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Why Work-Life Balance Is So Important—and How to Nail It

When the workday is over, it should really be over

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Rachel Goldman, PhD FTOS, is a licensed psychologist, clinical assistant professor, speaker, wellness expert specializing in eating behaviors, stress management, and health behavior change.

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• What Do We Mean When We Say "Work-Life Balance"?

How Can I Tell If I Have a Healthy Work-Life Balance?

Can i request a healthier work-life balance (if so, how), how to improve your work-life balance.

Does it ever feel like your job is taking over your life? Or do you seem to have so many personal obligations that you can’t give 100% at work? We know we need work-life balance, but finding harmony between your professional and personal life isn't always as easy as it sounds. 

Work plays a major role in our lives. It takes up much of our waking hours during the traditional workweek. That’s why it’s so important to make sure that we are also taking care of the areas of our lives that keep us healthy and happy. 

Professional fulfillment can be a part of that, for sure. But well-being also involves all of the things outside of work that makes your life worthwhile, including your family, hobbies, health, and relationships (not to mention sleep, exercise, balanced meals, and relaxation).

At a Glance

Work-life balance generally refers to a balance between your personal and work life. The goal is to strive to keep that balance so that we are managing stress and burnout by fulfilling other areas of our lives that aren't swallowed up by work. Remember: That "balance" may shift at times and is never really a 50/50 split. We can accept that there may not ever be a balance, but we can strive to feel more grounded and balanced by making a personalized plan, exploring ways to improve that balance with our manager, taking breaks, and creating set boundaries between our personal vs. professional duties. If we're in a position to change jobs and our conversations with our manager are unsuccessful, we could also explore other opportunities that offer more flexibility.

What Do We Mean When We Say "Work-Life Balance"?

Work-life balance is usually defined as an equilibrium between your professional and personal life. When you keep things balanced, no single element of your life dominates and overwhelms the others.

"Work-life balance is the concept that you effectively manage your professional life and responsibilities so that you are productive and successful at work while ensuring you have plenty of dedicated time to live a fulfilling, grounded, personal life," says Abbey Sangmeister, MS.Ed, LPC, ACS .

That’s a general definition of the concept, but "work-life" balance can also mean different things to different people. Researchers suggest that this is because this balance is all about individual perception. It's something you feel when your work and non-work activities are in harmony and are compatible with your current goals and priorities.

The things that make your own work-life situation feel manageable may differ depending on your needs and your situation.

For working parents, it often means finding a way to juggle the responsibilities of a career while still finding time for a fulfilling family life. With rising numbers of older workers, work-life balance may focus more on staying active in the workforce while finding ways to manage health issues or disabilities.  

Major shifts in how we work have also helped change the definition of work-life balance for many people. For many people, work-life balance meant clocking out at 5 p.m. and not thinking about work until you showed up at the office at 9 a.m. the next day. 

Being tethered to an office is a thing of the past for many folks. It makes sense that, for many of us, the option for flexible or remote work is an essential part of work-life balance. This means that work-life balance is much more personal and nuanced these days–but it also makes finding a balance harder than ever before.  

Many times people think balance is a 50/50 split but that is not always the case. For each person, the balance may look different and will shift during different seasons of their life. The important part of having balance is that the person does not feel that one area of life is draining and depleting the other.

What Work-Life Balance Is Not

Work-life balance isn’t about slacking off, skipping work, or putting in less effort . Obviously, we all have our good and bad days, but there are ways to manage the days we’re feeling a little "off" that don’t involve hurting yourself professionally. 

Procrastinating or shirking your responsibilities aren’t effective ways to cope. You might feel a little better for a bit, but it ultimately creates more problems in the future. Work piles up, deadlines fly by, and your employer might start to notice that you’re not putting in your best effort.

The goal is to find a harmonious balance that works for you, between the demands on your time and energy, without neglecting important areas of your life.

You don’t want to ignore your personal life in favor of your job, but you also shouldn’t deal with stress by neglecting your workplace duties.

So how exactly can you tell if you have a healthy work-life balance? It can look a little different for everyone (since we all have different work, family, and relationship situations). 

"Lack of regular overwhelm and frustration are good signs that one does have good work-life balance. People who struggle with the Sunday scaries and dread or have a case of [the] Mondays more times than not are most likely struggling with an imbalance," Sangmeister suggests.

