Emotional Intelligence: A Key to Maintain Balance between Work-Life and Job-Satisfaction

Abstract

An equilibrium state is a pivotal and major aspect of a human being's life. It is effortful to maintain balance in all walks of life including work, family and self.  This desire to attain balance made an individual more competitive and ‘fittest for survival’ on the job as well as in family life. All the regulators and ethical practicing organizations sternly emphasize maintaining the balance between work and life. In this research, we aimed to investigate the link between “work-life balance (WLB) and job satisfaction (JS)” in the employees of various banks. The study further aimed to investigate the mediational role of emotional intelligence (EI) with the other two variables; WLB and JS. Three different reliable and valid measures: Work-life Balance (Fields, 2002), Minnesota Job Satisfaction Questionnaire (Spector, 1997), and Emotional Intelligence (Boyatzis, Goleman, & Rhee 2000) were used for data collection. The sample was recruited across Pakistan and consisted of  N=198 employees from various banks (Quetta: n=32, Islamabad: n=34, Karachi: n=32, Lahore: n=34, Sahiwal:n=31, and Peshawar: n=35). The sample's age varies from 28 to 58 years with working experience of five years or above in the banking industry. Data analysis revealed a substantial relationship between the balance in work and life, satisfaction with the job, emotional intelligence, and well-being. Results highlighted that both WLB and EI are positive predictors of employee job satisfaction. EI significantly mediates the relationship between WLB and JS. Our findings concluded that employees in banks would be encouraged to develop/enhance their EI. This enhancement in EI would not only influence the WLB but also elevates job satisfaction. Thus, the outcome would be more productivity, relaxed and satisfied employees.