Work-Life Balance

Work-life balance refers to how an individual prioritizes personal and professional activities, and the degree to which their job spills into life at home. The goal is overall well-being, recognizing and balancing the demands of both personal and professional life, which generally means devoting time and attention to work, family, health, social activities, and personal hobbies in order to avoid excessive stress or burnout.

Work-life balance has become a bigger topic of conversation as technology makes physical location less relevant to defining it. It used to be difficult, if not impossible, to take work home, so there was a much clearer line between professional and personal life.

Stress is a common feature of poor work-life balance. In the information economy, mental stress has been identified as a significant economic and health problem, caused in part by employees feeling they need to do more in less time.

A key question in the work-life balance debate is where responsibility lies for ensuring employees actually have one. The general feeling is that employers bear some responsibility for their employees’ health. Beyond the moral case, stressed employees tend to be less productive and more prone to making errors.

Setting boundaries and allocating time efficiently are generally seen as important parts of achieving a better balance and a healthier way of living.