Work-Life Balance in Africa: A Critical Approach 303138007X, 9783031380075

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Edited by Hakeem Adeniyi Ajonbadi · Chima Mordi · Olatunji David Adekoya

Work-Life Balance in Africa A Critical Approach

Work-Life Balance in Africa

Hakeem Adeniyi Ajonbadi · Chima Mordi · Olatunji David Adekoya Editors

Work-Life Balance in Africa A Critical Approach

Editors Hakeem Adeniyi Ajonbadi College of Business University of Doha for Science and Technology Doha, Qatar

Chima Mordi College of Business, Arts, and Social Sciences Brunel University London Uxbridge, UK

Olatunji David Adekoya College of Business, Technology and Engineering Sheffield Hallam University Sheffield, UK

ISBN 978-3-031-38007-5 ISBN 978-3-031-38008-2 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-38008-2

(eBook)

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

This book is dedicated to my late parents, family and friends. —Dr. Hakeem Adeniyi Ajonbadi This book is dedicated to Prof. and Dr. (Mrs) Mordi, Chief Justice K. D. and Mrs. Ungbuku, Tonbara, Nathaniel and Daniel. —Dr. Chima Mordi This book is dedicated to my parents, mentors, family and friends that have supported me on my academic journey thus far. —Dr. Olatunji David Adekoya

Preface

Work-life balance has drawn much attention from academic researchers, professionals and politicians over the past two decades. The numerous discourses on work-life balance have provided a number of theoretical and empirical pathways for understanding how people balance their professional and personal (or non-work) lives. However, despite the increased interest in the work-life balance debate in Africa, we believe it is necessary to compile a comprehensive picture of African experiences with work-life balance. This book comprises several chapters that cover various work-life balance experiences in different African countries. The chapters are underpinned by a critical approach to understanding how people manage their work and non-work domains. By highlighting theoretical underpinnings and emphasising the practical relevance of issues related to managing work and non-work commitments, this book offers an insightful guide for students and scholars interested in Business Management, Human Resource Management, Sociology of Work and Industrial and Organisational Psychology, particularly in developing economies.

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Work-Life Balance in Africa: A Critical Approach is an eye-opener to various traditional and contemporary work-life balance practices and policies in Africa, including the challenges and how best to manage human resources in this “Mother Continent” with phenomenal potential. The authors draw on various types of research (conceptual, theoretical and empirical) and incorporate contextual issues such as technology, politics, culture and economics to supplement the readers’ insights into the varying work-life balance experiences in African countries. Doha, Qatar Uxbridge, UK Sheffield, UK

Hakeem Adeniyi Ajonbadi Chima Mordi Olatunji David Adekoya

Acknowledgements The research studies on which this book is based have been shaped by the critical reading and reviews of several academics. We will like to thank all managers, employees, and academics for their contributions. Thanks also to the staff of Palgrave Macmillan for their help throughout this project.

Contents

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An Introduction: The Nature and Determinants of Work-Life Balance Hakeem Adeniyi Ajonbadi, Chima Mordi, and Olatunji David Adekoya

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Reimagining Work-Life Balance from Africa: Insights for Renewed Human Resource Management Ameeta Jaga and Bongekile P. Mabaso

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A Critical Approach to Work-Life Balance: The Moroccan Perspective Siham Lekchiri and Barbara A. W. Eversole

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Work-Life Balance Experiences in Nigeria: Institutional and Sociocultural Perspectives Chantal Epie

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Contents

Traditional and Contemporary Perspectives of Work-Life Balance Research and Practices: A Case of Kenya Gladys Muasya An Exploration of Work-Life Balance Practices in Ethiopia: Leaders’ Role in Incorporating Family-Friendly Policies and Initiatives and Employee Coping Mechanisms Abeba Beyene Mengistu Engaging the Flexibility Paradox: Working from Home and Work-Family Conflict Among Working Adults in South Africa Kwaku Abrefa Busia, Pascal Agbadi, and Zitha Mokomane Work-Family Conflict Among Formal and Informal Sector Working Mothers in Urban Ghana Kwaku Abrefa Busia Understanding the Concept and Practice of Work-Life Balance: A Case of Nigerian Entrepreneurial Women Loliya Agbani Kagher and Kaine Chinwah

10 Work-Family Policies and Practices in South Africa: Highlights from a Family-Responsible Employer Survey Zitha Mokomane 11 Work-Life Balance Experiences in the Algerian Health Sector: A Work-Life Border Theory Perspective Hakeem Adeniyi Ajonbadi, Mokhtar Ghoul, Olatunji David Adekoya, Chima Mordi, and Florence Chiwetu Index

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Notes on Contributors

Olatunji David Adekoya is a Senior Lecturer of Organisational Behaviour and Human Resource Management (OBHRM) at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. He has also lectured at the University of East London and the University of West London. His key research examines HRM in local and international contexts, with a strong focus on work-life balance, organisational flexibility, employee wellbeing, employment relations and economic growth and development. He has published in high-impact journals, including the British Journal of Management, Information Technology and People, Gender, Work and Organisation and Personal Review and Employee Relations. He is a fellow of several professional bodies, both locally and internationally. Hakeem Adeniyi Ajonbadi is an Associate Professor of International Human Resource Management and Organisational Development at the University of Doha for Science and Technology, Qatar. His research focuses on social relations of production, labour market segmentation and organisational flexibility, employment relations and work-life balance. He has taught in several countries, including the UK, UAE, Belgium and Nigeria. He has published widely in books and journals.

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Pascal Agbadi is a Ph.D. candidate in Sociology and Social Policy at Lingnan University, Hong Kong. He holds an MPhil in Health Promotion from the University of Bergen, Norway. He also obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Social Work and Information Studies from the University of Ghana. He has research interests in occupational health, global health, wellbeing and migration studies. He has strength in both qualitative and quantitative methods and has proven skills in delivering on project goals, with the ability to identify suitable techniques in the collection and analysis of data. Dr. Kwaku Abrefa Busia is an interdisciplinary scholar whose research cuts across sociology, social policy, local development studies and sociodevelopmental issues in Africa. His research interests include work-family intersections especially in the African context, gender and women’s studies, local governance and development as well as higher education and student politics in Africa. Dr. Abrefa Busia recently completed his Ph.D. in Sociology and Social Policy at Lingnan University (Hong Kong) as a Hong Kong Ph.D. Fellowship awardee. He also holds MPhil in African Studies and MPhil in Development Studies from the University of Cambridge and University of Oxford, respectively. Kaine Chinwah is a certified Engineer with a master’s in Environmental Engineering and Business Management from the prestigious Imperial College, London. She presently lectures in Chemical/Petrochemical Engineering Department-Rivers State University. She is a certified leadership coach, teacher and speaker of the John Maxwell Online University. Likewise, she is an entrepreneur and consistently organises several seminars and workshops for business owners and organisation to succeed in their different endeavours. Kaine is currently a researcher at the Imperial College, London. Florence Chiwetu is Executive Director for three social care organisations, including foster care, childcare and adult care. She has lectured in HRM, Health and Social Care and Early Years Education. Her key research explores digitalisation, leadership and change management exploring how technology moderates the interaction between transformational leadership and the work-life balance of executives in the UK.

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She is a member of the Institute of Director (IOD), the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and a Fellow of the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM). Chantal Epie is a Professor of Human Resource Management at PanAtlantic University, Nigeria. Born in Mali, she was raised in Senegal and had been working in Lagos (Nigeria) for the past 50 years. Prof. Epie has over thirty-five years of experience as a management trainer and consultant. She is the Chairperson of the Nigerian Association for Women’s Advancement, a nonprofit educational and social welfare NGO. She has done in-depth research on the challenges of work-life balance in Nigeria and the need for employers to adopt appropriate policies enabling employees to manage the various demands of work, family and personal development. Barbara A. W. Eversole is a Professor of Human Resource Development at Indiana State University, Indiana, USA. She teaches courses in work-life integration, HRD strategy, organisation development and managerial coaching. Dr. Eversole’s primary research interest is studying how to make workplaces more accommodating of the non-work lives of employees, both in the for-profit sector and the Academy. She also studies managerial effectiveness, women leaders and mother-scholars’ careers in academia. Dr. Eversole has published in a variety of scholarly journals and presented at national and international conferences. She is also co-Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of HRD: Practice, Policy and Research while also serving on a number of editorial boards. Dr. Mokhtar Ghoul has been working in the field of clinical research, including coordinating and managing clinical trials primarily in Medical and Radiation Oncology in North America and the Middle East region for the last 17 years. His international experience combined with over 6 years of teaching and administration experience in university and hospital settings. Dr. Ghoul also obtained a Ph.D. in Management from Brunel University London. He also considerably contributed to the creation of the first Institutional Review Board (IRB) at (KFSHD), as well as a major role in the Association for the Accreditation of Human

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Research Protection Programs (AAHRPP) accreditation in March 2014, and the re-accreditation in March 2017. Ameeta Jaga Ph.D. is Professor of Organisational Psychology in the School of Management Studies at the University of Cape Town and non-resident Fellow at the Hutchins Centre for African and African American Research, Harvard University. She is a rated researcher with the National Research Foundation. Her research focuses on work-family issues relating to gender and social class, using decolonial and southern theories to prioritise context while underlining global inequalities in knowledge production. She has published across disciplines, including Gender, Work and Organisation and the International Journal of Human Resource Management, and is an associate editor of Community, Work and Family. Dr. Loliya Agbani Kagher is a Lecturer in Human Resource Management at the Business School, Edinburgh Napier University. She teaches Diversity and Inclusion and Leadership. She earned a bachelor’s degree in education and community development from the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, MSc in Management from the University of Glasgow and a doctorate in Development, Policy and Management from the University of Manchester. Loliya’s research includes women’s studies, identity and work, from the context of diversity and inclusion, leadership, entrepreneurship and how this contributes to individual, organisational and national development. Siham Lekchiri is an Assistant Professor in the MS programme of Human Resources at Western Carolina University. Dr. Lekchiri’s teaching background includes courses in strategic HRD, organisational development, consulting, research in HR, talent acquisition and retention among others. Her research interest is focused on researching the challenges that face females in the workforce in male-dominated environments and cultures. She is also co-Editor-in-Chief of the Industrial and Commercial Training Journal while also serving on as a reviewer for a number of journals. Prior to starting in academia, Dr. Lekchiri was a Human Resources Consultant in Morocco; she has worked on numerous consulting projects in Morocco, Mali and Senegal.

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Bongekile P. Mabaso is a lecturer of Dietetics and Human Nutrition in the School of Agricultural, Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal. She is completing her Ph.D. in the School of Management Studies at the University of Cape Town titled, proposing a context-sensitive model of Family Supportive Supervisor Behaviours for breastfeeding at work from the global South. She was named an emergent thought leader in the Sustainable Development Goals Africa Summit video competition (2021). Her research is on women’s wellbeing and the work-family interface. She has published in International Breastfeeding Journal and Community, Work and Family. Abeba Beyene Mengistu Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Management at Addis Ababa University College of Business and Economics School of Commerce. She has more than 20 years of university teaching and leadership experience. She is a researcher and have several publications in the areas of work-life balance, leadership and organisational behaviour and several experiences in organising, presenting and moderating national and international conferences, symposiums and workshops. She is also a certified management consultant and a member of the Executive Committee of the African Academy of Management (AFAM). She has been serving as a Board member and treasurer in the Ethiopian Red Cross Society and other organisations. Zitha Mokomane is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. She holds a M.A. and a Ph.D. in Demography, both from the Australian National University. She has extensive research, policy and programmatic expertise in the fields of family studies, with a specific interest on work-family interface, social protection and family caregiving. She has researched and published widely in these areas. She is the editor of Work–Family Interface in sub-Saharan Africa: Challenges and Responses (Springer, 2014) and the founder of the African Research Network on Work and Family. Chima Mordi is an Associate Professor and Director for Doctoral programmes at the College of Business, Arts and Social Sciences at Brunel University, UK. His key research examines Human Resource Management and Employment Relations in emerging economies. Chima

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has authored/co-authored over 100 articles in highly rated academic international journals, including Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Journal of Managerial Psychology, International Journal of Human Resource Management, European Management Review and Gender, Work and Organisation. Chima is a recipient of several awards, including the Emerald award for Research Excellence. He is an Academic member of the UK Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Dr. Gladys Muasya is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Business, Computer Science and Communication Studies at St. Paul’s University, Kenya. Some of her research interests include qualitative research, the intersection of work and family, such as work-life balance and employee empowerment with a focus on marginalised work groups.

List of Figures

Fig. 3.1 Fig. 10.1 Fig. 10.2 Fig. 10.3

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Fig. 10.5 Fig. 10.6

Framework to improve Moroccan women’s work-life balance Percentage distribution of employees with access to flexibility arrangements, South Africa, 2017 Percentage distribution of employees with access to family support, South Africa 2017 Percentage distribution of employees with access to information on work-family reconciliation, South Africa 2017 Selected dimensions of work-family culture. a Displeasure by colleagues concerning leave. b Expectations regarding workload and working hours. c Negative consequences for career Perceived family-supportive supervisor behaviour, South Africa 2017 South African employees’ perception of their work environment

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List of Tables

Table Table Table Table Table

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Table 8.1 Table 8.2

Table 8.3 Table 8.4

Table 11.1

Work-life balance level of respondents Perceived social support level of respondents Recoding scheme for control variables Summary statistics of study variables (N = 727) Multiple linear regression showing the effect of working from home on W2FC and F2 WC after controlling for working hours and sociodemographic factors Descriptive statistics of study variables (N = 1194) Pearson’s correlation between WFC and perceived work and family demands and sociodemographic characteristics T test comparing WFC between formal and informal sector married working mothers (n = 1194) The relationship between economic sector and work-family conflict after controlling for work demands, family demands and sociodemographic variables Participant demographic profile

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1 An Introduction: The Nature and Determinants of Work-Life Balance Hakeem Adeniyi Ajonbadi, Chima Mordi, and Olatunji David Adekoya

Introduction: Historical Context of Work-Life Balance The origin of work-life balance (WLB) dates back to the nineteenth century in a successful attempt by factory workers and unions to campaign against the culture of long working hours across manufacturing organisations in particular (Bosworth & Hogarth, 2009; Syed, 2015). Studies found that during this period, reduced working time had little or no significant effect on the rate of productivity in many of the factories where the research was carried out (Bosworth & Hogarth, 2009; H. A. Ajonbadi (B) College of Business, University of Doha for Science and Technology, Doha, Qatar e-mail: [email protected] C. Mordi College of Business, Arts, and Social Sciences, Brunel University London, Uxbridge, UK e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 H. A. Ajonbadi et al. (eds.), Work-Life Balance in Africa, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-38008-2_1

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Hopkins, 1982). The early twentieth century also witnessed a campaign for a maximum cap on working hours (Peter & Spadavecchia, 2011), as workers and labour unions fought further for reduced working time, particularly in Britain. A variety of studies (US Department of Labor, 2013) advocated for the role of reduced working hours coupled with motivation and a healthy working environment to positively impact organisational productivity. Moreover, Rapoport and Rapoport (1965) point to the excruciating impact of long working hours on creating a divide between an employee’s work and personal-life roles. The relationship between work and personal life (inclusive of familial roles) is deemed to be crucial despite both domains representing different aspects of an employee’s life (Naithani, 2010). Both aspects of the family life that affect work-life and aspects of work-life that affect family life indicate that the work and personal or familial roles of an employee create either or both positive and negative effects not only for the employees but also for their employers (Lewis et al., 2007; Parkes & Langford, 2008). The continuous efforts of workers and unions to reduce working hours progressed into the 1980s, a period when employers started to introduce family-friendly policies, including telecommuting, flexitime and paid maternity leaves. However, although these policies and practices mainly focused on the female workforce, the male workforce also indirectly benefitted (Syed, 2015). WLB policies became more pronounced and formalised in the twenty-first century as the business environment began to witness rapid changes in the demand and supply of labour (Caringal-Go et al., 2021; Fagnani & Letablier, 2004). During this period, the drivers of WLB contributed to the need to legalise WLB policies; some of these drivers include long working hours, changes in labour demography, gender equality and increased women’s participation in the labour force, economic uncertainty, dual-career and dual-earner families, increasing growth of single O. D. Adekoya College of Business, Technology and Engineering, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK e-mail: [email protected]

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parenthood, family-life privatisation, increase in weekend and evening jobs and the growing decline of participation in community activities (Adisa et al., 2016; Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985; Guest, 2002). Work-life balance has continued into an unending debate in various societies. Many industrialised (developed) countries and a few developing countries have maintained efforts to ensure that individual wellbeing is pursued in the workplace to promote WLB (Guest, 2016). Therefore, interest has since been growing in Europe (Anttila et al., 2015; Beham et al., 2017), the United States (Szender et al., 2016; Tomlinson, 2007), Spanish and Latin American countries (Carlier et al., 2012; Ray & Jackson, 2013), Australia (Burgess et al., 2007; Wilkinson, 2008), Asia (Rajadhyaksha, 2012; Xiao & Cooke, 2012) and Africa (Adekoya et al., 2019; Adom et al., 2018; Bisschoff et al., 2019).

Nature of Work-Life Balance The nature of WLB covers a broad range of issues associated with managing work and nonwork domains. For instance, it is obvious that despite the urge to encourage remote working; the majority of managers require employees’ physical presence at work (regarded as the presence culture), as they tend to believe that they can exercise more control over an employee’s productivity (Clark, 2000). Moreover, in the attempt to understand the nature of WLB, it is crucial to clarify three key concepts: work, personal life and balance. According to Guest (2002), all three main concepts in WLB have both objective and subjective meanings, which depend on the perspective of each author and how they are defined. Usually, work is categorised into ‘paid’ and ‘unpaid’ work. According to Guest (2002), researchers need to define work within the context of their research, as work could be denoted to mean several things to different people. In the context of this study, work is regarded as paid employment. Nevertheless, research also recognises the fact that individuals are involved in unpaid work, such as voluntary work and domestic work, which is also in many cases genderised, as women take up more unpaid work while tending to the house chores in addition to the

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time available for other personal activities (Adisa et al., 2019; Drew & Daverth, 2007). Regardless, working individuals have a variety of options to choose from to cope with the challenges of juggling paid and nonpaid work without necessarily having a significant impact on other areas of their lives (Inkson & Baruch, 2008). However, personal-life entails a variety of activities that vary across individual needs. Studies have also referred to the term ‘personal life’ to mean an employee’s leisure time or the time devoted to other activities besides work (Haworth, 1997; Lee et al., 2015). An employee’s life outside of work, including free time, enables them to meet their nonwork commitments; however, the question is whether the free time is sufficient to meet all other needs (Guest, 2002). In contrast, arguments have also emerged to examine the impact of leisure time on employees’ WLB. Some studies have revealed that employees should take full responsibility for how they use their leisure time to meet their nonwork obligations (Choi et al., 2010; Qian et al., 2013). It is argued that the fear of the underutilisation of time results in the apportionment of time between work and leisure (Lee et al., 2015). An employee’s usage of leisure time is also influenced by the determinants of WLB, including age, marital status, career progression, gender, personality and work orientation (Guest, 2002). Moreover, most employees can choose to dedicate their time to either work or leisure, depending on the demands of work and the demands of the home (Adisa et al., 2021; Mennino et al., 2005). In the context of WLB, this study supports Roberts’ (1999) definition of leisure as “the time, which is not occupied by paid work, unpaid work or personal chores and obligations” (p. 5). The concept of ‘balance’ in WLB has been construed to mean different things to different people. The term ‘balance’ between work and home has been alluded to as a myth, as it is almost impossible to achieve a balance between one’s work and nonwork roles (Guest, 2002; Kesting & Harris, 2009). This is based on the common definition of balance as the equal allocation of time and effort to work and personal life (Ranjan & Prasad, 2013). Thompson and Bunderson (2007) argue that a misconstrued meaning is given to the word ‘balance’—the attempt to apportion time and energy to work-related and nonwork-related responsibilities. However, in an attempt to redefine the concept of balance,

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Clark (2000) defines balance as satisfaction and active functioning both at work and home with lesser conflicting roles. Similarly, balance is the extent to which an employee is allowed some degree of flexibility and autonomy over where, when and how they should work (Kesting & Harris, 2009). Therefore, given the positions of other researchers about balance, this study considers balance as an employee’s attempt or effort to manage both work and nonwork-related responsibilities without necessarily allocating equal amounts of time, energy or effort to satisfying both competing demands.

