Exploring HR and Middle Managers' Perception of Work Life Balance in Lebanese Banks

Exploring HR and Middle Managers’ Perception of Work Life Balance in

Lebanese Banks

Presented By Yara Abboud

I. The Five model WLB linkage models

II. Border theory

III. Research Questions

IV. Research Methodology

V. Results

VI. Discussion & Conclusion

VII. Limitations & Recommendations

Outline

Segmentation

Model

Spillover

Model

Compensation

Model

Conflict

Model

Instrumental Model

The Five Work Life Balance Model Linkages.

Segmentation• Work & Family are distinct spheres which do not affect each other

• Nowadays segmentation is psychological since work and life are closer physically and temporally.

Spillover

•Both work and family spheres influence each other in in either a positive or negative way.

•- Work fatigue which carries over to home life ( negative spillover)

•- Stimulation and satisfaction at work is carried home. ( positive spillover)

Compensation

•What is lacking in one sphere is compensated for in another.

•- A routine type of work is compensated by a behavior of partying all night ( reactive compensation)

•- A routine type of work is compensated by a major community service role outside of work (supplemental compensation)

Conflict•The high level of demand in

both work and family spheres causes one to experience significant overload and conflict

•Could be: time based, strain based, or behavior based. Ex:

•- A mother missing her son’s important football game due to work obligations ( time based conflict)

•- Job burnout leading to fatigue & depression. (strain based conflict)

•- Switching between pragmatic behavior to caring behavior at home home ( behavior based conflict)

Instrumental Model

• Activities in one sphere enable success in another•Consists of the positive side of the work/family interface•Ex: managers who acquire negotiation skills at work can apply those skills with their children at home.

Positive Spillover

Enrichment

Transfer of gains from one sphere to the next has to be applied in next sphere.

Enhancement

Spillover of positive mood

Positive mood, behavior , or skills spill from one sphere to the next; no definite linking mechanism is defined.

Facilitation

Transfer is similar to enrichment; the only difference is that the benefit is applied to the entire receiving sphere.

Integration:

middle ground between separation of roles and overlap of roles. It is more

likely to take place when the individual sees the benefits of positive spillover

in each role. It’s primarily a voluntary action which is more likely to take

place when the work and family spheres are similar in nature or involve

similar tasks) i.e. when they are consistent with the employee’s preferences.

Spillover IntegrationSegmentation

Negative:

Like conflict and interference

Making sense of the five models

Compensation:

An intermediate between negative and positive spillover

Positive:

Like Enrichment, Facilitation, and enhancement

Major Flaw is that it neglects: - the impact of supportive work or family relationships in lessoning conflict- the impact of individual’s identification with his/her home or work roles- the influence of individual’s values on family and work roles

II. Border theory

Border keepers:

A spouse at home, a mother in law, a mother

Border Keepers:

Work supervisor, work acquaintances

Border crossers carry home issues to work: or maybe spouse callsduring work time; an accident at home may trigger carrying worries to work and foster negative spillover; support and encouragement from home may trigger positive spillover.

Border crossers carry work concerns or bring work home; maybe clients call home. Transferred worries will create negative spillover while a transferred sense of accomplishment at work creates a positive spillover

Extent of merge depends on: spillovers triggered by border keepers, as well as the degree of control border crosser exerts over psychological borders. Spatial and temporal borders however are a function of the more influential sphere, and are not as flexible as the psychological border. If the work and family spheres are similar in nature, weak borders trigger balance; if different strong borders trigger balance.

Work SphereFamily Sphere

III. Research Questions

RQ1: What is the main Work life balance linkage that

Lebanese bank HR and middle managers experience?

- How does the bank contribute to the quality of the spillover?

- How does family contribute to the quality of spillover?

- Which is more influential? Work or family?

RQ2: How do they cope with WLB issues

- What values work/home do they identify with the most?- How do their supervisors at home and at work help them with such issues?

III. Research Methodology: Interview, Sample Size 50

Women48%Men

52%

18%

78%

4%

Single Married Divorced

Women

Men0

5

10

15

20

SingleMarried

Divorced

Women

Men

Gender Proportions and Marital Status of the participants.

