Examining Frontline Hotel Employees’ Perception of Work–Life Balance Practices at Five Star Hotels in Sharm El-Sheikh,Egypt

Abstract

Hotel's employees are increasingly becoming aware of issues for balancing work and life (PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, 2013). The lack of better work-life balance is one of the issues employees suffer from (Thogersen, 2005; McDonald et al., 2006). A questionnaire form was used to explore the perception of work–life balance practices among frontline employees at Sharm El-Sheikh hotels. The questionnaire form comprised seven practices as follows enough time-off from work; work place support of work–life balance; allegiance to work; flexibility of work schedule; life orientation; voluntary reduction of contracted hours to cater for personal needs; upkeep the work and career. A Mann-Whitney U test, a Kruskal-Wallis test, descriptive analysis, and multiple regression analysis were used to analyze the 320 questionnaire forms collected from five-star hotels. It has been found that older, single employees have more balance between life and job than others. The results suggested that listening to employees, appreciating their differences and needs providing them with free time and flexibility of work schedule are key factors of positive work-life balance.