An Exploratory Study of Managers' Perspective of Work-Life Balance in Nigeria: A Case Analysis of the Nigerian Banking Sector

Abstract

This study describes an exploratory research of managers' perspective of the concept of work-life balance (WLB) policies and practices in Nigeria. This is done through in-depth case studies of 20 banks in the banking sector. The data set is comprised of responses from 102 middle line managers in the Nigerian banking institutions. A review of the extant literature on WLB initiatives in the banking sector revealed that there is a dearth of knowledge on WLB policies and practices in an African context. In an attempt to fill the gap in the literature, this study examines the range and scope of WLB practices, managers' perception of WLB, and the forces helping or constraining to shape the choices of work life balance practices and policies. The findings reveal that there is diversity in terms of how middle-line managers understand and experience WLB initiatives in Nigeria. Another finding highlights the practice of favoritism in most banks using WLB initiatives. In addition, the study shows that cultural sensitivity affects how WLB is appreciated and utilized. The study suggests some policy implications in the form of support for WLB policies in this context. © 2013 Crown copyright.

Introduction

This study explores work-life balance (WLB) policies and practice in the Nigerian banking sector. It investigates the motivations, experiences, and the implications of WLB as perceived by middle-line bank managers in Nigeria. There appears to be a growing interest in WLB initiatives, although, as a social concept with origins from the Western developed world, it is not novel in human resource management (HRM) literature, but has been at the forefront of research over four decades (Kanter, 1977; Rapoport & Rapoport, 1965). The continued interest in this field can be attributed to the changing role of work as a consequence of economic conditions (Greenhaus, Callanan, & Godshalk, 2009; Harvey & Wiese, 1998), changing work demography and social roles, changes in the nature of work induced by globalization, firm restructuring, and the weakening of the collective employee voice (Lewis, Rapoport, & Gambles, 2007, p. 360). Work-life balance is, however, a contested term. Torrington. Taylor, Hall, and Atkinson (2011, p. 33) argue that the term varies with the age, interest, value, personal circumstance, and personality of each individual. Bergman and Gardiner (2007, p. 401) define WLB as “the practices that represent actions and structural arrangements which addresses individuals' competing demands, arising from work and beyond.”

Drawing on some earlier contributions on the subject, we notice that the definitions of WLB have often been restricted to the traditional or heterosexual nuclear family or dual parent, or just women with children (Beauregard & Henry, 2009; Craig, Mullan, & Blaxland, 2010; Mäkelä & Suutari, 2011, among others). However, WLB should include people outside the traditional family structure such as lesbians and gays (Ariss, & Özbilgin, 2010; Craig et al., 2010; Özbilgin, Beauregard, Tatli, & Bell, 2011). While the extant literature on WLB has significantly given us an in-depth understanding of the phenomenon in developed countries, far less attention has been devoted to exploring WLB realities of individuals in an African context where the institutional and cultural systems differ from that of developed nations (Epie, 2010).

Our center of attention in this study is to fill the research gap in the literature by making a significant contribution toward our understanding of WLB realities of middle-line managerial staff within the Nigerian banking sector. Specifically, the main objectives are to (1) critically examine and identify the practices of work-life balance in the Nigerian banking sector, (2) assess the range and scope of work-life balance initiatives, (c) evaluate managers' perception of work-life balance, and (d) identify the forces helping or constraining to shape the choices of WLB practices in the Nigerian banking sector. The authors believe that this study would be useful to academics, business researchers, existing multinational corporations (MNCs), and MNCs wishing to operate in Nigeria in the foreseeable future. To achieve the above objectives, this study is organized as follows. The second section presents a review of prior studies on flexibility and the conceptual background of WLB. This is followed by an analysis of the characteristics of the Nigerian banking sector. The next section covers the data and methods used to collect the empirical evidence, followed by the main findings and discussion of the study. The final section considers the conclusions, implications, and area for future research.

A Review of Prior Studies on Flexibility

The discussion on work-life balance is closely linked to concerns about the design of jobs and working arrangements (Torrington et al., 2011). Over the past three decades, there has been a wealth of research on the methods with which managers seek to use and control labor relations (Conley, 2006; Pollert, 1987). Employers, in response to changing market vagaries such as low production, firms' low profitability, and employee work and life equilibrium in the face of recent global financial crises, have adopted various methods and strategies to manage employees. One such method that has been extensively studied, especially in American and British HRM and industrial relations scholarships, is the flexible model of human resource management (Forrest, Wardell, & Sawyer, 2011; Torrington et al., 2011). According to Tailby (1999, p. 458), “flexibility generally refers to the quality of sensitivity and ability of organisations to react to changing circumstances.”

Researchers such as Kossek and Distelberg (2008); Mayerhofer, Hartmann, and Herbert (2004); and Storey, Quintas, Taylor, and Fowle (2002), among others, have distinguished two types of labor flexibility in the HRM literature: internal and external labor flexibility. According to these authors, external labor flexibility refers to changes in the volume of labor employed, and it coincides with the use of “flexible employment contract” such as short-term temporary workers, temporary help agency, or part-time workers. Internal labor flexibility refers to the “flexibility manifested by the pool of human resources in the organisation at a certain point of time” (Beltran-Martin, Roca-Puig, Escrig-tena & Bou-Llusar, 2009). Guest (1989, pp. 48–51), however, sees flexibility as a strategic tool in the hands of employers, used in (re)designing control systems at work. According to Atkinson (1984), there are four prevalent forms of flexibilities used by employers within an organization: functional, financial, temporal, and numerical flexibility (cited in Procter & Ackroyd, 2006). Functional flexibility is the ability of a firm to adjust and deploy the skills of its employees to match the task required by its changing workload, production methods, or technology (Atkinson, 1986). Atkinson (1986) argues further that functional flexibility is a process in which employees gain the capacity to undertake a variety of tasks rather than specializing in just one area. According to Torrington et al. (2011), one way this is achieved is by breaking down barriers to the deployment of workers across tasks. Studies of Japanese employment practices as well as criticisms of monotonous assembly-line work have influenced advocates of such practices. Temporal flexibility concerns varying the pattern of hours worked in order to respond to business demands and workers' needs (Raghuram & Weisenfeld, 2004; Taylor, 2002). This includes the use of annual hours' contracts, increased use of part-time work, job sharing, and flexible working hours. Financial flexibility concerns the extent to which a company's pay and reward structure supports and reinforces the various types of flexibility (Atkinson, 1986; Gajendran & Harrison, 2007).

