ABSTRACT
Recently, work-life balance has been of pervasive concern to both employers and employees, it is a very important tool while choosing a career. The major aim of this study is determine the factors influencing employee perceptions of work and life balance. Examining the relationship between work life balance and organization productivity. Determining the relationship between work flexibility and organizational productivity. Finding out the relationship between leave plan and organizational productivity. Examining the relationship between employee and their work performance in relation to their environment. The study adopted a descriptive survey design, with a sample size of 50 data collected were analyzed using simple percentages and tables and the hypothesis adopted were analyzed using Chi-square statistical method. The study concluded that work life balance is a veritable tool for any organization seeking to advance in all ramifications of their service delivery, the researcher recommended that leave plan, incentives and encouragements should be part of the work life balance so as to encourage the employee performance and boost their morale and that the presence of work life balance in an organization will boost organizational growth and development. Financial constraint, inadequate timing and attitude of respondents were listed as limitations of this study. The researcher also recommends more study on the factors of work life balance should be x-rayed in higher organizations.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title page i
Declaration
ii
Approval page iii
Certification iv
Dedication v
Acknowledgements vi
Table of Contents vii
List of Tables x
List of Figures xi
Abstract xii
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1
Background to the
study
1
1.2
Statement of Problem 5
1.3
Objective of the Study 5
1.4
Research question
6
1.5
Research Hypothesis 6
1.6
Significance of the Study 7
1.7
Scope of the study
8
CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
CONCEPTUAL
FRAMEWORK
2.1.1Concept of work-Life Balance 9
2.1.2 Components of Work-Life Balance 14
2.1.3Work-Life in the
Tourism Profession 15
2.1.4The Impact of Work-Life Imbalance on Employee's Life 16
2.1.5
Work-Life Balance Initiatives 19
2.1.6Benefits of
Work-Life Programs 27
2.1.7Challenges of
Work-Life Balance Policies 31
2.1.8 Employee
Performance 33
2.2 Theoretical Framework 35
2.2.1 Role Theory 35
2.2.2 Social Exchange Theory 36
2.2.3 Spill over Theory 38
2.3 Empirical Review 39
2.3.1 Employee Assistance Programmes and Employee
Commitment 39
2.3.2 Leave Policy and Job Satisfaction 40
2.3.3 Alternative Work Arrangements and
Productivity 42
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research
design 44
3.2 Source of Data 44
3.2.1 Instrument for Data Collection 44
3.3 Population
of the study 44
3.4 Sampling
Procedure and Technique 45
3.5 Reliability of Instrument 46
3.6 Validation of the Instrument 46
3.7 Method of Data Analysis 46
CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Introduction 48
4.2. Questionnaire Distribution Response Rate 48
4.3 Demographic Characteristics of
Respondents 48
4.4 Analysis of Questionnaire 50
4.5 Test of Hypothesis 53
4.5 Discussion of Findings 56
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
5.1 Conclusion 58
5.2Recommendation 58
5.3 Limitations of
Methodology 59
Suggestions for Further
Studies 59
References 60
Appendix 66
LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1: The
importance, personal and societal consequences of work-life imbalance 17
Table 4.1 Gender
of Respondents
48
Table 4.2 Age of
Respondents
49
Table 4.3 Years
of Experience of Respondents
49
Table 4.4 Mean Responses on the relationship
between work life
balance and organizational productivity 50
Table 4.5 Means
responses on the relationship between flexibility
and
organizational productivity. 51
Table 4.6 Mean
responses on the relationship between
leave plan and
organizational productivity.
52
Table 4.7 Mean responses on the relationship
between employee
and their work performance in relation to
their environment. 53
Table 4.8
Contingency table for Hypothesis 1 54
Table 4.9
Contingency table for Hypothesis 2 55
LIST OF FIGURE
Fig. 2.1 Benefits
of Work-life Balance Initiatives to Organizations 30
Fig. 2.2 Benefits of
Work-life Balance Initiatives to Employee 31
CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Work life balance which primarily
deals with employee’s ability to properly prioritize between work and his/her
life style, social life, health, family etc. is greatly linked with employee’s
productivity, performances and job satisfaction. Where there is proper balance
between work and life, employees tend to put in their best efforts to work
because they are happy and satisfied. It defined work life balance as
satisfaction and good functioning at work and at home with a minimum conflict
and it could be a condition of equilibrium where the demands of a personal work
equal that of the personal life (Clarke 2004).
