Work-life balance

What is work-life balance?

Everyone has a life and responsibilities outside work. Often people have children or other caring responsibilities, or want time to pursue other interests.

Finding ways to accommodate this can make a real difference to employees and to business. Work-Life balance is about organisations identifying with their workforce to determine how both can benefit from a more imaginative approach to working practices.

A group of leading employers have formed an alliance, Employers for Work-Life Balance, in partnership with the Government, to promote the benefits of work-life balance to the business community.

There is a new Work-Life Balance Challenge Fund, which provides consultancy advice to businesses to help them examine working practices and business objectives and introduce changes to benefit both their business and their employees.

Why do people need more flexibility at work?

• Childcare
• Further education or training
• Caring responsibilities
• Health (including mental) or disability
• Transport or distance from work
• Arts and Sports
• Quality of Life
• Approaching Retirement

What are the benefits?

Employees benefit by feeling less stressed and happier both at work and at home. Having time available outside work gives everyone more chance to develop the rest of their lives. And more people, especially parents, carers and people with disabilities or health probems have the opportunity for paid work, giving employers a richer recruitment pool.

Businesses also benefit from having a more motivated, more productive and less stressed workforce. Being flexible about the way people work means staff are more likely to stay with their employer - and return after a spell away (such as maternity or travel leave). That cuts out the costs of recruitment - advertising, interviewing, selecting and training - as well as retaining the skills and experience that only time can build.

Customers benefit too. More and more employers are finding that staff retention is one of the major pay-backs of a good work-life balance. And more and more customers are reaping the rewards.

What options are available?

There are a range of ways in which employers can help with employee work-life balance, including:

• Flexi-time
• Staggered hours
• Time off in lieu
• Shift working
• Shift swapping
• Self rostering
• Annual hours systems
• Part time work
• Term time working
• Job sharing
• Working from home
• Teleworking
• Temping or casual work
• Self-employment
• Flexible benefits such as childcare information or vouchers, funding and/or time off for a course of learning, pension or insurance contributions, laundry service, use of staff facilities (such as the gym), in-house medical or dental care.

For more information, click here to read the DTI's complete guide to work-life balance (Word).

Useful websites

• DTI (external link)
• DfES (external link)
• Connexions (external link)