Volume 3, Issue 11 (November, 2014) Online ISSN-2277-1166 1 Available online on www.abhinavjournal.com Published by: Abhinav Publication Abhinav National Monthly Refereed Journal of Research in Commerce & Management AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF FACTORS AFFECTING WORK LIFE BALANCE AMONG INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY EMPLOYEES IN MUMBAI Harshada Mulay Assistant Professor, Swayam Siddhi College of Management & Research, Mumbai, India Email: harshadamulay1@gmail.com ABSTRACT The study examines the work-life balance form analysis of interviews of 20 employees of information technology companies in Mumbai. The study tries to look into the work related stresses that affect the work life ultimately creating an imbalance in the work-life balance. The Analysis of the interviews and the scope of the employees to have a balance between their work and life offered to them in the organization, the role of the team leaders and the level of job satisfaction. Factors that affect the work- life balance of the employees were investigated. The importance of the workplace culture that enabled employees to attain a balance between work and life was highlighted in the results. Keywords: Family; Home; Work; Work and Organizational Psychology; Stress; Work Related Stress; Work Life Interference; Work Life Balance INTRODUCTION The natural factors that affect an individual while acting either from the inside or form the outside of the individual or both are called stress. The environment and the individual is affected when that individual reacts to stress. While most of the people tend to perceive stress that one experiences in everyday life in the negative sense, stress can also be a positive experience in some cases and to a certain extent. Both internal and external factors contribute to creating stress in a person (Joshi, 2005). Physical environments like job, relationships, challenges, difficulties and expectations are external stress factors that one experiences in everyday life. The process of dealing with these external forces is decided by internal factors in an individual. Factors like nutritional status, overall health and fitness levels, emotional well being and the amount of sleep and rest are internal factors for an individual. Stress is induced by the demands of a modern lifestyle and the modern organizational setups which often act as stress factors for an individual. Such stress as the work place, while affecting the individual, also affects the organization as the output of that particular individual is affected by stress (Reindl, 2013). Long working hours and tight deadlines are often the reason for stress when an individual cannot cope up with such deadlines and working hours. These are factors for work related stress. In today’s workplace, stress is a very common thing and is also well accepted as influencing force at work. Stress in work is not related to any particular sector or job or industry and can affect anyone no matter the position of that individual in the organization (Reuters, 2014). The overall well being of an individual’s mind and body is affected by stress and as such the individual’s performance at work is negatively affected by continuous stresses at job that can be caused by conditions at work. Job stress can manifest itself in one or more physical or mental illness and in some cases it can cause chronic illness or psychiatric conditions in individuals. While in early stages of job stress it can act as a booster