Work Life Balance and Performance of the National Police Service Officers in Kwale, County Kenya

Organizations have recognized the importance of Work-life balance as a means of employee performance and for this reason, institutions have various programs in place to ensure that the employee attend to both work and social life effectively. The National Police Service has put in place various programs to enhance work-life balance but there was a dearth of empirical knowledge on their effect work performance of police officers. The main intention of the research was therefore, to assess the effects of work life balance on the performance of National Police Service officer in Kwale County, Kenya. This research was anchored on Work-Family Border Theory and used descriptive survey research design to establish the effect of the work life balance on the performance of police officers. The target population under study was 748 police officers in Kwale County. The study adopted multi-stage sampling involving clustering sub divisions, stratifying as per rank and proportionate random sampling to select 261 officers for the study. The sample size was calculated using Yamane (1967) sampling formula that generated a sample size of 261 officers who filled in the questionnaires. The main data for this research was collected using structured questionnaires both open and close ended. To analyze data, the study employed both descriptive and inferential statistics (mainly regression) using SPSS version 20 for windows. The findings of the study revealed that the work life balance has influence on work performance in the National Police Service (NPS) in Kwale (R 2 0.767). Based on this finding the study recommends that top leadership of the National Police Service should embrace sound work-life balance practices and give prominence to work-life balance strategies such as leave; to enhance performance, in the National Police Service. Further, that policy maker to develop training policies aimed at equipping officers with relevant self-management skills and knowledge to enhance self-management for effective work performance.


Background to the Study
In a world filled with an increase in family commitments, higher expectations at work and other equally relevant challenges, the balance between these activities and work requirements has become a major challenge at the places of work. As a result, many organizations have put in place measures that reduce this pressure by enabling programs which cater for the work-life balance requirements of their workforce (Chawla & Sondhi, 2011). This is seen as being essential for the employees given that they provide forums through which employees reenergize themselves enabling them to handle both their social welfare and professional aspects in a way that will increase their job satisfaction, boost their performance and also improve their family health. Ampah (2013) asserts that work-family balance is very vital for employees because it helps them to plan and maintain a cordial relationship with their fellow employees and their superiors. Guest (2002), on the other hand, observed that work-life balance enables workers to manage family responsibility and both paid jobs such as ambitions and career. Consequently, efficient management of these two depends on the strategies employed by both employers and their employees.
Globally, there is a change on the previous outlook of the Police Service from that of crime busters to community policing. The change on outlook of police from the previous approach of crime fighting to a model of community participation has also brought a change when defining policing. The change is from a "Police Force" to a current one of "Police Service" (Chris, 2014). According to Kleyn & Jackson (2004), an efficient and effective police service has two major advantages: First it provides security and maintains social order, which in turn improves the economy by encouraging investors. Secondly it allows prevalence of the rule of law; otherwise the society would lack both order and a good, crucial environment for economic progress. Thus, the deployment of police to or in given area is largely based on the nature of crimes occurring in a given area and the number of people within the area the area, so that peace in a region is preserved, crime is detected, prevented, investigated and criminal offenders apprehended (Chris, 2014).
Consequently, the performance, health and motivation of the police officers are considered as major factors for ensuring the country's stability, economic growth and development. However, policing has been described as the most stress filled occupation (Chris, 2014). This is due to factors such as excessive paperwork involved, violence, military nature of policing itself and dealing with a bureaucratic organizational structure that officers had to endure in the course of their duty. In addition, these factors have a profound effect on the interaction between the private life and work of officers since they could affect the officer's ability to work and also meet their family expectations. Hence, today's ever demanding work environment requires that institutions including the police service continuously pay attention on implementing several human resource practices and strategies such as regular training, performance appraisal, and career development to enhance employee's job performance. Improving the balance of work-life demands can be considered as amongst the key high performance human resource practice which highly Contributes to improving the employees' work performance (Hydeet al., 2013). This has been attributed to the fact that on average, the time employees spend at their place of work has increased drastically, thus causing a rippling effect of an imbalance between family and work responsibilities which also has had serious implications on employee's work performance. For example, an overworked employee is unable to perform family tasks such as paying attention to the children's homework or even attending to a sick child or time for family bonding. This may create animosity in the family leading to stress on the officers that will spill over to the work place. According to Daniel (2020) stress leads to reduced employees' efficiency. On the other hand, a family troubled worker may be unable to perform on various tasks that they are accorded. Accordingly, stress emanating from the family denies workers a family support that is so valuable in moderating the work stressor-strain relationships exposing the employees to mental and emotional fatigues (Hossen, Sultana and Begum, 2018). From stress theory, Cox (1988) observed that spill to working environment may lead to poor output.
Balancing between work-life as stated above is a crucial strategy in reducing work-based stresses and arising health issues that are usually induced by the work styles. This would enable more job satisfaction by employee and improved work performance while dealing with other family responsibilities. Scholars such as Townsend &Wharton (2013) have argued that providing work-life balance policies e.g. annual leave, sick leave, compassionate leave, and stress management to employees greatly benefit in employees' work satisfaction, loyalty at work and their engagement. Furthermore, they affirm that these strategies also contribute to reduced absenteeism and turnover of employees.
Leave programs such as annual, sick leave, and compassionate leave programs are designed to allow employees to take time off from work so that they could have regular breaks and rest as they attend to family matters and in turn re-energize. According to Ioan et al., (2010), employees who take regular holidays perform more effectively because they are more motivated about their work performance than those who do not take leaves. Even though several studies have been reported on the effects of work-life balance on the performance of employees within various organizations, little is still known from such reports on the impacts of balancing the work-life on the NPS officers' performance. Consequently, this study assessed, identified and examined the numerous scenarios in which work-life balance could affect the police officers' performance within the NPS by use of a wide range of studies; the empirical support available for the linkage between work-life balance practices and employee performance at both individual and organizational levels of analysis. Therefore, this study seeks to examine the effects of work-life balance on the employees' performance with reference to the NPS.

