Finding the perfect work-life balance is a flighting dream for many, say Ashwani Upadhyay, Komal Khandelwal & Jayanthi Iyengar. An edited excerpt
Technology has an impact on our personal and professional lives. AI makes it easier and faster to work and leaves us free time to unclog our minds. It is necessary to keep a balance in the use of technology for both personal and professional life. These days, when people are forced to work from home the boundary between personal and professional life, it is important to use AI to help employees find free time for strategic work and to pursue their interests. One of the biggest challenges with digitization is that work and home life are blurring. Checking e-mails and watching television with the family has become a reality. Attending business calls during a movie is again common.
Finding the perfect work-life balance is a flighting dream for many. A lot of people are witnessing the impact of extended work on health in the form of lifestyle diseases such as blood pressure and diabetes. A lot of professionals suffer from stress-related disorders such as anxiety and depression. Incorporating wellness into an everyday routine is now being facilitated by AI-based applications. AI is now a means to leverage a good work-life balance. Let us look at how AI can help restore work-life balance.
Enhancing productivity: Companies like Google are enabling the integration of e-mail, video conferencing, document collaboration, instant messaging and so much more. These tools can easily fix and coordinate schedules. AI-based tools are being used to fix meetings and complete work on the go for workers as well as supervisors.
Making work easy: A lot of AI-based apps make work easy with the automation of a lot of menial and repetitive tasks. Automatic reminder apps can remind when the meeting is coming up. These tools even remind people to take medicines, walk and take a break.
Technology ropes in flexibility: AI incorporates flexibility at work. With AI and other tools, employees can now work remotely. Tools such as Google Hangouts and Zoom facilitate online and virtual meetings. Physically attending a meeting is not needed now, resulting in savings in travel time and cost. Technology helps in saving time for attaining work-life balance.
Transparent: AI-based systems create seamless and transparent communications between teams.
Wellness apps: Employees use wellness apps to manage their health and well-being. Technology acts as a tool to attain good work-life balance. The use of AI can lead to meaningful networking, productivity and focus (Mathur, 2019).
An excerpt from AI Revolution in HRM: The New Scorecard by Ashwani Upadhyay, Komal Khandelwal and Jayanthi Iyengar, published by SAGE Publications India