The following are a few signs that you’re striking a good balance between your job and other areas of your life:

• You don't feel like the demands of your work roles and personal obligations are constantly in conflict
• You're able to meet your deadlines at work without having to work overtime
• You're getting plenty of sleep at night and eating a healthy, balanced diet
• You don't spend the end of your weekend consumed by the " Sunday Scaries "
• You have plenty of time to relax and enjoy your hobbies
• You feel like you're spending enough time with family and friends
• You don't worry about your job when you're not at work
• You feel like you're being productive at work and making progress toward your professional goals, but you don't feel like your whole identity hinges on your job
• You're taking your vacation days (and using your sick days when you need them)
• You're taking advantage of any work-life benefits your employer offers, like gym memberships, flexible scheduling, and childcare vouchers

Remember that work-life balance isn't something you can just check off your to-do list. It’s only natural that the demands of your job and outside life shift and change over time. That means that what you need to keep the balance will change over time.

"With a good work-life balance, a person is less likely to be rigid with their schedule," Sangmeister says. "Instead, they are able to be flexible and can adapt to include demands that may come up professionally or personally without disrupting the feeling of balance."

To figure out if you have a good work-life balance, think about what's most important to you. What helps you to feel your best? Are you taking care of yourself personally and professionally? Are you managing your stress and watching for signs of burnout?

If you're struggling to find a balance between work and the rest of your life, it might be time to have a conversation with your supervisor. This includes work-life benefits like hybrid, flexible, or remote work. Flextime, alternative work schedules, child care options, and access to mental health services are important work-life benefits employers offer to attract employees. 

There are things that your employer can do to help foster a better work-life balance. It's something that benefits them as well. Research has shown that workers with better work-life balance are more satisfied with their jobs , perform better at work, and are more committed to their organizations.

A conversation with your employer might help you find ways to work together to make things more manageable. This might involve reprioritizing your tasks, delegating some work to others, hiring additional help, or allowing you to work remotely when needed.

Unfortunately, these aren't always options, depending on the nature of your profession or your role in the workplace. In many cases, making a change hinges on how you approach your job. It might mean changing your priorities, delegating tasks at home, or letting your colleagues know you can no longer respond to work-related problems during your downtime.

It's also important to be aware of your legal rights. If you need certain accommodations because you are pregnant or have a disability, these needs may be protected by the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) or the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

This includes protections if you are dealing with depression , anxiety , or another mental health condition. (You will need to have your condition diagnosed by your doctor, and you may need to provide documentation for your employer when you request an accommodation.)

How to Ask Your Boss for Better Work-Life Balance

Schedule a time to talk to your employer and tell them what you plan to discuss. During your meeting, explain your problem, and share your ideas for how you think you can work together to resolve the issue. 

If you've been overwhelmed by your workload and putting in too many hours, you might suggest redistributing some of your tasks to other team members to help lighten the load. 

Remember to stay professional and show respect for your employer's needs. Reiterate your commitment, and explain that you think finding a better balance will help you feel more productive and satisfied with your job.

So what’s next if you feel like your work-life balance is in shambles? It's time to take a step back, figure out what is wrong, and make a plan to fix it. Your health literally depends on it.

Many studies have demonstrated that people who have more conflict between their work and non-work life are more likely to experience health problems, mental health conditions, and poor overall health outcomes.

Make a Plan

Bringing more balance to your life starts with figuring out what’s causing the problem in the first place. Are your work hours too long? Or are work obligations encroaching on your off-time? Do you feel like you have no control over your schedule? Or are you taking on too many demands and need some relief?

Creating a personalized plan for how you are going to tackle your work-life balance can help you figure out what's wrong and which strategies will be most effective .

Create Divisions Between Your Work and Non-Work Life

Flexible and remote work can be a great way to promote balance in your life, but it often blurs the lines between your personal and professional life. You may find yourself working longer than normal hours, catching up on work when you should be relaxing, or staying up late to answer those last few emails you forgot to send earlier. 

The problem is that, over time, there is a distinct lack of balance. Because you never feel like you have any mental space from your job, it starts to feel like you’re always working. Your home life becomes your work life.

If you are fully or partially remote, there are things you can do to help promote better work-life balance:

• Create a schedule : Figure out which hours you can work during the day and stick with it. Creating a regular schedule can help you feel more productive. “ Start your mornings off with routines and rituals that are grounded. If you start your day sprinting the moment your alarm goes off, that energy carries through the day and leads to burnout,” Sangmeister says.
• Get ready for work : While you don't need to wear a suit and tie to work from your home office (unless you want to), consider wearing something other than your favorite 'lounging around the house' outfit. Dressing professionally when you are working can help create a mental division between your job and your home life.
• Let other people know when you're offline : Use different communication tools to let others know when you are offline. For example, put your work hours on your Google Calendar, set your Slack availability to prevent notifications during your off-time, and set up out-of-office emails when you are on vacation.
• Plan activities during your non-work hours : Give yourself things to look forward to once you are off work. It might involve getting together with friends, but it can be as simple as preparing a nice meal and settling in to stream an episode of a series you’re watching.