A central characteristics of work
life balance is the amount of time a person spends at work to achieve a good
result and the longer working hours may harm personal health, endanger safety
and increase stress. Developing economy has higher challenges and labour market
pressures added to poor social infrastructures, poverty high, social amenities,
poor communication skills, unemployment and corruption (Kersley Barbara, Carmen
Apin, John Forth, Alex Brason, Helen Bewley, Gill Dixon, SarahOxenbridge 2005).
These condition of work of an average Nigerian worker and life of the Nigerian
which aims is to make a cognitive psychological coping behavior that stimulate
desirable satisfaction and effectual workers in Nigerian are affected by the
lack of work flexibility, elevated work pressures that desire the performance
and productivity of the work force. Inadequate work life balance is a problem
that poses a big risk to workers wellbeing, their performances as well as the
organizational performances (Lewis 2004). Many employees often have
difficulties, in attempting to balance employment responsibilities with their
social life. Given the benefit of work life balance practices and the potential
to help improve employee’s jobs performances in times of increased
organizational commitment, job satisfaction, reduction in turnover rate. Most
organization has introduced programs to assist the employees in achieving a
balance work life which include, flexible working hours, employee’s assistance
program and leave programmes. Most research studies have shown that when there
is a happy home, workplaces automatically become conflict free and enjoyable
places to be. Increasing attrition rates and increasing demand or work life
balance have forced organizations to look beyond the mere human resources
interventions. Unfortunately, the growing gap between work and social life is
intensifying, the problem of this current working situation are diverse and
reaching from clinically time pressure to decrease of birth rates and working
mothers. Despite the populating of work life balance, conflict as a topic of
academic and practitioner debate, and the mounting prevalence of work life
balance practices (aka family-supportive or family friendly policies) in
organization around the world (Kersley Atal, 2005), research on the
organizational effects of such practices is not well integrated.
Today work life balances have become
the subject of wide disciplines ranging from psychology, management of human’s
resources to organizational behavior. The reason or such interest is due to the
fact that almost everyone has a problem of work-life balance competing
multi-faced demands between work and home responsibilities have assume increase
relevance or employees in recent years, due to large part of demographic and work
place changes, such as, quarter numbers of women in the work force (dual career
couples), transformation in family structures (a rise in the number of single
parents), a growing reluctance to accept the longer hours culture and
technological advancements in respect to this changes and conflict they
generate among the multiple roles that individuals that occupy, organization
are increasingly pressured to designs various kinds of practices intended to
facilitate employees effort to fulfill both their employment’s related and
personal commitments, the way how work life balance can be achieved and
enhanced is an important issue to boost human resource (Hobson, Delunas and
Kesie 2007).
Employee
performance simply means how a member of staff fulfils his/her duties or their
roles, completes required task and behaves in the workplace. It helps employees
to reach their full potential while improving overall performance which can
leave positive effect on morale and quality of work produced.Employee
performance is one of the biggest contributions to business success. Employee
satisfaction affects employee performance, which also contributes to the
success of a company. Even though employee satisfaction differs from employee
to employee, the success of a company still lies in the hands of its employees.
Employees have the power to create and reinforce a company’s reputation, both
positively and negatively, because of this, it is important for companies to
keep their employees satisfied. Although many factors contribute to employee
performance and satisfaction, such as, managerial standards, motivation,
commitment, time spent at work, and employee evaluations, this study focused
specifically on how work and home-life balance effect hotel employee
satisfaction (Root, 2014). Keeping hotel employees satisfied is not always easy
since hotels are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; there are few 8-5
workdays, and few weekends off. They are open on holidays, special occasions,
on birthdays and anniversaries. Hotel employees are expected to work irregular
hours, long shifts, and carry heavy workloads (Deery and Jago, 2009). This
causes emotional exhaustion and results in lower levels of performance (Deery
and Jago, 2009). Demanding work can cause work stress to spillover to home,
which causes stress at home (Riordan, 2013). The stress from home is then
brought back to work eventually leading to poor work and home-life balance
(Karatepe, 2010). Job stress for hotel employees include salaried employees who
work constantly as well as hourly wage employees who work very few hours each.
In African patriarchal
society, the impact of work-life balance (WLB) on employees particularly women
is challenging. This may well be because women combine the very tasking
domestic duties with their paid work activities (Cross and Linehan, 2016). And
although both men and women are said to experience inter-role conflicts between
work and family domains, women typically assume more family responsibilities
than men (Pillinger, 2012). It is common knowledge that African patriarchal
system is essentially one of the major reasons women are subjected to serious
work stress as well as work-life imbalance that affects their motivation and
commitment to work; this in final analysis impinges on the productivity and
performance of African organizations (Aluko, 2009).