Atkinson (1984) believes that the notion of numerical flexibility hinges on the ability of a manager to bring workers in just in time to furnish services the employers want them to fulfill and dismiss them when not needed. By so doing, the employer retains only the number of workers whose activities and skills are core to the firm's needs. Numerical flexibility is achieved by using alternatives to conventional full-time employees. This includes the use of part-time, temporary work, casual and short-term contracts, and the externalization of work through ad-hoc contracting out (Procter & Ackroyd, 2006). In the view of Atkinson, managers wishing to use the flexible firm model should divide the workforce into two constituent groups: the core/permanent and peripheral workforce. The peripheral workforce can be further divided into two bands of workers. The first would consist of external subcontracting groups, agencies supplying temporary staff, commercial subcontractors, and specialist self-employed who work on short-term or fee-based contracts. The second band of peripheral staff would be workers on contracts of employment that are temporary, part-timers, and casual, who are directly employed by the firm. This second group of workers does not have access to career ladders, and their contract of employment can be terminated at any time (Torrington et al., 2011).

Employers' rationale for using subcontractors stem from the ease in adapting to known and unanticipated changes in the business environment, as well as the opportunity it presents to lower financial risk and off-load direct employment responsibility (Claydon, 2001; Gajendran & Harrison, 2007). It further offers the employers the opportunity and ability to erode traditional job boundaries, reorganize work, and redefine jobs (Pollert, 1987). On the whole, flexibility, as Hegewisch (1999) and Raghuram and Weisenfeld (2004) point out, has enormous advantages for employers and gives the firm a competitive advantage. However, there is evidence that extensive reliance on labor subcontracting and the implementation of quick-fix, interim approaches can have both positive and negative impact on the HRM functions in a firm and the industry as a whole (Pollert, 1987). The positive effect is that it gives employers the opportunity to maintain control over the workforce, and it also gives employers the flexibility to put corporate policies and strategies into practice. This view is consistent with Thompson and McHugh (2002), who believe that flexibility reinforces the power of the employer to control labor and entrenches the power of the employee at work.

On the negative side, Atkinson's flexible firm model has a number of inadequacies. According to Claydon (2001), greater labor flexibility may be achieved at the expense of other aspects of the employment relations, which are valued by management. Some of the issues that are affected immediately, according to Hegewisch (1999, p. 131), Kossek and Distelberg (2008), and Procter and Ackroyd (2006), include standardized or informal patterns of communication, training, career development, team development, and assessment. When these issues are not adequately supported, they might eventually lead to workers on flexible employment contracts lacking a sense of “social identity” (a situation where the worker does not feel a sense of belonging or inclusion as a member of a group due to the lack of integration) (Forrest et al., 2011; Veenstra, Haslam, & Reynolds, 2004). For instance, updating employees with information in an office where there are people employed on a contract basis (i.e., part-time, temporary contracts) can be problematic. In the view of Pollert (1987, pp. 17–18), “flexibility is vague and gender blind in its simplistic assumption of permanent/core and peripheral workers.” When employees are segmented to contract or casual status via high levels of temporary working, or what Pollert (1987, pp. 17–18) calls “dependable” and “disposable labor,” it is unlikely to produce commitment, quality, and continuity because employees know that they can be dismissed at any time. Flexibility, especially employees' flexibility, or what is referred to in this study as work-life balance, is not a new phenomenon in Africa. However, not much attention has been devoted to understanding the concept, its expression, and the perception of current policies and practices in the African work environment.

Conceptual Background of Work-Life Balance

The origin of the term work-life balance is fiercely contested, although, it can be argued that the study of contemporary WLB can be traced to work-life conflicts (WLC), or problems workers experience in trying to find a sense of balance within and outside the work setting. The WLC notion posits that most individuals perform multiple roles to the extent that the notion of work-life balance is aimed at minimizing the amount of WLC (Lero & Bardoel, 2009). Exponents of WLC, such as Dean (2007) and Roper, Cunningham, and James (2003), among others, often suggest that WLB has developed from claims of social justice or a need to redress discrimination, such as women not being treated equally, while other scholars (e.g., Beauregard & Henry, 2009; Lewis, 2007) suggest that WLB has risen out of the necessity for businesses to manage growing problems with absenteeism, health stress, labor retention, and the need to be seen as an organization that is sensitive and socially responsible.

In their study, Greenhaus, Chen, and Powell (2009) argue that despite the criticisms leveled against WLB values as illustrated above, it responds well to these criticisms. According to Greenhaus et al. (2009), the WLB model is meant to be a larger conceptual framework that clarifies and accommodates elements of earlier conceptual terms such as work-family balance, work-family expansion, and work-family enrichment. These older concepts have been linked with just work and family roles because they focused on employees with family responsibilities and have been heavily criticized by many authors as restrictive and do not include employees who are struggling in many areas of their lives. These older concepts have also been seen to be unfair to employees who were not parents. Hence, work-life balance encompasses a wider range of work and nonwork concerns, which can affect employee performance (Gregory & Milner, 2009). Lewis et al. (2007) also criticized the WLB concept by arguing that it is problematic because people do not fragment work from life. In other words, work is seen as an intricate part of life. For Greenhaus et al. (2009) work-life balance has three key aspects, namely, time balance, involvement balance, and satisfaction balance. The authors used time balance to measure the amount of time given to work and nonwork roles. Involvement balance was used by the authors to assess the level of psychological involvement in or commitment to work and nonwork roles. Finally, satisfaction balance was used by the authors to ascertain the level of satisfaction derived by workers from work and nonwork activities. They concluded that the three components of the work-life balance model mentioned above recognize that achieving work-life balance needs to be considered from multiple perspectives because the needs of the individual vary extensively.

Work-Life Balance Theory

There are various theories on work-life balance; however, Guest (2001) and Naithani (2010) summarize the discourse with a compilation of five individual theories to illustrate the association between work and life outside the workplace. They include the segmentation, spill-over, compensation, instrumental, and conflict theories. The segmentation model states that work and life outside of work are mutually exclusive such that one sphere does not impact the other. The conflict model shows that each sphere has numerous demands; hence, individuals have to prioritize and make choices that may lead to conflict. The compensation model demonstrates that one sphere makes up for the lack in the other sphere. The instrumental model asserts that one sphere emphasizes the other sphere. The spill-over model states that work and life are interdependent, and therefore they influence each other.

According to Guest (2001), one of the properties of the spill-over model is that personal life and professional life intermingle, and they have either a positive or negative effect on each other. Guest (2001) argues further that employees tend to experience conflict when their work responsibilities become interrelated with their nonwork responsibilities. According to Lero and Bardoel (2009), Naithani (2010), and Skinner and Pocock (2008), the WLB model can be moderated at various levels, which includes the macro level, involving public policy; meso level, which involves the HR practices; work-life culture; work groups' dynamics; and, finally, the micro level, which demonstrates that the individuals' attitudes and behaviors can have serious consequence on employees' WLB initiatives.

The WLB literature is riveted by a number of limitations such as difficulties with definitions, components of WLB, and methodological problems. Finally, the majority of studies on WLB have been done among white- and blue-collar workers in the United States and European countries, resulting in a dearth of illustrative empirical studies from developing economies (Mordi & Ojo, 2011). There is an urgent need for more studies to be undertaken in the context of developing economies with a close-fitted, interwoven, multilevel theoretical framework that demonstrate the influence of the structural and cultural dimensions of national context in WLB research (Gregory & Milner, 2009; Ozbilgin et al., 2011). In the next section, we present a brief overview of the characteristics of the Nigerian labor market and the banking sector.

