WORK-LIFE BALANCE AND ITS EFFECT ON EMPLOYEE PRODUCTIVITY (A CASE STUDY OF MERCHANT BANK)
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Today, work-life balance has become an increasingly pervasive concern to both employers and employees of most organisations. Work-life balance which primarily deals with an employee’s ability to properly prioritize between work and his or her lifestyle, social life, health, family etc., is greatly linked with employee productivity, performance and job satisfaction. Where there is proper balance between work and life, employees tend to put in their best efforts at work, because their family is happy. Most research studies have shown that when there are happy homes, work places automatically become conflict free and enjoyable places to be. Increasing attrition rates and increasing demand for work-life balance have forced organisations to look beyond run of the mill Human Resources interventions. As a result, initiatives such as flexible working hours, alternative work arrangements, leave policies and benefits in lieu of family care responsibilities and employee assistance programmes have become a significant part of most of the company benefit programmes and compensation packages.
BACKGROUND OF STUDY AND ORGANIZATIONAL PROFILE
The origins of research on work-life balance can be traced back to studies of women having multiple roles. Barnett and Baruch (1985) investigated the psychological distress connected to the balance of rewards and concerns generated by individual women’s multiple roles as paid worker, wife and mother. They found that positive role quality – more rewards than concerns experienced in a given role – was related to low levels of role overload, role conflict and anxiety. Based on their research, Barnett and Baruch defined role balance as a “rewards minus concerns†difference score which could range from positive to negative values.
Over the past two decades, various studies on work-life balance practices have been conducted and have been discussed in publications representing a number of different academic disciplines – economics (e.g., Johnson & Provan, 1995; Whitehouse & Zetlin, 1999), family studies (e.g., Hill, Hawkins, Ferris, & Weitzman, 2001; Raabe, 1990), gender studies (e.g., Nelson, Quick, Hitt, & Moesel, 1990; Wayne & Cordeiro, 2003), industrial relations (e.g., Batt & Valcour, 2003; Eaton, 2003), information systems (e.g., Baines & Gelder, 2003; Frolick, Wilkes, & Urwiler, 1993), management (e.g., Konrad & Mangel, 2000; Perry-Smith & Blum, 2000), social psychology (e.g., Allen & Russell, 1999; Hegtvedt, Clay-Warner, & Ferrigno, 2002), and sociology (e.g., Blair-Loy & Wharton, 2002; Glass & Estes, 1997). The most common approach is to view work-life balance practices through a business case lens: that is, by offering these practices, organizations attract new members and reduce levels of work-life conflict among existing ones, and this improved recruitment and reduced work-life conflict enhance organizational effectiveness.
A review of the literature, however, questions this purported link between work-life balance practices and organizational effectiveness. The majority of studies investigating the outcomes of work-life practices do not measure work-life conflict, and thus cannot support this proposed mediated relationship (Eby, Casper, Lockwood, Bordeaux, & Brinley, 2005). The mechanisms by which the provision of work-life practices affects both employee behaviour and organizational performance remain unclear, and under-researched (Allen, 2001; Schutte & Eaton, 2004). The results of a number of studies reviewed in this paper appear to suggest that work-life balance practices do not necessarily influence levels of employee work-life conflict, but instead improve organizational performance via other routes, such as reduced overheads in the case of employees working from home, improved productivity Work-Life among employees working at their peak hours, or social exchange processes arising from perceptions of organizational support (e.g., Allen, 2001; Apgar, 1998; Shepard, Clifton, & Kruse, 1996).
This study examines the literature to identify the various ways in which organizational work-life practices may influence organizational performance. Using a wide range of studies from a variety of disciplines, the empirical support available for the link between work-life practices and organizational performance at both the individual and organization level of analysis is reviewed. Integrating the literature in this fashion provides us with important new insights regarding potential moderators and mediators of the link between work-life practices and organizational performance, and suggests new research questions that may further enhance our understanding of how (or if) this link operates.
COMPANY PROFILE
According to MerchantbankGhana.com, Merchant Bank Ghana Limited (MBG) is a limited liability company is one of the leading Banks in the country. It was incorporated in August 1971 and commenced business in March 1972 as the first merchant bank in Ghana. Merchant Bank Ghana Limited (MBG)Â provides a comprehensive range of banking services to its customers and clients, using its worldwide network of correspondent banks and their agencies. The range of MBG’s banking services includes:
