Work-Family Balance among Women in selected Banks in Lagos State, Nigeria
Abstract:
The difficulties associated with an attempt to strike a balance between the interacting and permeable boundaries of work and family roles require an understanding of the complexities of both spheres. Changing family and work structures in Nigeria with clear images of familial characteristics and employment situations make coping with work and family roles a challenging one for women to handle even with organizational interventions. The study examine the interaction of work and family roles taking into consideration some vital variables that either enhance or deter women from achieving balance with an analysis of organizational work-life balance policy using selected commercial banks in Lagos, Nigeria. It also involved examining which coping strategies work out the best for women to achieve the desired balance. Five objectives were raised for the study which were to: examine the determinants of work-family balance experience among women in the banking sector; identify the features of work schedules of women in the banking sector that enable them cope with multitask activities; highlight the work-life balance policies available in commercial banks that help women achieve greater work-family balance; and evaluate the coping strategies employed by women in the banking sector to achieve work-family balance. A review of literature was carried out while the study was anchored on two theoretical platforms: Role Theory and Social Exchange Theory. The research employed both qualitative and quantitative research techniques. The purposive and simple random sampling techniques were adopted. While questionnaire was administered to 788 respondents; 730 copies were duly completed and analysed employing frequency distribution, simple percentages, multiple regression, binary logistics regression and Pearson product moment correlation coefficient. In addition, 6 key informants were interviewed to elicit information about women’s lived experiences. Three hypotheses were formulated and tested for the study. The first hypothesis revealed that age of the respondents, children ever born (parity), marital status, staff category and religion are significant determinants of work-family balance. Women with children in parity ratio of 1-2, 3-4 and 5 and above are 1.654, 1.455 and 1.235 times more likely to be unable to balance work-family roles compared to those in zero parity which is the reference category. The third hypothesis estimated significant influence of work status on the work-family balance; this is statistically significant at p-values of 0.005, 0.003, and 0.01 for senior staff, supervisors and junior staff respectively. The study concludes that if work demands become heavy, fact remain that marital roles cannot be shelved or neglected and tension between the two boundaries will require a compromise, the study shows that women, will take the choice of keeping their family rather than work. The study suggests a purposeful and effective policy intervention from organisation with regard to work-family balance and effective family support from the family base to reduce the complexities of balancing work-family roles.
