work- Life Balance: Implementing Family-
Friendly Practices (London: CIPD, 2000).

30 Derek Rollinson, A. Broadfield (eds.), Organisational Behaviour and
Analysis: An Integrated Approach, 2nd ed. (London: Financial Times Prentice
Hall, 2002), 705-739.

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manufacturing organizations.31 Eileen Drew32 identified the
negatives of work life balance, based on flexible working for
employees. The negatives outlined, include problems in
communicating with other workers, problems in accessing the
proper equipment to work from home, lower earnings with certain
flexible options, negative perceptions of their work ethic and
commitment by colleagues, less recognition for a job well done
and lack of involvement in decision-making. It was also felt that
working part-time in particular was detrimental to progress in
career. The employers’ organizations also have concerns over
employment laws reflecting employers’ typical concerns about
cost implications and their preference for voluntarism. It has also
been observed that employers try to stop proposed legislation on
WLB that has the potential to negatively affect their business.33

Research methodology
This research aims to provide a better understanding of the real
issues of work life balance, by conducting the research in a natural
setting to depict the genuine behaviour and emotions involved. The
study tries to find out how employees deal with the matters of
work life balance, and also how deep their awareness and
knowledge is about the issues involved. The research has tried to
assure the reliability of responses by careful designing of
individual questions, clear layout of the questionnaire forms, and
lucid explanation of the purpose of the questionnaire. The
questionnaire was designed in such a way that respondents should
be able to freely express their minds and be the key informants in
this study. Since this study focused on personnel in the fashion

31 Bloom et al’s, quoted in Mervyl McPherson, “The Role of Managers in Work-
Life Balance Implementation”, available from http://www.citeseerx.ist.psu.
edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.121.6929.pdf.

32 Literature review of issues related to work-life balance, workplace culture and
maternity/childcare issues by Jennifer Redmond, Maryann Valiulis and Eileen
Drew.

33 CBI, Measuring Flexibility in The Labour Market: Employment Trends
Survey (London: CBI Publications, 2004).

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retail sector, time and resource factors were strictly considered and
a sample size of 75 was decided upon and data was collected by
holding one to one interviews with 15 managers and 60 employees
on a random basis.

For a more thorough understanding of the research topic the author
also made use of secondary research sources as well, although the
distinctions between primary and secondary sources are
insignificant. In this research company reports, company
publications, relevant research papers published in journals and
websites, government survey reports and books on the topic have
been used as secondary sources to help in formulating a suitable
research design. Finally, serious attention has been given in
ensuring that ethical standards are maintained.

Findings and discussion
This study has identified some interesting facts regarding work life
balance practices among employees in the fashion retail sector in
the UK. Primarily the survey conducted found a positive picture as
a majority of the respondents thought that work life balance was
good for business. Most of the respondents expressed the belief
that introducing work life balance increases productivity, and some
of the schemes are having a salutary impact on their personal lives.
However, they were of the view that there was still room for some
other facilities to come into effect to make life easier, such as
childcare facilities and career breaks. Despite this positive outlook,
many are hesitant about availing work life balance, for the majority
of them were apprehensive about financial problems and a good
number had fears of losing the job or their position. The study also
identified contrasting responses, for a few of the employees
thought that work life balance bore no significance, while others
thought it was unfavourable for employees. These opinions give a
fair bit of idea about the work culture and stress at these stores, and
with the 2012 Olympics drawing near the job stress is increasing.
Furthermore, it was also found that a few of the respondents
thought that their company was not doing enough to promote more

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effective work life balance, which they said, deserves careful
consideration. This seems to reflect that awareness on work life
balance issues is good enough among the human resource
managers and store managers but the good effects of it have not
trickled down to the junior managers and lower staff.

Nonetheless, the study has identified some of the critical issues,
and if these are addressed it would help in going a long way in
promoting satisfaction and efficiency in workforce. For work life
balance practices to take true effect, it is important that the
employees should feel confident and be encouraged to use the
facilities. To increase the access of employees to work life balance
facilities, what is required is effective communication of policies,
proper education and promotion of understanding about efficient
work culture. International best practices require that an
organization’s policies should be introduced and discussed at staff
meetings and any changes or new policies should be
communicated to managers and employees on a formal basis.

It was also revealed that some of the line managers do not
implement policies and employees count solely on area personnel
managers. The employees should be able to secure their rights at
the first contact point to avoid frustration and stress, which would
become possible if some of the responsibilities were handed over
to the line managers. Likewise, there is room for offering a better
range of facilities according to popular demand such as child care
facilities and career breaks for managers without the fear of
redundancy. It was also found that organizations were in the dark
about employee’s plans, for they do not risk telling these to their
employers. The study points to the conclusion that employers and
employees must jointly find ways to create a healthy balance
between the needs of the organization and the personal needs of
employees.

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Typical organizational structure at fashion
retail stores, London

Store Manager

Assistant Store Manager

Senior Floor Delivery Senior Visual Admin
Manager Manager Merchandiser Manager

Floor Managers Visual Merchandisers Admin Assistant

Supervisors

Sales Advisors

Conclusion
London is amongst the most happening cities of the world. It caters
very well to the needs of millions of people with regard to the
latest fashions and attracts thousands of people to this sector for
employment. It is for this reason that this sector needs to have
well-defined policies, thorough and comprehensive guidelines and
well organized human resource departments, which can ensure that
all employees are treated fairly and consistently. Based on the
findings, this study concludes that there is need for organizations
to seriously consider the implications of employees’ inability to

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achieve work life balance. When employers commit themselves to
assisting employees balance their lives with work, there are
definite improvements in performance, and greater employee
commitment to the organization. Even though, work life balance,
like any theoretical model, is not free from criticism, as there are
studies which have shown a negative relationship between work
life balance and productivity, organizations which encourage work
life balance initiatives, have bigger chances of increasing
productivity, improving retentions, recruitment, organizational
commitments, and loyalty. The key to achieving these results is
employee satisfaction within the organization. The generally
prevalent workplace culture has made work life balance harder to
achieve, particularly as expressed in the expectations of the
employer. Job demands, high targets, expectation of high
performance, job insecurity and drudgery all contribute to stress
among employees.

There is evidence to show that despite the presence of a number of
options; work life balance is not practiced properly in the UK job
market, especially in the fashion retail sector. The UK government
should influence organizations to improve work life balance
facilities, by introducing family friendly policies, and thereby
reduce stress among employees. It is obvious that stress results in
low productivity, absenteeism and staff turnover. Finally, it is
recommended that employers in the fashion retail sector in the UK
should review the list of potent life event stressors and determine if
their organization has policies, programmes, and benefit schemes
in place to effectively support employees.

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Summary of findings through questionnaire
Please answer the following questions. Privacy will be strictly
maintained.

Name

Position and
Area

Length of
Service

Please tick the most appropriate box.

Q.1 What age group are you in?

20 or below 21-30 31-40 41-50 51-
above

17% 33% 27% 18% 5%

Q.2 What is your martial status?

Single Married Civil / Other
Partnership

27% 52% 13% 8%

Your job in Your family in terms of
financing?
Q.3 terms of
Full time
contract?

Part time Single Dual
earning earning

63% 37% 39% 61%

Q.4 Is there anybody dependent on you?

Elderly relatives Disable Children / Spouse None
relatives

11% 2% 68% 19%

Q.5 Do you have any other commitments apart
from family and job?
Career
development Community Service Hobbies None

26% 10% 38% 26%

Q.6 Do you think that work life balance enhances
your personal life?

Yes No

90% 10%

Q.7 Do you face any difficulties in balancing your
work and personal life?

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