Determinants of Work-Life Balance According to Guest (2002), the determinants of WLB are basically categorised into organisational and individual factors. The organisational factors account for the demands and culture of work as well as the demand and culture of home; that is, an employee’s life is categorised into two domains (work and personal), which are influenced by the employee’s ability to meet the demands of both domains vis-à-vis the culture exhibited within the two domains. Studies have found that working hours remain one of the crucial predictors of achieving WLB (Hopkins, 1982; Syed, 2015). Syed (2015) ascertains that the number of hours an employee devotes to work plays a huge role in determining the level of balance that can be achieved between work-related and nonwork-related roles. However, in contrast, Hochschild (1997) asserts that the amount of time allocated to either work or personal roles varies across individual employees and the circumstances that influence the decision. This is based on the notion that WLB does not necessarily denote an equal allotment of time and energy to the two important domains in an employee’s life. In fact, Gambles et al. (2006) and Neequaye (2016) claim that it is a myth about WLB since a perfect WLB does not exist anywhere. According to Adisa et al. (2017), long working hours and irregular hours impede WLB and form one of the existing cultures in many organisations; this is deemed to be a result of a variety of factors that are organisational-based, institutional-based and individual-based.

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Kramar (1998) argues that employees mostly tend to dedicate more time to work to show job commitment in return for personal benefits, which could be financial or nonfinancial; however, this creeps into their personal-life engagements and mostly affects their familial duties. Othman et al. (2009) debate that the availability of flexible working arrangements promotes WLB and improves organisational productivity and profitability. Working for longer hours may be demanded depending on the employee’s nature of the job. Hence, many employees who work longer hours associate their working time with the organisation’s culture to which they must adjust (Haines et al., 2012; Syed, 2015). Work intensification constitutes another determinant of WLB. It is regarded as an increase in an employee’s workload, which could be present in the job roles, activities and positions attained by the employee (Boxall & Macky, 2014). According to Ono et al. (1982), work intensification, which represents the organisational culture in many businesses, puts pressure on an individual’s resources, as it requires greater allocation of an employee’s resources towards work and less towards the employee’s personal life, impeding the achievement of WLB. Yousef (2002) establishes a link between work overload and long working hours; there is a high likelihood for employees to increase the number of hours worked to meet the high demands of their jobs (Haines et al., 2012). In contrast, Drago et al. (2009) argue that long working hours are presented as a vague indicator of work intensification since they do not constitute the only reason employees take up extended working time. Therefore, Chung and van der Lippe (2018) discuss two primary work intensification types. First, enabled intensification—meaning that despite the availability of workplace flexibility, the boundaries (work and personal lives) are blurred and allow workers to work harder and for longer hours than they would have. Second, enforced intensification—meaning that an increase in the workload of an employee is facilitated by an increase in workplace flexibility. Nevertheless, Boxall and Macky (2014) found that work intensification predicted by work overload has a significant relationship with high levels of fatigue, increased stress and work-life imbalance. Similarly, Yu (2014) also discovered that work intensification and job insecurity have larger effects on WLB outcomes compared to long working hours. Hence, it is deduced that despite the various reasons

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employees desire to increase their working time as a result of work intensification, the negative effects outweigh the positive effects, and in the long run, it leads to an imbalance. Work-life balance beyond the organisational context also relates to the ‘home’ context or, as Guest (2002) puts it, “life outside of work”. In addition to the demands and culture at work, there are also demands and culture that exist outside of work, often requiring the individual worker’s active participation or involvement (Adekoya et al., 2019; Haworth, 1997). Guest (2002) posits that ‘home demands’ or the ‘demands of home’ relate to an employee’s commitments, responsibilities and obligations that are not work-related and may exist in the family, leisure activities and community participation. However, the level of demand also differs across individual needs and preferences (Hochschild, 1997). For instance, a group of workers may require more time at home than others because of the workload and duties at home, particularly for workers with dependents (children and elderly parents). There is, therefore, a need to manage both work and home demands so that one does not significantly generate a negative outcome (Edwards & Rothbard, 2000). Similarly, an effective WLB is expected to benefit not only employees but also employers, family members and the community they live in (Mishra et al., 2014). This is insinuated to comply with the spillover theory premised upon the influence of occurrences in one domain to affect (positively or negatively) the occurrences in another domain (Edwards & Rothbard, 2000; Staines, 1980). The ‘home culture’ or ‘culture of home’, as Guest insinuates, “refers to the expectations of those in the home environment about commitments and obligations” (Guest, 2002, p. 266). The home culture presupposes that the individual worker is surrounded by familial duties, which are both value-based and culturally inclined. These could include the responsibility of childcare, adult care and domestic work (such as cleaning and cooking) (Adisa et al., 2021; Desrochers et al., 2005). Parents may find it difficult to make decisions among themselves regarding who does what; hence, some have resorted to deciding whether the roles should be carried out by either or both parents, family members or contracted out (domestic workers). Nevertheless, these decisions are also surrounded by

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positives and negatives (Chesley, 2008; Drew & Daverth, 2007; Gaunt, 2013). In addition to organisational factors, there are also individual factors that act as determinants of WLB. These factors include but are not limited to gender, marital status, age, work orientation, personality, energy, personal control and coping and life and career stage (Guest, 2002). Gender issues are predominant in WLB given the high level of demands placed particularly on women (Adisa et al., 2016, 2021). Despite increasing workplace flexibility policies in organisations, studies argue that women still find it challenging to attain WLB (Adisa et al., 2014; Boje & Ejrnaes, 2012). However, for the male gender, workplace flexibility and family-friendly policies exist but not as much in comparison with their female counterparts (Butler & Skattebo, 2004). This is because managers, based on organisational expectations, perceive both genders in different spheres of work life; as such, they are likely to allocate less flexible working arrangements to the male gender (Hoobler et al., 2009; Singley & Hynes, 2005). In contrast, Chung and van der Lippe (2018) contend that fathers are less likely than mothers to use flexible working arrangements because they are more likely to remain committed to their jobs and give those jobs a higher priority than their responsibilities to their families and caregiving roles. Nonetheless, the increasing rate of female participation in the workforce with few changes in the business environment increases the fear of job insecurity, discouraging both the male and female genders from taking up flexible working options (Allen & Finkelstein, 2014; Haworth & Lewis, 2005). Moreover, issues around gender equality present numerous challenges for achieving WLB. Adisa et al. (2019) discussed the effect of patriarchy on women’s WLB. They found that in countries (particularly sub-Saharan Africa) with a male-dominated culture, women find it challenging to manage work and life/family responsibilities. In addition, they report that the multiple roles undertaken by women, excessive subordination of females and a gender-based division of labour impede women’s WLB. However, in countries with an ingrained egalitarian culture where gender equality is most promoted, WLB among the female workforce is less challenging but still exists (Lyness & Judiesch, 2014).

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The age of an employee is another factor that determines the level of WLB. There have been various arguments about the relationship between age and WLB; however, there is yet to be a definite conclusion as to which age group is a better achiever of WLB. These results result from the fact that an employee’s age is influenced by other factors such as gender, job responsibilities, work industry, marital status, organisational culture, number of dependents and economic circumstances (Lewis et al., 2007). For instance, Richert-Kazmierska and Stankiewicz (2016) surveyed 500 employees in Finland, Lithuania and Sweden to determine if age matters in achieving WLB. It was discovered that most employers were the determinants of flexible working arrangements for different age groups (21–34, 35–44, 45–54 and 55–70), as they believed that not all workplace flexibility options applied to all age groups. Nevertheless, the study concluded that older employees (45–70) had higher satisfaction with their WLB than the younger workforce, given the increased number of available workplace flexibility options. In contrast, Walia (2015) surveyed 308 professionals in India to determine the correlation between gender and age in attaining WLB. The study showed that while gender significantly affected WLB realities; there was no significant relationship between age and WLB. Studies have also elaborated on the differences in the use of workplace flexibility options among the younger and older workforce. While a significant number of the younger workforce (particularly those with a single status) use their leisure time more for social activities and professional progression, the older workforce, which is dominated by married couples, spends most of their leisure time on family issues (Beham et al., 2017; Burgess et al., 2007; Cañibano, 2019). Drawing from the different perspectives, it is presumed that age as a single factor does not necessarily has a significant impact on WLB; however, the interaction of other factors surrounding the age of the workforce makes it a determinant of WLB. Furthermore, individual personality has been evidenced as one of the determining factors of an employee’s ability to achieve WLB. Personality traits among employees are similar and different in an individual-toindividual case; therefore, employees’ quest for achievement is influenced by various personality factors (Bellmann & Hübler, 2021; Guest, 2002).

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Michel and Clark (2011) recognise two main influencers of personality in determining work-life outcomes. First is the ability of an individual’s traits to influence the perceptions of work and life; second, personal traits can affect how an individual (through elicited behaviour) is able to manage both work and personal lives. Studies (Stoeva et al., 2002; Watson & Clark, 1984) have also considered the effect of positive and negative affectivity in an attempt to understand the relationship between personality traits and WLB. This refers to an individual’s possibility of experiencing either positive or negative moods or emotions, which are likely to affect (positively or negatively) work or personal lives. Therefore, an employee experiencing positive emotions or moods is likely to transfer such towards their personal life and vice versa. Furthermore, the ‘Five Factor Model’ personality trait (McCrae & Costa, 1987), which includes conscientiousness, neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness and openness to experience, remains the most widely used personality model. The model was designed to examine or measure the differences between individuals’ personalities alongside their various experiences, such as work and life (Bhalla & Kang, 2018; McCrae & John, 1992). Thus, it is presumed that personality traits affect the behaviours of individuals in different life situations (Leka & De Alwis, 2016). In addition, work orientation, which is also influenced by an individual’s personality, plays a vital role in determining WLB (Guest, 2002). According to Guest, an individual’s orientation to work exemplifies which domain is considered a priority to the individual (p. 266). The debate about whether the family should come first before work and vice versa remains unsolved, as there are various perspectives in support of either motion. For instance, Bhalla and Kang (2018) argue that circumstances differ among individuals, one of which is dictated by the individual personality that drives their orientation to work or personal life. Similarly, Ford and Collinson (2011) revealed from their studies that individuals (managers in particular) are most often not in control of their work schedule; hence, it becomes challenging to provide adequate coping strategies for managing WLB. They further argue that, like other determinants of WLB, work orientation is not isolated from other factors of WLB. It was implied that, in most cases, individuals downplay their

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domestic roles (men in particular), creating a highly gendered orientation to both domains of life. Individuals are the agents of their career destinies and should find a mechanism for managing their work and personal lives (Inkson & Baruch, 2008). According to Direnzo et al. (2015), protean career/work orientation is associated with positive WLB. The researchers revealed that sustained career planning that is value-driven supports protean career orientation and facilitates the merging of work and life responsibilities.

Work-Life Balance in Africa: A General Overview Studies have shown South Africans are the most work-centric nation in Africa and are three times more likely to work 60 hours a week than Americans (Chutel & Kopf, 2018). Among the OECD countries, South Africans are among the bottom ten countries in the number of hours worked, with longer hours than Japanese and Chinese workers (OECD, 2018). Although, on average, South African employees work 43.3 hours per week, studies found that twelve per cent of its workforce worked 60 hours per week, against the state rules of a maximum of 45 hours and 10 hours maximum overtime (Chutel & Kopf, 2018). South Africans work some of the longest hours in the world at an annual average of 2,209 hours. In Ethiopia, Adane et al. (2013) investigated the effect of long working hours on the Ethiopian construction sector. The findings revealed that with the rate of annual workplace injury at 38% yearly, workers who worked longer than 8 hours a day were at higher risk of a workplace injury than those who worked less. Furthermore, Opuko and Munjuri (2017) related the situation of work-life balance in Kenya to its transport and logistics industry. It aimed to evaluate the interrelatedness of flexible work-life practices and work performance. The study findings showed a strong positive correlation between the two variables—work flexibility and employee outputs. Flexible practices such as mobile working, teleworking, job sharing and career breaks were inimical in determining employees’ mental stability. Likewise, according to Ako (2018), work-life imbalance in private sector

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organisations in Cameroon poses a threat to employees across several industries to cope with such situations, which has led to a continuous rise in the lack of workplace engagement, high rates of absenteeism, growing turnover rates, reduced workplace productivity and very low retention levels. Neema’s (2014) study in Tanzania was designed to understand the underlying factors that determine the work-life balance of Tanzanian miners. The findings revealed that intrinsic organisational policies are employee-centric rather than generic. It is tailored to each employee’s needs, allowing them to integrate flexible aspects of their personal lives during work hours. In Zambia, absenteeism has grown to be a thorn in the flesh of government agencies. Lishomwa (2019) investigated this situation for the Zambian government delivery agencies and found that absenteeism in the agencies is a product of absent work-life balance policies, which made employees work under intense pressure. As a result, employees suffered from alcoholism as a “coping strategy” under poor working conditions and a lack of a supportive transport system. Additionally, in Kenya, studies revealed the prevalence of an accommodating work environment that allows mothers to return to work after birth and the opportunity to breastfeed their children in the workplace (Lakati et al., 2002). The study found the prevalence rate of breastfeeding policies in the workplace at 94.1%, showing unwavering confidence and significant assurance of job security for women in Kenya. In the Ethiopian construction industry, Adane et al. (2013) found that fewer women (32%) than men (68%) reported workplace injuries per annum. In contrast, most female health workers had a more rigid work schedule for which they struggled to balance their work life and their family life (Teshome et al., 2019). In Ghana, Asiedu-Appiah et al. (2013) found that while childbearing and childcare slowed down career pursuit and progress for most female lecturers, there is little or no policy incentive by university authorities to improve women’s lives and make the workplace more favourable. In addition, family demands and prevailing sociocultural expectations of an “ideal” (working) woman inhibited career growth for most women. In the mining industry, studies revealed that all women complained of the role of their jobs in complicating their personallife relationships with their spouses, families, friends and personal time (Owusu-Poku, 2014).

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Moreover, the African community is predominantly built on a much less egalitarian social system, where gender differences and inequality emerge due to patriarchal hegemonic peculiarities within the continent (Adisa et al., 2019). Many African countries practice a social system that encourages patriarchy across several social institutions, enabling male gender domination over the female gender and creating a gender dichotomy that regards men as ‘breadwinners’ and women as ‘homemakers’ (Adisa et al., 2016). As Ademiluka (2018) suggests, the patriarchal system generates challenges for most African women to hold important positions across economic, social and political affairs within the continent. For instance, Adisa et al. (2019) explored gendered perspectives in Nigeria. Their study focused on understanding the cultural influence of gender roles on the work-life balance of women, where patriarchy was a major predictor of gender inequality. As in many other African countries, patriarchy in Nigeria persists as one of the factors militating against the WLB of the women workforce. Their findings revealed that the prevailing strong cultural heritage in the country, which wields so much power to the men, more often than not, subjugated women and reduced their personal-life satisfaction. For some reason, women were not fully satisfied with their work environment because of their spouse’s views of their careers. Women experienced deferment from long training and development programmes at work because of their role as caregivers, which sometimes relates to their spouse’s definition of career success. This family factor is reflected in their low productivity, low commitment and in some cases, high turnover. Adisa et al. (2019) found that for many women, their imbalance is a family-work conflict (family interfering with work) rather than a work-life/work-family conflict. Likewise, the study of Ajayi et al. (2015) agrees with these findings. In evaluating the banking sector, they found that in the face of heightened pressure from work, which may demand disparity between work and family, women were more likely to give up their jobs for their families than their male counterparts. Work-life balance policies in the North, South, East and West African countries are drawn and modified versions of the ILO conventions that allow for adjustments in organisational and governmental policies to improve mental sanity, personal wellbeing and improved employee life

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(ILO, 2011). To Darko-Asumadu et al. (2018), bank workers in Ghana perceive the application of work-life balance policies as suboptimal. Pointing to the high levels of incoherence in its paternity and maternity leaves, study leaves, part-time working and inflexible working conditions, which include working on weekends and breaks, employees’ perception of the work-life balance policies for the banking sector is rather gloomy. Some of the notable work-life balance policies drawn from the ILO (2011) and practised in large corporations across Africa include flexible time, especially for parents with children (between 0–14 years), paid breastfeeding breaks as evident in Kenya, maternity leaves (paternity leaves are still not in practice in many areas), annual leaves, part-time working and shift working. However, despite the existence of worklife balance policies in most African corporations, there is relatively low usage of the available work-life balance alternatives. According to AsieduAppiah and Zoogah (2019), low usage of these policies stems from three likelihoods. The first results from the evidence that most employees are either unaware of the policies or unwilling to use them. Second, organisations pay little attention to and place negligible emphasis on the usage of WLB policies for obvious reasons—profit. Third, employees feel insecure about asking for them and fear that it may send the wrong signal to their employers and thus endanger their career growth in the organisation.

Conclusion Understanding how work-life balance is experienced in Africa due to its peculiar political, economic and sociocultural systems is an important aspect of promoting healthy workplaces and employee wellbeing, even outside the work environment. Keeping a healthy work-life balance lowers stress and helps prevent burnout at work. Therefore, despite the various obligations in life, preserving a healthy work-life balance is crucial for both relationships and health, and it can also increase employee productivity and, ultimately, performance. Essentially, achieving this balance requires intentionality, especially given our current work environment. The key to achieving work-life balance depends not

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only on what an individual does when working (i.e., engaging in meaningful work, fostering a purposeful career, feeling like what you do counts and that you make a good contribution) but also on what the individual does outside of work.

