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Managing Work and Family Demands: The Perspectives of Employed Parents in Ghana

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Work–Family Interface in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

This chapter presents the results of a qualitative study examining the lived experiences of employed parents juggling work and family demands in Ghana. Semi-structured interviews conducted with staff of the University of Ghana showed that majority of employed parents experienced conflict in navigating the work–family interface. Heavy job demands, inadequate remuneration, parental demands and extended family responsibilities had profound negative influences on individuals’ ability to combine work and family roles. In the absence of formal support from government and employers, majority of employed parents relied extensively on immediate and extended family relatives, house helpers and informal sources of support at the workplace in managing the dual demands of work and family roles. Comparisons are made with previous research and implications for research and organisations are discussed.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    It is estimated that about 15% of public sector workers were retrenched during the Structural Adjustment Program (Otoo et al. 2009).

  2. 2.

    This excludes overtime hours. The Act further establishes that any extra hours beyond the 40-hour statutory limit be considered as overtime, which may be paid or unpaid. The Act is, however, silent on the maximum number of overtime hours an employer can request from a worker.

  3. 3.

    About 45 % of workers in this category work average of more than 49 h a week.

  4. 4.

    Total fertility rate (TFR) declined from 6.4 children per woman in 1988 to 4.4 in 1998 and then stabilized until 2003. As of 2008 the TFR in Ghana stood at 4.0 (GSS, GHS, and ICF Macro 2009).

  5. 5.

    Two participants said they deliberately refused to take annual leave because they could not afford to forgo the addition income they would get from paid overtime work.

  6. 6.

    In addition to the statutory 12 weeks of maternity leave, the university permits nursing mothers to work half day till the child turns 1 year.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Francis Annor

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  1. Francis Annor
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  1. Human Sciences Research Council, Population Health, Health Systems and InnovationHuman Sciences Research Council of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa

    Zitha Mokomane

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Annor, F. (2014). Managing Work and Family Demands: The Perspectives of Employed Parents in Ghana. In: Mokomane, Z. (eds) Work–Family Interface in Sub-Saharan Africa. International Perspectives on Social Policy, Administration, and Practice. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01237-7_2

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