Statement of the Problem
Usually a poorly planned work-life balance program is an encountered problem at organizations which affects the organization's performance and the employees' wellbeing. Many a times, it is a challenge to workers on finding a mutual balance between responsibilities at the work place and their social life. Conversely, as many institutions have chosen to offer their workers with work-life balance practices so that the implications which may hamper the employees work performance are reduced. The NPS have put in place several strategies such as leave programs to help achieve sound work-life balance for their officers. Although such strategies exist in policy, there is insufficient empirical knowledge on how they benefit the employees and how this influences the work performance of the officers.

General objective of the Study
To assess the effects of work-life balance on the performance of the NPS officers' in Kwale County, Kenya and highlight the gaps therein.

Specific Objectives
To assess the effects of leave on performance of NPS officers' in Kwale County, Kenya.

Research Questions
How does leave affect NPS officers' performance in Kwale County?

Justification and Significance of the Study
Work-life balance contributes in the development of a very determined workforce in an institution which leads to improved work performance by reducing the turnover rate. The National Police Service (NPS) has developed several programs that enhance work-life balance. However, the programs are only valid if indeed they moderate the lives of the officers to influence the performance. Understanding the effect of the programs in place on performance of the police officers was thus found to be important. Therefore the study was justified as it sought to evaluate the effectiveness of the leave programs in place to create the desired balance to influence work performance.
The study will benefit any organization by ensuring a full understanding of the importance of a mutual balance between work and family demands; and their impacts on the employees' wellbeing and at organizational performance. The report of this study could be of value to the NPS' Human Resource Department, which was to ascertain the effects of balance of work-life on the performance of its officers. The findings will also be useful to the NPS since it will be significant in policy formulation.
The outcome of this study will also aid in creating awareness among the NPS officers and their families to understand matters of work-life balance and how it affects them either positively or negatively. This will assist the NPS to improve or maintain its work-life balance policies and programs and to pay even more attention to the personal and family life of its officers.
To the policy makers, government agencies and other organizations, this study will avail useful knowledge in formulating policies and regulatory frameworks on human capital management and particularly work life balance practices for better organizational performance and individual officers' wellbeing. Through that the NPS could build up and introduce new policies and strategies in order to eliminate the issue(s) faced by the officers. To other researchers, it will make contributions to modern-day debates on work-life balance and answer the 'why' which forms the basis for explanatory research in the future. Theories and knowledge regarding work-life balance may be built based on the knowledge acquired from this study.
1.6 Literature Review 1.6.1 The theoretical Review These are theories and models that govern Human Resource Management as stated by different theorist and researchers. 1.6.1.1 Work-Family Border Theory This research was guided by the theory of work-family border as stated by Clark (2000). He observed that long working hours always deprive individuals of their family time. This theory will provide guidance in understanding the importance of how individuals can deal with work and balance the work-family activities. The idea of family and work constituting different areas of which they influence one another is central to the model. In a nutshell, this theory illustrates that an individual's activity is carried in a specific domain and the activities involved are separated by a border that may occur in a given place i.e. physical location of work, time (set working time or hours and competing time requirement across work) or psychological border i.e. human emotions, for example worrying about family state while at workplace. Further, it explains border crossing between domains of life with emphasis on the activities of work and home. This therefore suggests a working balance between work requirements and personal activities for example health, family life and social life amongst others. Thus, this theory helps to explain the importance of each domain, the need to balance activities and further cautions against imbalance that could possibly result into work-family conflicts.
