The influence of work life balance on teachers stress management, a case study of selected schools in the Sekyere Central District

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to assess the influence of work-life balance on teacher’s stress management: case study of selected schools within the Sekyere Central District. The study used cross-sectional descriptive survey design. Quantitative research approach was used. The population for the study was seventy-four (74), comprising 2 head teachers and 72 teachers at selected schools. The census sampling technique was used to select all the seventy four (74) respondents for the study. Questionnaire was used to gather empirical data. The computer statistical package for social scientists (SPSS version 20) was used to process all the quantitative responses from the questionnaire. The questionnaire items were sorted, coded and fed into SPSS program to generate frequencies and percentages and data would be presented using frequency distribution tables. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse data. The study result showed that the available and implemented welfare policies at the selected schools were full time work, part time work, study leave, maternity leave, and child care arrangements. The majority of the respondents agreed that work-life balance policies in their schools help them to improve their performance. More than half of the respondents agreed that there were work-life balance policies in their schools. The effects of stress on the job performance of employees were employee absenteeism, increase in the number of errors made in the job, deteriorating relationship with co-workers, friends and family, and job dissatisfaction. The study recommended that there is the need to redesign jobs in order to eliminate the stress in the workplace by involving the employees in the decision making process of the school and encouraging more flexibility in the job. Furthermore, there is the need to encourage professional growth of employees by the means of better training, supervision, advice, support and feedback.