Characteristics of the Nigerian Labor Market and the Banking Sector

Nigeria is a middle-income, mixed economy; it is the largest economy in the West African region, and the third-largest economy in Africa (behind South Africa and Egypt), with diverse ethnic groupings of over 250 ethnic groups (Investor Resources, 2012). The workforce is estimated at 51.53 million, of which the labor force by occupation is as follows: agriculture 70%, the services sector 20%, and industry 10%. The population below the poverty line was estimated at 70% in 2007 (CIA World Factbook, 2012). At the end of 2011, the unemployment rate (the level of unemployment divided by the labor force) stood at approximately 24% (Investor Resources, 2012). During the period 2009–2012, Nigeria's economy experienced rapid fluctuations in real gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates. In 2009, the real GDP growth rate rose from 7.0% to an estimated 8.1% in 2010. It fell sharply to 6.9% in 2011, and it currently stands at an estimated rate of 6.7% (CIA World Factbook, 2012). Consequently, the slowing down of the economy offers few employment opportunities for new entrants to the labor market. The problem is even compounded when the annual average percentage change in the inflation rate (consumer prices) compared with the previous year's prices discouragingly increased from an estimated percentage rate of 12.54 in 2009 to 13.7 in 2010 (CIA World Factbook, 2011). Usually, increasing inflation also denotes the slowing down of the economy as prices for food, commodities, and services rise and the local currency weakens.

Notably, Nigeria has several thriving sectors, such as the oil and gas, financial, telecommunications, legal, banking, and entertaining sectors (Investor Resources, 2012). It is important to note that within the formal public sector, the government is the biggest employer of labor. The labor force within the private sector is very small compared to the large public-sector labor force. On a disturbing note, the lack of employment opportunities in a country with a weak and unstable industrial sector coupled with a large surplus of labor accentuate the weakness and/or uneasiness in the labor market (Mordi, Simpson, Singh, & Okafor, 2010). Subsequently, the intense struggle for scarce employment opportunities empowers and places bank employees and senior management in an asymmetrical position in the employment relationship (Debrah & Mmieh, 2009; Panford, 1994). Major parts of the labor force are low skilled and fall within the informal sector of Nigeria's labor market. The informal sector also includes organizations with such characteristics as low capital, ease of entry, and preponderance ownership of small and medium-sized family businesses (Mordi & Mmieh, 2010). Workers within this sector earn low wages; the work is labor intensive and low skilled. There are other sectors emerging rapidly, such as the mining and construction industries, which are beginning to create a slight but significant shift in the structure of the labor market. Next, the authors of this study turn their attention to the Nigerian banking institution.

The Nigerian Banking Institution

The Nigerian banking institution, which began in 1892, has undergone radical transformation (Central Bank of Nigeria [CBN], 2011). The central bank of Nigeria sought to reposition Nigerian banks to attain a sound financial environment after the collapse of several banks in the 1990s. By the end of 2005, Nigeria's 89 banks were directed to recapitalize from 2 billion naira to a minimum of 25 billion naira (Asikhia, 2010). This led to a consolidation of the Nigerian banking institutions through mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and a whittling down of the Nigerian banks from 89 banks to 24 (Sanusi, 2011). The number of bank branches has increased from 3,247 in 2003 to over 5,837 in 2010, and employment in the sector rose from 50,586 in 2005 to 71,876 in 2010 (Sanusi, 2011). Soludo (2004, pp. 5–6) asserts that the banking sector for many years was plagued with several problems. These include (1) weak corporate governance, evidenced by high turnover in the board and management staff, inaccurate reporting and noncompliance with regulatory requirements, falling ethics and demarketing of other banks in the industry; (2) late or nonpublication of annual accounts that obviates the impact of market discipline in ensuring banking soundness; (3) gross insider abuses, resulting in huge nonperforming insider-related credits; (4) insolvency, as evidenced by negative capital adequacy ratios and shareholders' funds that have been completely eroded by operating losses; and (5) weak capital base and overdependency on public-sector deposits, and neglect of small- and medium-class savers.

Over the past six years, the Central Bank of Nigeria has introduced several remedial measures to mitigate the above-mentioned challenges. According to Sanusi (2011), the current central bank governor, Nigerian banks have not only been recapitalized, but new reforms have meant that banks ensure negligible dependence on the public sector for funds, but rather rely on the private sector. Banks in Nigeria have also adopted a risk-focused and rule-based regulatory framework and strict enforcement of corporate governance values in banking. There is currently the speedy process for rendition of returns by banks or other financial institutions; and there has also been progress toward reviewing and updating relevant laws to enhance corporate governance, greater transparency, and responsibility in the execution of banking laws and regulation. The next section covers the data and methods used to collect the empirical evidence.

Methodology

Contrary to the mostly quantitative approaches used in previous studies on WLB policies and practices (Sturges & Guest, 2004; White, Hill, McGovern, Mills, and Smeaton, 2003, among others), we decided to apply a qualitative approach—more specifically a narrative approach in our study (Bruner, 1986; Gergen, 1991). The study draws from interpretive-constructivist and constructivist-phenomenologist traditions, which stress a persons' lived experience (Saunders, Thornhill, & Lewis, 2009). The rationale for this methodological position is that it provides an appropriate framework for the development of an in-depth understanding of the research phenomenon (Chang, McDonald, & Burton, 2010; Cresswell, 2008) and leads to the discovery of “richly detailed narratives of the lived experiences of individuals” (Saunders et al., 2009).

This research is a case study of the Nigerian banking sector. Case studies are useful approaches of enquiry as they afford the organizational researchers the opportunity to comprehensively explore motivations, meanings, experiences and implications attached to daily ‘events, activities or processes of one or more individuals’ (Cresswell, 2008, p. 13). They are principally suitable when the margins between the phenomenon being studied and its environment are blurred (Yin, 2003; Stake, 1995). This study seeks to explore the relationships between managers' experiences of work-life balance within the context of Nigerian banks which operate within the broader context of Nigeria and Africa. Although case studies engender abundant data about one or more individuals, generalizations often cannot be made from the specific case to the general population. Nevertheless, case studies are useful in highlighting the importance of key research questions, clarifying concepts and theories (Easterby-Smith, Thorpe, & Jackson, 2008).

The total sample of respondents used in this study was 102 middle line managers from 20 out of 24 banks in Nigeria. Twenty pseudonyms have been used to represent the various banks. The demographic characteristics of the sample are specified in Table 1.

Table 1. Demographic Characteristics of Respondents

The sampling technique adopted was purposive. Lagos and Abuja were chosen due to the fact that Lagos is Nigeria's largest commercial center and Abuja is the Nigerian capital and has a high concentration of bank headquarters and subsidiaries. The interview questions were mainly open-ended and adapted or followed as specified by Hooker, Neathey, Casebourne, & Munro (2007) in their study of WLB values.