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2 Reimagining Work-Life Balance from Africa: Insights for Renewed Human Resource Management Ameeta Jaga

and Bongekile P. Mabaso

Introduction The intersection between work and other life spheres is eminently sensitive to the local context (De Cieri & Bardoel, 2009; Jaga & Guetterman, 2023). Context includes political ideology and sociocultural values that inform national labour and welfare systems that underpin human resource management (HRM) policies and practices at the organisational level (Farndale et al., 2023; Ferreira et al., 2019). An A. Jaga (B) Organisational Psychology, School of Management Studies, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa e-mail: [email protected] B. P. Mabaso Dietetics and Human Nutrition, College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science, School of Agricultural, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, Pinetown, South Africa e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 H. A. Ajonbadi et al. (eds.), Work-Life Balance in Africa, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-38008-2_2

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understanding of context provides valuable insights into organisations and their environments in which HRM phenomena, such as the work– family interface, are examined (Cooke, 2018). Sociocultural norms shape acceptable gendered roles, care work expectations in kinship networks and respect for authority in employee-manager relationships. The sociocultural heterogeneity between and within countries in Africa, centred around group identity, collectivism and sharing (Oppong, 2013), tends to collide with discourses of personal rights, individualism and independence, from which work-life balance theories and practices are typically developed. The dominant Northerncentric conceptualisation of the work-life interface, while offering useful advances to understanding the interconnections between paid work and other life spheres, remains deficient in a decolonial framework. This may limit the range of solutions to HRM problems found in African contexts (Kriek et al., 2011). In reflecting on this concern, we consider African countries as those not of geographic south but as a nongeographic concept that speaks to the struggles of people against the domination of capitalism, colonialism and patriarchy (de Sousa Santos, 2015) from which new epistemic and cultural insights for work-life balance can emerge. Accordingly, in this chapter, we ask the following question: How do we reimagine work-life balance, from decolonial and Afrocentric perspectives, to advance HRM knowledge representative of the full complexity of social lives in Africa? What new questions should we begin to ask if we are to critically engage the Eurocentricity of the field to bring about greater epistemic justice in understanding work-life balance? How do we advance scholarship that centres innovations from Africa, drawing insights from its apparent messiness and chaos, to understand that which is unknown? (Mbembé & Nuttall, 2004). How do we produce knowledge on work-life balance from Africa in and for an increasingly precarious COVID-19 world, where coloniality and its resulting inequities persist? For example, in the inequity of COVID-19 vaccine distribution to Africa, the rhetoric was often poor supply chains and weak infrastructure, rather than colonial and capitalist power (Partners in Health, 2022). The work-life interface is an interdisciplinary field that explores the ways in which important life domains, mostly work and family, intersect to have implications for the well-being of workers and family members

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(Perry-Jenkins & Wadsworth, 2017). The unit of analysis for these has ranged from ‘microlevel processes, linking work conditions to individual well-being, to macrolevel analyses examining societal values, family policies, birth rates, and economic trends’ (Perry-Jenkins & Wadsworth, 2017, p. 219). The work-life balance literature originates from Northern, middle-class, white-collar work and emerged from historical transformations of the gender order, in which masculinities (e.g., men’s relationship with the economy) and femininities (e.g., women’s relationship with the domestic domain) were associated with distinct spheres of paid work and home life (Connell, 2005). Research developments were consistent with responses in the 1960s in the United States to the introduction of the birth control pill, no-fault divorce, the decline of fertility rates and the increase in female participation in the labour force (Perry-Jenkins & Wadsworth, 2017). The subsequent effects on the division of paid and unpaid work—according to psychological and sociological theories on role conflict—are that multiple roles create pressure and stress from their opposing demands (Goode, 1960; Kahn et al., 1964). Later, scholars began theorising about the benefits and possibilities that could arise from holding work and other life roles (Marks, 1977; Sieber, 1974), with further emphasis on striving for work-life balance (Perry-Jenkins & Gerstel, 2020). The histories of work and other life roles that occurred long before the 1960s in contexts outside the global North had been erased when representing the mainstream work-life balance field. For example, the relationship between precolonial African labour systems involving a kinship-based labour unit with the adjunct use of slaves in mining (Freund, 1989) or the break-up of African families from low-wage, longdistant migrant work is missing from the historical discourse of the work-life interface (Jaga, 2020). Work-life representations were accordingly ‘restricted to and refracted through knowledge structures of the West’ (Jack et al., 2011, p. 277). Retracing the histories of work-life relations cannot be done with the intention of ‘filling the gaps’ but is an exercise of readdressing how we know, what we choose to privilege and what change might take place if we were to reorganise the hierarchy of contexts.

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The dominant work-life balance discourses and their related HRM policies work from the assumption that people have choices and that these policies increase their control and choices over managing their life spheres. Work-life balance policies thus fit within the overall HRM ambit of striving for efficiency, control and effectiveness and offering stability and predictability through a streamlined model of organisational practices (Bal & Brookes, 2022). This compartmentalisation of work and life and of the strategies and processes controlled by the individual to achieve predictability and order do not sufficiently account for the intersectional complexities of the sociocultural, economic and historical influences that are in flux. In the African context, such complexities are said to be characterised ‘by uncertainty and turbulence, instability and unpredictability, and rapid, chronic, and multidirectional shifts’ (Mbembé & Nuttall, 2004, p. 384). These assumptions that underpin work-life balance policies are rooted in individualism and neoliberal capitalist ideology, which prioritises competition for market share, profitability and (human) resources as instrumental labour towards attaining organisational goals (Bal & Brookes, 2022). While such policies might benefit white-collar, middle-class workers who endorse individualistic values, they fall short for most workers in contexts where income inequalities, poverty and weak infrastructure are more prevalent and where dominant cultural norms emphasise interdependence and human connection, such as in Africa (Jaga & Ollier-Malaterre, 2022). This chapter advances the work-life balance literature by emphasising sociocultural and material conditions in African contexts, thereby contributing to a more globally representative HRM. We begin with an argument for the value of a Southern theoretical lens to approach worklife balance scholarship from Africa, which could help understand similar issues in other contexts. Next, we use four examples to illustrate how the choice discourse in explaining work-life balance experiences of people in African contexts appears to be inadequate in capturing their complexities and lived realities. Here, we show the need to open pathways for plural perspectives that can coexist to expand how we know work-life balance. Finally, we conclude by posing new questions to advance the field to be more representative, highlighting its implications for HRM in the African context.

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A Southern Theoretical Lens Southern theories were developed out of the colonial encounter and from a critique of global North dominance in knowledge production and dissemination (e.g., Comaroff & Comaroff, 2012; Connell, 2007; Mignolo, 2008; Santos, 2018). These theoretical assertions speak to prioritising local knowledge systems within dynamic cultures and societies in ways that have the capacity to both address local agendas and have universal scope (Collyer et al., 2019). A Southern lens benefits work-life balance knowledge production because work-life balance is a situated concept that should enshrine multiple understandings and enactments rather than a singular and static idea of the concept. For example, in certain African contexts, with an emphasis on collective identities, often formed in situations of great adversity, people are more cognisant of the human dimension and relationships (Nyamnjoh, 2011). Socially distributed caretaking of children is common, often across provincial borders and where there is an emphasis on community-based and human relationships in the multiple networks of care. Local communities create an infrastructure where there are limited or ineffective formal resources and weak state support. Additionally, particular attention is given to managing work and life commitments through collective negotiation with others, as role priorities change and as resource needs emerge. This Southern lens offers new ways of understanding work-life balance that goes beyond using African countries as sites of data extraction or case examples to fit existing models and frameworks (Dübgen & Skupien, 2019) but rather from which new conceptualisations, perspectives and frameworks are discovered. It enables theorising from African researchers’ local contexts. This autonomous approach to research (Hountondji, 2009) acknowledges that knowledge production is bound to social and cultural spaces and helps to identify questions of local interest for local solutions. These questions may lead to disrupting what is currently assumed to be the status quo and provide scope for fresh questions and novel answers (Jaga, 2020). For the work-life balance field to advance, we need to emphasise experiences from postcolonial societies that have predominantly been at the margins and excluded from work-life balance discourses. These

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societies contend with precarity and a more immediate account of time and space from constrained resources. Hence, epistemic and ontological efforts should draw attention to the hegemony of Northern conceptions and offer alternative ways of viewing social problems to contribute to a diverse collection of plural work-life balance frameworks. Furthermore, new avenues will be created by providing evidence of work-life balance practices that are currently overlooked or not fully appreciated—especially from the African continent, in which work-life literature is the least represented (Farndale et al., 2023). The African context presents complex challenges that are rooted in shared histories of colonialism and imperialism, which give rise to distinct expressions of economic, political and social structures. Legacies of oppressive histories continue to influence resource distribution and availability in these contexts (Nkomo, 2011). Complexities of the African context can only be partially understood using a Northerncentred conceptualisation of the work-life interface. A Southern lens can help uncover new constructs and patterns from the everyday material realities of African people, contributing to theoretical innovation and extending our understanding of work–life balance by cautioning against Northern universal assumptions.

Work-Life Balance: Underscoring the Insufficiency of the Choice Discourse from the African Context Africa has many notable cultural and economic differences that may cause diverse experiences at the work-life interface (Hoobler et al., 2021). Globally, one important life role is family. The family structure can determine individuals’ work-life balance experiences, as it informs the availability or lack of resources for employees. Most work-life balance literature focuses on the nuclear family form. However, the dominance of the nuclear family form is shifting. In Northern countries, single parenting is increasing as a result of growing divorce rates, among other factors (e.g., in Germany and the United States, see Janzen & Kelly,

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2012; Obioma et al., 2022; Woessmann, 2015). In Africa, there are other distinct family forms that are more salient than the nuclear family (Ogunyomi & Casper, 2021). For example, female-headed households are on the increase in sub-Saharan Africa. Specifically, in South Africa, only 35% of children live with both their parents, and women-headed households have reached 43% (Button et al., 2018; Hall et al., 2017). These single-headed households in the context of high poverty are a consequence of varied factors, including (1) labour migration by male heads, (2) wars and conflicts that kill men and exacerbate the labour demands of the care economy among women and (3) teen pregnancies (Nwosu & Ndinda, 2018). Female household headship increases care work demands and hinders women’s access to jobs (Moore, 2020). When the female head is employed, she encounters excessive work-life conflict. Extended family members and kin are often omitted from the definition of family in work-life balance studies. In most African contexts, it is a norm that parents, in-laws and siblings form part of a family unit, and they play an important role in supporting better management of work-life issues for employed individuals (Amah, 2019; Becker & Charles, 2006). The family unit is often inclusive of domestic employees to help manage work and family demands for women in particular (Aryee, 2005; Hoobler, 2016; Masterson & Hoobler, 2019). However, the use of domestic support—as a coping strategy for managing worklife balance—typically maintains gender role inequalities because paid domestic help provides assistance for women without bringing about changes in men’s behaviour in household tasks (Rout et al., 1999). Additionally, while paid domestic help offers instrumental support to women, their presence in the home has been shown to increase working women’s work-family conflict (Jaga, 2014). This is because in contexts of traditional gendered roles, as is prevalent in African countries, women are still primarily responsible for managing the home. Paid domestic help adds another set of responsibilities that women must manage in the family domain, including the management of domestic workers’ duties and the planning and provision of their meals (Jaga, 2014). Against this traditional sociocultural and economic background, the choice discourse used in framing work-life balance in the dominant literature is not always available to most workers in Africa, especially women.

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We present four examples to illustrate how this discourse appears to be inadequate in capturing Africans’ lived realities in the local context. Here, we show the need to open pathways for plural perspectives that can coexist to expand how we know work-life balance. A widespread structural family arrangement in patriarchal sub-Saharan regions of Africa is polygamy (Beauregard & Adisa, 2021; Ogunyomi & Casper, 2021). One in four married women in sub-Saharan Africa are in polygamous homes (Arthi & Fenske, 2018). These home structures comprise a family arrangement with sizable effects on employees’ demands and resources in the management of work-family domains. In Nigeria, almost 31% of married women share their partners with one or more cowives, and this increases to 50% in predominantly Muslim states (National Population Commission and ICF International, 2019). Rooted in patriarchal values of male supremacy and female subordination, polygamous families fulfil the need for agricultural labour, informal support and elder care (Audu et al., 2008; Cook, 2007). The composition of multiple wives and many children within polygamous families has in some instances, served as a resource, enabling working partners to increase performance in their work roles. For example, the cowife or an older child can help with caregiving for young children, allowing an employed wife to be at work (Griggs et al., 2013; Ogunyomi & Casper, 2021). This form of support is particularly appreciated given the limited state and organisational work-life support initiatives in low-resource contexts. The strong patriarchal cultural norms and polygamy in these contexts have contributed to unique understandings of work-family border management (Adisa et al., 2017; Beauregard & Adisa, 2021; Gudeta & van Engen, 2018). While dominant work-family border management theorising has been based on assumptions that individuals have the urgency to or can proactively manage boundaries between work and life spheres to achieve a satisfactory balance (Clark, 2000), these assumptions are based on a choice discourse that may be limited in culturally diverse contexts. In a study on Nigerian women in the legal field, Beauregard and Adisa (2021) found that patriarchal values and the introduction of new spouses (via nonconsensual polygamy) made borders between their work and personal life roles more permeable. This meant that even if

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these women wanted to enact and maintain separate work and family life roles; they did not have a choice in doing so. For example, in Nigeria, the belief is widely held that legal professionals are personally accountable for judicial outcomes. Accordingly, the legal women in their study encountered aggressive behaviours and harassment in their nonwork times and spaces, such as while shopping, visiting parks and after church, by the friends and family members of convicted offenders. Additionally, given the subordinate status women hold in a patriarchal Nigerian society, the women legal professionals were subject to greater verbal abuse and physical intimidation than their male counterparts, calling into question their competence. Furthermore, the legal professionals had no control over their husband’s decisions to have cowives or over the domestic roles that the cowives assumed. In most instances, the secondary wives took on more domestic work to facilitate less family role demands and more work time and energy for the wife who was the legal professional (Beauregard & Adisa, 2021). In a second example, we see that poor socioeconomic conditions in parts of Mozambique remove certain choices from low-income workers’ ability to easily achieve work-life balance. Their lack of agency to exercise choices to strive for work-life balance is aggravated when employers (particularly from multinational companies) fail to develop contextsensitive understandings of the constructions of work and other life roles. For example, Stevano (2023) explored the power dynamics in a global-local cashew processing factory in Mozambique and found that foreign employers encountered high absenteeism from factory employees at the bottom of their global supply chain. Employers translated the absenteeism to be due to laziness and incompetence of local Mozambicans; however, the authors discovered that employees missed work to attend to significant life role demands (e.g., childcare, family commitments such as looking after a sick relative or attending community events). They also stayed away from work to earn cash from other activities (e.g., selling beauty products in the community). Here, an understanding of the material conditions, where employees earned below living wages from the factory but were expected to work extended hours (10–12 hours/day) and long shifts (6-day work weeks) (Stevano, 2023), would help to inform new ways to help employees manage the multiple

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work roles that they occupy to survive and their culturally expected family roles. In Mozambique, as in most low-income African countries, informal employment is the main source of income for most employees. Employees typically hold several low paying jobs (including petty trade, casual and regular wage work and informal cash-earning activities) to meet their economic needs (Ng’weno & Porteous, 2018). Stevano (2023) asserted that in the capitalist-colonial system, workers are ‘paid below their cost of social reproduction to reinforce sociological and cultural construction of African workers as different and somehow able to cope with low pay and harsh working and living conditions’ (Stevano, 2023, p. 498). Attempts to understand the work-life interface without an indepth analysis of historical inequalities will likely perpetuate exploitation of individuals in low-income African contexts. In our own example (Mabaso et al., 2023), among public school teachers in South Africa, we explored Family Supportive Supervisor Behaviors (FSSB) for breastfeeding at work. FSSB is a specific form of informal support that supervisors demonstrate to assist employees with their integration of work and family responsibilities (Hammer et al., 2009). We found that teachers who inhabit more marginalised positions from histories of colonialism, patriarchy and apartheid give us unique insights about them accessing FSSBs. Our findings also offer an alternative to the discourse of individuals being proactive agents in managing their work-life balance when FSSB is present. While FSSB can be an effective set of behaviours to facilitate the integration of work and family responsibilities, especially in economic contexts with limited state and organisational resources, it is important to recognise that there are a variety of ways in which FSSB may manifest and be accessed that are intimately grounded in contextual issues. For example, schools that were historically classified as black schools in South Africa, based on a racially segregated educational system in apartheid, continue to lack resources such as staff rooms, which are provided in the previously termed ‘white’ schools in the middle-class suburbs (Thobejane, 2013). This makes breastfeeding support and hence breastfeeding more challenging. Furthermore, these under-resourced schools are geographically located in townships on the urban periphery, where local communities face increased crime and gender-based violence due to high poverty and

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unemployment and where patriarchal cultures are more entrenched. We found that the pervasiveness of gender-based violence in the community compromised these teachers’ access to forms of FSSB for breastfeeding at work from male principals because of the sexualisation of breasts. These women’s hesitation to access FSSB was even in instances when male principals were understanding of the need for female teachers to express breastmilk at work and who themselves were willing to learn behaviours for offering such support. In this context, there were fears that engaging male supervisors about issues related to breasts in a work environment may invite sexual assault. By paying particular attention to context, our findings provide insights into locally nuanced understandings and can inform more relevant and appropriate training and implementation of workplace programmes. The final example we present in which focusing on complexities in an African context provides alternate insights into the neoliberal choice discourse relates to women’s decisions to have children. In more economically developed and egalitarian societies, this decision tends to be one of individual agency (Sørensen, 2017). In several African contexts, this decision is strongly influenced by socio-religious and socio-cultural expectations, particularly for married women. For example, in contexts where a traditional bride price is paid for a woman in marriage, as in most African countries, wives are often expected to bear children for the family they marry into to strengthen their lineage. Childbearing is perceived to be a spiritual sign that the ancestors are pleased with the wife and the husband, and his family strongly inform the woman’s reproductive decisions, giving the wife minimal control over, and choice about, reproduction (Muhoza, 2019). However, a drastic increase in infertility has been reported in sub-Saharan Africa compared to other regions (Mascarenhas et al., 2012). For instance, northwestern Ethiopia has seen a 21.2% decline in fertility rates (Asante-Afari et al., 2022). Infertile women in these African countries are likely to face significant social ostracisation (especially from mothers-in-law), violence, marital break ups, physical and emotional abuse and be excluded from certain cultural practices (Asante-Afari et al., 2022). In a study on the predictors of subjective well-being in Ghana, Addai et al. (2013) found that

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the birth of a child from fertility treatment and her transition to motherhood restored the dignity of the woman in the husband’s family and community setting. Infertility experiences permeate through personal and professional lives. As infertility rates increase and women’s participation in the labour market increases simultaneously out of economic necessity, particularly in low- and middle-income countries in Africa, this complex issue requires work-life balance innovations from workplaces with particular attention to the patrilineal family system (Williams, 2016). Such support has been shown to reduce levels of stress, anxiety and depression in women (Asante-Afari et al., 2022). Work-life balance is often positioned as an ideal that one strives for individually, as suggested in Western feminism’s focus on individual women. However, this perspective ignores the familial context of their lives and inadequately represents these women’s realities (Holvino, 2010; Nyamnjoh, 2011). Strong sociocultural norms of extended family, kin, community and patriarchy, as well as economic and historical conditions, locate work-life balance in many African contexts to be beyond the individual’s choice, rather requiring collective efforts and complex negotiations. These work-life examples are located within realities of intersecting identities that span cultures, spaces and places in cities and national contexts (Nyamnjoh & Brudvig, 2014)—opening space for epistemological and ontological plurality in the work-life balance field.

Asking New Questions to Advance Work-Life Balance for a More Representative HRM As we come out of the COVID-19 pandemic, where job precarity, inequality and mental illnesses are rising globally, we need to turn to alternative understandings of work-life balance to enhance the social and societal relevance of the field. To do this, we must explore new questions (Bal & Brookes, 2022), grounded in local realities in Africa, to produce novel and decolonised work-life balance frameworks and initiatives. It is critical that as scholars; we begin with an understanding of the effects of colonialism on gendered, classist, racialised and geographical hierarchies and how these affect the work-life interface of African workers’

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lives. For example, what are the colonial influences on work-life balance experiences? What forms does coloniality take in work-life experiences in postcolonial African contexts? Whose voices are missing in the work-life balance discourses? How do power and politics (geopolitical and other) enter work-life balance conceptualisations and what are the consequences for knowledge making and dissemination? How do we elevate the local, acknowledge diversity and question the universal for a fairer HRM? It is equally necessary to extend the work-life balance literature by analysing the structural and everyday practices that underpin the reproduction of labour in various contexts. As we have shown, a Southern lens is a valuable tool to enhance the understanding of work-life balance through its temporal and spatial dynamics over time and in everyday life (Rao et al., 2021). This starting point can then inform HRM curricula, training programmes and future practitioners to be critical of Northern hegemony and the erasure of African social histories in developing appropriate work-life balance approaches. However, one cannot stop here. HRM scholars and practitioners need to develop reflexivity about their own positionality (Jammulamadaka et al., 2021), ensuring that we do not assert our power and privilege in our research or workspaces. We could ask, what kind of reflexivity does decolonising work-life balance require? And, who are the knowledge bearers whose knowledge has been erased and who should be seeking to co-create more equitable HRM practices and policies? Co-creative approaches to this work are key because work, family, community, care and labour are all concepts embedded within dynamic and highly contextual processes and power structures, meaning different things to different actors across space and time (Pelletier et al., 2016). These questions begin to offer us some direction to create new theoretical and discursive possibilities for understanding work-life balance and to move the field forward in fair and just ways.

