A SURVEY OF WORK-LIFE BALANCE PRACTICES ADOPTED IN THE HORTICULTURAL INDUSTRY IN KENYA

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CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study WLB, from an employee perspective, is the maintenance of a balance between responsibilities at work and at home. Employees view the benefits or working conditions that they provide to help employees balance the family and work domains as work life benefits (Russell & Bowman, 2000). WLB strategies in an organizational setting include policies covering flexible work arrangements, child and dependant care, and family and parental leave (Bardoel et al., 1998). Benefits of WLB for Employees include increased employee control over time and place of work (Thomas & Ganster, 1995) and reduced work-family conflict (Kossek & Ozeki, 1998) and stress (Thompson & Prottas, 2006). Despite the strong support for WLBPs, cautionary examples suggest these benefits are not universal and some policies that appear to be family-friendly may in fact be detrimental to the working conditions of employees. For example, telecommuting and flexible work schedules are arrangements that may allow or encourage employees to work more (Glass & Fujimoto, 1995). On the other hand, benefits of WLBs for organisations include reduced absenteeism (Dex & Scheibl, 1999), increased productivity (Sands & Harper, 2007), improved recruitment and retention rates (Allen, 2001). There is also evidence which suggests that employers who support a work-life balance ethos and offer flexible working arrangements are likely to have a competitive advantage in the labour market; in particular in relation to the new generation of employees. Several barriers have been identified as creating major difficulties for the development and implementation of WLB strategies. Barriers may be defined as obstacles or hindrances to the implementation and on-going effectiveness of WLB strategies. The extant literature has identified such barriers as including: an organizational culture which emphasizes and rewards long hours and high organizational commitment (to the neglect of other life commitments); an isolated, hostile and unsupportive working environment for employees with life commitments external to the organization; attitudes and resistance of supervisors and middle management; preference of senior management

involved in recruiting to dealing with people perceived as similar to themselves (homosociability); and lack of communication and education about WLB strategies. Work-life balance policies can be made up the following policies and working practices: Policies allowing flexible and innovative working practices, for example, flexi-time, annualised hours, staggered hours, job sharing, working from home, term-time hours, compressed hours and part-time working; Leave provision, for example, special leave for emergencies; Employee support services, for example, employee counselling service or crche facilities; Employee training and development, for example, objectives and appraisals to take into account work-life balance (Bharat, 2003). 1.1.1 Work Life Balance The concepts of work and leisure are the key factors in discussion of work-life balance (WLB) issue. As boundaries between work and leisure have partly blurred during the last years, it has become more difficult to make a clear division between these two concepts. For example the Internet has made it possible to work at home or on the contrary to use it for leisure purposes at work. This means that work or leisure is no longer tied up with certain location. In many cases the level of motivation, intentions or feelings of satisfaction of an individual defines whether the activity is seen as work or leisure. (Lewis, 2003) Work can be paid or unpaid and it is often connected to obligate time. Leisure is defined as the exact opposite of work. It is non-obligate time, during which persons are free to make decisions about how to spend their spare time. (Lewis, 2003) However, there is also a third factor, which has drawn up the discussion. It is called caring work and it is mainly related to women. (Perrons, 2000) Women with family connections have often less free time than men with family ties as women need to take care of obligations in terms of children and household in general. Other definitions focus on psychological meanings and perspectives, for example, leisure activities are often defined in terms of state of mind, enjoyment and opportunities for self-expression (Lewis, 2003, p. 345). It is generally believed that more positive experiences are felt during the leisure time than work. Studies, which have been made concerning well-being and enjoyment, though give other results. They have shown that well-being and feelings of enjoyment are related to employment. (Lewis, 2003) The above text suggests that the issue of work and

leisure can be approached from many perspectives - the direction of the issue depends on the core words such as work, leisure, caring work, or psychological issues, which have been seen as central at the time.
1.1.2 Work