Respondents were solicited through a combination of e-mail, existing personal contacts, referrals, and the snowballing process. All the respondents who agreed to participate in the field work were screened on the basis of eligibility criteria in order to ascertain whether each interviewee was currently a middle line manager. Middle-line managers in the Nigerian banks were identified by their grades and titles. These were employees who are responsible for, and manage, at least one function in the organization. Importantly, the experience of WLB among managerial staff was chosen because there is a strong assumption in the existing literature that achieving a desirable WLB at a managerial level is not possible because managers are expected to work long hours, which some workers are not so keen to do (Cappellen & Janssens, 2010; Doherty, 2004; Murphy & Doherty, 2011).

The authors of this study also approached the process of analysis with some extant theory to explore, and therefore decided to use, content analysis in order to methodically interrogate the data (Easterby-Smith, Thorpe, & Jackson, 2008; Murphy & Doherty, 2011). This mainly involved the use of determined codes in order to look for evidence that covered six major sections: (1) the demographic characteristics of the respondents from the 20 banks; (2) the employers' and employees' understanding of the concept of WLB; (3) the range and scope of WLB; (4) how WLB has been used; (5) the perceived impact of WLB; and (6) factors influencing WLB. In addition, some codes were generated inductively where unexpected themes were brought to the fore such as favoritism.

Efforts were made to minimize the possibility of bias occurring by seeking respondents from different bank organizations with varied demographic profiles (refer to Table 1 in Appendix 1). The interviewees were asked to share their views on a range of issues mentioned in paragraph 2 on page 11. All the interviews were conducted in English. Each semistructured interview lasted between 30 and 45 minutes. The principal researcher commenced the interviews by explaining to the respondents the aims and objectives of the research. The interviewees were assured of confidentiality and anonymity. The interviews were conducted at the respective organization site or other preferred location. The interviews were tape-recorded with the consent of the interviewees using a predetermined but flexible interviewing protocol. After each interview, a contact form was used to summarize the main themes, concepts, issues, or questions that emerged. The data were simultaneously analyzed.

The analysis started at the outset of data collection and continued throughout the study. This proved particularly helpful in providing information used in revising the initial interviewing questions and formulating new questions as the interviews progressed. It also provided us with the flexibility to conduct follow-up interviews and to probe deeper into some interesting emergent themes. After interviewing 50 middle line managerial respondents and analyzing the emerging data, it was perceived that themes were recurring and further data collection was unlikely to reveal new themes or insights. Nevertheless, in order to further increase the reliability of the data set and also to ensure that no important theme was omitted, 52 additional interviews were undertaken to confirm the earlier results. In addition to the primary sources, we also used secondary sources which were gleaned from books, periodicals, and journal articles. These documents were used to uncover patterns, employers' overt and subtle policies, and nonverbal views of the population being investigated. Reflection, interpretation, and analysis of the detailed notes yielded the findings reported in this study. The next section provides the findings of the empirical evidence.

Findings of the Empirical Evidence

Notions of Work-Life Balance among Nigerian Bank Managers

There are four prevalent notions of WLB that can be found within the Nigerian banking sector. Managers defined WLB as having more time with their families, health concerns, spiritual/religious activities, and time for leisure.

Time for Family

A majority of managers defined WLB as the ability to pay attention to nonwork (family) commitments while also succeeding in their jobs. These managers viewed WLB in terms of having a good life outside work with emphasis on the opportunity to establish a stable home and nurturing children, attending wedding engagements, child naming, dedication and burial ceremonies, and so on. In Nigeria, social sanctions can be applied to those who do not take care of or attend to family matters. The following quotations typify the shared views of the respondents:

Work-life balance to me is about being able to have time for my wife and children and my extended family. The nature of my job as a bank manager does not always allow me the time—the job is very demanding, but as a man I have to just manage (HR manager, Ice Bank).

The HR manager in Wave Bank stated:

For me, it means being able to spend quality time outside work, especially with my parents, as I am the only child.

The brand manager in Omega Bank also iterated:

To me, personally, it means the ability to fit in the needs of my family into a working environment … it simply means that if anything comes up which is important to my family, I would be able to attend to it.

The preceding statements indicate that the family system is ranked significantly important and far higher than an individual's career. In terms of sociocultural context, a major part of the social fabric of Nigerian society is its collectivist nature and the emphasis on the extended family system. Within the family setup, individuals develop strongly knitted social ties and feel a sense of obligation to support the needs, goals, and aspirations of their kith and kin and/or the nuclear and extended family members (Jackson, 2004). In this context, the extended family serves as a form of social insurance for members. This position aligns with House, Hanges, Javidan, Dortman, and Gupta (2004), who ranked Nigerians very highly in respect of in-group collectivist practices and humane orientations. The current findings are also in line with studies that have shown that achieving a balance between home life and work life is becoming increasingly important (e.g., Greenhaus & Foley, 2007; Hill, Bloom, Black, & Lipsey, 2007; Hill, Hawkins, Martinson, & Ferris 2003). For instance, Gambles, Lewis, and Rapoport (2006) suggest that marriage requires nurturing, and when there are children or dependents such as aging senior citizens or people on disability in the extended family setup, there is a need for constant care. It is therefore not surprising that excessive work demands can cause marital conflict and stress in respect of workers' well-being. McCarthy, Darcy, and Grady (2010) assert that the challenges of managing dependents can be extended to single and married parents.

Health Concerns

More than half of the respondents defined WLB in terms of having time to deal with health-related issues. In Nigeria, the societal expectation is that children should take care of their parents. Nigeria does not have a well-developed welfare or health system that takes care of people who are senior citizens and who are unwell. Society frowns on children who put their parents or family members in structures akin to old people's home in the advanced nations. The marketing manager of Blue Bank commented:

I am getting on with age and am not as fit as I used to be. I have been diagnosed with high blood pressure. For me, work-life balance is about having time to do my work and also take care of myself.

Another respondent stated:

Work-life balance is having time to cater not only for work but my elderly mother who has arthritis. As you know, there are no care homes here, and it is an abominable act to even think of sending your parent there. (Commercial manager, Red Bank)

The above findings resonate with several studies (e.g., Wajcman, Bittman, & Brown, 2009; Wong & Ko, 2009), whose findings reveal that WLB is defined in terms of health concerns. For instance, Oke and Dawson (2008) found that there was a high level of workplace stress experienced in the Nigerian banking sector. Akingunola and Adigun (2010) also iterate that over the past few years the Nigerian financial system has witnessed significant changes in terms of structures, management technique, and regulatory environment, which has put managerial and nonmanagerial employees under immense pressure, increased stress, and has had a negative health-related impact on individuals' mental and physical health, which in turn affect the individual's performance in organizations.