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3 A Critical Approach to Work-Life Balance: The Moroccan Perspective Siham Lekchiri

and Barbara A. W. Eversole

Introduction Work-life balance research has long been investigated in Western and European contexts (Sidani & Al Hakim, 2012). Findings from these studies revealed that a lack of work-life balance often leads to augmented stress levels and significantly impacts employees’ mental health (Ta¸sdelen-Karçkay & Bakalım, 2017). Additionally, a study on employee job satisfaction conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM, 2007) revealed that having the ability and flexibility to balance work and personal life responsibilities was ranked as a very important factor for more than half of the study respondents S. Lekchiri (B) Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC, USA e-mail: [email protected] B. A. W. Eversole Indiana State University, Terre Haute, IN, USA e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 H. A. Ajonbadi et al. (eds.), Work-Life Balance in Africa, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-38008-2_3

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(Frincke, 2007). Nonetheless, the use of work-life balance (WLB) is taken for granted (McMillan et al., 2011; Pitt-Catsouphes et al., 2006). While many developments have been realised in numerous developed countries, developing and more conservative countries have long struggled with understanding and adopting appropriate work-life balance programs. In fact, research on working women is lacking in developing countries, with the work-life interface being one of the areas unaddressed (Traylor et al., 2020). While American companies tend to focus on workplace flexibility as a means to WLB, countries such as India depend on employee welfare programs (Chandra, 2012). There is an assumption that WLB is culture free and is the same in non-Western contexts (Beauregard et al., 2020; Lewis et al., 2007). For example, in countries such as Nigeria, high unemployment and the lack of good jobs leave employees with no bargaining power (Igbinomwanhia et al., 2012). In India, working women struggle with work-life balance as work spills over into their home lives, and they experience burnout from long work hours (Sundaresan, 2014). The irony of work-life balance in Western contexts is that it is often achieved by utilising migrant workers who themselves have a precarious work-life balance (Dyer et al., 2011). Migrant working mothers in Portugal cope with their responsibilities using participation in religion (Trovão et al., 2017). Hence, research is sorely lacking on how women from minority groups struggle to achieve WLB in developed countries (Akobo & Stewart, 2020), which has encouraged other researchers to focus on contexts such as Africa (Mokomane et al., 2017). The lack of research on work-life balance in traditional cultures in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region supports the need for a more comprehensive approach to obtaining a well-versed understanding of work-life balance. Sidani and Al Hakim (2012) confirmed that global studies on work-life balance issues do not include any of the areas in the MENA region. As countries in this region continue to evolve, human resource scholars and practitioners need to be at the forefront of this significant matter to support and develop employees’ potential for improved performance and increased morale in organisations (Beigi et al., 2018). It was also reported that work-life balance concerns are an ongoing struggle for employees given human resource

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departments’ low participation in finding proper resolutions to address this (Beigi et al., 2018). Additionally, Morris and Madsen (2007, p. 439) stated that “by better understanding work-life theory and research, HRD professionals can contribute to the strategic development of policies, practices, programs and interventions that appear to alleviate or ameliorate demands fostering greater work-life integration”. In this chapter, we start by reviewing the definition of work-life balance and provide an overview of the status of work-life balance within the Moroccan and North African contexts. We then discuss the practice and research of WLB in Morocco; finally, we provide recommendations geared towards improving the status of Moroccan employees’ work-life balance and suggestions for future research in this context.

Defining Work-Life Balance Over the years, work-life balance has been given various definitions in research and is often used by organisations to reference their focus on employees’ well-being. However, a universally agreed-upon definition has not been reached from a research standpoint. Greenhaus et al. (2003, p. 513) defined work-life balance as “the extent to which an individual is equally engaged in – and equally satisfied with – his or her work and family role”. This definition stipulates the existence of a balance between the positive and negative aspects of work and life. In other words, when one aspect of life is balanced, the other encounter an imbalance and vice versa. In that regard, Greenhaus et al. (2003) suggested three elements of balance: the first has to do with time balance, the second has to do with involvement balance and the third has to do with satisfaction balance (Pitt-Catsouphes et al., 2006, p. 4). Sirgy and Lee’s (2018) definition of work-life balance has been categorised into two fundamental dimensions: (1) engagement in multiple responsibilities of work and personal life and (2) minimal conflict between work and personal life. In the first dimension, work-life balance is defined as “the allocation of time and psychological energy in a balanced way in work and nonwork-life while deriving much satisfaction from both work and nonwork-life” (Sirgy & Lee, 2018, p. 230).

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Viewing it from the second dimension angle, work-life balance is defined as “the satisfaction and good functioning in work and family roles with minimum role conflict” (Sirgy & Lee, 2018, p. 231).

The Moroccan Context Morocco is an Arab Muslim country located in North Africa. It has several shared values with other Arab countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), including religion, history, classical Arabic language and other traditions (Abbas & Wahabi, 1995, p. 87). However, Morocco is also known for being a progressive country and for its openness to European and Western ideologies. Having been colonised by Spain and France, Morocco has continued to embrace the use of the French and Spanish languages and some traditions, not only for social interactions but also for business operations and managerial values (Abbas & Wahabi, 1995; Lekchiri et al., 2018). Furthermore, Morocco’s geographical location and proximity to Europe makes it a strategic gateway to the African continent, which constructs Morocco as a transitional country with a unique character in the Muslim world (Benson & Al Arkoubi, 2006). The country’s primary industries are agriculture and tourism (Benson & Al Arkoubi, 2006). From a religious standpoint, work is considered an essential spiritual act and is often seen “as important as prayer” (Aljayi et al., 2016, p. 207). Aljayi et al. (2016) added that work needs to be undertaken with devotion, commitment and neatness, and given that most Moroccans are Muslim; they tend to follow their religious and Quranic teachings. Thus, it can be concluded that Moroccan work morals are inspired by their religious principles and teachings. In regard to managerial and leadership practices, Moroccans tend to respect social and managerial hierarchy, as their values are influenced by family and tribal traditions (Aljayi et al., 2016). Hence, this encourages workers to adhere to the traditional values of respect, conformity and loyalty. However, this is now changing as the upcoming generations are challenging these societal and managerial values and imposing their own values that meet the needs of their individual lifestyles.

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Legislation Management. To better understand the changes needed to support employees’ work-life balance in Morocco, it is important to learn more about the role of legislation in managing employees and change within the country. The new family code of 2004 placed the family under the joint responsibility of both husband and wife, which was a radical change for Morocco (Farah, 2021). According to Al-Arkoubi and McCourt (2006, p. 981), “Morocco has undertaken reforms to ensure sustained economic growth, macroeconomic stability, opening to the global economy … Their success is ultimately linked to the quality of civil servants involved”. Thus, the Moroccan government is seeking to identify ways to support the growth of the country through better management of its human capital. In their study, Al-Arkoubi and McCourt (2006) found that improvements to managing human resources succeed or fail with administrative reform programs. A “Good Management Charter” initiative was launched to include managerial improvement interventions, which included creating a workplace that is conducive to productivity (Al-Arkoubi & McCourt, 2006, p. 985). However, they later reported that the lack of strategic integration of these plans often led to their failure. This coupled with generic resistance to change leads to the stalling of all progress made; Moroccans are foremost concerned with family (Farah, 2021). Article 19 in the Moroccan Constitution. Adopted in 2011, Article 19 of the Moroccan Constitution states that “the man and the woman enjoy, in equality, the rights and freedoms of civil, political, economic, social, cultural and environmental character” (Madani et al., 2012). The introduction of Article 19 has led to positive changes in workplace demographics. It has provided access to education to young girls and encouraged women to contribute to the Moroccan labour market and economy. Although traditionally, in Morocco, women managed the home while men worked, today, both men and women take care of domestic duties and work outside the home (Farah, 2021). Much progress has been made in creating equality for women and in feminising work—which began in the ‘70s when women started obtaining work with a salary, which challenged patriarchal society (Farah, 2021). Like Nigeria, another patriarchal society, deeply ingrained patriarchal norms

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such as male dominance and subordination of women and gender-based domestic labour divisions make it difficult for women to achieve WLB (Adisa et al., 2019). A World Bank report (2017, p. n.d.) indicated that women’s representation in the Moroccan workforce was only 26.4%. This is a significant increase compared to previous years. However, even with the introduction of Article 19, women have continued to struggle with their insertion into the workplace, as they were seen as the primary causes of men’s rising unemployment in Morocco. In fact, Morocco now has one of the lowest rates of women’s participation in the workforce in the world, at 22% in 2021 (International Labor Organization, 2022).

Work-Life Balance in North Africa North Africa includes nations such as Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt. However, the literature on work-life balance within this part of the continent is very limited. There are only a handful of studies that have addressed work-life balance, and most of them are focused on working women’s perceptions of their abilities to find that balance and the challenges they face as working professionals in traditional/ conservative nations. A recent study conducted by Bayt (2022) on workers’ perceived worklife balance in the MENA region revealed that “over half the employees have considered leaving their current jobs to find better work-life balance at some point during the past 12 months” (Bayt, 2022, p. 1). This is a solid indicator that workers within these nations are finally making worklife balance one of their priorities and will not hesitate to find another job if their current organisations are not aligned with their needs. In fact, the study disclosed that finding a good balance between work and personal responsibilities has always been an arduous concern for employees in the region, as “current schedules are getting busier than ever before, which often causes work or personal lives to suffer” (Bayt, 2022, p. 1). The same report revealed that “having a good balance between a personal life and career is the top priority for MENA professionals; 60% cite their family as the most important factor influencing their happiness,

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followed by their job (30%)” (Bayt, 2022, p. 1). This is a solid indicator that work-life balance remains a myth in the region that employees in North African countries continue to challenge traditional managerial roles, and the present workers are asking for greater control over their own work-life balance conditions. Therefore, to improve the satisfaction, performance and retention of their workers, organisations in the region need to strategically identify ways to improve their workers’ work-life balance. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health has taken a front-row seat to help employees cope with the changes affecting their personal and professional lives as an important tool to support employees’ well-being and healthy work-life balance post-pandemic. However, mental health is often stigmatised in countries such as Morocco. Adamek (2021) conducted a study on the mental health status of students in Morocco and found that there are barriers to gaining access to mental healthcare, including stigmatisation and the lack of funding for psychology clinics. The author recommended that Morocco create a strong national system to combat stigma and create more psychological resources, which are essential tools to support employees’ well-being.

The Practice of Work-Life Balance in Morocco As noted in the previous sections, studies on work-life balance within the Moroccan context are very limited; therefore, our reported analysis is based on the few studies that have been identified. Improvement of working conditions is not a high priority for Moroccan firms (Benson & Al Arkoubi, 2006). A study of an aerospace company in Morocco found a gender difference in the quality of work-life satisfaction, with men being more satisfied than women (Battal & Toufik, 2018). From an overall work-life balance standpoint, the Institute of Management Services (2013) conducted a study on working habits in eleven countries. Findings from this study on Moroccan employees revealed that they have high levels of loyalty compared to other countries, which is consistent with findings from Aljayi et al. (2016). Employees in Morocco tend to build strong ties with their employers. Nonetheless,

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the new generations are challenging employers’ traditional management practices. A recent study conducted by ReKrute, a Moroccan staffing agency, disclosed that Moroccan employees who see themselves satisfied and happy at their current workplaces do not surpass 18%. The same report revealed that “a higher salary, more interesting positions and respect for work-life balance, are the three key factors of happiness at work in Morocco” (Morocco Detail, 2022, para. 1). Thus, as the report concluded, the Moroccan professional environment does not promote or foster happiness and satisfaction given the lack of important factors such as work-life balance. This has led more than 57% of the study participants to consider leaving their current organisations for other jobs with the right conditions and environment (Morocco Detail, 2022). Studies in other countries in the MENA region support similar findings and are consistent with the assumptions that traditional organisational cultures do not foster or create an environment that supports a healthy work-life balance for employees. Within the Moroccan context, only a handful of studies have been conducted on work-life balance, with most focused on the status of Moroccan women in the workforce, particularly as they balance their dual professional and personal roles. These studies revealed a disappointing reality of a somewhat absent work-life balance for Moroccan females. It was determined that Moroccan females find traditional cultures and environments their biggest barriers to finding a good worklife balance (Lekchiri & Eversole, 2021). These obstacles involve personal family responsibilities, gender bias, inability to find adequate time to perform all duties and the traditional and societal norms prescribed to them, therefore leading them to turn to other personal projects to create their own work-life balance (Omair, 2008). These efforts involve freelancing or entrepreneurial endeavours to achieve financial independence, increased flexibility in managing work and life responsibilities and autonomy (Omair, 2008, p. 108). This is what is known as Mampreneurship, which is when a mother becomes an entrepreneur to take care of her children while she works (Duberley and Carrigan, 2012, as cited in Bouzekraoui & Ferhane, 2017). Interestingly, Kaciak and Welsh (2020) found in their study of 10 nations that women entrepreneurs in Morocco, with its collectivist culture and

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family emphasis, experienced less work-family conflict than nations with more individualist cultures. Family support systems such as childcare and eldercare are needed not only in Morocco but also globally for women entrepreneurs (Welsh et al., 2017). Women entrepreneurs struggle with gender inequality affecting their businesses (Abousaid, 2018). For those who do not have a supportive spouse at home, WLB is more difficult to attain (Constantinidis et al., 2019). With the family code of 2004 giving women the responsibility for both their work and their families, WLB became a major challenge (Farah, 2021). Given the declining fertility of working-class Moroccan women (Hughes, 2011), it is certainly possible that the difficulty in achieving WLB may lead Moroccan women to delay or cease childbearing.

Work-Life Balance in Morocco: Current Research Semlali and Hassi (2016) found in their study of twenty IT women professionals in Morocco that they adhered to both the culture of their households and their organisations. In fact, they added that “the Moroccan culture ties women, more than men, to family and social obligations” (Semlali & Hassi, 2016, p. 219). Consequently, Moroccan women end up in situations where they are forced to fulfil both personal and professional responsibilities with a total absence of organizational support programs. These responsibilities inhibit women’s professional success and lead to higher levels of stress and lowered motivation. Findings from this study suggest that societal expectations continue to impede women’s professional lives and career paths. The authors made three recommendations: prolonging maternity leave for women, providing mothers with childcare options in the form of at-work nurseries and offering a variety of remote work options. Oudrhiri et al. (2020) conducted a study on burnout among surgeons in a residency program in Morocco. Findings from this study were rather alarming, given that burnout remains a serious health issue neglected within the Moroccan health system (Oudrhiri et al., 2020). Surveying surgical residents in Rabat revealed that those suffering from burnout

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were also significantly less satisfied with their work-life balance. Oudrhiri et al., (2020, p. 856) stated that “even with a favorable learning climate, the consequences of the hospital working environment and the strong imbalance between work/personal life leads to higher burnout rates among neurosurgical residents and young neurosurgeons in Morocco”. Similarly, Majbar et al. (2017) found comparable results among other residency programs, stating that improvement strategies are pivotal to maintaining residents’ well-being and good performance. Both studies also reported that efforts are being deployed to address burnout and support residents through a variety of work-life balance programs; however, they also acknowledge that this will be a long-term journey to improve working conditions within Moroccan residency programs. Lekchiri and Eversole (2021) found in their study of Moroccan professional women that they had difficulty achieving WLB. Beham and Drobnic (2010, p. 669) reported that “the affective component of satisfaction with work-family balance leads to a positive feeling or emotional state”. This was found to be more intense for women in conservative cultures who continue to suffer from this type of imbalance. Lekchiri and Eversole (2021) stated that even when Moroccan women turned to entrepreneurship or freelancing; they often could not achieve a healthy equilibrium (Bouanani & Boufarouj, 2022), which indicates that the lack of work-life balance arrangements remains crucial to supporting professional Moroccan females. Figure 3.1 illustrates the recommendations from Lekchiri and Eversole’s study (2021). The women in the study relied on their parents for support (p. 46), since most did not have any work-life programs at their workplace (pp. 45–46). Most respondents also felt that their work interfered with their family lives (p. 45). Laaboudi (2021) similarly surveyed married women academics in Morocco about their WLB. Almost all were mothers. They were from Marrakech, Casablanca and El Jadida. These women faced a lack of support both at their workplaces and at home. Laaboudi (2021) argued for more flexibility in Moroccan higher education institutions to help academic women with their WLB. Moroccan academic women reported gender inequities in their institutions (Llorent-Bedmar et al., 2017). Zerhouni (2022) conducted a case study in a Moroccan company with 36 participants. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses were

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Fig. 3.1 Framework to improve Moroccan women’s work-life balance

completed, and it was found that flexible work arrangements increased the well-being, job satisfaction and work performance of participants in the qualitative part of the study but had no effect in the quantitative part.

Implications for Human Resource Research and Practice in Morocco What was discussed in this chapter confirms that work-life balance is an ongoing issue for workers in the Muslim North African country. We can draw various human resource theoretical and practical implications from this work. From a theoretical perspective, this work adds to the body of literature on the status of work-life balance in the region, where it was clearly noted that workers consider work-life balance to be one of the most important factors contributing to their happiness in the workplace and a main motivator to seek other employers for better work-life balance arrangements. Moroccan workers are considered to be loyal, but they also value the importance of balancing personal and professional responsibilities with little conflict. This work also extends the body of literature beyond the European and Western constructs. From a practical perspective, we believe that employers need to gain a better understanding of how to improve the work conditions for their

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workforce to enhance employee satisfaction, retention and well-being through a variety of work-life balance programs. Additionally, women make up more than 22% of the country’s workforce and contribute to its economic growth, and understanding the barriers they face as working professionals can help improve their work conditions and promote the retention and well-being of female workers. Finally, as the world continues to become more interrelated and dynamic, it remains fundamental for researchers to expand the body of literature that is inclusive of countries in the MENA region as well (Lekchiri & Eversole, 2021). This will inform human resource professionals, especially with the increase in international work assignments. Finally, they need to remain at the forefront of work-life balance issues and be advocates for employees to achieve a good equilibrium between work and personal responsibilities (Morris & Madsen, 2007).

Conclusion and Recommendations for Future Research In this chapter, we have attempted to provide an overview of the Moroccan workplace context to better understand the different aspects of work-life balance. As a progressive country, Morocco has seen and been through significant changes in recent years. The introduction of legislative changes, particularly Article 9 of the Moroccan Constitution, has provided a gateway for women’s inclusion in the workforce, ensuring equality of both genders while insertion was guaranteed. Equal work conditions, especially relating to programs supporting a healthy worklife balance, are not always present. What we presented in this chapter was based on findings from the literature on work-life balance in the Moroccan context. However, it is important to note that we found a paucity of empirical evidence conducted in this context. Most studies identified provided a brief overview or focused on work-life balance issues among females. Therefore, we need to be cautious not to make any generalisations. Nonetheless, these studies extend the body of literature on work-life balance issues among employees in a North African Muslim country. Additionally, this chapter provides a general understanding

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of work-life balance conditions among Moroccan workers, particularly women, and gives an overview of the ongoing work-life conflicts they face when they pursue personal and professional responsibilities. Therefore, we recommend conducting additional research with larger samples to potentially have findings that can be generalised to the Moroccan context, particularly studies that include both men and women, to determine the variations in work-life balance conflicts experienced by both genders.

