Executive Summary

This report aims to critically analyse and evaluate the beyond contract employment practices in Human Resources particularly focussing on work-life balance and stress management policies, which are very important movement in UK companies due to implemented legislations.
In the report, stress management and work-life balance are explained with identified positive and negative attributes. After reviewing these policies suggested methods for management to deal with stress in the company are work-family, flexible, part-time, job redesigning, job training and negotiable work policies.
In order to minimize stress in the company it is also recommended for managers to conduct stress audit assessment and analyse the effect on policies.

Table of contents

1. Executive Summary 1
2. Introduction 3
3. Discussion & Analysis 4
3.1 Stress management 4
3.1.1 Stress management policy 6
3.2 Work-life balance 8
3.2.1 Management approaches 8
3.2.1 Work-life balance policies 9
4. Conclusion 11
5. Recommendations 11
6. List of references 12
7. List of figures 13
8. Bibliography 14

1. Introduction
Recent changes in technology and generally global economy dramatically swiped the traditional form of employment , where standard employment contract was rights and entitlements foundation including social insurance and pensions, protection against unsociable working conditions and collective bargaining, however employers now value flexibility over stability, and provide short-term or temporary work for employees (Stone & Arthurs, 2013).
Work-family policies, defined as employer policies and practices to support the integration of paid work with other significant family demands, are designed to help organizations address the structural mismatch between the design of job and career systems and the labour’s force’s growing dependent caregiving demands. These policies are theoretically of increasing importance to the employment relationship affecting recruitment and retention individual and group performance and high commitment (Kossek, n. d, p3).
Discussing different approaches and policies of stress management and work-life balance in relation to beyond contract practices forms the basis of this report, where main objectives are to define stress and work-life balance, identify and analyse various policies used by companies to reduce stress of employees, with some degree of critical discussion of different approaches with the final objection to provide some recommended policies for management in order to deal with stress and work-life balance. Flexible working hours, differentiated job design and job rotation, training offering and consultation, work-family, part-time, negotiable work policies, other types of policies are excluded from this report.

Discussion & Analysis

It is important to recognize organizational change origin, while all kinds of change are stressful (Organizational Change and Development, n. d.) and employee stress is created by environmental change, rearrangements, downsizings, empowerment and personal-life matters (Robbins & Decenzo, 2009, p207).

Stress management

Work related stress is common, however it was perceived negatively among employees before and it is a costly complaint, which received attention from legislators, regulators and companies (Holt, 2006, p22). Therefore, there is a need for flexible or part-time working hours because employees are suffering from developed stress at work, when juggling work with children or parents caring responsibilities (Joseph C., 2011, p3).
Third most common short-term absenteeism is associated with non-work-related stress. (Paterson, 2013)
Stress is defined as the adverse reaction to excessive pressures or other types of demand placed on individuals (University of Surrey, 2010, p3) and work-related stressors is hazardous to