This conflict is brought about by irreconcilable demands that arise from the family and work places of an individual; these situations usually make participation in both demands at the same time difficult. However, this conflict can be crucial for individuals and the organization since it has negative consequences. For example, work and family conflict is tied to increased occupational burnout and job stress on one hand and can lead to broken families and child neglect (Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985). It further explains that these changes will influence the ease of transitions. This suggests that this role-conflict usually occur when personal experiences and the commitments at work causes friction with family life demands e.g. inflexible hours of work, an unsupportive supervisor and other forms of job stress such as unexpected meetings may prevent for example officers from picking their children from school. However, work to family conflict would occur when commitments in the family interferes with work e.g. unsupportive family members and presence of young children who might require more attention. For example, an officer may need off the duty time to take care of their unwell child. Therefore, work-family conflict's main assumption is that the expectations and demands of family will often conflict with those of work; hence, inter role conflict will occur when a person's responsibility at work and in the family becomes incompatible with one another (Hossen et al 2018). Work-family conflict emanates from critical work-family or personal life experiences. This implies that since numerous demands of work and home roles could be difficult to interchange, the work personnel's can still try to shape the nature of their home and work environment to help bridge between them so as to create the necessary balance.
This theory has therefore added more knowledge about the work-life balance and family responsibilities. It has proved why we need to promote preventive care of officers so that they will be healthy; and this will help them improve not only family and work but also other spheres of their personal life drastically. 1.6.2 Empirical Review 1.6.2.1 Leave A normal day in an officer's life involves rising up early in the morning, rushing to work and sometimes working for long stressful hours. Occasionally individuals may also carry the work to home in the evening. What this implies is that his or her family time is probably limited to the weekends and public holidays. Breaking from this routine by staying with family will boost the officer's personal life and mental health. We may not realize how stressing and harmful work-life can be without regular breaks. Therefore, taking a break or proceeding on leave is vital for a healthy and productive life. According to Naithani (2010), annual leave is the time a worker is exempted from their workstation without consequences.
Many organizations pay for this time off and their work personnel are allowed to request for the break time to be off work for any reason they wish. This enables employees to minimize work stress and get a break from their job to have time to attend to family activities. Furthermore, regular breaks help to motivate employees and make them perform more effectively; this is because they are less likely to be involved in accidents at work and are less likely be stressed because they had an opportunity to rest, which means they might take less sick leave.
This type of work-life balance is beneficial as it helps workers to have personal time off work, which creates a balance between personal life and work. According to Kihagi (2016), the Kenya Employment Act recommends statutory leaves for example a 3-month maternity leave and a 21-day annual leave. In the National Police Service, officers are provided with annual leave provisions. This is important as it allows an officer to relax, and deal with personal challenges that would have affected their performance at work. This time off helps officers to minimize work related stress and also freshen up. This is because work can be very stressing and taking time off can prevent additional stress. Failure to take time off can eventually lead to more harmful conditions like depression, anxiety and burnout; all these will significantly affect the wellbeing and work performance of any employee in due course of time. However, despite the fact that such strategies had been documented and their anticipated benefits to the employees contemplated, there is still unsatisfactory empirical knowledge on how these policies affect the work performance of NPS officers. Therefore, the current study intends to find out how leave affects the work output of NPS officers.
Another work life balance opportunity is sick leave (Beauregard and Henry, 2009). Many a times, pressure from work creates stress and other related conditions that can make employees sick. This therefore, suggests that employees do succumb to natural sicknesses and work related pressures. Obviously the ensuing discomfort in the employees eventually interferes with their ability to focus and give full attention to the assigned work. As such, these problems most often suck the necessary energy, mental power, ability of the employee to focus and to perform at their best (Kinget al., 2012); this therefore suggests the need for providing officers with sick leave to improve their ability to recover and focus on work thus increasing their work performance.
Similarly, scholars assert that employers who provide paid sick leave get better work output from their employees as opposed to those who do not (Casper et al., 2011). The study further suggests that employees won't request for sick leave if they know they can't get it. This will result in the employees working at their minimum due to the lack of balance between their physical and mental conditions.
Studies have shown that leave provision as a component practice of balancing work-life if adopted within an organizations will assist employees to ease work family-conflict and stress. Despite these diverse trends of sick leave on employees, the cumulative influence of sick leave on police officers work performance remains unclear. And that is what the current study aims to find out how programs such as leave would impact on the work output of officers

