Hi Rajguru,
The term work-life balance was coined somewhere in the 60s or 70s. Before that, no one had even heard of the concept. The reason is quite simple - men were the sole breadwinners of the family while women took care of the household. This trend continued from the beginning of the industrial revolution until the time women entered the workforce.
Initially, women were hired until they got married or had children. However, with education and policy changes, women began to take higher positions in offices. With this change came the need for work-life balance. Men didn't need to take up household responsibilities if they were working, but women "couldn't" give up their household duties like cooking, cleaning, and raising children, even though they worked the same number of hours as men did.
All this added to a lot of stress, which affected performance at work. The term work-life balance emerged from the need to manage and excel at work without sacrificing joy or personal life.
Then men realized that they, too, need to "live" their lives. Whether it means watching a game with their buddies, watching their children perform in a school play, or vacationing in the Maldives, men also realized that they can't wait until retirement to enjoy the fruits of their efforts.
Scientists played the final note through various studies that proved both men and women, young and old, performed consistently better at work when they had a healthy personal life.
The point of mentioning all this is for one to realize that every manager wants to push the employee to their maximum potential. The employee is hired to do exactly that. The responsibility lies on the employee to manage their work-life balance. For instance, there was a case where a woman had gone on maternity leave, and a man in the same firm wanted time off for yoga. Who is the manager to decide that yoga is or isn't as important as having a child? The final decision should be based on performance. If the woman has performed well, she deserves the leave. If she is a poor performer, she might need to be let go. The same applies to the man. If he has performed well, he deserves a break; if his performance is poor, he may be denied the break or asked to leave.
Hope this helps.
Avinash Tavares