EFFECT OF WORK LIFE BALANCE ON EMPLOYEES PERFORMANCE IN SELECTED DEPOSIT MONEY BANKS IN DELTA STATE, NIGERIA.
ABSRACT
This study investigated work-life balance and employees’ performance in some selected commercial banks in Delta States, Nigeria. The correlational type of survey research design was adopted and the study’s population comprised all the employees of commercial banks with presence in Delta States out of which seven were selected. 323 employees from the seven selected banks with branches in Abraka, Delta State formed the study’s sample. This research was successfully carried out and completed with the aid of a self-structured questionnaire. 323 copies were personally administered by the researcher to the target respondents and 229 copies were properly filled, scored, and found usable for analysis. The simple percentage, frequencies, charts, mean and standard deviation were used in presenting the respondents’ data on the research items while the Pearson Correlation was adopted for testing the formulated hypotheses. It was discovered that the work leave initiatives practiced among the banks concerns maternity, marriage; annual type, and sick leave. It was also found out that the extent to which the employees give and receive informal support at the workplace is high but the extent to which flexible work arrangements are adopted and wellness programs are organized was low. However, the results of the tested hypotheses indicated that no significant correlation exists between work leave initiatives, informal support practice, and employee performance while a statistically significant relationship was found between flexible work arrangements, wellness programs and employee performance. The researcher drew conclusions from these findings and recommended that adequate wellness schemes such as health insurance (HIS) should be set up by the management of commercial banks for every worker and little deductions be taken monthly from their remunerations in order to ensure that employees’ health are constantly monitored and checkmated by them.
Keywords: Work-Life, Balance Practices, Delta States, Health Insurance, Employees’ Performance.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE - - - - - - - ii
DECLARATION - - - - - - - - iii
CERTIFICATION - - - - - - - - iv
DEDICATION - - - - - - - - v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS - - - - - - vi
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study - - - - - 1
1.2 Statement of Problem - - - - - - 8
1.3 Objective of the Study - - - - - - 10
1.4 Research Questions- - - - - - - 11
1.5 Statement of the Hypothesis - - - - - 12
1.6 Significance of Study - - - - - - 13
1.7 Scope of the Study - - - - - - 14
1.8 Definition of Key Terms - - - - - 15
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction - - - - - - - - 18
2.2 Conceptual Framework - - - - - - 33
2.3 Theoretical Framework - - - - - - 45
2.4 Empirical Review - - - - - - - 50
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research Design - - - - - - 56
3.2 Population of the Study - - - - - - 57
3.3 Sample Size - - - - - - - - 57
3.4Sampling Technique - - - - - - 58
3.5 Method of Data Collection - - - - - 58
3.6 Technique for Data Analysis - - - - - 59
3.7 Model Specification and Variable Definition - - 59
3.8 Measurement of Variables - - - - - 59
CHAPTER FOUR: PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA
4.1 Presentation of Data - - - - - - 60
4.2 Discussion of Findings - - - - - - 79
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Summary - - - - - - - - 80
5.2 Conclusion - - - - - - - 80
5.3 Recommendations - - - - - - - 93
References - - - - - - - - 95
Appendix - - - - - - - - 98
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Work-life balance (WLB) has always been a concern of those interested in the quality of working life and its relation to broader quality of life. Yet work-life balance has come to the fore in contemporary debates largely because in developing societies the excessive demands of work are perceived to present a distinctive issue that needs to be addressed (Okeke, Chinedu & Umeakuana, 2022). Many developing nations are poor and working women are the receiving end (Adejumo & Olowookere, 2017). The rate of change in the socio-economic landscape has largely redefined the nature of work and the workplace. The expectations of employees from their jobs have gone beyond meeting their daily survival needs, as the desire for balance between work and non-work obligations have taken the lead. Meaningful employment therefore helps to support one self and others; this will enable employees to derive a high sense of self-worth from doing a job very well, particularly in the banking industry (Okeke, et al, 2022).
The importance of work is a very crucial activity in human lives since it defines the identity of individuals and what they stand for in any society (Budd, 2017). As noted by State Service Commission (2015), work-life balance initiatives in organizations is concerned with employees’ interaction between paid and unpaid work activities, leisure and personal development. This will make organizations to create a productive work culture where traces of work-life conflict are minimized and effectively controlled. Similarly, work-life balance is attained where there are shared benefits for employees and the organization (Mesimo-Ogunsanya, 2017). It is about helping employees to maintain healthy, rewarding lifestyles that will in turn lead to improvements in performance. Driving the work-life balance practice has become a joint responsibility between employer and employee. It is no longer a role that resides within the human resource department as all line managers are responsible for seeing to the balance of their staff (Okeke, et al, 2022).
