Journal of Human Development and Communication

Volume 11, 2022 [53-65]

Influence of Barriers to Organizational Communication on

Employees’ Work-Life Balance

Muhammad Bilal Asshogiri1* and Elly Yuliawati2

1, 2 Faculty of Communication Science, Mercu Buana University, Jakarta

ABSTRACT

Work From Home (WFH) has been implemented for more than one and a half years in
Jakarta, yet only 14% of employees in Jakarta were very satisfied with their quality of life.
Work-life balance becomes an important topic to discuss since failure to achieve a work-life
balance can result in low job satisfaction, low happiness, work-life conflict, and stress for
employees. As WFH altered how to communicate with other employees by fully using digital-
based communication media, the implementation of WFH does not mean that WFH can be
implemented easily and without any obstacles. The purpose of this research is to know how
big barriers to organizational communication can influence employees’ work-life balance.
This research was conducted using a quantitative research approach through surveys and
was distributed to 233 employees in Jakarta who meet the criteria. Based on the result of
this research, barriers to organizational communication influence 45.2% of employees'
work-life balance, and the remaining 54.8% are influenced by other factors or relationships
that are not listed in this research. The equation of the simple linear regression can be
written as Y = 14.477 + 0.882X. The result of the F-test is 190.675 while the statistic of the F-
table with α = 5% is 3.88, the test can be written as 190.675 > 3.88, and the decision is
rejecting the H0 and accepting the H1. Thus, it is to be stated that there is a significant
influence from barriers to organizational communication on employees' work-life balance.

Keywords: Barriers to organizational communication, Employee, Organizational

communication, Work from home, Work-life balance

1. INTRODUCTION

Organizational communication refers to a communication process that developed on an

organizational scale, both formal and informal, and takes place in a network larger than group
communication (Mulyana, 2017). Nathania investigated the relationship between organizational
communication flow and employee performance, the result proves that a good flow of
organizational communication will be directly proportional to employee's performance
(Nathania, 2014).

Another study conducted by Bucăţa and Rizescu prove that organizational communication is a
useful tool to facilitate the relationship between employees to build a mutually beneficial
environment, especially in developing the. Based on both studies, effective organizational
communication must be built and be a priority to be able to achieve organizational goals (Bucăţa
& Rizescu, 2017).

Joseph, Jayakar, and Babu tried to prove tried to prove how professional communication can
affect employees' work-life balance which is also related to their well-being and success. The
result stated that the provision of professional communication strategies like face-to-face
communication may benefit organizations by increasing employee work-life balance rate where
employees can perform to the best of their potential and helps policymakers to frame

1Corresponding Author: [email protected]

Muhammad Bilal Asshogiri and Elly Yuliawati / Influence of Barriers to Organizational Communication on Employees’
Work-Life Balance

professional communication strategies to employees in achieving work-life balance (Joseph et al.,

2012).

But in 2020, there are a lot of organizations around the world that have been affected by the
Covid-19 pandemic, either directly or indirectly. The Covid-19 pandemic that spreads to all
countries in the world has also made significant changes in various aspects of human life,
including aspects of work and organization. The high number of Covid-19 cases worldwide has
made the World Health Organization (WHO) call for the implementation of policies to limit the
physical space of the community to reduce and stop the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In response to the WHO's instruction, the Indonesian government implemented the social
distancing policy to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in Indonesia. As the social distancing policy
was implemented in Indonesia, various companies and organizations in Indonesia applied for a
Work from Home (WFH) system to minimize the number of social contacts in the workplace
environment.

WFH altered how to communicate with other employees by fully using digital-based
communication media. The implementation of WFH does not mean that WFH can be implemented
easily and without any obstacles. The inequality of internet access and geographical conditions
were the biggest problems in implementing WFH (Chimote & Srivastava, 2013 as cited in Putri &
Irwansyah, 2020).

