Work-Life Balance, Occupational Stress and Job Satisfaction among Secondary School Teachers in Ogun State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated the relationship between work-life balance and occupational stress and job satisfaction among secondary school teachers in Ogun State, Nigeria. A descriptive survey design was employed in conducting the research. There were 615 participants sampled from 25 randomly chosen Local Government Areas out of 5 LGAs in public secondary schools in Ogun State. A structured questionnaire was administered to the respondents to measure their work-life balance, occupational stress, and occupational job satisfaction with the use of a reliability index (Cronbachs Alpha) of 0.83 for the measurement tools. Out of 175 questionnaire forms distributed to the participants, 170 forms were successfully retrieved, which represents a retrieval rate of 97.1%. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were used (using mean and standard deviation and Pearson Product-Moment Correlation and Multiple Regression analysis) at the level of significance of 0.05. Findings of the study revealed that the teachers have moderate work-life balance (grand mean = 2.85), high occupational stress (grand mean = 3.32), and moderate job satisfaction (grand mean = 2.63). Moreover, from the analysis, it was found out that work-life balance and job satisfaction are positively correlated (r=0.62, p<0.05), and occupational stress and job satisfaction are negatively correlated (r=-0.58, p=0.05). Furthermore, the joint impact of work-life balance and occupational stress had high predictive power with respect to job satisfaction (R=0.71, R2=0.50, p<0.05), indicating that the two factors predict 50% of job satisfaction. From the findings, it was concluded that although the teachers are dedicated to their careers, their job satisfaction highly depends on their ability to balance work and life as well as how they cope with workplace stress. Recommendations for policy making are made in light of the fact that policies should be made that will improve the working conditions of the teachers, work-life balance, and occupational stress so as to improve job satisfaction.