In recent time, there has been an upsurge in the thought of the pressing factors that work has on family as well as life of employees. In surroundings where there is excessive level of competitive pressures stemming largely from efforts to deliver best quality services, the weight of this on employees are big, which has lead to massive job stress. Work is normally thought about as a component of ways of life, however isolated by certain physical, mental and fleeting limits; the two ideas are operationalized inside a similar setting of existence. The idea of work itself has transformed from the all day undertaking to a 24-hour, 7-day society, where clients anticipate services on occasion that suit them (Mmakwe and Ojiabo, 2018).
WLB is an essential fundamental and significant issue in the present organizations. It is an area of growing importance to both employees and the employers. Rivalry in the cutting edge commercial center is presently more extreme than any other time. Focal in this difficult and undulating advancement are the workers of the business who should be accessible at the right time to do the right jobs for the organization to remain in business. The subsequent changes in the business climate have constrained representatives to expand their usefulness and thus request adaptability in the work they perform. It is in this light that work-life balance has become an arising phenomenon in research (Akpa, Egbuta, Akinlabi and Magaji, 2019).
WLB as an area of examination is getting more pervasive as the labour force keeps on evolving. This developing interest in WLB has been driven by segment changes in the labor force and by perceiving that WLB issues are exceptionally important for individuals and people generally There has been a consistent expansion in double worker couples, single parent families, and representatives who have elderly care responsibilities. Pressing factors and stress from work and family can contrarily affect employees and how well they perform. Be that as it may, equilibrium in work and everyday life can improve both the performance and quality of life of employees in organizations (Akpa, Egbuta, Akinlabi and Magaji, 2019).
WLB; clarify the idea as the capacity to fulfill three fundamental areas of life for example work, family and individual. The requests of work space of life were the functioning hours, work intensity and the extent of working hours really spent in work (Ansari, Kiran, Baloch and Bukhari, 2015). He posited that family makes demands based on the roles of people as father, mother, wife etc, family commitments like children upbringing, taking care of the senior family members and related house chores etc. Nevertheless, if awareness programs come to life, best blend of WLB practices could have an incredible beneficial outcome on the nature of worker's life (Ansari, Kiran, Baloch and Bukhari, 2015).
WLB is a vital phenomenon that is of incredible worry to different workers in both private and public area. It goes beyond focusing on the work job and one's very own life. It likewise influences the social, mental, affordable and mental prosperity of the person. All these is been reflected in the yield of the person, which influences their performance in the work place on the long run. Work life balance has implication on worker perspectives, practices, prosperity just as organizational effectiveness (Orogbu, Onyeizugbe and Chukwuemeke, 2015). The drive for competitive advantage in the banking sector, may lead to bank managers giving their employees excessive work load in order to meet up with their target. Employees try their best to be retained in the organization by putting in more time at work which may be at detriment of their personal life. All these may affect the upbringing of children, lead to broken and unhappy homes and poor social life (Orogbu, Onyeizugbe & Chukwuemeke, 2015).
The Nigerian banking sector is known for its long hour culture, and high work load of employees. They are most likely to be faced with issue of work life balance, due to the nature of the work environment. Policies are been made regarding work life balance, but its implementation has become an issue that needs to be looked into. Ensuring effective delivery of service to customers may be achieved by the ability of the management of these banks to maintain policies that promote work life balance (Orogbu, Onyeizugbe & Chukwuemeke, 2015).The reform in the banking sector made it mandatory for DMBs to have a minimum of 25 billion naira capital base to continue their operations. Consequently, commercial banks had to go into strategic alliance with other banks, by merger and acquisition. All these have lead to managers having higher expectation of employees’ performance. It is most likely that there will be a misplacement of priority of interest by the employees trying to meet up with the target of the banks, which may affect their personal life. Hence, the study of work life balance and employee performance is imperative(Uzoechi & Babatunde, 2019).
Moreover, employees don't show interest in working in external regions beyond their old neighborhood to take out the work-life struggle. Organizations endeavour to embrace WLB practices, for example, flexitime, tele-working and so forth to improve the employee performance. Innovation improvement likewise supports to change the idea of work and gave freedoms to work from different areas, including the home (Epie, 2017). WLB is the act of giving drives intended to make a more adaptable, strong workplace, empowering employees to zero in on work errands while at work. In light of the above contention it is feasible to improve the worker work execution of employees through upgrading their work-life balance (Thervanes and Mangaleswaran, 2018).