0 2 4 6 8

Bank 1

Bank 2

Bank 3

Bank 4

Bank 5

Bank 6

Bank 7

Bank 8

Bank 9 Men

Women

30%

14%

4%

16%

4%

4%

28%

Participants' ProfessionsBranch Managers

Assistant BranchManagersIT leaders

HR leaders

Authorizers

Heads of recoveryand loans

1. The Number of working hours

2. The distance from work to home

3. The Bank’s culture’s limited flexibility

4. The Stress & Fatigue

IV. Results: Emerging Themes

5. The Transferred Mood

6. Lack of Time

7. The Need for a Full weekend

8.

Bank 1 Bank 2 Bank 3 Bank 4 Bank 5HeadquartersOfficial schedule

Regular: 8 am - 5:30Saturday: A manager has the right to take 2 Saturdays off per month without any salary deduction; whereas an employee who takes the Saturday off gets deducted from his/her overtime pay. Summer: Managers can leave twice a week at 2 pm.

Regular: 8 am- 5 pm

Saturday Saturday yes/ Saturday no policy.

Regular: 8 – 5 pm

Saturday Saturday yes, Saturday no policy.

Regular: Short or long schedule. short schedule : 8 -3 pmSaturday: 8 – 1 pmLong schedule: 8 -5 pm Saturday policy: Three Saturdays off per month; one working Saturday from 8 -4 45pm

Regular: 8 am – 5 30 pm Saturday: 8- 1 pm Saturday yes, no policy. Summer: Employee can leave at 2 30 pm for one whole month.

BranchesOfficial schedule

Regular: 8 am - 5: 30 pmSaturday 8 am- 1 pmOne can leave at 2 pm once per week. The fixed overtime is till 5 30 pm and is always paid.In branches: Every branch manager has the right to go out at 2 pm on a Wednesday, while for employees they agree and everyday there’s someone who leaves at 2 pm.

There are long and short schedules: Assistant Branch manager 8 – 2 pm.Branch manager: 8 – 5 pmSaturday: 8 – 1 pm

Regular:8 am – 2 pm Saturday: 8 -1 pm

Regular:8 am- 3 pm Saturday: 8 – 1 pm

Regular :8 am – 5 30 pmSaturday : 8 am – 1 pm Can take two Saturdays off per months or instead leave at 2 pm for 4 days per month.

Possible flex-time or breaks

- For certain departments like the HR you can go out once per week at 2 pm.-Lunch break is one hour.

two weeks after maternity leave to work from 8 to 2 pm.

Lunch break: 1 hour and 30 min for managers .and one hour for employee.

Lunch break 30 min, Flex time: 30 min ex: HR deputy manager can come 8 30 and leave at 5:30 pm or come at 8 am and leave at 5 pm. Authorized leave 3 hours per week.

Lunch break one hour

Theme 1: The number of working hours

Bank 6 Bank 7 Bank 8 Bank 9

HeadquartersOfficial schedule

Regular: 8 am – 5 pm Saturday: only work one Saturday per month, and take three Saturdays off for those who work till 5 pm.

Regular 8-2 pm Saturday: 8- 1 pm

Regular:8 am -5 pmSaturday: Saturday yes/ no policy.

Regular:8 am- 4 pm Friday : 8 – 2 pmSaturday: 8- 1 pmSaturday policy: 2 Saturdays off per month

BranchesOfficial schedule

Regular :8am- 2 pmSaturday: 8 am – 1 pm

RegularSame as above

Regular :8 am – 3 pmSaturday: 8 am – 1 pm

Regular: 8 am- 2 pmSaturday: 8 am – 1 pm

Possible flex-time or breaks

-Allow a mother who has children less than ten years of age to leave at 3 pm (in Headquarters).-One hour lunch break

Lunch break Lunch break 30 min or one hour depending on department.

Themes: 2, 3, 4 2

.Dis

tan

ce &

Tra

ffic • No

consideration of manager when transferring

• Parking issue3

. Lim

ited

Fle

xib

ility

• humane in case of accidents

• Relationship with manager

• Delegation at Audi, BLOM

• 60% of sample: 27 % of men and 33% of women asserted that BALANCE is a function of PERSONAL EFFORT.

4. S

tres

s &

Fat

igu

e • Experienced by everyone

• Negative effect on two people only in terms of behavior.

Theme 5:Transferred Mood

• In general calm

• 22% carry worries home; 40% said they carry them home sometimes

• 38% said they don’t carry worries home; these were more experienced, or had a very +v e character.

