Volume : 3 | Issue : 4 | April 2014 ISSN - 2250-1991 10 | PARIPEX - INDIAN JOURNAL OF RESEARCH Research Paper A Study on Factors Influencing Work Life Balance of School Teachers in Coimbatore Commerce Dr.S.S.Saravanan Professor and Head, Department of Commerce with Information Technology, Dr.N.G.P Arts and Science College, Kallapatti Road Coimbatore-641048 P.Dharani Final B.Com (IT), Dr.N.G.P Arts and Science College, Coim- batore-641048 KEYWORDS Work life balance, Factors of WLB, Private School Teachers, Coimbatore School Teachers ABSTRACT Work/life is commonly referred to as work and family. To balance between the family responsibilities and work responsibilities has become a challenge for the people in many professions. Strain between work and family roles is a common experience among private school teachers. This paper analyses the factors determining the work and life balance with respect to school teachers. A total of 150 teachers’ responses from private sector schools were included in the study. Independent sample t-test is used to analyse the effect of independent variables on work life balance with respect to respect to private school teachers. Introduction Work-life balance has been defned by the National Frame- work Committee for the Promotion of Work-Life Balance as a “balance between an individual’s work and their life out- side work.” They also state that “that balance should be healthy, that personal fulfllment is important inside work and that satisfaction outside work may enhance employees’ contribution to work”. Family sphere changes that have im- pacted the work life balance of individuals in today’s context include nuclear families, single parent households, dual earn- ing parents, parents working at different locations and in- creasing household work. Hence, it has become very diffcult to meet the family demands. Another change is the entry of women in workforce in a big way, while still continuing with their earlier role of a homemaker. So, women are play- ing a dual role, that of a breadwinner as also a homemak- er. It is generally women who take the primary responsibility for childcare and who, in situations of confict, adjust their working lives to accommodate family pressures (Falkenberg and Monachello, 1990; Ramu, 1989). All this puts an extra pressure on women employees. Wesley and Muthuswamy (2005) in a study of 230 teachers in an engineering college in Coimbatore, India, found that work to family confict was more prevalent than family to work con- fict, thus indicating that permeability of work into family was more than permeability of family into work. According to Sullivan and Lewis (2006) schedule infexibility increased depression in both men and women and increased physical distress such as insomnia, appetite problem, tension related aches and pain. Christensen and Staines (1990), found that fexitime programs decreased late comings, absenteeism, and turnover. In their research, Thomas and Ganster (1995) have found a positive association between fexitime policies and job satisfaction. They concluded that fexible time policies enhanced employee productivity by decreasing absenteeism and turnover, and positively served families by decreasing de- pression in employees as families get more time to spend to- gether which reduces work/ family confict. Greenhouse and Powell (2003) have suggested that certain working conditions, such as time fexibility can mitigate the negative effects of work demands on family life. Research Design The objective of the research is to identify the factors affecting work life balance in male and female private school teachers in Coimbatore city . Having thoroughly examined relevant pre- vious research tools, a questionnaire that suits to the local and social settings of Coimbatore has been developed. Sampling and Data Collection The questionnaire was self-administered with a covering letter to motivate respondents to carefully provide their neutral opinion against the factors under investigation. The research target population mainly included married male and female private school teachers in Coimbatore city . Convenience sampling method has been used to get the re- sponses from school teachers in Coimbatore city. From 150 school teachers the data has been collected for this study. The reliability of the data was measured using Cronbach’s Alpha, which shows an estimate of 0.7 thus assuring the data reliability. Research Hypotheses The following research hypotheses have been developed to analyse data. H 1 : There is difference in the work life balance factors of male and female private school teachers in Coimbatore. Results and Discussions Data is entered and analysed using Statistical Package for So- cial Sciences (SPSS) version 16. Two different statistical tools applied to test the hypotheses are: (i) Independent sample t-test; and (ii) One –Way ANOVA Independent Sample t- test Independent sample t-test is used for analysis purpose be- cause the data collected are further sampled as of two differ- ent populations i.e., female and male private school teachers.  This is to test whether there is signifcant difference between the work life balance and its factors for male and female pri- vate school teachers. Having met the test assumptions, it al- lows to signifcantly comparing the means of two sample groups to test the research hypotheses. Descriptive statis- tics to compare the mean values of male and female private school teachers is given as table 1.