Personal Leisure Activities and Religious Time

Some of the respondents viewed WLB in terms of being able to balance work and time they spend purely on activities for themselves. This finding supports studies such as Boyar, Maertz, & Keough (2003), which reveal that achieving a balance between social life and work life is becoming increasingly important for employees. The HR manager for the Social Bank commented:

At the moment, I don't have a balance anymore as work tends to be a seven-day job and there's hardly any time left for family, leisure activities, and even just meeting friends casually like I used to do.

Similarly, the HR manager at Federal Bank asserted:

I will define work-life balance as being able to have time for work and social events in Nigeria. There is always one party or the other happening every weekend. You cannot keep giving excuses that you were so busy at work. If not when you have your own family ceremony no one would come.

On the other hand, a number of respondents defined WLB in terms of having time for religious activities. Most respondents remarked that there was the need for them to balance work and spiritual activities. Onuoha (2005) affirms that Nigerians are religious, and religion shapes the majority of individuals' way of life. The following quotation typifies the shared views of the respondents:

I will see work-life balance as having time for both work and religious activities. I for one cannot miss midweek services and let alone Sunday service whenever I have to come to work on Sunday. It must be after my Sunday worship, or the best thing I can do is go for an earlier service. (Commercial manager, Solid Bank)

This finding is in line with the finding of Dean (2007), who asserts that achieving a balance between religion/spiritual life, and work life is becoming increasingly important for employees in deriving satisfaction from their work.

Range and Scope of Work-Life Balance among Nigerian Bankers

Table 2 displays the work-life initiatives in Nigeria. The initiatives include full time, flexitime, homeworking maternity leave, child care arrangement, career break, sabbatical leave, and casual leave. Initiatives such as part time, job share, compressed hours, annualized hours, and term time were not available in Nigeria. The authors of this study focus on the discussion of flexible working and leave arrangements.

Table 2. WLB Policies and Practices, Availability, Awareness, and Usage

Table 2 displays WLB practices that were available and the preferences of the middle-line managers toward policies that were unavailable. Initiatives such as part time, job share, compressed hours, annualized hours, and term time were understandably unavailable since workers collectively have a preference for the conventional full-time permanent contracts over temporary or casual work. Evidence from Table 2 reveals that working from home was available, but the majority of managers were unaware of this initiative. Moreover, employers found this policy cumbersome to run since employees had to be provided with laptops, broadband service, generators, and fuel for the effective implementation of this initiative. The table also shows that male middle-line managers would have utilized the paternity leave arrangement if it were available.

Flexible Working Arrangement

Flexible working is one of the major ways of achieving work-life balance. It is an arrangement that allows individuals to determine the number of hours they want to work in their place of work. This allows organizations to accommodate variable and seasonal fluctuations while ensuring that employees work at their pace and reduce work-related stress (Deery, 2008). Bank managers usually work for 12 to 14 hours a day, in addition to weekend work. Many struggle to find a balance between personal, family, and work life. This category of workers does not have access to flexible working arrangements such as working from home, compressed work weeks, and flexible working hours. One respondent summarized:

It is very difficult for us to meet up with family commitments; it is hard to manage the children and home. My wife and I work in banks and we hardly see the children till the weekend. Our work is sincerely affecting our lives but we need the money, what can we do … I can't remember the last time I had a weekend off with regards to this form of arrangement. I am really stressed. … (HR manager, Head Bank)

It is clear that bank employees want some form of work-life balance. In fact, most respondents stressed that they would choose a flexible working pattern if it were available. According to one HR director, the bank recognizes the necessity for WLB initiatives to be fully utilized by bank employees. He stated:

We have flexible working patterns for our staff, even though not all utilize it. We even have a lot of leave arrangements for the workers. I am sure if you asked the workers, they will tell you we have been generous and understanding by giving employees leave when requested. We know they have family and other issues that they have to attend to. We are supportive. (Commercial manager, Foundation Bank)

However, a majority of the managers who participated in the interviews were very surprised because it has never been brought to their notice that there was a flexible working arrangement in the bank. Others commented that this arrangement was only for top executive managers. One manager iterated:

I don't even know what you mean by flexible working arrangement. It is the first time I am hearing the word. This flexible working pattern you are asking is not used in Nigeria. I think it is foreign. (Commercial manager, Red Bank)

The commercial manager at Solid Bank commented:

If there is flexible work, they must be giving it only to the big senior executives. We have no choice; we have to report to work every day—if not, we will lose our jobs. I think you know it is hard to get a job in Nigeria. We are suffering and smiling.

It is clear from the above statements that flexible working arrangement for full-time junior managers is nonexistent. This is not the case in developed countries such as the United Kingdom, where flexible work arrangement is often protected by legislation and made available to employees. It is often used by employers as a medium to motivate employees or a way to demonstrate that the organization is socially responsible. For example, parents with children under 6 years old or disabled children under 18 have the legitimate right to apply for the flexible working arrangement and employers have a statutory duty to give due consideration to their requests (Kossek, Lewis, & Hammer, 2010; Murphy & Doherty, 2011). The employee relations officer commented that Nigerians are not used to flexible work arrangements. In addition, they prefer full-time permanent contracts as opposed to casual or temporary work. Mordi and Mmieh (2010) argue that workers' preference for conventional full permanent contracts comes from a realization that Nigeria has a weak and unstable industrial base with large reserves of surplus labor struggling for scarce jobs.

Leave Arrangement

A WLB initiative that has been extensively practiced in all Nigerian banks is the maternity leave. Every pregnant female worker is entitled to three months' maternity leave with full pay. Female workers who qualify for this arrangement are not allowed to extend the leave. This is often a discretionary gesture from the employer to the employee. This policy is different from many developed countries such as the United Kingdom, where pregnant employees have four key rights: (1) paid time for prenatal care; (2) statutory maternity leave, which can be taken as long as one year, with full pay for the first six months while the remaining six months can be taken with half pay; (3) maternity pay benefits; and (4) protection against unfair treatment (Employment Law Explained, 2012). Most respondents remarked that there was an urgent need for a review of the maternity leave policy in Nigeria. The HR manager for Alpha Bank stated:

From a managerial point of view, I feel the bank would save more if they just extend maternity leave to six months because most of the mothers, when they come back to work, for the next two months they are on and off, and most of the time they come in late and usually leave early. As a human being that is not the time to start giving the new mother queries; everyone just turns a blind eye until they eventually settle in.

