Influence of Work-Life Initiatives on Employees’ Performance in Commercial Banks in Nairobi County

Abstract

The workplace today has become tasking compared to decades ago. Advancement in technology has blurred the boundary between work and leisure. Previous research has shown that for an employee to be effective in the workplace, they must strike a good balance between their job and their life-related roles. This research aimed at investigating the effects of work-life initiatives on employee performance in commercial banks in Nairobi County. Employees in commercial banks are likely to have work-life imbalance because their job is quite demanding and requires long working hours. The specific objectives of this study sought to investigate the effect of leaves, paid time off, flexi-time, and recreational facilities on employee performance. The study adopted a cross-sectional research design. The target population was 121 employees of the 41 commercial banks in Nairobi County. This study used stratified random sampling to determine the employees who participated in the study. Questionnaires were used to collect data for the study. The reliability of the instruments was tested using Cronbach alpha where a score of 0.688 was obtained. The data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics focused on the means and standard deviations while Pearson’s correlation was used to test the relationship between the study variables. The results indicated that leaves, paid time off, flexi-time, and recreational facilities had a positive correlation with the performance of between 0.2 and 0.4. The study concluded that to improve the existing leave policies, the leave allowance should be paid on time. Proper tracking of paid time off is important to ensure that the cost arising from this initiative is minimized. The paid time off not taken should be treated as overtime and employees compensated for the same. The study recommended the introduction of flexi-time in an organization where it does not exist and the involvement of employees in the formulation of a flexi-time program to make it relevant. The study further recommended the introduction of recreational facilities which employees felt are important to them and would act as a form of intrinsic reward.