There are many disadvantages and impacts of the implementation of WFH for workers which are:
(1) the difficulties in coordination with colleagues for workers who are accustomed to a
conventional office atmosphere; (2) neat scheduling is needed for both working online and
regular meeting at the office; (3) working time seems to be limitless because there is no clear
boundary between working time and time outside of the work; (4) difficulties in adjusting to the
division of work and responsibilities; and (5) limited flexibility in working together because all
job responsibilities are carried out online (Mungkasa, 2020). Despite the disadvantages and
impacts of WFH for workers, the implementation of WFH is a must during the pandemic of Covid-
19.

WFH also forces companies and organizations in Indonesia to carry out digital-based
organizational communication with the various parties, inside and outside the organization.
Moreover, WFH is also impacting companies and organizations as well. The study Putri &
Irwansyah conducted stated that Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) is considered less
effective and efficient than face-to-face communication. CMC is the only way to communicate
during the implementation of the WFH policy by fully utilizing the internet, social media, emails,
etc.

Putri and Irwansyah (2020) stated that the usage of CMC is directly proportional to the decline in
employee productivity, job satisfaction, loyalty, and mental health. Therefore, it plays a significant
role during the implementation of the WFH policy and become one of the problem Indonesian
companies & organizations and even in whole world need to face.

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Figure 1. Employees’ quality life comparison before and after Covid-19 pandemic in Indonesia
Source: JobStreet Indonesia (2020)

JobStreet Indonesia published a report related to changes in the work situation in Indonesia.
Their findings stated that before the pandemic happened 74% of employees were very satisfied
with their quality of life, 18% of them were satisfied, and only 9% were dissatisfied. However,
their quality of life drastically decreased after the Covid-19 pandemic. The graph showed that
only 14% of employees were very satisfied with their quality of life, 24% of them were satisfied,
and there were 44% of them were very dissatisfied.

Although there is a limitation in organizational communication, employees still need to work

efficiently to reach organizational goals. Employees' satisfaction needs to be considered by the
companies that hired them even though the WFH policy is applied. Employees' satisfaction can
be shown as employees' work-life balance just like Joseph, Jayakar, and Babu's findings in which
employees can perform to the best of their potential when the work-life balance is achieved
(Joseph et al., 2012). If the situation of employees' work-life balance does not meet, it can lead the
condition in which there is an incompatibility between employees' personalization and the
repressive nature of the formal(Pace & Faules, 1994).

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Work-Life Balance

Figure 2. Employees working hours before and after Covid-19 pandemic

Source: Bloomberg (2021)

A survey conducted by NordVPN on February 2nd, 2021, stated that remote working results in
increased working hours in several countries such as Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France,
Italy, Netherlands, Spain, UK, and US. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the average working hours
of employees were between 8-9 hours per day, but after the Covid-19 pandemic, employees’
working hours increased by 1-2 hours per day up to 11 hours per day on several countries like
Canada, UK, and the US.

Work-life balance is closely related to working time, flexibility, welfare, family, demographics,
leisure time, quality of life, and so on. Disruption of work-life balance can have an impact on
disrupting the balance of time, engagement, and employee satisfaction, even the failure to achieve
a work-life balance can result in low job satisfaction, low happiness, work-life conflict, and stress
for employees (Bataineh, 2019; Greenhaus et al., 2003). Work-life balance also had a positive and
significant effect on organizational commitment (Hutagalung et al., 2020). That’s why work-life
balance is such an important topic to be concerned for any company in the world.

Based on the problem that has been described, this research investigates the influence of barriers
to organizational communication on employees’ work-life balance. The aim of this research is to
know how big barriers to organizational communication can influence employees’ work-life
balance.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1. Organizational Communication

Organization is considered as a complex network of communication habits, wherethe
organization is the factual structure and the collective communicative behaviors of the employees
make the organization (Mumby & Kuhn, 2019; Zito et al., 2021). Communication helps the
employee of the organization achieve both individual and organizational goals, implement and
respond to organizational changes, coordinate activities and virtually interact with all behaviors
relevant to the organization (Winarso, 2018). Messages shared within the organization can be
both vertical and horizontal, namely messages exchanged between people who hold a different
position within the organization or between people who occupy the same position. In both cases,
communication can be formal or informal (Zito et al., 2021).