Research Methodology
Descriptive Survey method was adapted in this study where qualitative and quantitative data was collected. Descriptive survey design is recommended should the study intend to describe and portray the outlook of a group of people, an event, a situation, a community or a population. This study was conducted in Kwale County which is in the Kenyan Coast. Kwale County is in the southern part of the Kenyan Coast and consists of Matuga, Msambweni, Lungalunga and Kinango Sub-Counties. It has its headquarters at Kwale town, although Diani is the largest and the fastest growing shopping and tourist destination of the county. The unit of analysis was the NPS officers from Kwale County. The population under study was all the officers under the NPS in Kwale County. The study targeted 748 officers within Kwale County. The NPS consists of a larger number of police officers performing different functions who understand the undertakings of the service hence the research Public Policy and Administration Research www.iiste.org ISSN 2224-5731(Paper) ISSN 2225-0972(Online) Vol.11, No.5, 2021 became more accurate.
This study adopted a multi-stage sampling involving clustering, subdivision, stratifying as per the rank and proportional random sampling to select 261 officers for the study. This includes Gazetted Officers (Commissioner, Senior Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent), members of Inspectorate (Chief Inspector and Inspector) and Junior Officers (Senior Sergeant, Sergeant, Corporal and Constable). The sample size was calculated using Yamane (1967) sampling formula as quoted by Kimotho (2018), generating a sample of 261 officers that were requested to fill the questionnaires.
All the 261 national police officers in Kwale County were targeted including senior officers and their junior ranks depending on the proportion to the total sample size using formula that was coined from Yamane (1967) formula to arrive at each stratum and sub county contribution to the sample size.
The main data for this research was collected using both open ended and close ended questionnaires. The questionnaire quizzes were mainly close ended and divided into three (3) sections. Section A contained mainly organizational data and demographic data, while Section B contained Likertscale questions in which respondents indicated their agreement level using words that expresses favorable or unfavorable attitudes towards the concept being measured.
Data analysis involved interpreting information gathered from respondents as soon as the questionnaires were received. Only duly filled questionnaires were used. The research used both descriptive (percentages, mean and other measures of dispersion) and inferential statistics (simple linear regression analysis) techniques to analyze the collected data. Descriptive statistics uses frequency, mean and standard deviation to check the measure of central tendency for each of the variables and also the measure of dispersion for each variable. The quantitative data was analyzed through descriptive statistics techniques like frequency distribution tables, percentages, means and standard deviations.
The study also performed a regression analysis to assess the relation between the independent variable (leave,), and the dependent variable (performance of the employee). The simple linear regression model was in the form , where Y is a measure of performance, X1, is the measure of independent variable. In the model, β0 was constant and βi's was the coefficient of each of the independent variables. Finally, ε was considered to be the error term for the model.

Findings and Discussions 1.8.1 Response Rate
This is the ratio of the number of people who reacted to the survey to the number of people in the sample (IaR, 2011). In this research, a sample size of 261 respondents was targeted for the study and out of the 261 administered questionnaires, 200 of them were filled and returned. The result of response rate is shown in the table 1 below.  (2003) shows that a 50% response index is adequate for analysis and reporting; a 60% response rate is good and a 70% and above response rate is very good. Therefore, this percentage response index of 76.6 % was considered high and thus appropriate for the study and adequate in providing data that would address the concerns of this study.

