Work-life balance within the institute of management and entrepreneurship (IME) in Douala, Cameroon

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the intricacies and pertinence of Work-Life Balance (WLB), with the aim of enhancing IME's striving for success and sustainability, higher productivity and employee retention (especially young and vibrant employees being talent) and so improving competitiveness that has worsened as the result of the high attrition rate for both administrative staff of 30% and academic staff of 40% for the academic year 2014/2015. The success and the sustainability of any organisation mainly depend on its competitiveness, which itself is a function of the stability and well-being of its people and their talents (Schwab 2012; Collings & Mellahi 2009). Organisational wealth is closely tied to personal health and skills, which are at the centre of talent development. The competiveness is a function of a stable work force that is the result of employee retention, yet IME has recorded an unprecedented 33% administrative staff turnover, 40% academic staff during the academic year 2014/2015. This case study has used a mixed method research, by means of five sections of questionnaires of which the first four sections were close-ended question and the fifth section was two open-ended questions. The study found that up 95.8% of respondents believe time balance would make them more productive. Also the teaching staff members were not open to the outlined hindrances to time balance. Most of them indicated "No" or "Not applicable" to things like long working hours, compulsory over-time, or week-end work.Among the many discussions in this area is the issue of fair wages - since this seems to steadily fuel multiple avenues of ethical neglect, while itself being a possible expression of such neglect. It might prove instructive to make a more profound investigation of the philosophy of fair wage. The study provides empirical evidence to both support and occasions the practicability of the human resource-based theory of competitive advantage, by showing that WLB initiatives can greatly impact on IME's striving for a sustainable competitive advantage. For this reason, the role and impact of WLB initiatives need to receive more attention in the strategic planning of organizations. Another important contribution of this research is that it attempts a comprehensive study of the three major components of WLB - time, involvement and satisfaction balance - and their relationship with demographic variables in view of sustainable competitive advantage through outstanding employee retention and productivity