WORK LIFE BALANCE AND EMPLOYEES’ PERFORMANCE

ABSTRACT

Work Life Balance is the working arrangements that make sure an employee balances between personal and work responsibilities. Poor Work Life Balance is a major risk that poses risks to the well-being of the employees, their performance, and organizational performance. Most of the employees often find it challenging to balance their social life and employment responsibilities. The study sought to examine the relationship between work- life-balance and performance of Guaranty Trust Bank Nig. Plc employees. The objectives of the study were to establish the effect of leave policy on the performance of employees; to examine effect of flexible working arrangements on the performance of Employees; to investigate the effect of welfare policies on the performance of employees and to examine the effect of family responsibilities on the performance of employees of Guaranty Trust Bank Nig. Plc. The study was anchored on the spill over theory and the role theory. The findings of the research would be helpful to the HR managers, government policy makers and scholars and students of HRM. The study adopted an explanatory research design and a descriptive research design. The targeted population was the 207 employees who work in the ministry of finance and economic planning of Guaranty Trust Bank Nig. Plc. They comprised of top level management, middle-level management, and the subordinate staff. The researcher adopted a stratified sampling and simple random sampling to get a representative sample for the research. The sample size was 25% of the target population; that is, 53 employees, 4 from the top management, 11 from middle-level management and 38 from the subordinate staff. The study used a semi -structured questionnaires with both closed-ended and open-ended questions to collect data from the sample. A drop and pick method was employed to administer the questionnaires to the respondents, but they were pre-tested for reliability and validity before being administered to the respondents. The collected data was analyzed and presented using SPSS. Descriptive statistics like frequency distribution was used to analyze the data. The presentation of the data was done using frequency tables, pie charts and bar graphs. Moreover, a correlation and multiple regression analysis to determine the correlation between WLB and employee’s performance were conducted. The findings of the study indicated that there is a negative correlation between leave policy and employees’ performance as well as between welfare policies and employees’ performances. Therefore, it was concluded that the presence of welfare and leave policies is crucial; it does not affect performance, but the lack of it may cause a decline in performance. On the other hand, flexible work arrangements and family policies were found to be positively correlated to employees’ performance. The researcher recommended more flexible work arrangements be made available to all employees as long as it won’t compromise on performance. More welfare service such as a professional counselor, recreational facilities, and childcare services should be made available for all employees. Moreover, the county government should consider establishing family holiday where employees and their dependents would be shown a sort of appreciation. This would not only help the employees to reduce work-related stress but would also be motivated to perform better at work. Finally, further research should be conducted in other county governments and over the years to confirm the findings of this study.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

Life is a set of pursuits. No one can achieve a fulfilling and promising life without family, health, wealth, career, social obligations, intellectual satisfaction and spiritual enlightenment. To maintain the wheel of life moving, striking the balance is imperative. Work life balance means the harmonious and holistic integration of work and non-work so that people can achieve their potential across the domains in which they live (Kar, 2013).

Work Life Balance (WLB) is an area of increasing importance to both employees who need to balance work and non-work roles and to organisations seeking to improve their organisational effectiveness or competitive advantage (Gregory and Milner 2009). This growing interest in work-life balance has been driven by demographic changes in the workforce and by increasing recognition that work-life issues are highly salient for every employees (Spector e t al., 2004).

Employees experience more conflict between work and personal life as they continue to pursue the quality of life that they need (Casper, Avadhesh and Diwinder, 2011). Thus, successfully balancing work and family life is one of the major challenges facing current individual workers. Historically, work-life balance issues have been considered personal issues (Emslie and Hunt, 2009), and employers tend to perceive their employees’ needs such as childcare service and paid maternity leave as additional costs to the orgnisational. However, with environmental shifts and value changes of employees, employees’ desire for work-life balance has increased and employers have begun to offer more active support of their employees’ work-life balance in the developed economies (Thornthwaite, 2004). Thus, organizational efforts for ensuring employees’ work-life balance are needed and valued more than ever.

Many researchers have generally agreed on the important role of work-life balance as it is related with an employee’s psychological well-being and overall sense of harmony in life, which is an indicator of balance between the workplace role and the role in family (Clark, 2000). According to Clark (2009) work-life balance is the contentment and good functioning at work and at home with negligible role conflicts. Work-life balance is about finding the right balance between one‘s work and one‘s life (outside work) and about feeling comfortable with both work and nonwork commitments.

A central characteristic of work-life balance is the amount of time a person spends at work. There are indications that long work hours may harm personal health, endanger safety and increase stress. Developing economies like Nigeria are faced with serious economic challenges and labour market pressures added to poor social infrastructures, poverty, high unemployment and corruption. These conditions further exacerbate the work and life of the average Nigerian worker whose aim is to make a living and who may have to arduously build up accommodating arrangements and cognitive psychological coping behaviours that stimulate desirable satisfaction and effectual functioning both at work and at home. Most workers in Nigeria are affected by lack of work flexibility, elevated work pressures and long working hours; a situation that decreases their job performance (Fapohunda, 2014).