Take Breaks

Taking breaks is also essential. This includes mini-breaks during the work day and periodic days off or vacations.

"Taking an intentional day off periodically is a great way to improve work-life balance,” Sangmeister explains. "On these intentional days off, don’t just tackle a to-do list and chores; instead, work on personal development and mindfulness."

She also recommends mini-vacations and tech-free weekends . Even scheduling a little tech-free time each day can be helpful.

Don't Work When You're Not at Work

It might sound obvious (and simple), but it can be harder to stick with than you might expect. When your workday is over, it needs to be over. That means no checking work emails, looking at notifications, or logging in to finish "one last thing." 

Even if all you're doing is reading your messages that you plan to work on tomorrow, you're letting your work interfere with your personal time. It creates pressure and stress that distracts you from feeling fully relaxed or completely present during non-work hours. 

Set boundaries around the hours you work and create no work zones. That means even when you have “free time,” you aren’t going to open your phone or laptop to do work at certain times or in certain places.

Know What Burnout Looks Like

When your work-life balance is seriously screwed up (i.e., you're spending every waking moment working, thinking about work, stressing about work, or dreading work), there's a good chance you're headed for burnout .

Being burned out is more than just being tired and unmotivated—it means you've reached a state where you feel so exhausted and empty that you can hardly cope with daily life, let alone care about work.

Signs of burnout can be physical, such as headaches, high blood pressure, stomach aches, and frequent illness. But they are also mental and include problems sleeping, depressed moods, loss of interest, fatigue, problems concentrating, and apathy .

If you’ve reached this point, it means you need to make serious changes to your work environment. That might mean taking time off or switching to a different position. Sometimes, it might even mean thinking about changing jobs altogether.

Consider Changing Jobs

So you’ve had a conversation (or more than one) with your boss, but they are refusing to offer any flexibility to make any changes that will help you feel better about your relationship with your job–what now? 

If poor work-life balance is taking a toll on your well-being and isn't something you can solve on your own or by working with your employer, it might be time to consider taking a more serious step–changing your job altogether. 

Wait until you’ve had time to consider the problem and your options. Spend some time looking at other positions in your field (or even other fields if you’re ready to make a more significant change). Look at job review sites to see what other current and past employees are saying to learn more about what you might find in terms of work-life balance if you take a job with another company.

Finding a job you truly love can be a great way to feel more positively about the balance between your work and your outside life.

What This Means For You

Finding that perfect balance between your work and your life can seem like performing a tightrope act. If you're struggling, it might be worth talking to your boss about how they can help support your well-being (and foster greater job satisfaction and loyalty).  Remember: the goal is not to have a 50/50 balance—it's about finding a balance that feels good to you and, most importantly, works for you.

Taking steps to manage your time and boundaries is also essential. Make time for family, friends, hobbies, health, and self-care—the things that help you feel personally fulfilled outside of work. "Schedule, schedule, schedule," Sangmeister recommends. "Make these appointments just as important as any work meeting."

Gragnano A, Simbula S, Miglioretti M. Work-life balance: Weighing the importance of work-family and work-health balance . Int J Environ Res Public Health . 2020;17(3):907. doi:10.3390/ijerph17030907

Wong KP, Lee FCH, Teh PL, Chan AHS. The interplay of socioecological determinants of work-life balance, subjective wellbeing and employee wellbeing . Int J Environ Res Public Health . 2021;18(9):4525. doi:10.3390/ijerph18094525

Sirgy MJ, Lee D-J. Work-life balance: An integrative review . Appl Res Qual Life . 2018;13:229–254. doi: 10.1007/s11482-017-9509-8

Borowiec AA, Drygas W. Work-life balance and mental and physical health among Warsaw specialists, managers and entrepreneurs . Int J Environ Res Public Health . 2022;20(1):492. doi:10.3390/ijerph20010492

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

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Work–Life Balance: Weighing the Importance of Work–Family and Work–Health Balance

Associated data.