However, Clark (2004) defines
work-life balance as 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 non-work commitments (Abbott and De Cieri, 2008). Many
people find it difficult to manage their time in a way that is healthy for work
and for personal life not because they are poor at time management, but
basically because a good part of the time is not theirs (Glass and Finley,
2016). Work-life balance is a very important phenomenon that is of great
concern to various employees in both private and public sector. It goes beyond
prioritizing the work role and one’s personal life. It also affects the social,
psychological, economic and mental wellbeing of the individual. All these have
been reflected in the output of the individual, which affects his or her
performance in the work place on the long run (Oludayo and Gberevbie, 2015).
Work-life balance has implication on employee attitudes, behaviours, wellbeing
as well as organizational effectiveness (Lewis and Gambles, 2007).
Tourism
centers are information center providing visitors to a location with
information on the areas of attractions,lodging, maps and other items relevant
to tourism.
1.2
Statement of the Problem
There is a growing concern that the
quality of homes and workers life is declining and thereby causing poor workers
contribution and performances at workplaces. Studies have shown that when there
are happy homes, workplaces automatically become a conflict free and enjoyable
place to be. This has made most management of business organizations to look
beyond the mere attracting and maintaining activities of the human resources
management to embrace the concept of work life balance of their workers. This
is deliberately designed to improve employee job performances in terms of
increased organizational commitment, job satisfaction and reduction in the rate
of employee turnover. It is also believed that organizations introduce these
programs to enhance applicability of work life balance that will in turn assist
employee in achieving a conducive working condition which includes flexible
working hours, employee assistance programs and leave programs. It is against
this background that this study is designed to evaluate the impact of work life
balance in an organization productivity and how Nigerian workers cope with adverse
working conditions in their various domain.
1.3
Objective of the Study
The
purpose of this study was to investigate the factors influencing employee
perceptions of work and home-life balance, and to determine whether the
regional locations of the work influence those perceptions.
The findings of this study can be
beneficial to both tourism employers as well as tourism employees.
The main objective of this study is
to examine the relationship between work-life balance and its effect in
productivity other specific objective of the study include;
i.
Examining the relationship between work life balance and organization
productivity.
ii.
Determining the relationship between work flexibility and organizational
productivity.
iii. Finding out the relationship
between leave plan and organizational productivity.
iv.
Examining the relationship between employee and their work performance in
relation to their environment.
1.4
Research Questions
i.
How does work life balance influence organizational productivity?
ii.
How does work flexibility affect organizational productivity?
iii. How does leave plan affect
organization productivity?
iv. What is the relationship between
employees and their performance in relation to the environment?
1.5
Research Hypothesis
The following hypotheses will be
adopted to guide the process of the research findings:
HO1: There is no significant
relationship between employee work life balance and employee productivity.
HO2: There is no relationship
between time management and organization productivity.
HO3: There is no significant
relationship between employee work flexibility and organizational productivity
in tourism centers.
HO4: There is no significant
relationship between effective organisational leave plan and organizational
productivity in tourism centers.
1.6
Significance of the Study
Corporate bodies: this is an
organization or group of person that is identified by a particular name and
acts as an entity.
Hospitality Firms: is a broad
category of fields within the service industry that offers services which
includes; lodging, food and drink service, event planning, theme parks, travel
and tourism agencies, restaurant and bars.
Employees: is someone who gets paid
for work done for a person or company or an organization
Managers: A person responsible for
controlling or administering an organization or group of staff. Their main
function includes; planning, organizing, leading and controlling
Tourism
Centers: Tourism centers are information center providing visitors to a
location with information on the areas of attractions,lodging, maps and other
items relevant to tourism.
Society: its aggregate of people
living together in a more or less ordered community. A group of people involved
with each other through persistent relations and sharing the same geographical
territory.
1.7 Scope of the Study
The content scope of the study
includes the following:
Dimensions time management, work
flexibility and leave plan, measured by effectiveness and efficiency. Thus,
work life balance leads to improve the job performance by improving the
employee loyalty, satisfaction, commitment, organizational citizenship behavior
and productivity as well as reducing employee turnover and absenteeism.
The
geographical scope is limited to only tourism centers in Port Harcourt, Rivers
State. They include; Pleasure Park in Port Harcourt and Port Harcourt Zoo.
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