Many studies on work-life balance (WLB) often address issues based on Western developed countries' context. Thus it became imperative to explore salient issues driving WLB, particularly among professionals from a developing country perspective. The Nigerian banking sector is used as a case study. Bank employees often complain about stress and work demands which affect their WLB. Their refrain most times is that ‘it is the nature of the job'. But could there be more to this? I considered enquiring beyond organisational rhetoric, how employees make sense of their work-personal life conflict and from emerging findings articulate a context based WLB middle range theory. The research question then is why are there impediments to the adoption and utilisation of work-life balance practices in the Nigerian banking industry?