To date, research directed at the work–life balance (WLB) has focused mainly on the work and family domains. However, the current labor force is heterogeneous, and workers may also value other nonworking domains besides the family. The aim of this study was to investigate the importance of other nonworking domains in the WLB with a particular focus on health. Moreover, the importance of the effects of the work–family balance (WFB) and the work–health balance (WHB) on job satisfaction was investigated. Finally, we explored how the effects of the WFB and the WHB on job satisfaction change according to worker characteristics (age, gender, parental status, and work ability). This study involved 318 workers who completed an online questionnaire. The importance of the nonworking domains was compared with a t -test. The effect of the WFB and the WHB on job satisfaction was investigated with multiple and moderated regression analyses. The results show that workers considered health as important as family in the WLB. The WHB explained more of the variance in job satisfaction than the WFB. Age, gender and parental status moderated the effect of the WFB on job satisfaction, and work ability moderated the effect of the WHB on job satisfaction. This study highlights the importance of the health domain in the WLB and stresses that it is crucial to consider the specificity of different groups of workers when considering the WLB.

1. Introduction

The term work–life balance (WLB) has gained increasing popularity in the public discourse [ 1 ]. It is a term that is commonly used in companies, especially large ones, and it is often said to be at the core of their corporate welfare, e.g., [ 2 , 3 , 4 ]. However, academic knowledge around the WLB concept is not as solid and extensive as the widespread use of the term would suggest [ 1 ]. Researchers have argued that WLB theoretical development has not kept pace with the popularity of the concept [ 5 , 6 ]. Among the many issues raised by recent critical reviews [ 1 , 7 , 8 , 9 ], the present study focuses on the limited consideration that has been given to the heterogeneity of the contemporary labor force in the WLB literature [ 8 ]. The extant research has largely assumed that the WLB is a concern mainly for working parents, where caring for dependent children is the relevant load in the life part of the WLB [ 1 ]. This became clear when we realized that the majority of the studies about the WLB actually only considered the family in the “life” part of the balance; that is, they considered the work–family balance (WFB) [ 6 , 9 , 10 , 11 ].

Currently, in addition to the massive presence of women in the labor market, which has fostered the literature about work–family balance, there is a highly increasing rate of active elderly workers, workers with a long-standing health problem or disability (LSHPD), single workers, and childless couples [ 12 , 13 , 14 ]. These workers have different needs and interests outside work. This situation places renewed importance on a key feature of the WLB: The importance that is attached to the many different life role changes from person to person [ 9 ]. Therefore, even if the family role remains central in nonworking life, it is important to recognize the value of other roles when conceptualizing and measuring the WLB [ 11 ]. The family may not be the most important part of the WLB in determining the positive outcomes of, for example, workers with chronic diseases for whom the management of health has great influence. From this perspective, Gragnano et al. [ 15 ] recently developed the concept and measure of the work–health balance (WHB), which is particularly relevant for elderly workers and workers with a LSHPD.

This study aims to contribute to the WLB research by comparing the relevance of other nonwork domains beyond family and considering the heterogeneity of the current labor force in studying the WLB. Specifically, we (a) investigate the perceived importance of other nonwork life domains beyond family, with a focus on health; (b) compare the influence of the WFB and the WHB on job satisfaction; and (c) examine how the effects of the WFB and the WHB on job satisfaction change according to different worker characteristics.

In subsequent sections of this article, we discuss the relationship between the WLB and the WFB, also considering different worker characteristics. We then introduce the concept of the WHB.

2. Theoretical Background and Hypotheses

2.1. specific nonwork life domains: family and health.

The field of study about the work–life balance has had difficulty in establishing a commonly agreed-upon definition of the WLB [ 16 ]. A plethora of different conceptualizations exist in the literature, and many researchers have tried to summarize them [ 9 , 10 , 16 ]. After a review of the conceptualizations of the WLB in the literature, Kalliath and Brough [ 16 ] proposed a definition of the WLB that we endorse. “Work–life balance is the individual perception that work and nonwork activities are compatible and promote growth in accordance with an individual’s current life priorities” (p.326). A recent review indicated that a better work–life balance fosters not only job satisfaction, job performance, and organizational commitment but also life and family satisfaction [ 10 ]. The work–life balance also reduces stress-related outcomes such as psychological distress, emotional exhaustion, anxiety, and depression [ 10 ].

Research on work and nonwork interactions dates back to the mid-twentieth century, e.g., [ 17 ], and the issue has gained increasing importance in the popular press since the 1990s [ 16 ]. Today, there exists an extensive and growing body of research about the work–life balance [ 18 ], and the topic is of even more concern than in the past considering the new flexible ways of managing work (e.g., agile working, smart working, activity-based working, and flexible working).

