Emotional intelligence and personality as mediators of work-life balance and mental health of female managers

Work-life balance: key issues Work-life balance can be defined as the effective management of multiple responsibilities at work, at home, and in the other aspects of life (Naithani, 2010). Though the concept of work-life balance is quite old in origin, which can be traced back to pre-industrialization period, over the past two decades, the issues of work-life balance have received extensive publicity in the industry as well as in the area of research (Eby et.al. , 2005; Hogarth et.al.,2000). Concerns about work life balance have become important for the employees as well as for the organizations due to number of reasons. In modern work environment, the prevailing cut-throat competition and emerging trend of -life balance a major issue for every working professional. Today majority of the working populations are living with nuclear families where social support is inadequate and life is dependent on technology. This technology has made their life easier in many ways, but it has also created expectations for constant availability at work and in the advances in information technology have made possible to create virtual workenvironment anywhere, which has allowed work demands to intrude into family and personal life. Furthermore, global competition has increased pressure on organizations and individual employees to be more flexible and adaptive towards change (Hall & Moss 1998). In strive to become more competitive, companies often go for de-layering, outsourcing, downsizing and understaffing (Dunford,1999 & Sparrow, 2000), due to which employees of these companies and their families face