Factors Influencing Work Life Balance of Employees Working from Home in the IT Industry in Sri Lanka.

Abstract

Purpose: Because of the pandemic of COVID-19, most organizations are move to the work from home policy. With this new concept most of the employees are struggling with the work life balance. In Sri Lanka IT industry is the leading industry which is adopted to the work from home concept with the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the primary goal of this research is to identify characteristics that influence the work-life balance of individuals in Sri Lanka's IT industry working from home. Design/Method:This is a quantitative analysis that has considered IT personnel that work from home. The primary data for the analysis was acquired from 270 respondents via a structured questionnaire and to represent whole IT industry only have select three IT companies namely, CodeGen International (PVT) Ltd, Pearson and Virtusa. And four hypotheses have been tested in this study. Findings:Weighted least square regression analysis results indicated that 33.2% variation of the work life balance can be explained by occupational stress, socio- economic status, management support and family support. Among them only management support and family support indicated the significant relationship with work life balance and among four hypotheses only two hypotheses are accepted. Research Consequences:The findings of this study are significant to developing countries, and they will give researchers a better knowledge of the work life balance of employees working from home in the IT industry, particularly in Sri Lanka. Furthermore, the findings will aid future local and international researchers in identifying other factors that may influence an employee's work life balance. Research limitations/ Future Research Suggestions:Future research can extend model by including mediating factors like gender and age. Qualitative or mixed methodology can be used to conduct further studies to arrive more diverse findings regarding factors that influence work life balance of the employees who work from home.