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4 Work-Life Balance Experiences in Nigeria: Institutional and Sociocultural Perspectives Chantal Epie

Introduction Concern about people’s ability to combine their professional work and their personal and family life satisfactorily is not something new (see, e.g., Cooper, 1998; Sparks et al., 1997; Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985; Staines & O’Connor, 1980). While most of this literature has been focused on the Western world, there is now a growing body of research about work-life balance in Africa. This is a welcome development, as the continent generally lacks worker protection, especially with regard to middle and senior employees, and it is necessary to convince organisations that respecting the personal and family life of their staff is important and will benefit both parties. Work-family balance in subSaharan Africa is affected by the social and economic context to a greater C. Epie (B) Pan-Atlantic University, Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos State, Nigeria e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 H. A. Ajonbadi et al. (eds.), Work-Life Balance in Africa, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-38008-2_4

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extent than in the Western world (Epie et al., 2010), and this requires specific studies of organisations operating in the African continent. Work-life balance has been defined in many ways. Drawing from role balance theory (Marks & MacDermid, 1996), Uddin et al. (2020, p. 737) conceptualises it as “the ability of individuals to accomplish all the commitments of work and life equally without any conflict”. It is taken here as the performance of one’s professional, family and other activities to the satisfaction of work and family stakeholders, including oneself. This chapter is intended to provide information useful to both scholars and practitioners interested in the management of people in Nigeria. It sheds light on the sociocultural characteristics of Nigeria and the challenges faced by Nigerians in harmonising their work, personal and family lives in a difficult urban environment such as Lagos. It examines (1) the pressures put on individuals in a society characterised by a strong extended family system (that makes demands as well as provides support) and long commuting hours that add to the stress of long work hours in most formal-sector organisations with the resulting negative impact on employee productivity and (2) the effort (or sometimes, unfortunately, the lack of effort) made by employers to improve both employee productivity and employee wellbeing through policies designed to facilitate their staff ’s work-life balance. A focus on Nigeria is important because, according to a 2021 ranking by the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum, Nigeria is the third most attractive African country for foreign investment, behind South Africa and Mauritius (OMFIF, 2021). With a population estimated at more than 218 m in 2022 and a population growth rate of 2.5% annual change (2020), it is the 6th most highly populated country in the world, and 25% of Africans are Nigerian (World Population Review, 2022b). Moreover, Nigeria, dubbed the Giant of Africa, is currently the largest African economy (BScholarly, 2022). This means that Nigeria should be of great interest to businesses seeking new markets for their products.

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Within Nigeria, Lagos is the most populous, fast growing urban agglomeration in Africa and the largest economic centre of the country (Lagos State Government, 2022). It is notorious for its traffic jams, inadequate road network and motorist indiscipline, all of which contribute to the difficulties workers experience in harmonising their work, personal and family lives. This chapter is organised as follows. First, the institutional and sociocultural context of Nigeria is presented insofar as it influences the management of the work-nonwork interface. Second, examples from existing research, with special emphasis on Lagos-based organisations, are provided to illustrate the impact of work-family imbalance on employees’ wellbeing, their productivity and the performance of the organisation. Third, the efforts made by a number of organisations to adopt suitable work-life policies are documented, as well as employees’ views as to the policies they would find most helpful. Fourth, changes brought about by the experiences of the COVID-19 lockdown are described. Finally, recommendations are made to employers with regard to what needs to be done to enable employees to satisfactorily balance the various aspects of their lives.

Institutional and Sociocultural Characteristics of the Nigerian Environment Nigeria is a multiethnic society, home to more than 250 tribes but with 3 major ethnic groups: the Yoruba in the southwest, the Ibo in the southeast and the Hausa in the north (Odia, 2014). It is generally accepted that institutional patriarchy permeates many aspects of life in Nigeria (Adisa et al., 2021c). This is also true of other African countries, even in matrilineal societies where people’s filiation and ancestry are traced through women. Christianity, Islam and various traditional cults are the three main religions in Nigeria. The Hausa, in the North of Nigeria, are predominantly Muslim, the Ibos, in the Southeast, are overwhelmingly Christian and the Yoruba, in the Southwest, follow one or the other religion. The Hausa are generally socialised to be obedient to authority and

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faithful to Islamic tenets; the Ibos are more individualistic achievers and entrepreneurs, and the Yoruba are the strongest in solidarity with the extended family (Adigun, 1995). While there are a number of cases of female traditional rulers and priestesses in various parts of Nigeria (Olasupo, 2016), Nigerian women are generally considered to occupy a subaltern position. Both Christianity and Islam state that a wife is to be loved but must obey her husband (Agbo, 2020), and men tend to place greater emphasis on female obedience than on their own duty to love. A woman’s children belong to her husband, and she has no right of inheritance to her husband’s property. Only male children truly count because girls will one day marry and belong to another family, so that the mother who gives birth only to daughters or has no child at all may be sent away from the matrimonial home and her place given to another. In the eastern part of Nigeria, widows may be expected to submit to demeaning treatment as part of the mourning and burial ceremonies, while a widower’s mourning ritual is limited to head shaving (Agbo, 2020). While an increasing number of women gain access to managerial positions, they frequently have to face hostile subordinates who resent being under the authority of a woman, especially considering the fact that managers tend to exclude employee participation in problem solving and decision-making (Nwagbara, 2021a). The effects of institutionalised patriarchy are felt not only in business but also in any other sector, affecting even women with highly technical or specialised qualifications, such as female medical doctors (Nwagbara, 2021b). This makes it particularly difficult for women to satisfactorily integrate their work and their personal and family life (Adisa et al., 2018). Although great progress has been made since the 1970s when women started entering the workforce in Nigeria, Adisa et al. (2021a) found that jobs remain to a certain extent, distributed along gender lines and that women working in male-dominated jobs face serious challenges coming from both work and family. Women are expected to take care of household chores and child care, while men seek to excel professionally and expect to be served at home, as is generally the case in Africa (Mokomane, 2014). The birth rate has registered a decline in the past few years, but Nigeria still has a relatively high fertility rate of

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5.4 according to current data (World Population Review, 2022a). The number of children per family tends to be larger in rural areas than in cities, especially in the north of the country, but child care and general household chores are essentially the responsibility of women and constitute an important aspect of their life. In the words of a senior executive, “the African man does not enter the kitchen” (personal communication, 2018). Considering the limited availability of modern household appliances, the frequency and length of electricity outages, and the often unreliable water supply, looking after one’s household requires heavy investment in time and energy (Aryee, 2005). Moreover, the African family is not limited to a couple and their children. An extended family system prevails that includes a wide network of family relations (Epie et al., 2010). When a Nigerian refers to someone as a brother or sister, it may be a more distant relation or simply someone from the same village; most indigenous languages do not have a specific word for ‘cousin’. As Aryee (2005) notes, the extended family is a source of both demands and support for the individual African. Most Nigerians are expected to contribute financially to the upkeep and education of one or more extended family members (Amah & Ogah, 2021). On the other hand, most of them can count on the help of some relations to cope with household and childcare duties (Amah, 2021). Nigerians are also expected to attend numerous social engagements (traditional weddings, church weddings, naming ceremonies, burials, etc.) and may be sanctioned in some way if they fail to participate in such family events (Mordi et al., 2013). All this has an impact on the ability of Nigerian employees, both men and women, to achieve a satisfactory work-life balance considering the type of working conditions that prevail in the country, especially in the megacity of Lagos. One sometimes wonders how people can give attention to their children’s upbringing when they are the whole day at work or on the roads from Monday to Friday, then most of the day on Saturdays attending social functions. As noted by Adisa et al. (2021b), Nigerian law gives little protection to white-collar workers, leaving employers and employees to fix the number of work hours by mutual agreement. In a work environment where many organisations expect their staff to work long hours, it cannot

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be surprising that workers find it difficult to achieve work-life balance. More than 48 hours a week is generally considered excessively long work hours (Epie & Ituma, 2014); however, this often happens, especially in banks and other financial institutions where heavy workloads and time pressures lead to work-family conflict (Epie, 2009; Ugwu et al., 2017). In addition to long work hours, work-life balance is hindered by long distances and inadequate road networks. The downpours during the rainy season and the high number of heavy trucks recklessly driven cause considerable damage to the roads. While an effort is made to increase the ease of transportation by building overhead bridges and widening existing highways, the works progress slowly and create tremendous bottlenecks during what British people call rush hours, but Nigerians call more graphically ‘go-slow’. Lagosians who have to commute daily spend hours every day inching their way forward through the ‘go-slow’. Plans for intracity rail transport, first formulated in 2008, have not advanced very much (Construction Review Online, 2022). As the general external environment in which people work has been found to have a strong impact on their ability to fulfil both their work and family obligations (Akanji, 2012), it is clear that going to work daily represents a challenge for many who struggle to avoid neglecting family duties and personal aspirations while striving for superior performance to keep their job and rise on the hierarchical ladder. It may affect the energy they can put into the fulfilment of their job, with possible adverse consequences for organisational performance.

Impact of Work-Life Imbalance on Individual Indicators and Organisational Performance The inability to harmonise work and other aspects of life, especially the family, in a cultural environment such as Nigeria leads to work-family conflict, which can take the form of work-to-family or family-to-work conflict (Frone et al., 1992), two distinct concepts measured by separate scales (Netemeyer et al., 1996).

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To date, there is a growing body of literature on work-family or worklife balance in various economic sectors of Nigeria. Epie (2008) made a systematic comparison of companies in the oil, manufacturing, banking and consultancy/training sectors: one known to have a family-friendly culture, one known for its harsh work conditions and a third one just starting to adopt policies to facilitate work-life balance. She found that the bank with the least favourable conditions for work-life balance fared worse than the others on the following indicators: – – – – – – – –

Perceptions of supervisor support. Perceptions of organisational support. Work-family conflict. Self-reported psychological wellbeing. Trust in Management. Affective commitment. Turnover intentions. Profit after tax.

In the case of manufacturing companies, the one with the most favourable conditions registered much more positive results than the others on the following: – – – – –

Perceptions of supervisor support. Perceptions of organisational support. Trust in Management. Turnover intentions. Net profit margin, operating margin, return on equity and dividend yield.

The results for organisations in the consultancy/training sector were similar to those of the manufacturing companies. These results point to a positive impact of favourable work-life balance conditions on employee and firm performance. There is evidence in the literature that perceived supervisor support moderates the relationship between psychological capital and enhanced creativity in employee performance (e.g., Cai et al., 2019), and another study suggests that perceived supervisor support

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has a positive impact not only on individual but also on businessunit performance (Dysvik & Kuvaas, 2012). Perceived organisational support was found to positively relate to job performance and negatively relate to turnover intentions in countries with very different cultural characteristics (Medina & Prieto, 2022). Ugwu et al. (2017) found that the long hours and heavy workloads characterising the banking sector led to high levels of stress and workfamily conflict, which cannot be expected to have a sustainable positive impact on employee performance. Furthermore, a study of two manufacturing companies in Nigeria (Ganiyu et al., 2020) revealed that the implementation of work-life balance strategies was effective in reducing the negative impact of stressors caused by work-family conflict and led to improved organisational performance through the mediation of work-family satisfaction. In an empirical study of five manufacturing firms in an industrial sector of Lagos, Idowu (2020) found highly significant evidence that flexible working hours’ arrangements led to higher performance on the job, improved staff retention and reduced work stress. Flexible working hours give employees the option of closing earlier on some days and catching up by working longer some other day or on a weekend. More broadly, they also include the possibility of part-time work, job sharing and career breaks (Idowu, 2020). Information and communication technology work can be very stressful in Nigeria because of internet instability and frequently insufficient bandwidth; added to this are the generally high response expectations putting high pressure on employees, all of which have been found to heighten the experience of work-family conflict at the end of the day, with a likely negative impact on employee wellbeing (Cho et al., 2020). Although this last study was not carried out in Nigeria, it involved respondents in a great variety of economic sectors who took an online survey, and it may be presumed generalisable until proven otherwise. In a study of female medical doctors and nurses, Adisa et al. (2014) found that work performance often suffered when it came in conflict with family duties and that the very demanding character of both hospital and family work took a heavy toll on the health of the medical and nursing staff. More recent studies (Akanji et al., 2020; Mushfiqur

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et al., 2018) support the conclusion that many factors affect the capacity of female medical doctors to achieve work-life balance, notably work pressure, unsupportive work relationships, restrictions due to expected gender roles and a difficult environment. One small piece of evidence in the mass media sector is that adopting some work-life balance policies played a role, among other factors, in drastically improving talent retention in a television sports channel (Epie, 2014). This is supported by research findings in a study of lawyers, senior managers and chief executives, showing that excessive work hours can trigger an escalation of work-family conflict, leading affected employees to resign and look elsewhere for better working conditions (Epie & Ituma, 2014). Long and inflexible hours of work within an organisational culture clearly impeding the achievement of work-life balance are also a characteristic of the Nigerian Army. This is a source of concern for the security of the country because, according to Adekoya et al. (2019), the army culture sees the willingness to be on duty all the time as a proof of commitment, whereas social exchange theory (Blau, 1964; Emerson, 1976) suggests that soldiers’ commitment and loyalty are likely to be negatively affected by the clear lack of work support from top army leadership, higher officers and fellow soldiers. In the next section, the focus shifts to the work-life policies that a growing number of organisations are adopting in a bid to facilitate their employees’ work-life balance and, consequently, their wellbeing and their satisfaction with work and family.

Work-Life Policies in Nigeria: What Employees Have and What They Aspire to Have Notably, not all work-life policies are intended to give some degree of freedom to employees in the management of their work. As pointed out by Bourdeau et al. (2019), a policy such as flexible hours or flexibility in days of leave gives latitude to employees to make choices, while others such as on-site day care or provision of laundry services in the workplace are intended to keep employees busy at their work station. It can

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also be argued that stress management, time management and workfamily balance training are primarily aimed at increasing employees’ capacity to cope with the high pressure of work with minimal impact on their productivity—not truly at enabling them to lead a satisfactory life outside work. Mordi et al. (2013) found that banks had in place some work-life policies, for example, paid maternity leave, but these had a limited application (no extension is possible). On-site day care was available only in the bank headquarters, even though most banks have an extensive network of branches all over the city so that this benefit was accessible to only a few female staff members (let us not forget that a Nigerian man is most unlikely to agree to take his small child with him to work). As in most organisations in Nigeria, there was provision for casual leave. Flexible working was allowed to only some categories of employees who generally did not make use of it, possibly out of fear of losing their job. Part-time work, job sharing and paternity leave were generally not available. Career breaks, sabbatical leave and working from home might be part of the policies, but employees were mostly not aware. A slightly later study of 79 organisations in various economic sectors showed that very few companies, mostly those in the oil and gas sector and consultancy firms, had adopted work-life balance policies (Epie et al., 2010). The policies more widely in place were as follows: – Flexibility in days of leave. – Stress management or time management training. – Permission to leave the workplace to attend to urgent family matters. Some policies existed mostly in oil companies and other large multinationals; for example: – Reimbursement for day care services (offered by 9% of surveyed organisations). – A few days of paternity leave (10%). – Possibility of working reduced work hours (10%). – Working from home (24%).

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The same study reported that, interestingly, when middle managers and other professionals responded to a pilot survey about the three worklife policies that would be the most useful to them; other policies were mentioned as top priorities. Flexible work hours were the preference of 42% of female and 36% of male respondents. Training on how to combine work and family duties was most important to 6 and 22% of them, respectively. On-site day care was most important to 24% of female respondents, while 16% of them put the highest priority on the possibility of occasional work from home, part-time work and the option of extended maternity leave, even if unpaid. A study carried out by Epie (2009) showed that the top 3 preferences for employees with regard to work-life policies were very similar in the banking, beverage, consultancy/training and oil sectors, although the exact order of priority could differ: flexible hours, individual timing of working hours according to the needs of each employee and flexibility in leave and short vacations were generally among the top five priorities. Stress management training was considered very important in the banks, and the possibility of distance work or work from home was a high priority in the consultancy/training sector. The least importance was attached to (a) psychological/family, legal or financial/fiscal consultation being available in the workplace and (b) child care or elderly care leave, probably because of the usually strong support coming from the extended family. It is, however, wise to keep in mind that extended family support is not as strong currently in large cities as it would be in village life. A study by Baird and Burge (2018) suggests that women are much more likely to return to full-time work after the birth of their second child if work-family benefits are available, such as the possibility of extended maternity leave, even if unpaid, and childcare facilities. However, that study was carried out in the United States, a country where even paid maternity leave is uncommon, while Nigerian law prescribes paid maternity leave as well as shorter hours for nursing mothers and paid sick leave for all full-time staff. There is, however, anecdotal evidence of heightened job satisfaction in the case of mothers returning from maternity leave and being able to leave their baby in the

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on-site free-of-charge day care set up by their employer. Some organisations are able to turn this particular benefit into an additional source of revenue: Lagos Business School gives access to its day care unit (free for babies of staff ) to its participants in seminars and executive programmes, charging a fee per day, and this is highly appreciated by those participants who are nursing mothers. Certainly, what applies in the Western world is likely to apply also to African countries, as human beings share the same human nature irrespective of their racial and cultural differences. Previous research suggests that people are influenced in their decision to use or not to use familyfriendly policies by their perceptions of supervisors’ and coworkers’ attitudes towards such use (Mandeville et al., 2016). In the context of job insecurity, employees will naturally avoid displeasing their boss. Fortunately, there is evidence that many supervisors in Nigeria prove sympathetic to their staff who ask for some time off or to reschedule their work around pressing family needs (Epie & Ituma, 2014). Working from home was never readily accepted in Nigeria, where managers at all levels want to exercise direct control over their staff. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many organisations all over the world to instruct a good proportion of their staff to work from home, as pointed out by Chenji and Raghavendra (2021), and this also happened in Nigeria.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Work-Life Balance in Lagos The global COVID-19 pandemic has forced organisations to change their normal expectations of work behaviour on the part of their employees. It is, however, not evident that this change will permanently become ‘the new normal’ everywhere now that the crisis is to a very great extent over. Ridwan et al. (2020) report that following the discovery of the first cases of the deadly virus, the Nigerian government declared a strict lockdown in the states of Lagos, Ogun and the federal territory of Abuja; this was later extended to the northern city of Kano. This lockdown lasted

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for weeks and inflicted great hardship on the population that lived below poverty levels and could not survive without the small daily income they normally obtained from petty trading, tricycle passenger transportation and so on. This led the government to order a gradual easing of the lockdown, allowing banks, pharmacies and supermarkets to open for a few hours daily and making the wearing of face masks compulsory in public places. Organisations immediately sought recourse to technology so that their employees could work from home. Not all of them were able to adapt quickly to the new situation. It depended on their own level of technological preparedness. Young adults were also more comfortable with technology than those belonging to older generations. According to published statistics, more than 40% of employees lost their jobs for reasons related to the pandemic, and nearly 80% of households suffered a reduction in their income (Adesoji, 2020). Banks and other businesses that had habitually used computers adopted a work-from-home system, and this eventually represented a turning point in the life of these organisations. They realised that remote work could still lead to profitable business while potentially saving a lot of money in terms of smaller office space and lower expenses of electricity and transport allowances. The practice of working from home proved to have both advantages and disadvantages. It taught managers that an employee equipped with a laptop, internet connection and mobile phone can do a very fruitful job away from the direct gaze of a supervisor, even though certain categories of staff cannot do their job away from their work premises. Employees were spared the stress of long commuting time, but not every home was appropriate for professional work: during the total lockdown and as long as schools remained closed, toddlers, school children and working parents had to share the same limited space with the consequent distractions (Epie, 2022). Women generally suffered more pressure than men because of the cultural expectation that household chores and child care were their own responsibility. Akanji et al. (2022) carried out a qualitative study among 28 married female academics that revealed an intensification of stress levels among these women who could no longer, during the lockdown, maintain boundaries between their work and their family duties.

