INTERACTION BETWEEN INDIVIDUAL AND CORPORATE WORK LIFE BALANCE STRATEGIES AND THEIR ASSOCIATIONS WITH SUBJECTIVE WELLBEING : EVIDENCE FROM RMG SECTOR OF BANGLADESH

This research aims to identify if and how individual and organizational Work Life Balance (WLB) strategies are associated with the perception of Subjective wellbeing (SWB) of Readymade Garments (RMG) workers in Bangladesh. For this study, 241 samples from the RMG sector of the country have been selected and data was collected through structured questionnaire. Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression has been conducted to investigate the relationship among the perception of work life balance and subjective wellbeing of the target group. Results show that Timing, Tempo, Role Conflict, and interaction between individual and organizational WLB positively enhance WLB of Bangladeshi RMG workers. The study also found significant positive relationship among (a) workers’ beliefs about his/her own satisfaction with life, and (b) autonomy to set his/her own roster with affective Subjective Wellbeing (SWB) of the RMG workers of the country. On the contrary, role conflict was found to have a negative effect on SWB. Interestingly though, the effect of WLB has been found to have no significant effect on the SWB in the RMG workers of Bangladesh. Moreover, composite scores of WLB and SWB show that the workers’ work and life are moderately balanced and overall, they are dissatisfied with their lives. Wide scale adoption of relevant WLB supportive activities, building awareness to develop effective individual as well as organizational WLB strategies by both the corporates and the Government, and rigorous psychological training will ensure collective wellbeing of the workers in Bangladesh ensuring an environment of ‘decent work’ in this sector catalyzing Bangladesh’s efforts to go one step closer towards achieving SDG 8 (Decent work for all). This research also offers an extensive guideline about the most relevant individual and organizational WLB strategies to improve WLB status as well as the happiness of the RMG workers of the country. This study also offers a wide range of future research opportunities and policy directions to both the RMG managers and the Government of Bangladesh