2.2. Fusion Theory

Fusion theory was introduced by Bakke in 1950 and was perfected by Argyris in 1954. Fusion
theory saw an incompatibility between growth and development of the individual’s maturing
personality and the repressive nature of the formal organization (Argyris, 1954 as cited in Pace
and Faules, 1994).

The assumptions of fusion theory are: (1) there is a fundamental incompatibility between growth
and development of the individual’s maturing personality and the repressive nature of the formal

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organization; (2) organizations have goals that are contrary to the personal goals of individuals;
and (3) Adapting to the demands imposed by the organization is not easy and cannot be expected
to happen just like that.

Thus, the fusion process implies that the goals and aspirations of individuals and organizations
will change over time due to the pressures they receive when trying to balance their social status.
If there is no mutual adjustment, then individuals and organizations will not achieve the goals
that are mutually expected. Moreover, the responsibility of the organization is to match the
personal goals of every individual with the goals of the organization, and individuals within the
organization must be able to adapt to the formal requirements and demands of the organization.
Hence, the process of fusing the two different incompatibilities is called a fusion process.

2.3. Barriers to Organizational Communication

Wursanto (2005) stated that there are 3 kinds of barriers to organizational communications,
which are: (1) technical barrier, which is caused by technical factors such as the use of
communication media, inadequate facilities and infrastructures, and sending-and-receiving
signal; (2) semantic barrier, which is caused by the inability of a human to interpret the message,
such as language differences, cultural differences, and differences in perception; and (3)
behavioral barrier, which is caused by the attitude and behavior that have been internalized since
childhood, such as egocentricity, a priory judgment, and unwillingness to change. Barriers to the
use of digital communication media are what caused the limitations of organizational
communication in running WFH.

2.4. Work-Life Balance

Fisher (2002) stated that the concept of work-life balance can be seen based on the components
of time, behavior, tension, and energy balanced between the demands of roles in work and
personal life. Disruption of work-life balance can have an impact on disrupting the balance of time,
engagement, and employee satisfaction, even the failure to achieve a work-life balance can result
in low job satisfaction, low happiness, work-life conflict, and stress for employees (Bataineh, 2019;
Greenhaus et al., 2003).

Fisher, Bulger, and Smith suggested a measurement to quantify work-life balance, namely: (1)
work interference with personal life (WIPL); (2) personal life interference with work (PLIW); (3)
personal life enhancement of work (PLEW); and (4) work enhancement of personal life (WEPL)
(G. G. Fisher et al., 2009).

As PLEW and WEPL have a positive implication in enhancing work and personal life, this study
only uses WIPL and PLIW which have a negative implication as the dimension of this research.
This action is taken to measure how big the influence of barriers to organizational communication
on both work interference with personal life and personal life interference with work.

2.5. Employee
Employee is defined as one employed by another usually for wages or salary and in a position
below the executive level (Merriam-Webster, 2021). The context of employee in this research is
employees in Jakarta who work during Covid-19 pandemic and is working with Work from Home
(WFH) condition.

2.6. Work From Home

Work From Home (WFH) is defined as working arrangement in which a worker fulfils the
essential responsibilities of his/her job while remaining at home, using information and
communications technology (International Labour Office, 2020). Working from home is not new,
it happens even before industrial revolution (Australia Productivity Commission, 2021). The
context of WFH in this research is limited to the work system that is applied in Indonesia,
specifically in Jakarta, during the Covid-19 pandemic which forced Indonesian employee to work
from home to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

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Work-Life Balance

3. METHODOLOGY

The method used in this research is a survey research method by distributing questionnaires as
primary data collection tool using Google Form. The primary data was collected from September
17th - September 26th, 2021.