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However, men and women alike were subjected to mounting pressures due to the lack of face-to-face interactions with peers and heavier workloads. While they had theoretically greater flexibility to organise their work, it was forced flexibility that did not suit everyone and that often led to longer work hours and higher frustration (Adisa et al., 2022). Another qualitative study in three Nigerian high-stress sectors— banking, manufacturing and healthcare—characterised by poor work conditions (Oruh & Dibia, 2020) revealed four main factors of employee stress during the COVID-19 period: a. Fear of job loss: This led employees to accept reduced salaries and intensified work. b. Fear of contracting the virus: Nearly everyone had heard of someone who had died from the disease. c. A sense of excessive workload that they had to accept if they were to keep their jobs. d. Financial concerns in view of frequent underpayment or delayed payment of their salaries (Oruh et al., 2021). Now, in the post-pandemic era when schools are again functioning normally, working from home is definitely less stressful, as there are no longer interferences from children claiming their parents’ attention during work hours, and working-from-home parents can enjoy desired flexibility, for example, to get some supplies from nearby shops in the course of the working day, knowing that they can complete their work assignments later in the day. A number of organisations have realised that they can benefit from allowing some of their staff to work from home two or three days a week, or even permanently, in which case they could save considerable money in terms of reduced office space, as one meeting room would be sufficient to satisfy the needs of the remote workers coming for periodic meetings.

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Challenges to Work-Life Balance in Post-Pandemic Lagos Life will return to normal in Lagos in 2022. In a sense, this is good news. In another sense, it means that heavy traffic is again making it tiresome to commute every weekday. Traffic on the mainland and the islands is very heavy. Currently, the government has launched a road reconstruction project on a single highway crossing the Lekki Peninsula. This is intended to widen the road to improve the increasing flow of traffic between the islands (mostly business districts) and the growing number of residential estates spread all along the peninsula (approximately 50 km). However, works are progressing very slowly, some parts of the road have been cut off and the periodic tropical rains work havoc on the highway, as a result of which the movement of vehicles has been seriously hindered. “It is truly difficult with the traffic situation to meet up with other pressing obligations. The cost of staying in traffic, aside from the bodily impact, is also high. Sometimes half a tank of petrol gets burnt out. I don’t mean to sound whinny, but this is the true situation for some of us,” wrote a senior administrative staff member of a university (personal communication, 25 September 2022). An accountant living not more than 25 km from her workplace writes, “For me, maintaining work-life balance has been tedious since the road construction started on the Lekki-Epe expressway. There was one Friday when I left my work place a little after 5 pm but did not get to my house until after 11 pm. Unfortunately, for me that day also, immediately I got to my gate my car refused to start after I switched it off to open the gate. I had to leave it at the gate and called in the mechanic the following day. Another fateful day, I got to my house after 10 pm after leaving my place of work at approximately 6 pm. (…) We truly need the government to expedite the pace of work on the road ” (personal communication, 26 September 2022). This is why employers who want a productive and satisfied workforce need to understand the stressful life conditions affecting a large proportion of their staff in a harsh environment and see what measures they can adopt to relieve that stress to some extent.

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What Employers Can (or Should?) Do As discovered by Oruh et al. (2021), the practice of compassionate managerial leadership helped staff cope with the anxiety and fears of a stressful environment. The concept of compassionate leadership was first introduced by Grant (2008) as including empathy, caring and willingness to do something to remedy the suffering of others as far as practicable and without being soft (pp. 77–78). This means avoiding managerialism, understood as an autocratic style of decision-making in the hands of managers who do not give a voice to their staff or pay sufficient attention to the objective reality of their environment. This has been found to make a difference (Foster, 2017). Akagha and Epie (2022), writing about responsible people management and fairness, describe an example of compassionate leadership by the Pan-Atlantic University authorities during the COVID-19 crisis. No employee lost their job, even if they were unable to work from home. No one suffered the loss of income; although the enforced lockdown obliged management to pay only 70% of salaries for a time, this was not a salary cut but a deferred payment. The remaining 30% were paid in two instalments after normal work resumed, and the lower cadres kept receiving their full remuneration so that their families could survive the crisis without suffering excessive hardship. There is no law obliging employers to be compassionate even when circumstances call for it. However, Elegido (2009) argues that complying with legal dispositions does not exhaust employers’ moral obligations towards their staff. Employers have a duty of loyalty towards employees, just as employees owe loyalty to the firm. Creative solutions can be found that help staff members without imposing undue financial strain on the employer. It is up to each organisation to see what is feasible. As noted by Gini and Marcoux (2012), most people need to work to earn a living and fulfil their family obligations, but everyone, without exception, needs to rest, spend leisure time with family and friends or welcome moments of solitude. Deprived of this necessary rest, workers will lose focus, make more mistakes, lack creativity on the job and develop health problems, which will lower their performance. Obviously, such negative consequences can and should be avoided.

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As a good number of employers have been doing since the experience of the pandemic, organisations can decide that all staff able to perform their duties online should do so at least two or three days a week, thus reducing the commuting stress, petrol expenses and excessive wear-and-tear of employees’ cars. Employees value this measure that manifests consideration for staff: The good thing our management has done to assist us is to allow us to work two days from home during this period; it ends in September. I am praying they extend it. We truly need the government to expedite the pace of work on the road. (personal communication, 26 September 2022)

It is also worthwhile for employers to examine the possibility of some form of on-site day care centre that would allow mothers to continue breastfeeding their babies after the end of their maternity leave. It would benefit all parties involved. A study by Aluko-Arowolo and Adekoya (2012) suggests a consensus that exclusive breastfeeding is good for the physical and social development of children; this would be greatly facilitated if nursing mothers could come to work with their babies. It can be done at a low cost if the organisation simply provides one mediumsized room with a handbasin, a table and a few chairs; mothers would be expected to bring a nanny with the necessary food and other supplies to take care of the child; it is recommended that this facility should be limited to babies who have not yet started to walk to avoid possible disruptions in the workplace. This is done, for example, on the main campus of Pan-Atlantic University. Treviño and Nelson (2021) make two suggestions with regard to relieving work stress: a. Scheduling meetings in the middle rather than in the late hours of the work day so that they may end early enough for employees to go home at the normal closing time; managers seem to think that to attend a meeting is not to work, which is not correct thinking. b. Adopting a staggered hours policy would enable some employees to start work and close one or two hours later, while others might prefer

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to start and close one or two hours earlier as they leave their homes extremely early in an attempt to beat the traffic. Indeed, the adoption of staggered work hours would offer several benefits: customers could be attended to for a greater number of hours every day without employees being overworked, the organisation would not have to pay overtime for it, parents could manage better with the school runs, shopping, etc., and the mad traffic of morning and evening might reduce as the whole of the Lagos workforce would not be on the road at the same time. To achieve this, however, managers and supervisors must be aware of the work hours of their staff and respect the established timetable. The current prevailing mentality dictating that closing late in the evening is a sign of conscientiousness and hard work needs to be overcome, as otherwise staggered hours will not yield the desired results.

Conclusion and Summary of Recommendations The insufficient road infrastructure of Lagos, the growing population, the long distances separating many residential areas from the central business districts and the lack of concern of many managers for the consequences to employees of long work hours and unrealistic targets all combine to make work-life balance a longed-for but near-impossible achievement. Employers need to keep in mind that caring for the work-life balance of their employees is important, as discussed earlier, for two reasons: (a) it is ethical and (b) it is good for employee wellbeing and productivity, which is good for the firm. Employees are stakeholders of the organisation, just as customers, suppliers, government, community and society at large are. If they feel respected, they will contribute more to the success of the organisation. For this reason, it is disappointing that Leap Africa (2009), an otherwise

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excellent publication focused on the characteristics of an African environment, makes no mention of employers’ respect for the wellbeing of their staff as part of the ethical responsibilities of the firm. Organisations operating in Nigeria, especially those in the Lagos metropolitan area, are offered the following recommendations: . Fix realistic targets to staff. . Make it clear to your staff that they may go back home at the end of the day, even if you choose to stay longer. . See how you can accommodate your staff ’s starting and closing time in line with their family obligations while respecting the normal number of hours per week; implementing staggered hours can enable you to do this. . Keep in mind that meetings are work and should habitually be held during normal work hours; keep them well focused and reasonably brief, and finish them latest by closing time for participants to go back home. . Allow employees whose work is mainly online to work from home, at least a few days per week. . Abide by the local traditions and expectations of your Nigerian staff, allowing bereaved employees some time off and making some contribution towards funeral expenses. . Expect that there will be applications for casual leave to attend to important family events such as traditional, civil and religious weddings that might take place outside Lagos; it is good to have a policy to regulate absences for this kind of event.

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5 Traditional and Contemporary Perspectives of Work-Life Balance Research and Practices: A Case of Kenya Gladys Muasya

Introduction Work-life balance is a contemporary and interdisciplinary issue that has received immense attention in scholarly work, social circles and media (Brough et al., 2020; Muasya, 2021). Task forces in various sectors have sought to find solutions to work-life balance issues, eliciting many suggestions, contradictions and dilemmas on the appropriate way forwards (Mokomane et al., 2017; Poelmans et al., 2005; Shang et al., 2021). Work-life balance is conceptualised as “the relationship between work and nonwork aspects of an individual’s life” (Kelliher et al., 2019, p. 98). The debate on work-life balance (WLB) in Kenya can be related to (1) the history of colonisation and struggle for independence in Kenya and generally in the Global South and (2) the neoliberal growth G. Muasya (B) Faculty of Business, Computer Science, and Communication Studies, St. Paul’s University, Nairobi, Kenya e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 H. A. Ajonbadi et al. (eds.), Work-Life Balance in Africa, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-38008-2_5

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of human resource management policies and practices from Europe and the US and their enforcements by multinational companies (MNCs). As a result, the debates on WLB practices and policies in Kenya and subSaharan Africa partly mirror the debates in the West. Moreover, WLB research from the Global North dominates the findings and literature on WLB discourse in sub-Saharan Africa (Mokomane et al., 2017). This chapter uses a critical lens and reviews the literature related to present traditional and contemporary perspectives of work-life balance in Kenya. Due to limited work-life balance research in Kenya, the chapter relied on WLB research from other non-Kenyan contexts and grey literature and compared and contrasted this literature with the Kenyan socioeconomic context. This chapter is organised as follows: first, it covers the background of the study. This background includes the historical background of human resource development in Kenya and neoliberal human resource management. In addition, the change of work-family balance constructs to the WLB construct. Second, it covers the WLB in Kenya. This includes postcolonial perspectives of WLB, the influence of culture and the discourse of choice on WLB and WLB in the informal sector. Third, the chapter contributes to WLB research in Kenya, to human resource practice and finally, to a conclusion.

Historical Background of Human Resource Development in Kenya First, Kenya was a British colony up to 1963. The history of human resource management in Kenya is intertwined with that of colonisation, trade unions and the liberation struggle for political independence (Durrani, 2009; Zeleza, 1993). During colonial times, the human resource management (HRM) policies created were elitist and did not factor in low-class workers, of whom the majority were African workers. The corporate management was usually White, with Africans occupying blue colour and grey-collar jobs. Moreover, the African families resided in native reserves (villages). The African workers did not enjoy the same privileges as their managers, and through labour strikes, they fought for the colonial government to realise their work interests (Durrani, 2009).

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At independence, Kenya inherited a number of colonial human resource management (HRM) policies and practices, with some still persisting today (Durrani, 2009; Zeleza, 1993). Over the years, the Kenyan government has attempted to develop labour reforms and enact new policies. Thus, some considerable labour reforms in regard to workers’ welfare have been won through the labour union movement (Central Organisation of Trade Unions-Kenya, n.d.). There are similarities between Kenya’s HRM colonial legacy and that of other sub-Saharan countries such as Ghana. Indeed, a country’s history, institutions and culture influence the nature of HRM policies, practices and theories. This explains why the colonial legacy persists in Ghana’s HRM policies, believing the reality of the local context (Ayentimi, Burgess, & Brown, 2018a; Ayentimi, Burgess, & Dayaram, 2018b).

The Neoliberal Human Resource Management and Work-Life Balance The advent of work-life balance (WLB) policies can be tied to the neoliberal human resource management practices that replaced personnel management in the 1980s and 1990s (Lewis et al., 2007). This AngloAmerican HRM arose from the policies of Reagan and Thatcher and the volatile markets of the 1980s. Multinational corporations (MNCs) further spread these policies to their subsidiaries in sub-Saharan Africa. These neoliberal HRM policies and practices were crafted to resolve the human resource management crises of that time (Jayawardena, 2023). It follows that the WLB debate began almost at the same time as neoliberal HRM practices in the US and Europe and has permeated other non-Western contexts, e.g., India, Japan, China, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa (Cannizzo et al., 2019; Lewis et al., 2007; Mokomane & Chilwane, 2014; Mortazavi et al., 2009). Furthermore, understanding work-life balance debates comes with the understanding that work-life balance (WLB) as a construct is located within a time period and a cultural context (Lewis et al., 2007). It has earlier predecessors, such as work-family balance and work-family conflict, which are older. In the early 1960s, more women in the West

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began seeking paid work outside the home in a culture that cherished women staying at home and taking care of the family. Earlier studies on the work-life interface focused on working mothers and the dualcareer family. These studies sought to identify policies to increase the competitiveness of these workers/workplaces, relying more on the market and with fewer government regulations. This saw the rise of terms such as work-family balance and family-friendly policies and parental leaves (Brough et al., 2020; Kelliher et al., 2019; Lewis et al., 2007). To add on, the earlier conceptualisation of work-family balance held the idea that the family domain consisted mostly of the care of young children. Therefore, family-friendly environments allow these families with care responsibilities to meet the demands of the family and work in a satisfactory manner (Boiarintseva et al., 2021; Kelliher et al., 2019; Sarker et al., 2021). With time, more concepts were added to the study of the work-family interface, such as the effects of stress and burnout, gender roles, norms and the scarcity hypothesis. This hypothesis upholds the assumption of limited time and energy resources (Kelly et al., 2020; Sundaresan, 2014), leading to concepts such as work-family conflict (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985). The work-family conflict constructs explored how the gender norms at home and work caused conflict in meeting responsibilities at work and home. Work-family conflict is defined as “a form of interrole conflict in which the role pressures from the work and family domains are mutually incompatible in some respect” (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985, p. 77). Thus, family and work domains were conceptualised as bifurcated and separate domains. Moreover, these conceptualisations of work-family balance and its related terms (e.g., work-family conflict, family-friendly policies) led to a backlash that saw many scholars and task forces coming together to redefine these terminologies (Desimone, 2020; Kelliher et al., 2019). Some of the criticisms raised were the exclusion of men, workers without children, other non-child caring responsibilities, working-class women, workers with many employers, casual workers, the self-employed, the exclusion of other races, the lack of a universal construct, the meaning of the term balance, gender and cultural issues.

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On the issue of cultural context, family systems are situated within larger societal, economic and political systems, which calls for more cross-cultural research on the work-family interface (Greenhaus & Parasuraman, 1999). Such criticism led to a number of cross-cultural studies (Chandra, 2012; Haar et al., 2014), as the existing studies at the time relied predominantly on American samples. Moreover, more studies have since been carried out outside America, such as in India, Taiwan, Japan, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and even sub-Saharan Africa (Le et al., 2020; Lu et al., 2011; Shang et al., 2021). In addition, a number of theories have been developed to study the work-family balance/conflict phenomenon, such as work-family border theory (Clark, 2000), spillover theory (Cho & Tay, 2016; Edwards & Rothband, 2000), role strain theory (Goode, 1960) and the workfamily enrichment hypothesis, which perceives family and work as allies (Carlson et al., 2019; Heskiau & McCarthy, 2021). All these theories still regard work and family as separate spheres, something that may not apply in other cultural contexts. These conceptualisations have since been carried over to Kenya’s work-life balance literature (Muasya & Nzengya, 2021).

From Work-Family Balance to Work-Life Balance The construct of a work-life balance was to remedy the shortcoming of work-family balance. The term family was replaced with life, a broader concept that was perceived as more inclusive. Despite these efforts, WLB has not salvaged itself from the earlier criticisms of workfamily balance. Moreover, the WLB is criticised for assuming a universal culture, mostly conceptualised at an individual level and which ignores other levels of conceptualisation (e.g., organisational and societal level), and it assumes gender is neutral (Kelliher et al., 2019; Lewis et al., 2007). One author sums up these shortcomings in one sentence, “a concept of whose popular usage has outpaced its theoretical development” (Valcour, 2007, p. 1513). Conversely, despite the new construct, other scholars have continued to use the older concept of work-family balance in their

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studies today (Carlson et al., 2019; Holmes et al., 2020; Mokomane et al., 2017). After giving this background, I now focus on Kenya’s work-life balance scholarship.

Work-Life Balance in Kenya Postcolonial Perspective of Work-Life Balance The study of work-life balance in Kenya must be understood as taking place at the nexus of colonisation and neoliberal HRM policies. What we see in Kenya is not an even blend of local HRM policies and neoliberal HRM policies but complex hybridity. Thus, the mere blend of etic and emic practices (Ayentimi, Burgess, & Brown, 2018a; Mokomane et al., 2017) may gloss over some issues of colonial domination and imperialism. Jayawardena (2023), coming from a postcolonial perspective, is of the idea that the blend of inherited colonial policies and neoliberal HRM policies has created a third liminal space of postcolonial hybridity and ambivalence. First, colonisation influenced how labour was organised in Kenya, and as is the case of the Global South, it was in the space of struggle, oppression and subjugation. Additionally, the colonial masters, in addition to amassing wealth, had a twin objective of spreading their civilisation and culture. Thus, after these countries gained independence, these postcolonial subjects had embraced some of their masters’ ways of doing things, making these postcolonial subjects have an ambivalent/confused identity; they would love to keep their culture as well as embrace the foreign cultures they acquired (Amunugama, 2019; Faria, 2015). This ambivalent hybridity tends to reproduce colonial effects on these subjects (Bhabha, 2012). On the other hand, human resource managers from the Global South, which Kenya is part of, tend to ‘mimic’ or copy the best human resource practices from the West, and some are enforced by the headquarters of the multinational companies to their subsidiaries. These human resource managers also find themselves in a fix in that they would like to come up with policies that address the local contexts as well (Ayentimi, Burgess, & Brown, 2018a; Ayentimi, Burgess, & Dayaram, 2018b).