WLB has become a more and more prevalent concern to both employers and employees of most organizations. Most recently, there has been an increase in the thought about the significance that work has on family as well as life of employees. Thus the situation has stimulated much study on work-life of individuals in the workplace, especially in today’s global business environment, where there is a blur between work roles and personal roles. Work is no longer restricted to the office space due to advancements in technology, coupled with high level of competition originating largely from efforts to deliver excellent service, thus the encumbrance of work on an employee’s personal life is usually enormous (Uzoechi & Babatunde, 2019).
Therefore, achieving work-life balance in this era of fast pace globalization and competitiveness as well as creating a balance between professional and personal life is a challenge for most individuals in the workplace (Sivatte, Gordon, Rojo, & Olmos, 2017). In the Nigerian context, the encumbrance of work roles on employee family roles is further heightened by demographic changes, an increase in the number of women in the workforce, dual career couples, a rise in the number of single parents, and employees’ growing reluctance to accept long hours of work culture (Ogechi & Nwaeke, 2019). Nigerian employees are thus faced with the challenge of prioritizing between work and non-work roles, which results in work-family imbalance. Consequently, there is increased level of stress in employees, rising rate of drug abuse, decreased productivity, increased rate of turnover and absenteeism, decreased level of job satisfaction, etc. which influence employee performance (Mmakwe & Ojiabo, 2018). In lieu of the foregoing, this paper examines the relationship between work-life balance and employee performance of selected deposit money bank in Delta State, Nigeria.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The pressure of work, for those in the workplace has been escalating over the latest decades. Factors such as the advances in information technology, information load, the need for speedy response, the importance attached to the quality of customer service and its implication for constant availability and the pace of change, all demand our time, and can be sources of pressure. In Nigeria today, the decline of the traditional family, and increase in dual-career couples, and a rise in the number of single parents mean that employees are juggling more responsibilities outside work. Work-life balance has started giving organizations and homes concern due to its importance; it has effects on various sectors and on the employees which eventually affect the organizations.
In the Nigerian context, the encumbrance of work roleson employee family roles is further heightened bydemographic changes, an increase in the number of womenin the workforce, dual career couples, a growth in the proportion of single parents and a growing resistance among employees to the long hours at work culture. Work-family imbalance occurs from Nigerian employees having to prioritise between work and non-work responsibilities. Employee performance is affected by factors such as higher stress levels, rising drug addiction rates, decreasing productivity, rising absenteeism and turnover rates, lower job satisfaction, etc.
Additionally, the bank has a negative organizational culture at work, which includes buying employees' paid time off, giving them unfavourable leave durations, and failing to maintain leave policies in employment contracts. All of these could result in overburdened workloads, which would affect the person in many ways. These problems affect the employee's psychological and emotional wellbeing, and the actions taken to address them may lower employee performance through subpar service delivery and health-related problems. When WLB incentives like leave entitlement, flex time, and family and welfare policies are not upheld by the management of these banks, it may also negatively affect employee performance. These may lead some bankers to work round the clock with little attention to themselves and their families, which may result to broken home and poor parental upbringing; this may demoralize them and in turn discourage them to be zealous in their service delivery to customers.
In this scenario, many researchers found out that there are interactions between family life and work life and have conducted number of researches on work-family balance in the recent past (Akpa, Egbuta, Akinlabi and Magaji, 2019; Ogar and Amanze, 2019; Goyal & Babel, 2015 etc.). However, there is only little research that has been focused on the relationship between WLB and EMP of banks in Nigeria.
Based on this premise, this study will examines the relationship between WLB and EMP in selected DMBs in Asaba, Delta State, Nigeria. Considering above evidences, this study would sought to fill the dearth in literature in connection with the impact of WLB on EMP in selected DMBs in Nigeria.
