INFLUENCE OF FAMILY FRIENDLY POLICIES ON FAMILY-WORK CONFLICT AMONG HEALTH WORKERS IN NIGERIA ; A STUDY OF IBADAN NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA , OYO STATE

Family-work conflict is often a factor that has adverse consequences on organizational productivity. Employees of some work sectors like bank, health and security institutions are prone to experience family-work conflict than those in any other sector. Scholars’ attention in addressing family-work conflict is shifted to the influence of the conflict on the roles of dual work earners and value dissatisfaction with work demands. This study therefore, examined the influence of family friendly policies on family-work conflict among health workers in Ibadan North Local Government Area of Oyo State, Nigeria. Boundary theory provided the framework for this study. An ex-postfactor design was employed. Simple random techniques were used to select 384 participants for this study. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse quantitative data while qualitative data were content analysed. Results indicate that there was no significant influence of family friendly policies availability on family-work conflict among health workers t (277) = 2.16; p > . 05. Making these family friendly policies available to workers is not just enough. This study recommends that organizations should try to improve the usage of these family friendly policies by its workers. This will help to give assurance of job security on employees who invariably will help to improve their work performance and increase productivity. 1.0: Background to the Study Changes in the workplace and demography of employees have made studying the conflict between family-work more important. The impact of family on work constantly changes over time. Even though some consider family and work separate domains, in which a person’s role alternate between being a family member and being an employee, it is significant to see how the impact of family responsibility has carried over to work activities outside of the family and affects workers efficiency at work. The increase in the number of dual income earner families in the workforce poses challenges to employees in the management of their roles in the family and work domains (Kossek & Lambert 2005). When these challenges are not resolved, employees experience conflict from ISSN: 2411-5681 www.ijern. com 210 either the work or family domain (Galinsky & Bond 1998, Kossek & Ozeki 1998, Akerele, Osamwonyi & Amah 2007). Since there are continuous change in the organizations as well as individuals life, meeting all these changes is difficult for both employees and organizations. There are increasing issues for both employees and organizations as they have to reconcile these matters. These changes create familywork conflicts that have implication for both employee and organization because family-work conflict spillover creates disturbance in both domains (family and work). If family and work life of an employee is disturbed or he has conflicting roles to perform, then ultimate performance of the employee and organization is affected. This issue is of great importance for both employee and organization as a whole. Family-work conflict is primarily determined by family demands and predicts negative work outcomes (Adebola, 2005). Therefore, if an employee is experiencing high levels of family-work role conflict, his roles and responsibilities in the family interfere with his work domain. Meanwhile, because the employee is more committed to the welfare of the family, this will take priority, reducing or minimizing the time and energy he will spend in the work domain. Thus, employee who experience high family role conflict should experience less affective commitment to the organization. Family-work conflict is experienced when participation in a family activity interferes with participation in a competing work activity or when family stress has a negative effect on performance in the work role (Greenhaus & Powell, 2003). When the family values and organizational values of an employee are not severely contrasting, then there is less chances of work-life conflict. Meglino and Ravlin (1998) state that individuals were dissatisfied if they were unable to perform or behave according to their values in family and work areas as compared to other individuals who were able to behave according to their values in family and work areas. Perrewe and Hochwarter (2007) state that, contrasting values between individuals and key family members or between individuals and organizations cause conflict between family and work demands. Family work conflict resulted in job and life dissatisfaction because such conflict hindered the achievement of essential work and family values. Prosperous career at the expense of successful life away from work was not demanded by mostly employees. It is likely that house hold chores which involve taking minor decision, cooking for the family, caring for children, buying things for home, and taking to and bringing back children from school (school run) constitute a degree of conflict, pressure, demands, and can influence work related activities. This influence can give rise to stress, and stress manifestation. Family-work conflict is reported to be a major contributing factor to work stress among health care workers especially those in public and private hospitals (Allen et al 2000; Frone, 2003). Other factors such as Health related problems, poor performance, job dissatisfaction and lower psychological well-being may result when family demands interferes with work demands (Milliken & Dunn-Jensen,2005). Given that numerous aspects of the job are inherently stressful such as working over time, shift duty and so forth. Family-work conflict has been associated with a number of dysfunctional outcomes (Bacharach, Bamberger, & Conley, 1990). This has adverse effect family and occupational well-being (Kinnunen & Mauno, 1998), and job and life dissatisfaction (Netermeyer, Boles, & McMurrian, 1996). According to Allen et al. (2000), work family conflict International Journal of Education and Research Vol. 3 No. 6 June 2015 211 has work related antecedents and family related outcomes, wherein family related antecedents and work related outcomes are studied to understand family to work conflict. Conflict here refers to the subjective experience of discomfort and tension associated with people’s roles in home chores which involve the behaviour and reactions that occurs in response to the discomfort and tensions (stressors) such as expressions of anger and other intense emotions. Life stressors can affect the way people feel and behave on their roles. This study is interested in factors that influenced, the effect family or domestic activities have on workplace expectations, as stress is not only a matter of workplace but also family, and it is often difficult to separate work from non work life. It appears that factors occurring outside the workplace can have potential influence on job attitudes and behaviours. As the consequences of family-work conflict becomes increasingly apparent, organizational decision makers are turning towards making family friendly policies available to employees to reduce employee family-Work conflict. Studies have shown that making family friendly policies available to employees can help balance family-work conflict (Allen et al 2000; Frone 2003). Work environments are considered Family friendly when it help workers manage the time pressures of being working parents by having policies such as vacation time, sick leave, unpaid or personal leave, or flexible work schedules, or help workers meet their continuing family responsibilities through such programs as maternity leave, leave that can be used to care for sick children or elders, affordable health insurance, and child care or elder care programs (Marshal & Barnett, 2004). As Bourg and Segal (1999) noted, family-friendly policies can serve as a way for organizations to inform employees that family is not viewed as competition. Despite the importance of family-friendly practices in reducing the negative consequences generated by the family-work conflict, there is relatively little empirical evidence on the determinants of the availability of such practices. The common argument is that working for a firm providing such benefits does not guarantee that family-friendly policies will be available for all employees in that firm (Gray & Tudball, 2002). Budd and Brey (2003) argue that employees are not equally aware of the availability of family-friendly work practices. Gray and Tudball (2002) found that family-friendly policies are more available to managers, professionals and administrators. Family friendly policies are important issue for health institutions because of the cost related to the dissatisfaction at work. Moreover, family-work conflict has negative consequences on the physical and mental health of employees, which may lead to an increase in health care spending (Duxbury et al, 1999). Family friendly policies are a part of fringe benefits and complements offered by organizations to their employees, such as extended health care. Extended health care can contributes to the objective of ensuring a better reconciliation of family-work life because it can affect all employee family members. It contributes to improving the physical and mental health of employees and their dependents (Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC), 2000). The main point that organizations must consider policies that favour a better availability of familyfriendly practices for all employees, regardless of their occupation, work status and level of education. Firms as well as governments invest considerable resources in family-friendly work practices that attempt to reduce the negative consequences generated by the family-work conflict. It is surprising; ISSN: 2411-5681 www.ijern. com 212 therefore, that the availability of such practices is quite modest in most firms. Moreover, there is no agreement among scholars as to whether, and to what extent, the ava