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Consequently, when managers encounter these new human resource languages and signifiers, they tend to give them new meanings, making the third space a place of rapture and enunciation. For instance, terms such as “flexibility” and “commitment” are given new enunciations— meaning in the local setting. To add, these human resource managers tend to mock the same practices by trying to make them suit their home space. On the one hand, these managers may advocate for foreign policies due to their perceived “superiority” over their native policies or because they originate from the head office abroad. This case has been witnessed in Ghana and Nigeria, where local human resource managers tend to favour the neoliberal HRM practices of parent companies, as they are perceived as superior to or form the core of HRM practices compared to indigenous HRM (Jayawardena, 2023). In contrast, human resource managers tend to belittle the same practices and policies, creating a condition called the “double-bind” or ambivalence (Jayawardena, 2023; Yahiaoui, 2015). This can be the case in Kenya, where HRM practices and policies fail to reflect local realities, or there are written and unwritten human resource policies (informal) in operation. This situation could be reified by the fact that Kenya does not have adequate local human resource textbooks and still uses Eurocentric human resource textbooks and theories. Therefore, work-life balance scholarship carries the same dilemmas as that experienced in the West and fails to resolve the “true issues” at home.

Culture and Work-Life Balance Furthermore, Kenya is a collectivistic country. In rural areas, childcare tasks are shared in the family and even in the neighbourhood (Muasya, 2014; Mokomane & Chilwane, 2014). Hofstede (2011) describes a collectivistic culture as one where people are interdependent on each other, view themselves as members of a group, and the group takes care of them in exchange for their loyalty, value collaboration, communalism, conformity to social norms, social harmony and value group needs rather than individual needs. In collectivistic societies where the traditional gender roles are strong, such as China, men are seen as breadwinners

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and would be regarded as sacrificing themselves at work for the sake of the family and may thus experience less work-family conflict; for women, they will experience more family demands compared to countries with a more egalitarian culture, such as the US (Mortazavi et al., 2009; Yang et al., 2000). For instance, in Hong Kong’s Confucian society, the family takes precedence over the individual members that comprise it, and work becomes a means to an end to uphold family financial security, thus maintaining and preserving the household (Redding et al., 1994). However, in Kenya, as people move away from town, women tend to look at the market as a source of solutions to childcare and rely on domestic workers (Mokomane & Chilwane, 2014; Muasya, 2014, 2016). Most formal workplaces assume childcare is a family responsibility and not an employment issue, and very few organisations have embraced policies to ease the challenge that women face as they attempt to balance work and family. They still believe in “face time” and do not favour flexible working arrangements (Mokomane et al., 2017), although adverse work-life balance may make workers quit their work (Muasya, 2017).

The Discourse of Choice and Work-Life Balance Some notable work-life balance advocates, such as Susan Lewis, Richenda Gambles and Rhona Rapoport, are of the idea that two discourses dominate work-life balance literature (Lewis et al., 2007). One of the discourses is personal control of time, where a person has a choice and individual agency over the control of time; something enshrined among the white colour job holders and may not resonate with another calibre of workers. The other is the flexibility discourse, which offers the choice to workers with family obligations to have time to focus on their work. This discourse ignores the effects of gender, culture, assumptions and norms of the workplace, which may pose a challenge to middle-class people who are trying to balance their careers and family obligations. In the Kenyan media, work-life balance is portrayed as a lifestyle issue of middle-class women and their families, which makes it fail to

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get the attention of the government or policymakers (Muasya, 2021). Some Kenyan media articles conceptualise work-life balance as a “myth” and “unattainable” (Groysberg & Abrahams, 2014). Furthermore, the work-life balance of working-class women is not covered. These low-class women, such as domestic workers, are portrayed as a work-life balance solution to middle-class families, and their own work-life balance is not mentioned. This shows that the issues of power and class have not been addressed in work-life balance research in Kenya. Nevertheless, in the media, closely related to the life balance discourse is the “have it all” discourse. That is, the desire for these women to excel highly both in their careers and family life. All women face a backlash in the print media for using the market and hiring domestic workers to take care of their childcare and household chores—delegating childcare—and this alternative is regarded as selfish (Muasya, 2021; Njung’e, 2009; Slaughter, 2012). These women are bashed because they are expected to put the interests of their children before their own career interests and personal interests—aka intensive mothering (Hays, 1996; Hennessy, 2009). Intensive mothering is based on the hegemony of Western studies on motherhood and work-life balance, where begetting a child is regarded as a choice. This perception is in contrast to Kenyan culture, which is regarded as a societal obligation, and failure to not have children due to career-related ambitions is frowned upon (Hays, 1996; Hennessy, 2009; Muasya, 2014). Furthermore, the choice discourse fails to consider the traditional definition of a “family” and “work” in the Kenyan context or sub-Saharan Africa. According to Aryee (2005), people work for the sake of the family (Aryee, 2005; Mortazavi et al., 2009). To conclude, the idea of choice and the elitist approach to work-life balance shut off another calibre of workers, especially those of lower socioeconomic status or working in the informal sector, part-time and precarious work.

The Informal Sector and Work-Life Balance Kenya has a large informal sector. A majority of workers in Kenya are employed in the informal sector; a space where these organisations are

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not formalised. In 1974, the percentage of informal workers in Kenya was 10%. This number increased spontaneously in the 1990s due to the economic liberalisation policies of that time. In 2019, this number increased to 83%. Moreover, 90% of people in the informal sector are in microenterprises and have low social security coverage. A total of 75.7% do not remit the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) and National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF). These workers earn much less than almost half of those in informal small and medium enterprises. More women are in micro informal enterprises, and women enterprises are more likely to fail than men (Federation of Kenya Employers, 2021; Traub-Merz, 2020). Workers in the informal sector work in adverse working conditions and have a higher exposure to occupational health and safety risks. A few are unionised, implying that they lack the gains of collective bargaining, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, they were more severely affected (Federation of Kenya Employers, 2021; Omolo, 2020). Most informal sector work can be termed precarious. Women tend to gain less in precarious work. Buckingham et al. (2021) conducted a study on the intersection between gender and precarious work in the European Union. The study found that despite all genders being affected by precarious work; women were most affected. Precarious work is taken as work that has low pay, few working hours and low job security, and intersectionality attempts to show how gender and sex combine with other personal socioeconomic characteristics/identities to produce very unique discriminatory experiences. Buckingham et al. (2021) showed that women were the most affected during the COVID-19 pandemic since they spent long hours in caregiving roles and house chores. These forms of caring labour are undervalued and unrecognised in the labour market and may call for policy initiatives. In the Kenyan case, formal work-life balance policies may not work for these women, as they may not be enacted or endorsed in the informal sector (Muasya & Nzengya, 2021). Closely related to precarious workers are gig workers who are considered independent contractors and not employees, and they fail to gain from the benefits that other formal employees gain. They include freelancers and temporal and casual workers (Dubal, 2017).

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Kenyan studies show that these women in the informal sector have to come up with their own childcare arrangements and may fail to afford child care services that the market offers (Clark et al., 2021; Muasya, 2014, 2016; Muasya & Martin, 2016; Muasya & Nzengya, 2021), and a number of women are seen with their children on the back while selling their wares. The choices of work-life balance practices may not apply to them. More studies need to be done in this sector.

Implications for Research and Practice Despite the change in conceptualisation from work-family balance to work-life balance, a number of studies in Kenya and sub-Saharan Africa are still stuck to the earlier conceptualisation of work-family balance and work-family conflict. The study may indicate that it is a work-life balance/conflict study, but the content, constructs or scales are those of work-family balance/conflict (Chemirmir et al., 2018; Keino & Kithae, 2016). This implies that the understanding of these two constructs may be construed to mean the same, which indicates that the work-family/life interface scholarship is still at its nascent stage and limited (Mokamane & Chilwane, 2014; Muasya & Nzengya, 2021). In addition, the scenario in sub-Saharan Africa may depict similar things in Kenya. In 2015, a task force was set up at the University of Pretoria named the “African Research Network on Work and Family” (ARNWF). The task force found that between 2000 and 2011, in sub-Saharan Africa, most studies had been carried out in South Africa and Nigeria. These studies were cross-sectional, with small samples that were mostly quantitative and focused on gender differences in workfamily conflict and experiences in specific industries and occupations (Mokomane et al., 2017). Furthermore, these studies failed to tackle contextual issues. The dissemination of findings was limited to local journals, and only a few appeared in core journals outside sub-Saharan Africa, limiting the reach of these findings to key stakeholders and policymakers. For those articles published outside the continent, there was still a charge of cost in accessing these journals. Even those research networks outside Africa

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(e.g., the Work-Family Researchers Network–WFRN in the US, and International Network on Parental Leave Policy and Research–INPPR in Europe) had limited African representation, showing a faint voice of sub-Saharan African work-family/life issues (Mokomane et al., 2017; Njuguna & Itegi, 2013). Thus, ARNWF attempts to enhance the African voice and complement studies done elsewhere. Other concerns raised during the ARNWF were that there was limited work-family policy support for caregivers. In many African countries, despite the realities of work-family, the issues of work-family were still not considered a problem. In Nigeria, workplaces still do not offer part-time work or flexible work practices (e.g., compressed work weeks, telecommuting and flexible working hours). In some countries, leaves for fathers, such as paternity leave, were lacking or minimally offered, and there were restrictions on the use of these leaves depending on the nature of employment. AnkuTsede et al. (2019) posit that 29 countries in Africa offer paternity leaves ranging from one day to 15 days; others have no paternity leave but general short-term emergency leaves or families that could be used for new fathers, while others, such as Ghana, Nigeria, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea and Senegal, have their legislation silent in regard to paternity leave. In South Africa, paternity leave is 10 unpaid days (Malherbe, 2020). The development policy is still silent on the childcare practices of people working in the informal sector, where a majority of poor people work. In Africa, the issue of childcare is a women’s issue that women must grapple with. There was limited funding for work-family research on the continent. Most of the work-family research was incomplete, and these are the two major impediments. In addition, there is a need to integrate emic and etic research designs, use interpretive grounded theory to enhance the understanding of work-family issues and explore other research designs, such as qualitative and mixed study designs, to shed meaning on work-family in various African contexts and to derive culturally relevant constructs that may not be reflected in Western-based conceptualisations of family and work models (Mokomane & Chilwane, 2014; Mokomane et al., 2017).

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Other critical areas were research to determine the share of employees with family care responsibilities, the type of family members that do require care, the extent to which the workplace could offer flexibility for workers to carry out family responsibilities enacting work-family balance policies and the role of government and employers. Some of the future agendas were the conceptualisation of family, the nature of work burdens in the Global South and the role of fathers in caregiving. Currently, paternity leaves are not gender-neutral as in other parts of the world. Other needs were the care needs of old people in Africa who may not be enjoying social security or social welfare programmes like in the West, the impact of HIV/AIDS on work-family dynamics, focus on workers in the informal sector, childcare dynamics for parents in the formal and informal sector, the need for more legislative support to support workfamily integration and the role of employers in the provision of work care arrangements (Aryee, 2005; Cassirer & Addati, 2007; Mokomane et al., 2017). These issues mentioned in sub-Saharan Africa resonate with the Kenyan scenario, and researchers should also look at them. One major limitation of ARNWF is that its focus is only on two domains, work and family, and it fails to consider other noncare needs that employees may desire to focus on. This may make the studies conducted fall in the same criticism of work-family balance/conflict studies of the prior years in the West. These work-family balance researchers were criticised for ignoring the needs of other workers apart from those with care responsibilities. Workers with no-care roles should also be considered. Additionally, Kenyan studies should consider workers in the informal sector, low-class women and men and how work-life balance issues impact them. A closer look at the Kenyan scenario shows that Kenyan studies are sector- or industry-specific (Muasya & Nzengya, 2021); cross-sectional studies that use survey methods with closed and open-ended questions and are products of master’s students’ theses. The analysis is mainly descriptive statistics with basic linear regression (Muasya, 2020; Muasya & Nzengya, 2021). There is a need for longitudinal studies that are multisectoral in nature and multidisciplinary as well. Other researchers echo these issues as well. There is a need for varying analysis, methodological pluralism and higher levels of conceptualisation that

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are not only individual but also organisational and societal, ensuring diversity and intersectionality (Gbadamosi & Adisa, 2021; Özbilgin et al., 2011). Specifically, there should be an emphasis among the local universities for students to carry out multisectoral and longitudinal research. To explore more emic perspectives, research should use qualitative methods. Moreover, to explore issues of power and class, critical perspectives should be employed. At the societal level, research should explore how issues of work-life balance affect the economy. The Kenya government mantra of 2022–2027 is the bottom-up approach to economic development. Studies should try to connect how addressing issues of work-life balance resonates with the bottom-up economic blueprint. Notwithstanding, there is a need to develop culturally sensitive constructs in Kenya. There is an assumption that Kenya has a homogeneous culture. In Kenya, there are many ethnic groups that fall under the Bantu, Nilotic, Cushitic tribes and minority Asians. This is in addition to different religions, mainly Christianity, Islam and Hinduism. Culture may influence the work-life balance experiences of different groups of people. For example, Shang et al. (2021) sought to understand work-life conflict from a Confucian cultural perspective. The findings showed that individual, organisational and societal factors actually influenced worklife conflict in China. The work- and nonwork-related values related differently between unique and universal work-life conflict occurrences. Therefore, future studies should factor in culture. Furthermore, Kenyan studies are to interrogate the conceptualisation of the work-life balance construct and its related terms, such as workfamily balance or work-family conflict. As a research community, we consume all the conceptualisations. We also use measurement scales with only minor adaptations, such as those of (Carlson et al., 2000; Netemeyer et al., 1996). No local scholar has attempted to develop such measures, implying that they are not homegrown. As a result, this may limit the generalisation from “borrowed measures”, which may fail to resonate with the local culture. Kenyan scholars should attempt to develop work-life balance measures from a Kenyan perspective. In regard to work-family/balance policies, Kenyan studies conceptualised them differently. It varied from organisation to organisation and

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from sector to sector. Hence, there is no uniform conceptualisation of what these policies stand for (Muindi, 2015; Ngari & Mukururi, 2014). In fact, Kenyan studies are yet to study the extent to which workers utilise these work-life balance policies and if there are any repercussions for that. In other places, studies show that the utilisation of work-life/ family balance policies depends on the individual and the culture of the organisation. A study carried out in Australia among young career scholars showed that despite the university enacting work-life balance policies; some scholars chose not to use them but instead focused on their work roles. These scholars still experienced time pressures, anxiety and overwork. To some extent, the use of work-life balance policies was tied to their professional identity and perception of good conduct. The culture at the workplace rewards commitment to their work roles. Interestingly, the use of these work-life balance policies carries a moral cost (Cannizzo et al., 2019). In Kenya, further studies should explore the impact and extent to which the few enacted work-life balance policies are utilised. One issue not raised in sub-Saharan or Kenyan studies is how different age cohorts and technology influence work-life balance issues in Kenya. This can also be a research area. Additionally, studies should analyse the various employment laws and policies and how they factor into work-life balance issues. In addition, work-life balance should be studied from nonhuman resource perspectives such as law, development, health, sustainability and religion to enhance the perspectives of work-life balance issues at home. In summary, the COVID-19 pandemic wrought havoc in many sectors of the economy, and studies should explore how pandemics influence work-life balance. Just to echo ARNWF, in Kenya, there is a need for a work-life balance centre that incorporates academia, industry, nongovernmental organisations and government with its own conferences and journal outlet to enhance the issues that workers face at the intersection of work, family and nonfamily life. This will address some of the issues raised. From a practical stance, most current human resource managers have learned about work-life balance issues from school. A good number of them even have MBA degrees. These managers should be at the forefront to ensure that what is advocated in research is tested and implemented.

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They should not treat academia and practice as distinct paradigms but rather inform each other. They should also continue to question the neoliberal policies that impede work-life balance practices such as that of “face time” and their validity. Managers should act as advocates of a workplace that is work-life balance friendly for all calibres of workers. In addition, they should implement strategies and infrastructure that make work-life balance a reality for many workers. Moreover, the government should be a key stakeholder in implementing work-life-friendly policies and nationwide fund studies.

Conclusion To conclude, work-life balance has remained a topical issue that warrants a concerted effort of many stakeholders to conceptualise and develop appropriate policies for the good health of the nation. As a country and a continent, we should not be left behind, since we stand the risk of adopting constructs, policies and practices that fail to resonate with the reality at home. With the intensification of work, globalisation, and blurring of the work and personal sphere, work-life balance issues will continue exacerbating even to greater heights for many people, and thus something that cannot be wished away.

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6 An Exploration of Work-Life Balance Practices in Ethiopia: Leaders’ Role in Incorporating Family-Friendly Policies and Initiatives and Employee Coping Mechanisms Abeba Beyene Mengistu

Introduction The best and safest thing is to keep a balance in your life, acknowledge the great powers around us and in us. If you can do that, and live that way, you are truly a wise man.—Euripides (484 BC–406 BC)—The Quotations Page

As shown in the quotation above, the need to balance was people’s issue long before the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, where the demographic, social, economic, political and technological factors the modern society has been mentioning are believed to be relatively stable. Currently, work-life balance (WLB) is one of the most researched topics in the A. B. Mengistu (B) College of Business and Economics, School of Commerce, Department of Business Administration and Information Systems, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 H. A. Ajonbadi et al. (eds.), Work-Life Balance in Africa, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-38008-2_6

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fields of human resource management, organisational behaviour, gender studies, psychology, etc., especially in developed countries (Thilagavathy & Geetha, 2021). It has been gaining increased popularity for decades in the public discourse (Kelliher et al., 2019). Following the relevance people attach to the responsibilities for their paid work and life outside work and the associated effects on organisational outcomes, many researchers from all across the globe have been attracted to study the areas of WLB. This shows that work–life issues have been attracting a substantial amount of research and policy attention in recent decades (e.g., Xiao & Cooke, 2012). The literature documents the concern about WLB started by the working mothers of the 1960s and 1970s in the UK and later by the US government during the mid-1980s (Thilagavathy & Geetha, 2021). Bird (2006) noted that it was only during the 1990s that WLB gained adequate recognition as an issue of human resource management in other parts of the world. Although there are several conceptualisations of WLB, it can generally be noted that it includes an apposite equilibrium between career and aspiration on the one hand and pleasure, vacation and family life on the other hand (AlHazemi & Ali, 2018). A striking balance between work and life demands is not easy for employees unless leaders take the challenges to their hearts and are committed to supporting employees. This can be done by introducing family-friendly policies (FFPs) and initiatives and following up on their implementations so that employees will be retained longer, develop stronger loyalty and devote themselves to meeting and surpassing organisational goals. There are “compelling reasons and proven methodology for leaders and human resource professionals to engage more seriously with the topic of WLB” (Muna, 2009, p. 121). In addition to government and business organisation commitment, employees and their families should also look for personal coping strategies they may adopt to alleviate the tension and achieve a required level of work–life balance (Xiao & Cooke, 2012). In the house organ (named Muday) of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, Abbay (2018) stated that modern banking in Ethiopia dates back to the establishment of the Bank of Abyssinia in 1905 during the reign of Emperor Menelek II. After several years of operation, the first private bank, Addis Ababa Bank S.C. was formed and there were