Demographic Information
The study sought to explore the demographic features of the participants. This was important because demographic characteristic of individuals had been shown to influence the way people spend their time and the activities they engage in, which means that they could influence work-life balance. The main factors of the respondents such as the gender, education level, age and the period worked in the organisation were studied. To explore those factors, a descriptive analysis was undertaken.  (2020) The results show that 59 (29.5%) females officers responded while 141(70.5%) were male. This implies that there are less female than their male counterparts in the police service in the county. This is due to the hard, tiresome and strenuous work that police officers undergo which is in most cases better done by men, hence a relatively small number (29.5%) of women in the police in Kwale County, way below the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Security and Peace (2000) (2020) From the findings, 20% of the officers were less than 29 years of age, 37.5% were between the ages of 30-40 years, and 33.5% were between the ages of 41-50 years while 9% were above 50 years of age. According to the findings, majority of police officers in Kwale fall between the 25 and 40 years age bracket. This data implies that most officers are young and able to perform their duties in the police service, such as dealing with criminals, drug trafficking and terrorist threats (Chris 2014).
This implies that the police work force is a mixture of all age groups and thus the respondents had qualified and had the knowledge needed to provide consistent information about the study. As shown, many respondents, 157(78.5%), were married and living as a family while 38(19%) are still single. This is an indication that many of the officers in NPS in Kwale County are married, according to the African culture where people are expected to marry for the continuity of family (Tembur, 2017). This relation between work life balance and marital status is vital. It is suggested that married people prioritize their private lives (Martin and Veiga, 2002) and this can impact on performance.

Current Rank
The respondents indicated their current rank. Their data is shown in the table below.
Public Policy and Administration Research www.iiste.org ISSN 2224-5731(Paper) ISSN 2225-0972(Online) Vol.11, No.5, 2021 (2020) From the collected data the majority, 164 (82%) range from senior sergeant to police constable, 28 (14%) of them range from inspector to chief inspector while 8 (4%) of them range from senior superintendent of police to assistant superintendent of police. This range from senior sergeant to police constables (82%) comprises of officers who perform most of the police work. This is because the majority of the work is performed by the officers at the lower cadre thus the reason why they are the majority, (Nyamoko 2001). The study shows that many officers, (57.5%), had served for above 10 years, 17.5% had served for 6 to 10 years while 25.0% had served for below 5 years. Most of the officers serving above six years were at least serving in their second or third deployment stations, according to the NPS transfer regulations 2015. This shows that many of them had worked for long and in various police stations and therefore had a lot of working experience needed for the study.

Presentation of Findings from the Main Objective of the Study
Having presented the findings of demographic characteristics of participants, this sub chapter presents results from the study findings. The research intends to assess the effect of work-life balance on the work output of NPS security personnel within Kwale. 1.8.3.1 Leave and Performance Leave refers to vacation or time paid for while an individual is off duty. It is one way that most organizations use to enable employees free themselves from stress of work hence be able to balance their family activities and work. Many organizations have put in place different leave policies. Firstly, the research was undertaken to establish the influence of leave on work output of NPS officers in Kwale County, Kenya. The finding are shown in table 8 below  Vol.11, No.5, 2021 of 0.422, that paid leave helped to improve their morale at 4.37 with a standard deviation of 0.464, paid compassionate leave at 4.37 standard deviation of 0.547, that lack of family engagement negatively contributed to work performance at 4.57 standard deviation of 0.502, and that leave affects work at 4.49 with SD of 0.612. From the aggregate, it is evidenced the officers consented that they are granted permission or a leave that is usually paid for them to attend personal and some family matters as shown by the mean of 4.53. This has the implication that the officers value leave. From the data it is clear that the leave offers different benefits and that poor management of leave could affect work. In addition the officers recognize the value of the family and feel that failure to engage in their family issues may negatively affect their work. This is in consistent with similar report by Hossen et al (2018) who reported that family was an important support structure for employees has a significant in moderating stress to allow good performance. Implicitly, both work and family are important entities that the officers have to contend with.
As Karlson (2013) observes that working in pressure filled situations may contribute to increased stress levels and insomnia among employees. In order to counter this situation in a work place it is advisable for the employees to take a break off from their daily routine duties and engage in other social activities to replenish and refresh the minds. As a consequence, the paid leave offered by National Police Service helps them improve their concentration and composure at the work place and continue to perform even better.
The officers also agreed that they are more determined to work because the NPS allows them to have leave to attend to their health matters and the heath of their family members as shown by the mean of 4.37. Collier (2013) observed that work imbalances can range from gender related issues, marital status and family. Furthermore, the respondents agreed that the lack of family engagement would negatively affect their performance at work. This fundamentally means that leave programs helps to improve officers' morale and hence they perform even better. The study finding reports significant impact of employees break off on their work output in general. The officers agreed that leave positively affects their work performance. This is in line with the findings of Ellis (2013) who observed that breaks (leave) help employees to improve their concentration and composure while on duty and continue to perform even better.
In summary the results in Table 4.4.1 indicates the security personnel consented that leave influences work performance of NPS officers in Kwale County, Kenya. This is important because taking time off from work helps officers reduce work related stress and also improve on their wellbeing. The respondents strongly agreed on the statement that committing the paid leave to attend to personal matters improves their morale, allows them to attend to family matters and helps with their concentration at work. Therefore, this suggests that employers who grant their workers time off work or leave facilities enhances employees' ability to recuperate faster, focus better and improve their concentration on work, thus increasing their work performance. These results agree with assertions made by Lazar et al., (2010) who reported that leave provisions can improve performance.

