Measuring the effectiveness of work–life balance strategies in the manufacturing sector

Abstract

<jats:p>Orientation: The development of an appropriate framework to measure the effectiveness of work–life balance strategies (WLBS) among manufacturing firms in Nigeria is still a major challenge.Research purpose: The main purpose of this article is to measure the effectiveness of WLBS in the manufacturing sector, drawing insights gathered from two selected manufacturing firms in Lagos metropolis, Nigeria.Motivation for the study: Despite the global explosion of research on work–life balance, there is a dearth of studies measuring the effectiveness of WLBS adopted by manufacturing firms in Nigeria.Research approach/design and method: A structured questionnaire was adopted to gather data among 312 employees of the two selected manufacturing firms in Lagos Metropolis, Nigeria. Structural Equation Modelling was valuable in establishing the mediating influences of WLBS and work-family satisfaction on the interplay between work-family stressors and the selected manufacturing firms’ performance.Main findings: The study findings revealed that WLBS and work–family satisfaction mediate the interplay between work–family stressors and the selected manufacturing firms’ performance.Practical/managerial implications: To enhance continuous performance, human resource managers of the manufacturing firms should ensure the improved implementation and adoption of relevant WLBS that could help the employees cushion the effect of work and family stressors thereby achieving satisfaction with work and family life.Contribution/value-add: This study develops and validates a framework to measure the effectiveness of WLBS in selected manufacturing firms, Lagos Metropolis. The developed framework could serve as a template which could be replicated in other sectors of the Nigeria’s economy.</jats:p>

Flexible work options in higher educational institutions in times of crisis

“…This leads to increased workload for the employees who must work past regular working hours, resulting in work-family conflict. The flexitime option was adopted as a work-life balance strategy to cushion the adverse effect of work-family conflict (Ganiyu et al, 2020).…”

“…Before the emergence of COVID-19, flexible work options were adopted by organisations as work-life balance strategies to help employees cope with work and family stressors (Ganiyu, Fields, Atiku, & Derera, 2020;Voudouris, 2004;Weideman & Hofmeyr, 2020). Using flexible work options as work-life balance strategies enable organisations to retain and attract a high performing workforce.…”

Work-Life Balance Policies and Organizational Outcomes: A Qualitative Investigation

“…With seven articles, the Information Technology sector was in the lead(CHINA, 2022; Ganguly et al, 2022;Murti & Martdianty, 2021;Nagar, n.d.;Rusdha & Edirisooriya, n.d.;Scholar, 2021) followed by three articles each from the hospital (Gurung & Bastola, 2022;Khalid & Rathore, 2018;Shiffer et al, 2018), the banking (Hsu et al, 2019;Kabir et al, 2022;Scholar, 2021), the aviation (Aziz & Vinodhini, 2021;Shakir & Noorani, 2014;Van Den Berg et al, 2019), education centre (Alfarran, n.d.;Basak & Akter, 2022;Mahardika & Aima, 2022) and services (Bhat et al, 2022;Rodríguez-Modroño & López-Igual, 2021;Seo & Park, 2021). Followed by one article each from the hotel (Mowaiye et al, 2022), manufacturing sector (Ganiyu et al, 2020), law enforcement (Yu, 2021) and insurance sector (Vigneshwaran et al, n.d.). It was not unexpected to find that most work-life research was concentrated in information technology (IT).…”

People Management Strategies for Higher Return on Investment

“…Investment in work-life balance strategies are employerinitiatives put in place to ensure employees achieve the right mix between work and family domains [10,11]. Work-life balance strategies in contemporary workplaces include flexible work arrangements (e.g., remote working, teleworking, shift work), flexible time options (e.g., flexible lunchtime, early start-long lunch, early start-early go), sick leave, maternity leave, paternity leave, compassionate leave, annual leave, and childcare supports [12].…”