Mood

Women52%

Men48%

Carrying worries home always or sometimes

Women42%Men

58%

Never Carrying worries home

Theme 6: Lack of Time for Family

No time for

Family40%

Time for Self60%

Percentage of participants having no time for Family

0% 20% 40% 60% 80%

Bank 1

Bank 2

Bank 3

Bank 4

Bank 5

Bank 6

Bank 7

Bank 8

Bank 9

No time for family

Theme 6: Lack of Time for Self

Women lacking time for self:24% of sample

Men lacking time for self:10% of sample

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Singlelacking

time forself

Marriedlacking

time forself

Proportion

Total ofSingles 9

Total ofMarried 39

Total ofdivorced 2

Theme 7: The Need for a full weekend

34%

22%12%

10%

22%

Change What?

All Saturdays off Changing benefits

flexi- time// flexibility Changing schedule

Nothing

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

All Saturdays

off

Change in

benefits

flexi- time//

flexibility

Change in

schedule

Nothing

Change What?

60%

28%

8%

2% 2%

People Skills

None

Organization//prioirtization

Seeing things froma different angle

Analytical skills

Theme 8: Transferred Skills

Spillover

• -ve & +ve are happening simultaneously, but – ve is more apparent.

• The amount, extent and direction depends on nature of the job, relationship with manager, gender, age + experience and marital status + character.

VI. Discussion & Conclusion

RQ1. What is the main Work life balance linkage that

Lebanese bank HR and middle managers experience?

Results fall mostly in line with border theory

- How Lebanese Banks’ policies contribute to:

Positive Spillover

through:

Annual Administrative leaves

Marriage leaves, Maternity leaves

Educational allowances, Family

allowances , Housing & Transportation

allowances

Annual increases of 3% for those in

the management cadre

Rewarding high performance through

monetary and nonmonetary means.

Negative Spillover

through:

Long working hour schedules

Transfer policies that don’t take into

consideration the distance from home

to work

Slow promotions;

Slow moves to action: example they

have still not finalized or implemented

the grading scheme even though they

commended the idea five years ago.

Rewarding is slow

• Mainly it is more positive;

• We only witnessed a negative spillover in terms of heightened stress experienced by working mothers who had toddlers, or kids to tutor at home when they came back from work.

Spillover from family to work

Work is the more influential Sphere

- How does family contribute to the quality of spillover?- Which is more influential? Work or family?

Married men rely on their wives.

Married women with children tend to organize themselves more by buying all the grocery in the weekend, preparing the meal plans. Some but not all had a housekeeper and a tutor for their children. For those who didn’t have a housekeeper and a tutor , strain based conflict was more obvious than with others.

Single women in their prime 30s experienced strain, yet their families were there to provide a listening ear. Only one showed signs of reactive compensation by going shopping after work

RQ2: How do they cope with WLB issues?

Single and divorced men between the ages and 40-50 relied on friends and acquaintances, yet frustration was apparent especially if they weren’t living with someone

Old people in their 50s whose kids were adults didn’t have much of a problem; they had more time on their hands to pursue their hobbies like gardening, shopping etc…

• Negotiation is more a function of influence, then identification

• When psychological borders are not properly controlled identifying with two spheres does not lead to WLB.

• Time spent at work is more important than role salience in determining balance. Role salience only helped lesson the frustration but was not enough to promote balance.

Fine tune border theory

Making Sense out of it all

Family Sphere

Mother, spouse, children

Work Sphere

Bank Atmosphere

Supervisors, acquaintances

• Positive spillover: in terms of enrichment transfer

of skills from home to work;

Negative spillover in terms of strain based

conflict if accident happens at home

Enrichment, or Enhancement > Conflict

Overall –ve spillover

Negative spillover: time based & strain based conflict

Positive spillover: enrichment, i.e. transferred people

skills , & enhancement ( positive mood spillover)

Conflict > Enrichment

Overall +ve spillover

Coping Mechanism

Reactive compensation or supplemental compensation

Making Sense out of it all: Adapted Version of Border Theory

Limitations & Recommendations

• Limitations: number of singles in study

• Recommendations:

- Tailor WLB policies to job’s nature; provide appropriate flexi-time according to nature of the job

- Train staff on how to not carry negativities home- Revise the transfer policy- Train managers on how to create positive atmosphere in the workplace;

and on how to empathize with employees- Host wellness clubs at convenient times+ make sure to encourage

participation- Clearly define & implement the new grading scheme- Reconsider working schedule; Eliminate Saturday Shifts- Allow for job sharing; or even compressed work week