Regression Analysis
To determine if there was a significant association between leave and the NPS officer's work performance, simple linear regression analysis was developed to find out the relationship between variables using SPSS 20. The study adopted a simple linear regression guided by the following model: Y= (β0+β1X1+ε) Whereby:-Y-Performance of officers of the NPS X1-leave β-Determines the relationship between the independent variable X and the dependent variable Y ɛ -Normally distributed error term This table provides the R, R 2 , adjusted R 2 and the standard error of the estimate, which informs the study on whether the data regression model fits in the data for this study. In this case R= .876 demonstrates that the variables tested offers a good level of prediction of work performance. In addition, R2 which is a coefficient of determination that explains the proportion of variance in the dependent variable as influenced by the independent variables is 0.767. This means that leave, accounts for 76.7% variation the dependent variable which is work performance in national police officers. Other factors explain remaining 23.3% of variation in performance of the national police service.
The fitness of the predictors was further tested through ANOVA to confirm the viability of the model  As illustrated on Table 10, results on the analysis of the variance (ANOVA), the results show that independent variables (Leave, Employee assistant programs, Wellness programs) statistically significantly predicted the dependent variable (Work Performance) F(1,198) =652.911 p < 0.000. This shows that the model is a good fit for the data indicating that the predictor variables (leave, employee Assistance program and wellness program) explain a variation in performance of officers of the NPS and that the overall model is significant From the regression equation above, when leave as a factor is taken to be constant at zero, the performance of the national police service would be 0.261, the results further indicate that a unit increase in the leave program would lead to a 0.749(74. 9 %) This has the implication that leave is an important aspect in work life balance hence leave (X1) is a significant univariate predictor of work performance β =.749, p < 0.05. This has the implication that if this aspect of work life balance is effectively adhering to programs that enhance work-life balance the performance of the officers would increase.
As argued, paid leave provides officers with time off that allows them to perform their family roles but at the same time relax from job stresses. Hossen et al (2018) argued that work and family place demands on employee resources that are incompatible. This leads to competition for resources that is likely to leave the employee depleted and unable to effectively meet the demands on either side (work performance or family engagement). Accordingly, with depleted resources the workers are inefficient leading to poor performance. Therefore, allowing the employees to take leave not only enables them time engagement for their family roles but also helps them recuperate from job stresses to enhance good performance once they resume duty.
In addition, evolving needs for care giving, whether for self or family requires the need of an individual to take break from work. This is because the compositions of the workforce and families have changed and greatly require some flexibility at work. As seen in the demographics of this study, most police officers are young, suggesting that they have young children or are just getting in family that may require some time off to attend to. According to the Council of Economic Advisers (2014), taking paid or unpaid leave has important implications for both families and employers. Accordingly, other than enabling employees provide care to their families, it leads to commitment to work that has a direct implication to work performance. The compassionate leave also demonstrates the caring aspect of the employer that makes employees indebted to the organization, hence commitment.
Generally, as established by the results of this study, leave has benefits that may improve performance of the officers. This is in line with other studies that have reported positive returns for flexible work arrangements such as high commitment at work, low turnover as well as efficiency at work. As seen, the leave aspect scored higher than the other variables. The NPS needs to ride on this aspect to cultivate high performance from its work force.

Conclusion
Paid leave provides officers with time off and allows them to perform their roles both at home and at work while relaxing from work stresses. These reduced stress levels ultimately lead to improved concentration at work leading to more productivity and efficiency from the officer.

Recommendations
From the study report, it is recommended that.
 The top leadership of National Police Service in Kenya should prioritize embracing sound work-life balance such as leave practices so as to enhance performance.  The National Police Service to recognize and emphasize on work life balance practices such as leave programs.