Green Work-Life Balance: A New Perspective for Green HRM

Abstract

This paper proposes that Green HRM can meet its full potential only by considering employees in their twofold role as producers and consumers. Employees learn different kinds of behaviour not exclusively at the workplace, but also in private life. Since reciprocal interactions between working life and private life occur, a "green work-life balance concept" is suggested to facilitate environmentally friendly behaviour in both life domains. The concept offers chances not only for the environment, but also for the company and its employees by increasing, for example, work motivation and job retention. However, challenges like employees' reactance to allow corporate influence on private life need to be addressed. Green Work-Life-Balance: Eine neue Perspektive für umweltorientiertes Personalmanagement Dieser Beitrag geht davon aus, dass umweltorientiertes Personalmanagement (Green HRM) dann besonders wirkungsvoll sein kann, wenn es die Mitarbeiter in ihrer Doppelrolle als Produzenten und Konsumenten berücksichtigt. Mitarbeiter lernen unterschiedliche Verhaltensweisen nicht nur am Arbeitsplatz, sondern auch im Privatleben. Da Wechselwirkungen zwischen Arbeitsleben und Privatleben unvermeidlich sind, kann das Konzept einer "grünen Work-Life-Balance" umweltfreundliches Verhalten in beiden Lebensbereichen fördern. Positive Effekte für die Umwelt, für Unternehmen und Mitarbeiter sind denkbar, indem zum Beispiel Arbeitsmotivation und Mitarbeiterbindung verbessert werden. Doch auch mögliche Risiken müssen bedacht werden, wie beispielsweise die Reaktanz der Mitarbeiter gegenüber einem Eingriff des Arbeitgebers in ihr Privatleben.

Contemporary developments in Green (environmental) HRM scholarship

“…107-108). On green work-life balance, research may benefit from testing prior study findings that external, impersonal or situational factors relating to individuals seem less likely to drive positive green behaviors than personal, internal ones (Parker, 2011, p. 50), and as many studies investigate green behaviors at home but overlook workplaces (Parker, 2011, p. 38), the conceptual case outlined by Muster and Schrader (2011) on green work-life balance could also be empirically investigated.…”

“…Additionally, a conceptual paper by Unsworth, Dmitrieva and Adriasola (2013) finds employees viewing green behaviors as expressing many values, meaning staff with egoistic values could connect with pro-environmental behavior as equally as those with altruistic/bio-spheric values (in Andersson et al, 2013, p. 153), while case data from Caribou Coffee reveals employee engagement and organizational tenure as associated with employee green behaviors (Ones & Dilchert, 2013, p. 123). Further, Muster and Schrader's (2011) work outlines how work-life balance may facilitate both eco-friendly behavior from employees at work and as consumers at home, and to possible linked benefits of increased staff motivation, commitment and job retention arising (in Jackson et al, 2011, p. 102).…”

The More, the Merrier: Why and How Employee-Driven Eco-Innovation Enhances Environmental and Competitive Advantage

“…It is expected that green employees are particularly striving for introducing their private environmental attitudes and habitual practices to their work environment. In this context, positive spillovers for the employee and for her organization can occur [81,107]. We expect that, in case a green employee is denied this transfer, she will probably perceive an inconsistency between her environmental convictions and actual behavior options.…”

“…Muster and Schrader [81] describe the reciprocal interactions between private and work domains as a cycle of "green work-life balance". In the course of their environmental engagement at home and at work, green employees acquire comprehensive environmental knowledge and skills.…”

Greening of Malaysian School Human Resource Management by Green Intellectual Capital and Healthy Organization

“…Consequently, this initiatives help schools to find alternative ways to cut cost without losing their top talent which is furloughs and part-time work. It involves undertaking environment-friendly HR initiatives resulting in greater efficiency, lower costs and better employee (school staff) engagement and retention which in turn, help organizations to reduce employee (school staff) carbon footprints by the likes of electronic filing, car sharing, job-sharing, tele-conferencing and virtual interviews, recycling, telecommuting, online training, and energy-efficient office [21][22].…”