The data was collected using purposive sampling and the criteria of respondents are: (1) 16-64
years old; (2) working in Jakarta; (3) active as an employee, both civil servants and private
workers; and (4) working with the WFH system during the Covid-19 pandemic. The
questionnaire was tested on pre-sampling to find the validity and reliability using Pearson's
Product Moment and Cronbach's Alpha before the questionnaire was distributed entirely and the
questionnaire was passed the test.

The questionnaire was divided into five categories which are opening & general information,
respondent's data, Barriers to Organizational Communication as the variable X, Work-Life
Balance as the variable Y, and the closing.

Barriers to organizational communication is divided into 25 questions to measure as the variable

X and work-life balance is divided into 25 question to measure as the variable Y. With this case,
we can see the extent to which barriers to organizational communication influences on
employees' work-life balance. There were five possible answers that respondents can fill, which
are: strongly agree, agree, doubtful, disagree, and strongly disagree.

Mechanical analysis of data in this research uses linear regression of Barriers to Organizational
Communication as the independent variable (X) and Work-Life Balance as the dependent variable
(Y). Data measured by the Likert’s scale method to measure social phenomenon and is used to set
any answer from respondents by scoring on every answer to the questions.

All the questions which have been answered by the respondents was summed and computed to
know the value of each respondent and was used as variables to be assessed. The hypothesis test
will be conducted using ANOVA test to determine the result of F-value to be compared with F-
table. If F-value > F-table, then H0 will be rejected, H1 will be accepted, and if F-value < F-table,
then H0 will be accepted, H1 will be rejected.

4. RESULTS

The result of questionnaires collected from September 17th - September 26th, 2021, reached 233
respondents which eligible with the criteria this research asked. Respondents biodata can be seen
on the table below.

Table 1. Respondents Age Range

Age Range
No. Age Range Frequency %
1. 15-19 Years Old 2 0.9
2. 20-29 Years Old 66 29.6
3. 30-39 Years Old 92 41.3
4. 40-49 Years Old 29 13
5. 50-59 Years Old 27 12.1
6. 60-64 Years Old 7 3.1
Grand Total 223 100

Based on Table 1 above, the majority of the respondents are 30-39 years old whilst the least
respondents’ age range is 15-19 years old.

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Table 2. Respondents Work Domicile

Work Domicile
No. Domicile Frequency %
1. North Jakarta 12 5.4
2. East Jakarta 14 6.3
3. Central Jakarta 52 23.3
4. West Jakarta 28 12.6
5. South Jakarta 117 52.5
Grand Total 223 100

Based on Table 2 above, the majority of the respondents are currently working in South Jakarta,
whilst the least respondents are working in North Jakarta.

Table 3. Respondents Profession

Profession
No. Profession Frequency %
1. Private Sector Employee 140 62.8
2. State-owned Employee 14 6.3
3. Civil Servant 22 10
4. Nurse 1 0.4
5. Doctor 2 1
6. Teacher 6 2.7
7. Lecturer 7 3.1
8. Consultant 9 4
9. Lawyer 3 1.3
10. Translator 1 0.4
11. Industry 2 0.9
12. Freelance 4 1.8
13. Fashion Designer 1 0.4
14. Other Profession 11 4.9
Grand Total 223 100

Based on Table 3 above, the majority of respondents are currently working as a private sector
employee, whilst the least respondents are working as a nurse, translator, and fashion designer.

Table 4. Respondents Education

Education
No. Education Frequency %
1. Elementary School 1 0.4
2. Junior High School 0 0
3. Senior High School 21 9.4
4. Diploma 13 5.8
5. Bachelor 131 58.8
6. Master 49 22
7. Doctor 8 3.6
Grand Total 223 100

Based on Table 4 above, the majority of respondents are having a bachelor’s degree whilst the
least respondent is a graduate from elementary school.

The collected data then processed using IBM SPSS Statistics 26 to determine the result of
correlations test, regression test, and ANOVA test.