Another form of WLB initiative used in developed countries such as Denmark, Finland, and the United Kingdom is paternity leave. For example, in Denmark and the United Kingdom in particular, a spouse or partner of the woman (including adoptive fathers-to-be and same-sex relationships) who will be responsible with the mother for bringing up a child has the right to apply for ordinary paternity leave, and may also qualify for ordinary statutory paternity pay. The father-to-be can take either one or two weeks' paid (at a fixed rate) paternity leave. Additional paternity leave is for a maximum of 26 weeks. The leave can be taken when the child is born (www.directgov.uk). Some employers in the United Kingdom have their own paternity leave arrangements that are more generous than the statutory entitlement. These will normally be included in the employment contract (www.directgov.uk). This initiative is totally nonexistent in the majority of Nigerian banks. The reason for this may be associated with the fact that Nigerians have always viewed the task of raising children in their early childhood as the job of the mother. Finland is also a good example of a country that positively promotes WLB initiatives. The Finnish legislation grants a “Daddy's Month” for fathers, in addition to their paternity leave entitlement for sick dependents (Murphy & Doherty, 2011, p. 255). The case studies reveal that only one bank—the Rock Bank—has attempted to introduce paternity leave within the past 12 months. This involved giving the new father two days' paid leave. Nigeria is a strongly male-dominated society where a gendered division of work prevails and work relations are often governed by patriarchal systems of socialization and cultural practices (Mordi & Mmieh, 2010). As one of the male managers remarked:

Why would I stay at home; what is the function of my wife, my mother, and all my sisters? As a man I should be the breadwinner of my home, and I need to bring in the money for the home and child expenses to be taken care of. (Brand manager, Ice Bank)

Intriguingly, the authors of this study observe that a few married men were interested in the paternity leave arrangement if this practice was available in their banks. Other types of leave arrangement in the Nigerian banks include casual leave which encompasses compassionate leave or bereavement leave. Compassionate or bereavement leave is usually a five-day leave with full pay, which may be granted to members of staff who have suffered the death of an immediate family member or extended family member. There is also a ceremonial leave, which is usually a paid leave for a maximum of three days awarded to a bank worker either for a baby-naming ceremony or for a banker who has just gotten married. A maximum of one day paid leave is usually given to colleagues who would be attending the ceremony with the permission of the line manager.

Dependent Care Assistance

Dependent care assistance is usually referred to as on-site day care, or subsidized day care or elder care, and/or child care available to workers who have children in certain banks. This initiative was in existence in only the state and the national banks. The study shows that other banks such as Alpha Bank are in the process of adopting this initiative. The empirical evidence also reveals that nursery facilities were located only in the banks' headquarters but not available in the branches around the country. A few of the banks claimed that they provide financial support toward child upkeep. When interviewees were asked whether specific policies existed for employees to work fewer hours during school holidays or take time out over the school holiday periods, most respondents were ignorant of any such policies in the banks. For instance, the HR manager for Omega Bank remarked:

I have never heard about it in this bank. In any case, the maid would always sort the kids out. I can't afford any reduction in salary.

Managers' Perception of Work-Life Balance

Long Hours

A majority of managers in the Nigerian banks agreed that the idea of WLB was an important issue that needed to be addressed by the banking institutions. Managers admitted that the banking sector needs to reform its WLB policies and practices. For instance, managers often work between 12 and 14 hours, sometimes 7 days a week. They are sometimes not allowed to go on an annual leave, and even when they are on leave they could be called in by their employers at any time. This is in contrast to the Dutch policy, which permits employees the right to adjust working time, seek parental and other forms of leave such as caring for family members, and allowing older workers to continue to work as long as possible (Fagan & Walthery, 2011, p. 275). The Adjustment of Hours Law (2000) gives Dutch workers the right to request a shortening or lengthening of their normal working hours. As a rule, employers are obliged to grant such a request unless there was a substantive reason to refuse an employee this privilege. Moreover, employers are generally not allowed to demand to know the reasons behind the request (Redmond, Valiulis, & Drew, 2006; Tomlinson, & Durbin, 2010).

Managing the Home and WLB

In a majority of banks, there was a tacit stipulation from the employers for early-career female managers not to get married and, if they were married, not to get pregnant. A few female respondents reported that during their recruitment and training as managers they were asked whether they were married with children. Interestingly, early-career female managers with children were sometimes considered to be unreliable, and they were also said to be caught up in a conflict of interest between family life and career. In short, these female managers were said to have a tendency to request a flexible working leave due to frequent pressing family issues. The manager of Unique Bank iterated:

During my interview, I had to deny I was married because other people had already told me that if I mention that I was married and had children I may not get the job as a manager. Work-life balance initiatives to me are just a paper policy. How can they be claiming they have work-life balance when during training they tell you that you can't have children in the first two years of being in a job?

It is important to note that Nigeria's official labor policy supports equal opportunity in recruiting and retention of employees. However, for most Nigerian women the reality is very different. There is some degree of discrimination with regards to recruitment and promotion. Women are often stereotyped as being homemakers who should be more involved in caring for the home rather than work. The patriarchal nature of the Nigerian society is seen within the gender composition of management, which is often skewed toward males. Most banks still have men as the decision makers (Ituma & Simpson, 2009; Mordi & Mmieh, 2010).

Favoritism and Work-Life Balance

Middle-line managers believe that ethnic favoritism was a major issue in most Nigerian banks in getting their ceremonial leave or dependent care assistance or other forms of WLB initiatives approved by employers or senior management. The following statement highlights the practice of favoritism in most banks using WLB initiatives:

People are more comfortable with their own people—I mean people from the same tribe (ethnic group). You can't really blame them; they feel safer because they watch their backs. It is very common in my bank. Most of the people in the HR department are Ibos; hence, there are a lot of Ibo employees, and naturally when you ask for a day off, the managers usually give their own people priority over you. (Family Bank manager)

The Perception of Career Damage and WLB

Some of the respondents stated that they had concerns about using WLB initiatives because of the negative perception among senior managers in the banks in relation to junior members of staff who utilize WLB initiatives. The case studies reveal that people who make frequent use of WLB policies are sometimes seen as workers who are less committed to the organization's business practice. The consequence of this negative perception is that such workers are said to be denying themselves the opportunity to climb the career ladder.

Senior management in the Nigerian banks always encourage the culture of working long hours and discourage workers from taking their leave or using other WLB initiatives. For instance, respondents commented:

If you want to progress in your career, you must make sure you are not going on leave and that you are not making use of all the WLB initiatives. That is why most women of childbearing age have to choose between pursuing a career in the working environment or focus on caring for their children and family at home. As you would notice, one has to give up one for the other. (White Bank manager)

I don't really use any of the supposed polices. The only ones I am interested in are the ones that are statutory. I mean like the national holiday; anything extra is just a waste of productive time. You know Nigerians like to copy a lot—they want to imbibe Western policies, which would not work in our country. (Marketing manager, Snow Bank)

There seems to be a mistrust of the whole idea of work-life balance with some levels of management at the bank. Managers who use these initiatives may be seen as not being serious. This attitude needs to be removed if work-life balance initiatives are to be successful. (National Bank manager)

Cullen and McLaughlin (2006) and Deery (2008) discuss in their various studies the notion of presenteeism, which is defined as “an overwhelming need to put in more hours or, at least, appear to be working very long hours.” The main rationale that reinforces presenteeism is the need to provide exceptional customer service in the competitive environment such as the banking sector. Torrington et al. (2011) argue that there is a strong positive relationship between career progression and the use of WLB initiatives. One of the findings of this study is that bank employees who limit themselves to the use of WLB initiatives are considered to be proactive to the organization's business practice, and they are most likely to climb the career ladder swiftly. Alternatively, middle-line managers who frequently use WLB initiatives are seen to be passive about the organization's business practice, and they are most unlikely to experience a rapid progression from middle-level positions to higher levels of pay, skill, responsibility, or authority. The authors of this study argue that this might, however, not always be the case. Certainly, there are employees who may be proactive to the organization's business practice, but they have unfortunately been put into this group of workers who are passive to the ethos of the organization because of their use of WLB initiatives.

