To Investigate How Annual Leave Affects the Work-Life Balance of Cameroonian Banking Industry
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47941/hrlj.4066Keywords:
Employment Stability, Occupational Commitment, Professional Time Management, Recovery Periods, Workplace StructureAbstract
Purpose: This paper investigates how annual leave affects the work-life balance of female employees in the Cameroonian banking industry.
Methodology: Drawing on the Conservation of Resources Theory, the study employed a quantitative, cross-sectional survey design with a sample of 125 female employees from commercial banks in Bamenda. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, pairwise correlations, and robust linear regression.
Findings: The findings reveal that annual leave has a substantial positive relationship with work-life balance, with a coefficient of 0.578 at a significance level of p < 0.001, indicating that annual leave is the most powerful coping strategy examined in this study. The model explains 55 percent of the variance in work-life balance, representing a substantial improvement over models for other coping strategies.
Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The study concludes that extended periods away from work represent critical opportunities for resource replenishment and protection, enabling female employees to reverse cumulative resource depletion and maintain the psychological and physical resources necessary for managing both work and family responsibilities effectively. Recommendations include ensuring that female employees fully utilise their annual leave entitlements, implementing policies that prevent work from encroaching on leave periods, offering additional leave days or flexible leave scheduling, providing training on maximising the benefits of annual leave through psychological detachment, and creating a culture that values employee wellbeing and recognises the importance of recovery for sustained productivity and performance.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Mbuye Chantal Chofi, Njomo Louis Mosake, Etoh Anzah Peter
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