Cegarra-Leiva, Sánchez-Vidal and Cegarra-Navarro (2012), Ojo, Salau and Falola (2014), Fapohunda (2014) have all posited that work life balance practice enhances employees and organizational performance. But whether work life balance and organizational performance are negatively or positively related is an empirical fact that the present study anticipates to reveal. Thus, this study will critically investigate the relationship between work life balance and employees performance with a special reference to Guaranty Trust Bank Nig. Plc.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Inadequate work life balance is a problem that poses a big risk to workers well being, their performance as well as the organizational performance. Many employees often have difficulties in attempting to balance employment responsibilities with their social life. The challenges of integrating work and family life is a part of everyday reality for majority of workforce.

Employees work hard to strike a balance to fulfill the demands of the working life and meeting the commitments of family life. Those who fail to do so either quit the organization thereby increasing the rate of attrition or become less productive.

Research on Work Life Balance (WLB) has greatly advanced in western countries (Ozbilgin, Beauregard, Tatli and Bell, 2011) however this cannot be said for developing economies like Nigeria where little is known about WLB practices, both in structural and cultural forms, and of course an obvious paucity of empirical studies in this area.Hence, the need for this study is timely and sacrosanct.

Owing to the high level of unemployment that has plagued the Nigerian labour market,organizations and employers of labour mostly in the private sector have taken advantage of this menace by always demanding unattainable and unrealistic results from their employees without any concerns for employees social-family wellbeing. This has led to broken homes, job dissatisfactionand sub-optimal commitment and employees’ performance. Therefore, this study will investigate thelink between Work Life Balance and Employees Performance in Guaranty Trust Bank Nig. Plc.

1.3 Objectives of the Study

The major aim of this research study will be to assess the link between Work Life Balance Practices and employees’ Performance. While other specific objectives of the study are:

i. To examine the link between work life balance and employees’ performance.

ii. To determine the effect of work life balance on employees’ commitment.

iii. To find out the link between work life balance strategy and employees’ job satisfaction.

1.4 Research Questions

This study will be guided be the following research questions:

i. Is there any link between work life balance and employees’ job performance?

ii. What is the impact of work life balance on employees’ commitment?

iii. Is work life balance strategy a significant predictor of employees’ job satisfaction?

1.5 Significance of the study

The outcome of the project is significant to different groups in Nigeria as well as in other nations where WLB initiatives have not been embraced. The HR managers are among the beneficiaries since the research project shed light to them about the importance of integrating WLB in their strategic plans. The policy makers in organizations will also find the research findings significant as it will provide relevant information about WLB and its effects on employee performance. In particular, the Government policy maker on matters of employment will find the research findings important as it may inform their input in the Employment Act. Besides the scholars and students pursuing Human Resource Management (HRM) who may be interesting in researching WLB and employees’ performance will find the research significant.

1.6 Scope of the Study

There are forty-seven county governments in Nigeria as established by the 2010 constitution. However, the research focused on the employees working in GTBank of Guaranty Trust Bank Nig. Plc. The study investigated the relationship that exists between WLB and the performance of employees of Gtbank. The study was conducted between February to May 2024.

1.7. Limitation of the study

The researcher was faced by the following limitations during the study. First, accessing the respondents who work in GTBank, which is one of the sensitive departments in any government, was not easy. To mitigate this, the researcher first sought an introduction letter from University of Lagos and a research permit from the relevant authority. It was also be difficulty to know how honest the respondents were in their responses. However, the researcher mitigated this by testing the reliability and viability of the research instruments to ensure they met the required standard.

1.8 Organization of the study

This study has been organized into five chapters. The first chapter presents the concept of work-life balance. It contains the background of the study; statement of the problem; the research objectives; research hypothesis; significance of the study; scope of the study; and limitation of the study. Chapter two contains literature review on work-life balance and employees’ performance. It covers the theoretical reviews specifically discussing spillover theory and the role theory. The empirical review is also presented in this chapter with a specific focus on variables such as leave policies, flexible work arrangements, welfare policies, and family responsibilities and the way they influence employees’ performance. Finally, in chapter two, the summary of the literature and conceptual framework is presented. In chapter three, the research methodology used to conduct the study and comprise of research design; target population, sample, and sampling design; data collection instruments; data collection procedures; data analysis and presentation as well as ethical consideration. Chapter four present and analyze data, and chapter five comprise of the summary of findings, conclusions, and recommendations.

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Item Type: Project Material  |  Size: 78 pages  |  Chapters: 1-5

Format: MS Word  |  Delivery: Within 30Mins.

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