The Forces That Help Shape or Constrain the Choices of Work-Life Balance Practices and Policies That Exist in the Nigerian Banking Sector

In Nigeria, there are several forces shaping the WLB polices in an organization. First, there appears to be a general reluctance for public policymakers to update the obsolete labor laws that support WLB policies and practices. For instance, the Nigerian Labour Act of 1971, Section 54(1) (d), does not specifically make provision for maternity leave. However, the leave is usually determined by the contract of employment. The practice is usually that the employee is granted a leave period of three months with or without pay, depending on the contract of employment. The authors of this study argue that policymakers must have the political will to ensure that adequate provision is made in the law for maternity leave in order to force employers to include it in the contract of employment. In spite of the aspirations of working women to extend the maternity leave to six months or more with full pay, there has been no attempt to review the laws. Second, one of the most disheartening factors that is shaping WLB practices in the Nigerian banking organizations is the growing weakness of the trade unions. This has, unfortunately, led to a near absence of employee voice in the banking sector. Most banks either do not recognize the union or they are in the process of delimiting trade union influence and power. Third, the recent global financial crises have had a ripple effect on the banking institutions in Nigeria, causing employees to avoid using WLB initiatives for fear of losing their jobs. Most workers are well aware that employment opportunities in Nigeria are scarce; therefore, those workers who are fortunate enough to have jobs, particularly in the banking sector, tend to remain in these jobs for as long as it takes in order to protect their jobs.

Discussion

This study has provided insights into our understanding of WLB policies and practices of middle-line managerial employees in the Nigerian banking sector. Evidence from the case studies revealed that WLB issues are of major concern to the middle-line managerial employees. Various notions of WLB have been discussed. For example, some managers defined WLB as having “time for family” and time to deal with “health concerns.” Others also defined WLB as having “personal time and/or devoting time for religious leisure activities.” This finding is consistent with the views of McCarthy et al. (2010), who argued that employees usually define WLB as having the ability to juggle work and nonwork activities.

The study also revealed that the range and scope of WLB practices are available in the Nigerian banks. The results show that there are several WLB initiatives such as sabbatical leave and maternity leave that exist in the Nigerian banking environment, but there are limitations in the use of these practices compared to that of developed countries such as the United Kingdom, where, for example, female employees have rights such as statutory maternity leave, the right to paid time off for prenatal care, maternity paid benefits, and protection against unfair treatment or dismissal (www.direct.gov.uk). It is clear from the case studies that policymakers in Nigeria lack the political will to amend the current labor laws that support WLB policies and practices. For example, the Nigerian Labour Act of 1971, Section 54(1) (d), does not specifically make provision for maternity leave. The leave is usually determined by the nature of the contract of employment. In most cases, the female employee who qualifies for this leave is granted a leave period of three months with or without full pay, depending on the particular contract of employment. Unfortunately, female employees who benefit from this arrangement are not even allowed to extend it. The case studies revealed that maternity extensions are only discretionary gestures that an employer may offer an employee. This policy is different from the policies practiced by many developed countries such as the United Kingdom, where maternity leave can be taken as long as one year with full pay for the first six months and half pay for the next six months. This finding thus confirms the studies of Gregory and Milner (2009), who stated that the common practice of maternity leave among the banks is one such WLB initiative that is at variance with the practices documented in the US and European WLB literature (Webber, Sarris, & Bessell, 2010).

Another leave arrangement that is extensively practiced in many developed economies such as the United Kingdom but totally nonexistent in most banks in Nigeria is the paternity leave arrangement. In the United Kingdom, for example, a spouse or partner of the woman (including adoptive fathers-to-be and same-sex relationships) may request a two-week paid (at a fixed rate) paternity leave. Additional paternity leave can be taken by the would-be father for a maximum of 26 weeks (www.direct.gov.uk). The authors of this study notice that since 2010, Rock Bank, for example, has sought to practice this WLB initiative with some degree of success. This involves giving the new father two days' paid leave to be with the newborn baby and the mother. Similarly, Rock Bank has been making every effort to incentivize new fathers who work in the bank with subsistence living allowance every month in order to support the newborn baby or babies up to the birth of the third child. According to the bank, this incentive scheme was introduced to encourage the father to continue working, while the mother stayed home taking care of the child(ren). Not surprisingly, Nigerian men have always viewed the task of raising young children as a major responsibility of mothers. Legislators and other employers in the banking sector do not either see the need to grant male working fathers paternity leave or incentivize employees in the same way as Rock Bank. As stated earlier, Nigeria is a strongly male-dominated society where a gendered division of work prevails and work relations are often governed by patriarchal systems of socialization and cultural practices (Mordi & Mmieh, 2010). Again, with the exception of Rock Bank, the majority of multinational banks that have these practices in their European subsidiaries do not offer such a WLB initiative in the Nigerian subsidiaries.

One of the most disheartening findings of this study is the growing weakness of trade unions. Arguably, this finding helps to shape WLB policies and practices in the banking sector in terms of the near absence of employee voice. Most banks do not recognize trade unions, and they are in the process of delimiting their influence and power. Employees are not properly represented when it comes to issues such as employees' statutory rights, pay settlements, resolution of disputes, and so on, in the banking working environment. Another finding that helps to constrain employees' ability to use the full range of WLB initiatives is the recent worldwide financial crises, which have had a negative impact on the banking institutions in Nigeria, thus causing employees to avoid using WLB initiatives for fear of losing their jobs. Most workers are well aware that employment opportunities in Nigeria are scarce; therefore, those workers who are fortunate enough to have jobs, particularly in the banking sector, tend to remain in these jobs for as long as it takes in order to protect their jobs.

The study gauged how middle-line managers perceived WLB initiatives. Managers generally agreed that the banks had policies enshrined in their contract of employment that were not practiced. For instance, managers commented that senior management encouraged the culture of employees working long hours during the week and even at weekends. The study reveals that middle-line managers were not permitted to go on leave for a longer period of time. Even if they were entitled to take their leave, they could be recalled from their leave if there were urgent bank issues to attend to. This has had a detrimental effect on managers. A majority of middle-line mangers reported that they were having serious difficulties in combining home and work responsibilities simultaneously.

