Managing Work-life Conflicts in Public Organizations: Experience From a Public Sector Organization in Nigeria

Abstract

Employees in many public organizations are increasingly recognizing that work is infringing on their personal life and many are unable to cope. This study sought to investigate the immediate and remote causes of such conflicts between work and life to find ways of helping employees balance the two sides. Two thousand two hundred and twenty personnel in the twenty-one local councils that make up the Anambra Local Government System were pooled for the survey investigation. Using simple percentages and the inferential statistics of chi-square () to analyze the data gathered from the field-work and a test of hypothesis, it was found that employees would welcome policy interventions by the government to reduce the number of duty hours on Thursdays and Fridays found to be days for social engagements. It was further found that employees would be willing to put in more hours of work on the less socially engaged days of Monday to Wednesday to make up for the lost hours used for personal and family matters. The study recommends policy reforms in public service that will increase working hours on less socially engaged days and reduce hours of work on more socially engaged days to shore up motivation and productivity in public sector organizations.