1.3 Research Questions
1. To what extent willFlexi-time Schedules affect Employees Performance in the Nigerian Banking Industry?
2. To what extent will Family Leave Programs affect Employees Performance in the Nigerian Banking Industry?
3. To what extent will Child Care Facilities affect Employees Performance in the Nigerian Banking Industry?
4. To what extent will Job Sharing affect Employees Performance in the Nigerian Banking Industry?
1.4 Objectives of the Study
The main objective of the study will be to examine the effect of Work Life Balance on Employees Performance in selected deposit money banks in Nigeria. But the specific objectives will be:
1. To ascertain the impact of Flexi-time Schedules on Employees Performance in selected DMBs in Delta State, Nigeria.
2. To examine the impact of Family Leave Programs on Employees Performance in selected DMBs in Delta State, Nigeria.
3. To explore the impact of Child Care Facilities on Employees Performance in selected DMBs in Delta State, Nigeria.
4. To investigate the impact of Job Sharing on Employees Performance in selected DMBs in Delta State, Nigeria.
1.5 Research Hypotheses
1. H01: There will be no significance relationship between Flexi-time Schedules and Employees in Performance in selected DMBs in Delta State, Nigeria.
2. H02: There will be no significance relationship between Family Leave Programs and Employees Performance in selected DMBs in Delta State, Nigeria.
3. HO3: There will be no significance relationship between Child Care Facilities and Employees Performance in selected DMBs in Delta State, Nigeria.
4. H04: There will be no significance relationship between Job Sharing and Employees Performance in selected DMBs in Delta State, Nigeria.
1.6Significance of the Study
The findings of this study on how WLB might improve EMP are of significant use to a variety of financial institutions that are part of the banking industry.
1. The outcomes of this study project were utilised by policy and strategic decision makers in Nigeria in order to gain a better understanding of the degree to which WLB can improve EMP.
2. The findings may further aid stakeholders such as suppliers, procurement officers and human resource officers, finance officers and heads of department on how to attach performance onto the choice on WLB, knowing that WLB has a direct correlation on EMP.
3. The findings may benefit stakeholders such as suppliers, procurement officers and human resource officers, finance officers and heads of department.
3. This study contributes to expanding the current body of knowledge by shedding light on the ways in which WLB helps to improve EMP in the banking industry in Nigeria.
4. To conclude, the research will be helpful to students, teachers, researchers, and the most important people working in the field of management; all of these groups will find the information presented in this work to be very useful.
1.6 Scope of the Study
The scope of the study will be discuss under the following sub-headings; Geographic Scope, Content Scope, Variable Scope, Time Scope and Unit Scope, were discuss below;
Geographic Scope: The will bey focused on the banks in Delta State, but specifically on First Bank, UBA, Ecobank and Zenith Bank Plc branches in Asaba, Warri and Sapele, all in Delta State.
Content Scope: This study will examinethe study examined the effect of Work Life Balance on Employees Performance in selected DMBs in Nigeria
Variable Scope: The study will be focus on measures of Work Life Balance [Flexi-time Schedules (FTS), Family Leave Programs (FLP), Child Care Facilities (CCF) and Job Sharing (JS)] independent variables on Employee Performance (EMP) as the dependent variable.
Unit Scope: This research work was carried out in Delta State. The sampling object that was used for this study comprises of the employees, supervisors and top managers of the branches of the banks in Asaba, Delta State Nigeria. The responses of sampling object were collected with aid of 5-Likert Scale structure questionnaires based on the measurement variables of the study.
1.8 Definition of Major Terms
1. Work-life balance (WLB): Is the effective management of several duties at work, at home, and within the various aspects of life. WLB refers to the effective management of multiple responsibilities at work, at home, and within the various aspects of life. In addition, the concept of "work-life balance" has been defined as a state of harmony in which the requirements of an individual's professional life and their personal life are comparable to one another.
2. Flexi-time Schedules: This coincides with adopting flexibility in the dominating monotonous working practises that are already in place. Flexi-time schedules allow for more variety in the ways that people spend their time at work.
2. Programmes for Leaves Taken for Families: The number of hours or days that employees of an organisation are permitted to be absent from their place of business within a given time frame without incurring any negative repercussions is referred to as leave. This time off is compensated for by the company, and employees have the right to request it under any circumstances in which they feel it would be appropriate for them to be away from work. In addition to this, it allows workers the ability to de-stress and maintain a healthy balance between the demands of their jobs and the responsibilities they have at home with their families.
3. Facilities for Child Care: The employees have expressed a desire to have some facilities that will reduce the number of rushed hours in their schedules and will have a significant impact on both their professional and personal lives. Additionally, the institutions that care for children constitute the most important component of those facilities.
4. Job Sharing: Job sharing refers to a practise in which at least two workers from different companies collaborate to perform the duties of a single full-time position. In this work, the employees share both the workload and the responsibilities that come with it. They also offer their working time.
5. Performance of Employees: An organization's performance can be defined as its actual output or results assessed against its expected outputs (also known as goals and objectives).
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