Relationship between Worklife Balance and Employee Turnover in Private Security Companies, Kisumu County, Kenya

Abstract

Private security services play a significant role in protection of property all over the world hence there is need to improve on their job satisfaction. Rigidity of working time accompanied by unclear work schedule has always remained a recipe for negative work life balance (WLB). This has resulted in high employee turnover in the industry, with some countries like Kenya facing an average annual turnover of 113%. This study analysed the relationship between WLB and employee turnover in private security companies in Kisumu County, Kenya. Specific objectives were to determine the level of employee turnover, determine the state of WLB, and to establish the relationship between employee turnover and WLB. Hertzberg Two Factor Theory was adopted to guide the study. Correlational design was adopted on a target population of 12,079 security guards, and a sample size of 387 respondents was obtained through proportional stratified sampling. Questionnaire and interview schedule were used to collect data. Findings showed that respondents agreed that WLB was poor (M=4.20; SD=1.036) and employee turnover was high (M=4.03; SD= M=4.20) where WLB (β=0.32; p=0.01) is a significant predictor of turnover. It is concluded that WLB practices in the industry have had minimal impact in reducing turnover. It is recommended that the management of security firms should adopt practices such as additional work-shifts to reduce long working hours faced by the guards so as to enable them fulfill their social needs. Similarly, job satisfaction surveys should continuously be conducted among the guards to unearth working conditions which might lead to employee turnover intentions. The limitation of this study was that it relied on data obtained specifically from the private security guards hence there is need to move to other security providers and reveal how WLB relates with employee turnover in their contexts. This might help in generalizing the relationship between WLB and employee turnover in the security services provision sector.