Work-life Balance and Employee Commitment
CAHPTER ONE
OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH
- To appraise work-life balance and employee commitment
- To determine the effect of work-life balance and employee commitment
- To proffer strategy to managing work-life balance and employee commitment.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
INTRODUCTION
The field of work-life balance, although new, spans a wide range of academic fields. This study examines the relationship between work-life balance and Meyer and Allen’s (1991) three components of organisational commitment. It found that a positive correlation exists between affective commitment and perceived work-life balance. Results also showed that no significant relationship exists between continuance or normative commitment and perceived work-life balance. However, the strongest correlation found to work-life balance perceptions was that of worker identification with the goals of the organisation.
The field of work-life balance, although new, spans a wide range of academic fields. This study examines the relationship between work-life balance and Meyer and Allen’s (1991) three components of organisational commitment. It found that a positive correlation exists between affective commitment and perceived work-life balance. Results also showed that no significant relationship exists between continuance or normative commitment and perceived work-life balance. However, the strongest correlation found to work-life balance perceptions was that of worker identification with the goals of the organisation.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Introduction
This chapter describes the research design, the target population and random sampling procedure, the instrument used, method of data collection and method of data analysis.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
INTRODUCTION
This chapter deals with the presentation and analysis of the result obtained from questionnaires. The data gathered were presented according to the order in which they were arranged in the research questions, sample percentage and pie charts were used to analyze the demographic information of the respondents while the chi square test was adopted to test the research hypothesis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary of Findings
This study finds a significant relationship between work life balance and organizational commitment in selected IT firms in Lagos. As the significance value is less than .05 so null hypotheses were rejected. Likewise, the correlation analysis indicates that there is high disparity between work-life balance and employee commitment. According to the results, the study found a significant relationship of work life balance and organizational commitment across the Gender and marital status. Yet, on the other side it indicates that top management employees are more committed to their work then the professionals and by comparing professionals with the sports staff the professionals show more commitment and this greater commitment is might be due to the seniority.
Conclusion
As found through empirical study, employees’ balance of work and life indirectly affects in-role performance through affective commitment. The finding shows the role of affective commitment as a mediating factor for reinforcing the effect of work-life balance on in-role performance. As explained by Meyer and Allen (1997), employees who are strongly committed to their organizations identify with, get involved in, and feel loyal towards their organizations. This enhanced emotional attachment to the organization leads to increased outcomes.
Recommendation
Helping workers to achieve work-life balance is the imperative duties of organizations (Carlson et al., 2009). Considering the importance of work-life balance in the workplace, the findings of the study have important practical implications.
The relationship between work-life balance and employees’ affective commitment is a major contribution in this study. Previously reviewed studies provided support for the importance of work-life balance in terms of employees’ affective commitment. The result is important in identifying ways in which companies can increase their employees’ affective commitment to the company. Of even more significance are the results that support the important relationship between affective commitment and in role performance. The results regarding this relationship underscore the need for managerial attention to having an affectively committed workforce.
Organizations can focus on supporting employees’ work-life balance to secure their affective commitment to the organizations. For this, organizations could set up a work-life balance policy and programs that would support their employees in fulfilling their official work at the workplace and their individual responsibilities outside the workplace as well. For example, employers can provide a work-life benefit program such as Happy Friday (employees can leave their office two hours early on the last Friday of every month), refreshing day-offs (employees take two weeks off every three years to refresh their mind and to have time to spend with families), and a flexible labor time system (employees can choose work time based on their preferences), and these benefit programs will likely influence employees’ emotions and perceptions in that they will feel the organizational support of caring about their well-being. More importantly, the organizational culture must be supportive of the programs so that all employees will feel comfortable using that program whenever they need it.
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