Life Balance Practices

An organizations need to attract and retain valued employees in a highly competitive labour market is a strong motivating factor for increased organizational awareness and action with regard to human resource policies and practices that address work/life balance (Russell & Bowman, 2000). The most common approach is to view work-life balance practices through a business case lens: that is, by offering these practices, organizations attract new members and reduce levels of work-life conflict among existing ones, and this improved recruitment and reduced work-life conflict enhance organizational effectiveness. While there is no one accepted definition of what constitutes a work-life balance practice, the term usually refers to one of the following: organizational support for dependent care, flexible work options, and family or personal leave (Estes & Michael, 2005). Hence these practices include flexible work hours (e.g., flextime, which permits workers to vary their start and finish times provided a certain number of hours is worked; compressed work week, in which employees work a full weeks worth of hours in four days and take the fifth off), working from home (telework), sharing a full-time job between two employees (job sharing), family leave programs (e.g., parental leave, adoption leave, compassionate leave), on-site childcare, and financial and/or informational assistance with childcare and eldercare services. 1.1.3 Kenyan Horticultural Industry The horticulture sub-sector has continued to retain its position as the fastest growing industry in the Agricultural sector. It employs directly and indirectly about 4 million people and smallholder farmers contribute over 60% of the production. In the year 2008, the industry generated Kshs 73.7 billion in foreign exchange from exported commodities and over Kshs 65 billion domestically (HCDA).

The total horticultural production is close to 3 million tones making Kenya one of the major producers and exporters of horticultural products in the world. The main horticultural enterprises in Kenya include flowers, vegetables, fruits, nuts and medicinal and aromatic plants. The export of horticulture produce is skewed towards flowers. Europe is the main market for Kenyan fresh horticultural produce with the main importing countries being United Kingdom, Germany, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland and Italy. Other importing countries include Saudi Arabia and South Africa. A well-developed and dynamic private sector has profitably marketed a wide range of horticultural products to diverse international markets. Government intervention in this area has been minimal, mainly facilitating the sectoral growth through infrastructure development, incentives and support services. Structural and macroeconomic reforms, plus the introduction of more liberal trading environment has also provided a major boost to the countrys horticultural prospects. Horticulture is an important subsector of Kenyan agriculture, the mainstay of the countrys economy, in achieving food security, income and employment generation, foreign exchange earnings, raw material for agro-processing, and poverty alleviation. The subsector directly and indirectly employs over six million Kenyans. 1.2 Research Problem Though, work-life balance as a concept has got considerable attention and as a campaign has been practiced by various organizations as a matter of policy and strategy, still it is not clear what constitutes work-life balance practices. Some organizations provide a bundle of policies and programmes such as alternative work arrangements, leave policies, child-care centers while some provide services such as gymnasiums and recreation facilities at work in the name of work-life balance practices. It is not clear if the policies and practices are similar across organizations. Kenya boasts the oldest and most successful horticultural industry in Africa. The sector is among the fastest growing in the Kenyan economy, outpacing Kenya's traditional hard currency earners - coffee and tourism - and bringing new employment opportunities for the unemployed. Women in particular have benefited from these opportunities, and now comprise between 65-75 percent of workers employed in the industry. Over the last few years, however, the industry has been beset by allegations of poor labour practices and environmentally damaging production processes. For instance, in 2003, the Kenya

National Human Rights Commission accused the industry of exploitative labor policies with respect to working conditions, workers' welfare and sexual harassment. Women, in particular, face difficult working conditions due to their predominance in the most labour intensive aspects of production, where long working hours and insecure employment are common. In Kenya, a study done by Dolan C, Opondo M, Smith S (2003) titled Gender, Rights & Participation in the Kenya Cut Flower Industry, concluded that there existed many challenges in employment conditions for workers in this industry. Gakenia (2008) did a study on Work-Life Balance Coping Strategies for Working Students: A Case Study of Working Students at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa. Muindi (2009) did a study on the determinants of Worklife Balance in the Public Sector. A Case Study of Ngong District Hospital while Otieno (2010) did a study on the infuence of worklife balance on job satisfaction and commitment of women employees of the commercial banks in Kisumu city, Kenya. However, none of these studies addressed work-life balance practices in the horticultural sector. This creates a gap which the current study seeks to address by investigating work-life-balance practices adoption in the Kenyan horticultural industry. 1.3 Objective of the study The objective of this study will be to investigate work-life-balance practices adoption in the Kenyan horticultural industry. 1.4 Value of the Study This study will make a contribution to contemporary debates on work-life balance practices and inform a future research agenda in three ways: first, by providing a synopsis of work-life balance practices, the work-life balance practices literature and its antecedents. The study will contribute to the body of knowledge in two ways: it will focus on the investigation of detailed aspects of work-life balance practices and its contributions to employment conditions, and secondly it is a quantitative study that questions a number of employees about work-life balance practices adoption in their work places. The use of quantitative methodology will enable the drawing of conclusions about the extent of

work-life balance practices adoption. This study will also make a contribution to theories related to work-life balance practices including the boundary theory, social exchange theory and gender role theory.