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also other private banks. The State Bank of Ethiopia was also established in 1942. As it became mandatory to issue new banking laws that would accommodate private banks, the State Bank of Ethiopia was split into the National Bank of Ethiopia and the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia in 1964. The private banks, however, were nationalised by the socialist military regime that ruled the country in 1974–1991 and banking and insurance services were monopolised by the government. The banking sector in Ethiopia started to flourish after the collapse of the military regime in 1991 as a result of the financial sector reform and market-oriented banking policy introduced by a new government (Abbay, 2018; Mauri, 2010). Currently, there are more than 20 commercial banks that operate in Ethiopia. The National Bank of Ethiopia is mandated to regulate all financial institutions (NBE, 2022). Following the market-oriented banking policy, commercial banks entered into strong competition to attract as many customers as possible to their banks, which requires employees to exert much time and effort to meet goals. The competitive environment in the banking industry has brought several advancements in service delivery, job creation and employee benefit package introduction. On the other hand, it is believed to exacerbate the challenges employees have with the level of their WLB. This problem is stated in the following paragraphs. There are many exciting and remarkable achievements people enjoy from having life and work opportunities. Managing work and other aspects of life as efficiently as possible are the most important responsibilities adults are endowed to perform. The principle of WLB states that there should be a balance between an individual’s work and life outside work and this balance should be healthy and pleasing to workers’ sense of well-being (Armstrong, 2006). However, striking a reasonable balance between paid work and other aspects of life is frequently observed to be a challenging experience, especially for people with multiple responsibilities. Researchers throughout the globe have been looking for what needs to be done to have a reasonable balance so that employees (including selfemployed individuals) would be successful in their life and productive in their work. Employees in Ethiopia and other African countries are not exceptional to such challenges because the various demographic, social, economic and technological changes that put pressure on the WLB of

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developed nations’ employees have been prevalent from time to time on the continent as well. Following the financial sector reform after 1991, major technology development, deregulation and globalisation changes have been recorded in banking service sector practices (Desta et al., 2022). The Ethiopian banking sector is identified by its great economic achievements, creation of huge job opportunities, introduction of new banking services, new technologies and longer hours of operation to attract more customers/ clients. This dynamism obviously increased employees’ workloads. On the other hand, banks have been observed to introduce several benefit packages to attract the best talent. Therefore, an examination of the level of WLB of banking sector employees, the contribution of benefit packages in maintaining the WLB of employees, and the type of individual coping mechanisms employees are applying in times when governmentproclaimed policies and organisationally initiated benefits are not found to be sufficient. A study made by Thilagavathy and Geetha (2021) on 99 research works done by pioneers in the domain of WLB with the aim of systematically reviewing them developed an understanding of WLB and its relationship with other forms of work-related behaviour and revealed that very few research works had been found in developing countries and underdeveloped countries. Dikshit and Panda (2020) also witnessed that WLB has become prominent in the recent past, particularly in developing economies. This indicates that very little is known about the WLB situations of employees in Ethiopia and other parts of Africa. Producing and publishing more research findings makes the WLB situation of the continent more known, which may lead to investigating balancing mechanisms. Where government-proclaimed policies are found to be insufficient for employees to balance the demands of their work and life, organisational leaders and human managers are expected to initiate employee benefit packages to cushion the negative effect of multiple roles, and employees should also adopt several coping strategies on their own. In instances where such arrangements are not applied, both employees and the organisation and, ultimately, the nation will face the consequences

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of underproductivity. Identifying what exists in relation to the abovementioned gaps and communicating and sharing the knowledge gained with relevant stakeholders makes this research imperative. Therefore, this chapter attempts to answer the research questions and achieve the research objectives below. The research questions this chapter examines are (1) what is the level of WLB of the selected banking sector employees? (2) What government mandated work-life policies are put in place? (3) To what extent are the government proclaimed policies implemented in these banks? (4) What family-friendly workplace initiatives have been initiated by organisational leaders and human resource managers (HRMs) to address employees’ work-life issues? (5) What coping strategies did the individual employees adopt to achieve a level of work–life balance? The general objective of the study is to explore WLB practices in Ethiopia with special attention to leaders’ role in incorporating FFPs and initiatives and employee coping mechanisms. The specific objectives are to explore the WLB level of bank employees, to review family-supportive government mandated policies and their implementation, to examine what HRMs or organisational leaders’ initiated family-friendly initiatives (FFIs) exist in banks and to assess what individual WLB coping mechanisms are used by bank employees. In regard to delimiting the scope of the study, WLB is conceptualised as “satisfaction and good functioning at work and at home, with a minimum of role conflict” (Clark, 2000, p. 751). Methodologically, the study applies quantitative research, and geographically, it is delimited to the head offices and main branches of the banks in the city of Addis Ababa. The findings of the study are hoped to enhance awareness and arouse the interest of HRMs and organisational leaders in the necessity of introducing more FFIs to lead productive employees and organisations. It would also remind policymakers of the need to proclaim more FFPs policies to be applied not only in public institutions but also in private and other nongovernmental institutions that operate in Ethiopia. The published article can build into the existing WLB literature of developing nations and can be a useful source of reference for

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future researchers. Following the introduction presented in the previous section, the next part of this chapter reviews the theoretical discussions and empirical findings of the extant literature.

Review of Related Literature Overview of Work-Life Balance There are different beliefs on how work-life balance should be defined, measured and researched (Grzywacz & Carlson, 2007). Several terms are also used interchangeably with WLB. For example, Clark used the term work-family balance and defined it as “satisfaction and good functioning at work and at home, with a minimum of role conflict” (Clark, 2000, p. 751). Frone defined it as “low levels of interrole conflict and high levels of interrole facilitation” (2003, p. 145). Both definitions indicate that WLB is not about total avoidance of conflict; rather, it is about minimising the counterproductive effects of each domain. On the other hand, Greenhaus, Collins and Shaw’s definition assumes equal engagement and equal satisfaction between the two domains of life, as they define it as “the extent to which an individual is equally engaged in—and equally satisfied with—his or her work and family role” (2003, p. 513). Dundas (2008, p. 7) stated that WLB is “the act of effectively managing the juggling act between paid work and other important activities of life, such as family, personal development, community activities, voluntary work and recreation and leisure”. WLB is also regarded as “regulating work patterns to realise fulfilment both at home and work and allows for organisations to enable employees to combine work with non-work responsibilities and desires” (Oludayo & Omonijo, 2020, p. 2). Researchers have used different terms to indicate the positive relationship between work and family, such as work-family positive spillover (Edwards & Rothbard, 2000), work-family enhancement (Grzywacz & Marks, 2000), work-family facilitation (Grzywacz, 2002) and workfamily enrichment (Carlson et al., 2006; Greenhaus & Powell, 2006). Work-family fit (Clarke et al., 2004) and work-personal life balance

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(Burke, 2000) were also some of the terms used in lieu of work-family balance. WLB is interchangeably used with work-family balance. On the other hand, the negative relationship between work and family was expressed by terms such as work-family (family-work) conflict. For example, Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) analysed how an individual has to perform several roles and how family and work compete in demanding time, attention and commitment by building their work on the assumptions of the “negative approach” (Staines, 1980) and the “scarcity hypothesis” (Goode, 1960). Work-life balance was initially conceived in terms of work-family conflict, defined as role conflict as the simultaneous occurrence of two or more sets of pressures such that compliance with one would make compliance with the other more difficult (Kahn et al., 1964). WLB is about the creation and maintenance of supportive and healthy work environments that allow people to balance work and personal obligations. However, striking balance between work and non-work dimensions of life has been increasingly challenging due to demographic, social, technological and economic changes in almost all parts of the world. Various demographic, economic, technological and social changes have consistently changed the nature of work and life, and leaders should be there to address the challenges employees face in maintaining balance (Bisschoff et al., 2019; Scully-Russ & Torraco, 2020).

Overview of Family-Friendly Policies and Initiatives Following dramatic changes in the workforce, economic and technological developments and the creation of competitive business environments, FFPs and initiatives have emerged as important concerns in the management of human resources. As a result, it is logical to continue to call upon the attention of government bodies, organisational leaders and HRMs to increase their involvement in finding ways to minimise the burden on employees. Robins, Judge, and Sanghi (2009) noted that in response to these observed changes, organisations have begun to become family-friendly.

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FFPs are broadly defined as “a group of complementary benefits and programs designed to support employees who are faced with balancing the conflicting demands of work life, family and personal time in today’s complex environment” (Lee & Hong, 2011, p. 870). Family-friendly initiatives are also defined as work-family initiatives that are “deliberate organisational changes—in policies, practices, or the target culture—to reduce work–family conflict and/or support employees’ lives outside of work” (Kelly et al., 2008, p. 308). These FFPs and initiatives encompass benefits such as leave arrangements (e.g., maternity, paternity, parental and bereavement or compassionate leave), flexible working arrangements (e.g., part time, job share, term-time contracts, flextime, compressed working week, reduced hours and telecommuting) and workplace facilities (e.g., crèches, nurseries, subsidised childcare and counselling/stress management provision) (Baxter & Chesters, 2011; Callan, 2007). FFPs and initiatives serve as mechanisms to reduce employee absenteeism, turnover, stress and work alienation. They enhance the quality of work life, employee commitment, engagement, job satisfaction and productivity (Allen, 2001; Chou & Cheung, 2013; Poelmans et al., 2003; Wang & Walumbwa, 2007). Family-friendly culture improves the well-being and morale of employees and provides integration between family and work life in today’s environment (Kanten, 2014).

Employee Coping Mechanisms Coping refers to an individual’s ability to deal with stress and anxiety derived from accommodating family and organisational responsibilities (Pienaar, 2008). It is regarded as the thoughts and behaviours mobilised to manage internal and external stressful situations (Folkman & Moskowitz, 2004). It represents what individuals do to relieve stress (Somech & Drach-Zahavy, 2007). Coping strategies can lessen stress levels that go along with a busy routine of managing the demands of family and work (Kibriya et al., 2021). Due to the several changes that affect their WLB, individual employees are also required to personally develop coping strategies to accommodate new demands from work

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and family (Zheng et al., 2015). For dual-career couples, the authors suggested the importance of having an ability to address the problem of arranging time to fit in with other family members’ work commitments as a way of coping with potential stressors. The results indicate that individuals with positive attitudes and life coping strategies were more capable of achieving overall well-being. Xiao and Cooke (2012) found that employees in China used to outsource housework or have their parents and relatives help out, withdraw from family life and social circles, postpone marriage and motherhood and leave the company as coping mechanisms. A study by Kibriya et al. (2021) showed that Pakistani working women frequently used various WLB coping strategies, such as social support systems, time and stress management, determining priorities and task crafting. Employees also used their annual leave to discharge family and other life responsibilities and obtain assistance from colleagues (Essien, 2017).

The Ethiopian Context and Family-Friendly Policies Ethiopia, with a state title “The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE)”, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares international boundaries with Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Sudan and South Sudan. The official or working language of the federal government is Amharic with its Ethiopic script called Ge’ez, which is a group name for a number of letters. In addition, four regional languages have been elevated to the status of working federal government languages alongside Amharic: Oromigna, Tigrigna, Somaligna and Afarigna as of February 2020. Ethiopia’s population is estimated to be 115 million. It is the second largest populated country in Africa next to Nigeria. Ethiopia is a country of many nations and nationalities that speak approximately 85 different languages. The country is divided into eleven regional states and two self-governing cities. Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia (Toponymic Factfile, June 2022). Allowing citizens to combine or balance employment and other family and life responsibilities is becoming an important theme in current and emerging government policies (Bevan et al., 1999). Like any other nation

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on earth, work and life are also vital issues in Ethiopia. The Constitution of FDRE (FDRE, 1995), the Labour Law and the Federal Civil Servant Proclamation (FDRE, 2017, 2019) provide articles for some FFPs. These policies and organisationally initiated employee benefits are presented and discussed in part four of article. Research on WLB is a recent phenomenon in Ethiopia. In a study by Mengistu (2012), she identified huge challenges working parents faced, especially with their childcare arrangement. Some of the identified challenges were a critical shortage of live-in nannies, which was one of the reliable sources of support until the early 1990s, the absence of extended family members to assist them in raising their dependent children, the expensiveness of the existing private daycare centres and the absence of supporting national and organisational FFPs. The respondents expressed the challenges as the headaches of their lives and the heart of their problems in their professional and personal lives. An in-depth interview was conducted by Gudeta and van Engen (2018) with women entrepreneurs in Ethiopia to investigate how women entrepreneurs manage the boundaries between their work life roles, the challenges they face and how those challenges affect their boundary management experiences. They found that the integration work-life boundary management strategy was imposed on them, which was a result of normative expectations on women to shoulder care and household responsibilities and to fulfil societal roles and obligations. An in-depth interview conducted by Bahiru and Mengistu (2018) with women leaders of positions identified some organisational, societal and individual factors that challenge women leaders in balancing their work and family responsibilities. Based on the insights gained from the women leaders’ voices about their work-life challenges as expressed in their own words from their own testimonies, much needed to be done on the part of organisations, society, family and women themselves for women leaders to have the desired level of work-family balance. Wudo and Mengistu (2020) also found that leaders of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus had low levels of work-life balance. To minimise the conflictual situations observed, the researchers suggested that the church initiates WLB policies, strategies and family-supportive environments or culture and other mechanisms that fundamentally enhance the

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work-life balance of the leaders. Moreover, there was a need for church leaders to fairly allocate and manage their time and gain support from family members and friends. Mengistu and Worku (2020) conducted research to investigate the effect of WLB on the organisational commitment (OC) of employees of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, and the results showed low levels of WLB and OC amongst employees. WLB was found to be a predictor of OC. It was recommended that the bank maintains the existing WLB initiatives and adds what was lacking to secure high levels of employee commitment. An investigation made to identify factors that predict the WLB of employees in selected NGOs in Ethiopia (Mengistu & Bereded, 2021) finds low levels of work-family balance and moderate levels of available WLB policies. To improve the situation, the authors recommended that organisational leaders and HRMs introduce need-based family-friendly workplace policies, such as flexible work environments, leave arrangements and childcare benefits. Kebede and Seifu (2021) stated that although the Ethiopian revised Labour Proclamation No. 1156/2019 incorporates most of the maternity protection recommendations set by the International Labour Organization, it did not safeguard the breastfeeding rights of employed women. They also commented that the provided maternity leave period is shorter than the recommended exclusive breastfeeding duration, which should be at least six months. A study was also conducted by Wolde et al. (2022) to explore employers’ experience and perception of employed mothers’ breastfeeding experience. They found that almost all participants recognised the importance of breastfeeding and acknowledged the significance of making the working environment mother-friendly for the stability and motivation of employed mothers. The literature reviewed indicates that more empirical studies are still needed to examine the status of the WLB of employees and look for multisource initiatives as a mechanism of minimising the work-life challenges of employees and enhancing organisational productivity. The next section addresses the methodology the researcher used to answer the research questions and achieve the research objectives noted in the introduction section above.

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Method In this research, a quantitative research approach is used to measure the level of WLB of the selected banking sector employees, describe the practiced FFPs and initiatives in the bank and employee coping mechanisms. The FDRE Constitution, Labour Proclamation and FDRE Civil Service Proclamations are reviewed to identify government-mandated FFPs. To achieve the research objectives, exploratory and descriptive research designs are applied. Exploratory design was used to determine what government-proclaimed policies are available to support work-family balance issues and to determine what FFIs exist in the employee benefit packages initiated by organisational leaders and HRMs of the banking sector in Ethiopia. A descriptive research design was applied to describe the WLB level of the respondents and to measure some background information of respondents and perceived social support (PSS) as an individual coping mechanism in maintaining their WLB. The target population of the study is managerial and professional employees who were employed in 16 commercial banks that operated for more than 10 years. Out of the 16 banks, one government bank was intentionally included, and nine private commercial banks were randomly selected. The population size of the study was 124,450 employees. A sample of 400 employees was selected using Yamane’s (1967, p. 886) formula [n = N /(1 + N (e))2 ], where n is the sample size, N is the population size and e is the level of precision. Therefore, 40 randomly selected professional and managerial employees were selected from each of the 10 banks. For the data types and sources part of this chapter, the Constitution of the FDRE (Proclamation No. 1/1995), the Labour Proclamation No. 1156/2019 and the Civil Service Proclamation No. 1064/2017 were reviewed to examine the type of government-mandated FFPs in Ethiopia. In addition, human resource management-related articles were reviewed from reputable sources to develop a list of family-friendly workplace initiatives and practices. The reviews are used to develop the data collection instrument that contains leave arrangements, material support, family support facilities and flexible work arrangements. Primary data were collected from employees through surveys.

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Work-life balance was measured using a 5-item scale developed by Valcour (2007). Respondents were asked to indicate their level of satisfaction with the way they divide their time between work and personal or family life, on a 5-point Likert scale with 1 representing “very dissatisfied” to 5 “very satisfied”. The scale reliability was α = 0.907. George and Mallery (2003, p. 231) provided the following rules of thumb: α > 0.9 as ‘Excellent’, α > 0.8 as ‘Good’, α > 0.7 as ‘Acceptable’, α > 0.6 as ‘Questionable’ α > 0.5 as ‘Poor’ and α < 0.5 as ‘Unacceptable’. Therefore, the instrument had excellent internal consistency. Individual coping mechanisms were examined by asking employees if they had domestic help and social support. The PSS was measured by Vinokur and Van Ryn’s (1993) eight-item scale and included items such as how much their family provided them with encouragement was measured on a five-point Likert scale (1 = Not at All, 5 = A Great Deal). The scale reliability was α = 0.949. A list of 23 FFPs and initiatives was also developed and an inventory was taken from relevant human resource section representatives of each bank. The developed instrument was pilot tested on 30 employees of the selected banks and the reliability and validity of the instrument were checked before the full scale distribution. Professional support was obtained from well-oriented colleagues and acquaintances in the data collection centers. The data collection instrument was free from any researcher’s bias. Respondents were informed about the purpose of the research; their consent to participate willingly was obtained. Due respect was also given to the confidentiality and anonymity of research participants. All the materials and literature referred to, consulted and/or quoted are properly acknowledged to avoid any possibility of plagiarism. The proclaimed policies were read deeply and work-family-related articles were identified properly. Quantitative data collected through the survey were analysed descriptively using SPSS Version 25. Frequencies, percentage analysis, mean and standard deviations are described at the item and variable levels to provide an overall picture of the WLB level of the respondents and their PSS as an individual coping mechanism. The individual domestic help arrangements and existing WLB initiatives are analysed with numbers and percentages to conveniently communicate to the target audience of this book chapter.

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Results Out of the 400 distributed questionnaires, 355 (89%) usable questionnaires were returned, and they were edited and coded; missing data were handled before analysis. The details of the analysis are given below.

Background Information of the Respondents Out of the 355 respondents, 228 (64%) were males and 127 (36%) were females, with a mean age of 33.13 (SE = 7.917). There were 88 (25%) managerial-level respondents and 267 (75%) professional employees, of whom 291 (82%) had a bachelor’s degree and 64 (18%) had a master’s degree. The majority 186 (52%) were married, 165 (46%) were single and the remaining 2% were separated, divorced, or widowed. Of the total married respondents, 144 (77%) had their spouses working. The average number of hours worked per week was 45.86 (SD = 5.713), with a minimum of 40 and a maximum of 76 hours per week. Of the total respondents, 162 (46%) had childcare responsibilities and 176 (50%) had eldercare responsibilities at home. The above information gives some hints on the types of responsibilities and workloads the respondent had.

The Work-Life Balance Level of Respondents To address the first specific research question, respondents were asked to evaluate their WLB level using a five-item validated scale. Table 6.1 shows the respondent’s perceived WLB. The percentage analysis shows there were a number of employees who were highly dissatisfied and dissatisfied on all five items of the scale. On the other end, there were also employees who were satisfied and highly satisfied. The majority of the numbers, however, rested on the neutral option, which showed that they were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied. The mean and the standard deviation values indicate to what extent the sample groups agreed or disagreed on average with the statements. The lower the mean, the greater the respondents disagree, and the higher the mean, the greater

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they agree; the standard deviation shows the variability of an observed response from a single sample (Marczyk et al., 2005). To interpret the mean results, the key set by Creswell (2012) is used as the interpretive key: ≥4.51 = very high, 3.51–4.50 = high, 2.51– 3.5 = moderate, 1.51–2.5 = low;