How has technology facilitated efficiencies and contributed to the challenges of work-life balance?

Employee Efficiency

When it comes to work-life balance, people all over the world are struggling with more and more work demands placed on them. The total amount of work hours in many developed nations has increased dramatically in the last 3 decades. An old belief from the industrial revolution dominates organizational culture—working hard will get you ahead. This results in working more and more hours, while the family and personal needs suffer. In the knowledge economy, working smarter has to be part of the strategic consideration for leaders. This discussion challenges you to explore the efficiency of employees from an organizational design perspective.

Consider the pressures of the workplace and the needs of individuals.

Describe the trend of work responsibilities in your organization.
How has technology facilitated efficiencies and contributed to the challenges of work-life balance?
Identify what has changed from an organizational design perspective to help employees be more efficient.
If you were to count your hours of time working, whether in the workplace or at home on a mobile device, what is the trend for your working hours over the past few years? How does this align with the organizational values?
Analyze the kinds of struggles that exist in work-life balance for the employees. How can this be improved for both employers and employees?
If you were the leader of your organization, what would you do to ensure a healthy work-life balance?
The final paragraph (three or four sentences) of your first post should summarize the one or two key points that you are making in your initial response.