The influence of job requirements on the personal lives of planners in the Department of Land Affairs

Abstract

Work is a central activity in human lives and we cannot afford to talk about work and exclude employees, especially on how their personal lives are being influenced by the job requirements on daily basis. The work environments are ever changing due to a number of internal and external pressures. These changes result in adjustments of job requirements which in turn influence employees’ personal lives which constitute of the emotional, physical, psychological, social and spiritual dimensions. The nature and extent of the actual influence is depended of a number of factors like employee demographics, the business process of each job, employee perceptions about the requirements of their jobs and the actual job requirements demands. The goal of this study was to explore and describe the influence of the job-requirements on the personal lives of the Planners in the Department of Land Affairs. The objectives of this study were: <ul> <li> To conceptualise theoretically the influence of job requirements on the personal lives of employees.</li> <li> To undertake an empirical study to investigate the influence of the specific job requirements on the personal lives of Planners in the Department of Land Affairs.</li> <li> To draw conclusions and make recommendations to the Department of Land Affairs on how to address the needs of Planners and to formulate guidelines to enhance the Planners’ quality of life.</li> </ul> In the context of quantitative research, the researcher utilised applied research since this study was designed to offer practical solutions to problems experienced by the Department of Land Affairs on improving quality of life for Planners thus enhancing productivity. Group administered questionnaires were utilised as a data collection method and it was pilot tested with three employees at the National Office of the Department of Land Affairs who did not form part of the actual study. The population of the study was 51 and all of them completed the questionnaire. The results of the study showed that employees who were employed as Planners by the Department of Land Affairs at the Mpumalanga Regional Land Claims Commission, were exposed to job requirements which to a larger extent had a negative influence on certain dimensions of their personal lives. The goal of the study was achieved in that the researcher did not only manage to explore and describe the influence of the job requirements on the personal lives of the Planners in the Department of Land Affairs but also managed to give recommendations to the Department of Land Affairs on how to enhance quality of life of Planners. Copyright