WORK-LIFE BALANCE DOING IT RIGHT AND AVOIDING THE PITFALLS Jim Bird
This is a preprint of an article accepted for publication in Employment Relations Today, Autumn 2006, vol. 33, no. 3. Copyright 2006, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The demand for work-life-balance solutions by employees and managers is expanding at an unprecedented rate. As a result, work-life balance is an increasingly hot topic in boardrooms and government halls today. Over the coming decade it will be one of the most important issues that executives and human resource professionals will be expected to manage. This article provides the methods for you to accelerate the implementation of a very successful work-life strategy within your organization. First we cover why work-life is critical to the key objectives of your organization and its executive team. A brief history of work-life efforts follows so you can learn from the trial and error of others and avoid their mistakes. Finally, we describe the two parts of a successful work-life strategy and how you can most quickly and effectively implement them. Let’s start with the senior executive concerns and opportunities that work-life affects. Growth and profit impact. Accelerated on and off-the-job stresses and expectations are adversely affecting top and bottom-line growth, unnecessarily driving down productivity. A well-implemented work-life strategy greatly reduces both the real and perceived overwork and out-of-balance pressures that hamper productivity, producing a dramatic positive return on investment. Full Engagement and customer service. A workforce that is out of balance, unnecessarily stressed, or disgruntled greatly reduces full engagement with external and internal customers. Conversely, commitment to the organization’s objectives and clients’ needs rises in direct proportion to the perception that the organization is committed to both the