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Work-Life Balance

Table 5. Result of Correlations Test

Correlations
X Y
Barriers to Organizational Pearson Correlation 1 .672**
Communication (X) Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 233 233
Work-Life Balance (Y) Pearson Correlation .672** 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 233 233
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
Based on the table of correlation test, the correlations between Barriers to Organizational
Communication (X) and Work-Life Balance (Y) is as high as 0.672 According to Sugiyono (2012),
correlation have interval coefficient, namely: Very Low Correlation (0.00 ≤ r ≤ 0.19); Low
Correlation (0.20 ≤ r ≤ 0.39); Moderate Correlation (0.40 ≤ r ≤ 0.59); High Correlation (0.60 ≤ r ≤
0.79); and Very High Correlation (0.80 ≤ r ≤ 1.00). The relationship between barriers to
organizational communication as the variable X with work-life balance as the variable Y lies in
the region between 0.60 to 0.79, which means there is a high correlation. The value of 0.672 has
a positive value, therefore the correlation is a conjunction in a positive direction. This might imply
that the more barriers to organizational communication happen, the more employees' work-life
balance will be less balance.

Table 6. Result of Determination Coefficient Test (R Square)

Model Summary
Std. Error of the
Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Estimate
1 .672a .452 .450 14.658
a. Predictors: (Constant), Barriers to Organizational Communication

The method used in this research is a simple linear regression with Barriers to Organizational
Communication as variable X and Work-Life Balance as variable Y. The processed data is 233, the
result of the Summary R (correlation) is 0.672 which has a strong relationship between X and Y,
and the great R square value is 0.452 or 45.2%. This result means that 45.2% of employees' work-
life balance is influenced by the barriers to organizational communication, while the remaining
54.8% are influenced by other factors or relationships that are not listed in this research.

Table 7. ANOVA Result

ANOVAa
Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
1 Regression 40966.083 1 40966.083 190.67 .000b
5
Residual 49629.909 231 214.848
Total 90595.991 232
a. Dependent Variable: Work-Life Balance
b. Predictors: (Constant), Barriers to Organizational Communication

Table 8. Coefficient on Independent and Dependent Variable

Coefficientsa
Unstandardized Standardized
Model B Coefficients Std. Error Coefficients Beta
1 (Constant) 14.477 3.738 3.872 .000
X .882 .064 .672 13.808 .000
a. Dependent Variable: Work-Life Balance

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Based on the ANOVA test above, the result of the F-test is as high as 190.675 and the probability
value (sig) is 0.000. As the value of probability (sig) is lower than 0.05, then the equation of the
simple linear regression model is accepted. The result can be concluded that the simple linear
regression equation Y = a + bX is accountable. The result of the test stated the coefficient constant
value (a) = 14.477 and beta = 0.882.

With the influence of Barriers to Organizational Communication on employee’s Work-Life

Balance, the equation can be written as Y = 14.477 + 0.882X. This equation shows that if there is
an increase of 1 point in Barriers to Organizational Communication (X), the score of Work-Life
Balance (Y) will increase by 0.882.

The conclusion resulting from the F-test is as follows:

H0: β = 0 (there is no influence of barriers to organizational communication on employees’

work-life balance).

H1: β ≠ 0 (there is an influence of barriers to organizational communication on employees’

work-life balance).

The test criteria for H0 in testing the hypothesis is as written below:

(1) If F-value > F-table, then H0 will be rejected, H1 will be accepted, and if F-value <
F-table, then H0 will be accepted, H1 will be rejected.

As the result of the F-test is as high as 190.675 while the statistic of the F-distribution table with
α = 5% is 3.88, the test can be written as 190.675 > 3.88, and the decision is rejecting the H0 and
accepting the H1. The acceptance of H1 means that there is an influence of barriers to
organizational communication on employees’ work-life balance, moreover it has a significant
influence of barriers to organizational communication on employees' work-life balance.

5. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATION

This research investigates the influence of barriers to organizational communication on

employees’ work-life balance. The result of the correlation test shows that there is a high and
positive correlations between barriers to organizational communication and work-life balance.
This might imply that the more barriers to organizational communication happen, the more
employees' work-life balance will be less balance. The result of the determination coefficient test
shows that 45.2% of employees' work-life balance is influenced by the barriers to organizational
communication, while the remaining 54.8% are influenced by other factors or relationships that
are not listed in this research.

The result of the F-test on the ANOVA test is as high as 190.675 (higher than the F-table of α = 5%
is 3.88) and the probability value (sig) is 0.000. The equation can be written as Y = 14.477 +
0.882X and it shows that if there is an increase of 1 point in Barriers to Organizational
Communication (X), the score of Work-Life Balance (Y) will increase by 0.882. In line with the
hypothesis, this research proves that there is an influence of barriers to organizational
communication on employees’ work-life balance.

On the contrary with Joseph, Jayakar, and Babu’s studies (2012), this research shows the
otherwise. This research shows how technical, semantic, and behavioral barriers in
organizational communication can lead to the decrease of Jakarta's employee work-life balance.
The findings of similar studies also strengthen the dimension of barriers to organizational
communication as a variable. A study conducted by Aini, Harahap, and Ganiem (2021) stated that
semantic, structural, and behavioral barriers are the main cause of barriers to organizational
communication, while Gani (2014) stated that technical, semantic, and behavioral barriers are
the cause of barriers to organizational communication.

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Work-Life Balance

Internet connection seems to be one of the concerns in applying WFH in Jakarta, as it is one of the
technical barrier in applying organizational communication, that there are 25.6% of Jakarta’s
employees who is still frequently facing an internet connection problem while working WFH,
while 10.7% are sometimes facing an internet connection problem, and 63.6% are not frequently
facing an internet connection problem while working WFH. This findings is in line with
Rachmawati’s findings that at least 60% of the respondents revealed that they agree, internet
connection could be a constraint and that they could not focus on work during WFH (Rachmawati
et al., 2021).

The tendency of employees to work in the place it is supposed to also seems to be the concern in
this finding. 43,9% of Jakarta's employees are agreed that they feel more comfortable working in
their workplace rather than at home, 20,2% are feeling that both working in the office and home
can make them feel comfortable, while the rest of 35,9% disagree. This finding is contrary to a
survey conducted by Economic Times India which found that eight in 10 employees prefer
working from home (Sarkar, 2022). It hinted that unlike what happened in India, almost half of
Jakarta’s employees are preferring to work in professional-atmosphere situations such as in their
company's office, but it can also indicate that Jakarta’s employees start to get used to work from
home as WFH was applied for more than one and a half years in Jakarta due to the high percentage
of disagrees and neutral answers.

Work-life balance is closely related to working time, flexibility, welfare, family, demographics,
leisure time, quality of life, and so on. Disruption of work-life balance can have an impact on
disrupting the balance of time, engagement, and employee satisfaction, even the failure to achieve
a work-life balance can result in low job satisfaction, low happiness, work-life conflict, and stress
for employees (Bataineh, 2019; Greenhaus et al., 2003). Other findings from this research found
that 60.3% of employees work for more than the working hours their company decided, 29.9%
are working according to the number of working hours their company decided, and 9.8% are
neutral on their working hours. It indicates that Jakarta’s employees are working overtime almost
all the time in comparison to working from the office, because of that 35.5% of Jakarta’s
employees feel that their stress level is increasing during work from home, 16.7% are neutral,
and 47.9% disagree. This finding inferred that there is one-third of Jakarta’s employees are
stressed due to various reasons during WFH. There are also 50% of employees who are frequently
thinking about their family although they are working from home, 38,4% are not, and 11.5% are
neutral. It can be inferred that half of Jakarta’s employees do not feel at home although they are
working from home. This finding also can indicate that 35.5% of Jakarta’s employees’ level of
stress might be increasing because of this factor.