An intriguing result of this study is that managers who have aspirations to be promoted to senior management positions have been found to be cautious using WLB initiatives. For example, middle-line managers who regularly made use of WLB policies were somehow seen as being passive to the organization's business practice. This result resonates with McCarthy et al. (2010) and Rapoport, Bailyn, Flecher, and Pruitte (2009), who argue that employees were either very satisfied or very dissatisfied, depending on the line managers' understanding of the bank policies and the general way in which they handle requests for ceremonial leave or more flexible working arrangements. A small percentage of respondents reported that during their training period they were asked whether they were married with children. If they were found to be married and had children they were considered to be unreliable and also lacked dedication to the work they do. One of the unique problems middle-line managers experienced was the issue of ethnic favoritism. Nigeria is a country with over 250 ethnic allegiances, and Nigerians tend to demonstrate stronger ethnic allegiance than national loyalty. A majority of middle-line managers believed that ethnic favoritism was a big issue. They iterated that there was a tendency for senior managers to favor junior managers who were from the same ethnic group whenever they decided to use a WLB initiative, but made life difficult for those employees who were not from the same clan.

The authors of this study acknowledge that the banking sector is a very important sector in the country and contributes significantly to the Nigerian economy. However, the case studies show that most middle-line bank managers are very unhappy about the way their work schedules affect their ability to fully enjoy off-work personal/leisure activities. Most middle-line managers hold senior management staff responsible for the failure of most of the WLB policies and practices in the banking institutions. This result supports the view of Hughes and Bozionelos (2007) and Hyman and Summers (2004), who found that employees normally perceived that WLB initiatives were strictly controlled. Thus, an interesting dynamic in the case studies is that a majority of respondents concluded that their efforts and quality of work in the bank working environment were not sufficiently rewarded by allowing them to utilize WLB practices. In the view of McCarthy et al. (2010), the reluctance of senior management to actively implement or include training on WLB issues can be consequential to the incremental change in productivity. Hence, it is essential that senior management take WLB policies and practices seriously and make every effort to implement them in the workplace. Furthermore, the authors of this study argue that it may be appropriate for the government to reconsider the employment laws that support WLB values in the workplace.

Conclusion and Recommendations

This study has presented various meanings of WLB in the Nigerian banking sector. The study also highlights the limited range and scope of WLB initiatives in Nigeria and the challenges early career middle-line managers have in using such practices in Nigeria. The study identifies some forces shaping the choices of WLB practices in the Nigerian banking sector. It is also clear that institutional and cultural dynamics propelling WLB in the Nigerian banking sector are weak. This necessitates an urgent need to put in place regulatory and supervisory structures to help managers redesign work in such a way that it would be more humane and meet global HRM best practices. There must be a move from the notion that workers are assets to be exploited with little regard to other aspects of their lives. Clearly, the problem with this style of management has led to the continuous movement or high turnover of bank staff from one bank to the other in search of higher wages and respite from the precarious work regimes that affect other aspects of their lives.

In spite of the advantages of the qualitative research method adopted for this study, there are some limitations. First, the issue of generalizability, which is also a shared feature of the quantitative research method, remains to be established (Cresswell, 2008). In addition, the purely qualitative nature of this study means that conclusions can be only tentative. The authors believe that there are propositions to be tested in further quantitative research. However, this exploratory study has made a much-needed contribution to the extant literature by identifying context-specific variables in Nigeria that may be potentially applicable to other African countries, thus opening new avenues for the wider discourse on the management of WLB of workers and HRM research in an African context. Second, it would have been more interesting if we had increased the number of respondents, as this would have increased the level of validity and reliability (Thompson & Aspinwall, 2009). The respondents selected for this study were from three selected regions of Nigeria, and in a sense this may lead to geographic limitation. Additional investigation with more diverse sectors should be considered to verify if these results can be replicated (Virick, Lilly, & Casper, 2007). Like many other existing investigations of WLB, this study used evidence-based interviews, though circumspectly they were planned and designed to facilitate the memory recollection of past events. The possibility that some respondents may be limited in the recollection of past events cannot be completely eliminated. To that extent it is proposed that further research take a longitudinal approach.

The study acknowledges that the government, employers, and policymakers in Nigeria have often been reluctant to enact policies that protect the citizenry's work-life balance. This contrasts markedly with the Australian system, where there is a complex system of industrial bargaining that results in workers' work-life being largely protected by legal structures or contractual agreements under various state and federal laws, industrial awards, and collective enterprise and individual agreements (Holman, Batt, & Holtgrewe, 2007). The study recommends that key players such as employers and policymakers move swiftly beyond paper policies toward effective implementation of WLB initiatives in the context of the wider Nigerian working environment, and particularly in the banking institutions.

The study also recommends that the banking firms should urgently provide training for all workers and managers. It is important that various stakeholders in each Nigerian bank come together to draft common WLB policies and practices for the common good of bank workers. Ideally, this process should be supported by the government. Again, guidelines should be developed that ensure that bank employees are given duties that have realistic deadlines. The study recommends that proper guidelines be developed for bank workers to be incentivized for the extra number of hours they work during the week and on weekends. There may also be a need to consider the demand for flexibility within working patterns such as flexible hours, compressed hours, or working from home. On the whole, there is a need to ensure fairness and consistency in the implementation of WLB policies. This should be promoted by creating a role for a WLB expert in every bank.

The ideas presented in this study are interesting and worth discussing with an open mind, and it is hoped that these ideas become a starting point for subsequent analysis. For future studies, the authors of this study suggest that it would be interesting to uncover, at a deeper level, employees' experiences of WLB in the Nigerian banks and other sectors of the Nigerian economy. It would also make an interesting study to investigate the impact of WLB policies and practices of multinational banks operating in other African countries.

Biographical Information

Chima Mordi is a lecturer in international HRM and employment relations at the Brunel Business School (BBS) in the United Kingdom. He trained as a lawyer and holds a PhD degree in human resource management from Keele University, United Kingdom. He has published widely in international refereed journals, including the International Journal of Human Resource Management, Thunderbird International Business Review, Gender in Management: An International Journal, and others. He is a member of the Work and Organisation Research Centre (WORC) at BBS. His research focuses on employer and employee flexibility (work-life balance), the state of employee relations and trade unionism in sub-Saharan Africa, new forms of work organization, discrimination and equal opportunities at work, and international business in emerging markets.

Frederick Mmieh obtained his PhD from Sheffield University, and he is currently the MSc international business coordinator in BBS. He is a lecturer in applied economics and international business at the Brunel Business School (BBS). Dr. Mmieh has published extensively in different reputable international refereed journals. His research interests include sustainability of economic development in emerging economies, employment relations, micro and macroeconomic policies, balance of payments (export and import sectors), intervention and liberalization policies, international business, global or international trade analysis, FDI trends and their impact on economic development, stock exchange market analysis, and foreign exchange market economic and econometric analysis.

Stella Ibiyinka Ojo is a PhD final-year student at BBS. Her PhD research focuses on work-life balance policies and practices in emerging markets/sub-Saharan Africa. Her research interests include work-life balance, work-life conflict, family-friendly policies, international HRM, and employment relations.