Work-life balance, employee job performance and satisfaction among doctors and nurses in Malaysia

In this era, the concepts of human resource management (HRM) practices have evolved to the implementation of work-life balance (WLB) practices, such as: flexible working hours and supportive supervision. WLB practices have shown a great influence on employee attraction, retention, motivation and development. This study examines the relationship between WLB practices on employee job performance as well as the mediating effect of job satisfaction in the relationship among doctors and nurses in East Malaysia. The study surveys 491 doctors and nurses in the East Malaysia states of Sabah and Sarawak in 2016-2017. Four hypotheses were tested with validated measures of WLB practices (flexible working hours and supportive supervision), job satisfaction and job performance. Findings revealed that flexible working hours and supportive supervision has a significant and positive impact to job performance. Job satisfaction also positively mediates the relationship between flexible working hours and supportive supervision towards job performance. This study confirms the importance of job satisfaction in influencing employees’ job performance. An effective WLB practices will improve employees’ job satisfaction which eventually increase their job performance and productivity. This study’s findings aim to assist the Malaysian healthcare industry in improving doctors’ and nurses’ attraction, retention and motivation.