Fusion theory by Bakke and Argyris set a role as the grand theory in this research in which sees
an incompatibility between growth and development of the individual’s maturing personality and
the repressive nature of the formal organization. The incompatibility can be shown through the
company's goal which needs to be fulfilled and the decrease of employees' life quality during the
Covid-19 pandemic. Moreover, the use of digital-based communication during WFH policy is still
not comparable with face-to-face communication due to barriers like internet connection and
employees’ tendency to work in their workplace.

One of the defining features of an organization is that it coordinates the behaviors of its members
so that they can work collectively. But while coordination is a nice concept in theory, it is
surpisingly complicated to achieve, one of the principal factors that limits such coordination is
the tension between a human desire for autonomy and agency on the one hand, and
organizational efforts to shape the will of employees to serve its goals on the other (SAGE
Publishing Inc, 2019). The tension that happened is the fact that there is an incompatibility
between growth and development of the individual’s maturing personality and the repressive
nature of the formal organization in the modern workplace. Often the goals of the organization
do not match or even conflict with the goals of the employee's principles. In the end, employees
feel frustrated as a result of this discrepancy and have an impact on decisions that are detrimental

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to the company, such as leaving employees from the company, or there are employees who work
but lower work standards and turn into apathetic and indifferent (Sitepu, 2011). It is can be seen
through the Table 9 below.

Table 9. The Incompatibility Between Individual and Organization Goals

Tensions Between Employee Autonomy and Organization Control
Employee Goals Organization Goals
Maximizing Salary  Minimizing Costs
Job Stability  Organizational Flexibility & Change
Maximizing Leisure Time  Maxiziming Work Time
Behaving Spontaneously  Behaving Predictably
Asserting Individual Values  Asserting Collective Values
Developing Personal Relationships  Developing Professional Relationships
Creativity  Efficiency
Relaxing The Labor Process  Intensifying The Labor Process
Source: Sage Publishing, Inc. (2019)

This research provides new insight into the relationship between barriers to organizational
communication and work-life balance as this relationship has not been investigated before in the
previous research, as it is turn out has a strong relationship and 45.2% of employees' work-life
balance is influenced by the barriers to organizational communication. This research also
contributes a clearer understanding in explaining the fusion theory that is happened in the
modern workplace during the application of WFH policy in Jakarta that may cause incompatibility
between the lacking of effective organizational communication due to the barriers and
employees' work-life balance that may cause them in low job satisfaction, low happiness, work-
life conflict, and stress for employees.

During the process of investigating the influence of barriers to organizational communication on

employees’ work-life balance, the researcher is limited by the sample found which is only 233.
Further research is needed to investigate this relationship with a broader sum of samples, and
with a more even distribution of age ranges, work domicile, profession, and education.

6. CONCLUSION

This research aims to know how big barriers to organizational communication can influence
employees’ work-life balance. Based on the result and discussion of the influence of barriers to
organizational communication on employees’ work-life balance, the influence of Barriers to
Organizational Communication on Work-Life Balance is 45.2% and the remaining 54.8% are
influenced by other factors or relationships that are not listed in this research. As the result of the
F-test is as high as 190.675 while the statistic of the F-distribution table with α = 5% is 3.88, the
test can be written as 190.675 > 3.88, and the decision is rejecting the H0 and accepting the H1.
The acceptance of H1 means that there is an influence of barriers to organizational
communication on employees’ work-life balance, moreover it has a significant influence of
barriers to organizational communication on employees' work-life balance.

These findings may be taken into account when considering how to implement WFH with more
efficient policy as this result have implications directly to both employees and organizations. As
such in implementing working hours during WFH, the organization have to consider about the
condition of their employees which felt they work more than the working hours their company
decided. For future research, this paper recommends researchers to investigate expand the
research model by inserting the other impactful factors on work-life balance since the current
research model, work-life balance is influenced by barriers to organizational communication with
only 45.2%. There are remaining of 54.8% influential factors that are not investigated yet in this
research.

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Muhammad Bilal Asshogiri and Elly Yuliawati / Influence of Barriers to Organizational Communication on Employees’
Work-Life Balance

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