The effects of work life balance initiatives on the performance of the staff at agricultural development corporation of Kenya centre

Abstract

Work-life balance policies that entail flexi-time, time-offs, annual leave and parental leave which is unpaid time from work to care for a child or to make arrangements for a child's welfare, are critical in any organisation. Agricultural Development Corporation (ADC) which is the focus of this study accommodates government policy on work life balance that includes annual leave, study leave, paternity leave and maternity leave. The general objective of this study was to analyze the effect of work life balance initiatives on the performance of the administrative staff of ADC of Kenya Nairobi Centre. The specific objectives of this study entailed the following: to evaluate the influence of job sharing policy on the performance of employees of ADC, to determine the relationship between time-off policy and performance of the employees of ADC and to determine the relationship between flexi time policy and the performance of the employees of ADC The descriptive design method was used in this research. The study used both primary and secondary data. Questionnaires were used to collect primary data. Secondary data was collected from the parastatal's pamphlets and magazines. The study was a census hence the whole population was included. A census was appropriate since the target population was small and manageable. Non- parametric tests were used to analyse data collected. The response rate was at 64.7% as out of the 51 administrative staff who were surveyed, 33 responded. The findings that entailed: 67% work more than 8hours a day, flexible starting times, flexible finish times, flexible hours generally were not applicable to majority of the employees, 84.8% have no option of working from home, 81.8% agreed that time-offs for family emergencies and events helps balance work and family life and 84.8% feel that job sharing with colleagues help them balance work and family life will benefit the Agricultural Development Corporation since it emphasizes the importance of work life balance policies in the organization. The study will also benefit academicians and practising managers in that it contributes to the discussion of work life balance as a strategy of human resource management and brings out the importance of work life balance on the performance of an organisation respectively. The study however was limited in time and cost. The recommendations were: that the organization comes up with flexible start and finish times to enable employees balance work and family life and can invest in technological equipments like laptops that are connected with the internet to enable employees enjoy the option of working from home.