Researchers have highlighted that the field of research about the work–life balance is itself “unbalanced.” The majority of studies on the work–life balance have focused only on work and family roles, that is, on the work–family balance [ 6 , 9 , 10 , 11 ]. For example, Casper et al. [ 9 ] reviewed the conceptual definition of the balance in the academic literature and found that 66% of the definitions focused only on work and family. In their review, Chang et al. [ 7 ] found that the WLB was studied specifically, not in the form of the WFB, in only 9% and 26% of the quantitative and qualitative studies reviewed, respectively. As a result, the knowledge acquired over time about the predictors and consequences of the balance with work is based mainly on the work–family balance [ 1 , 10 ].

Different types of the work–family balance have been studied in the literature. A general classification distinguished four types of influence that can occur between work and family based on their direction and valence [ 19 ]. When the effect is negative from the family domain to the work domain, it is called the family-to-work conflict. When the effect is still negative but from the work domain to the family domain, it is called work-to-family conflict. When the effect is positive, it is called enrichment and can have the same two directions; therefore, there is family-to-work enrichment and work-to-family enrichment. The work–family balance has been extensively studied in its negative form, work–family conflict [ 19 ]. However, since the 2000s, the scientific community has begun to focus on its positive form, work–family enrichment [ 20 ].

Many researchers have called for a real expansion of the WLB concept, such that the second arm of the balance—life—is not confined to the family role [ 6 , 9 , 19 ]. The call for an expansion of the concept is not only theoretically grounded but also related to recent changes in the labor market. The identification of the WFB as an indicator of the WLB was relatively effective and useful in recent decades, when the greatest change in workplace demographics was the increase in the participation of women, and the management of family and work roles for working women and dual-earner couples, especially those with children, became a central issue within organizations. Currently, workplace demographics are more heterogeneous. In addition to the massive presence of woman in the labor market, we are also seeing an increase in the rate of active elderly workers, workers with an LSHPD, single workers, and childless couples [ 12 , 13 , 14 ]. It is clear that an exclusive focus on family has become at least reductive when considering the WLB [ 1 , 21 ].

The majority of the studies that have investigated the work–nonwork balance without an exclusive focus on the family domain have considered nonwork to be unspecific, i.e., they have considered nonworking life in general, including nonfamily and family domains [ 19 ]. However, the consideration of the specific nonwork domains is essential to a full comprehension of the dynamics that influence the work–life balance in the heterogeneous working population, that is, the different, specific nonwork domains will have different levels of importance and different effects in the determination of the work–life balance among workers with diverse characteristics and needs outside work [ 11 ].

Based on the quality of life literature [ 22 ], the multiple identity perspective [ 23 ], and Super’s [ 24 ] life-space theory of career development, Keeney et al. [ 11 ] identified eight nonwork domains of relevance in the WLB: education, health, leisure, friendships, romantic relationships, family, household management, and community involvement. The importance that individuals give to the different domains varies from person to person [ 11 ]. Moreover, the relative importance of these life domains is likely to change over time within the same person because of changes in interests and life circumstances [ 24 ]. Thus, it is crucial to understand whether the other nonwork domains are as important as family and under which circumstances the priorities change. Among the domains that were detected by Keeney et al. [ 11 ], there was health. This is relevant because to our knowledge, for the first time in work–life balance literature, it has been recognized that health management can conflict with work activity.

As stated, the relevance of health to the work life derives from an increase in the rate of workers with an LSHPD and elderly workers, both with a higher incidence of health problems. In 2017, 27.8% of the European Union (EU) workers reported an LSHPD, and 19% of the employed persons in the EU were 55 years of age or older [ 25 , 26 ]. There is, however, another reason that makes the health domain relevant even for “healthy” workers. A paradigm shift has occurred in the planning and delivery of healthcare. People are now expected to actively manage their healthcare. Theorizations in the field of public health and in medicine have indicated that it is strategic for healthcare systems to have informed patients who are more directly responsible for their health and care management [ 27 ]. This has been paired with an increasing focus on health promotion that is based, partly but strongly, on good individual healthy behaviors [ 28 ]. Therefore, the workers, not just the sick ones, must take on a somewhat active role in the health domain of life, which may be more or less compatible with the working role.

In light of this literature and considering the life domains defined by Keeney et al. [ 11 ], we hypothesized that family is still central in the WLB of workers but that the health domain also has an equally important role. Therefore, if the workers were asked directly:

Workers will indicate that the family and health domains are more important than the other life domains in the WLB process .

2.2. Consequences of Work–Family Balance: Job Satisfaction

Many studies have analyzed individual consequences of the different types of the work–life balance, and several meta-analyses have summarized the literature about the correlates of work–family conflict [ 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 ] and work–family enrichment [ 20 ]. Work–family conflict, in both directions, has been consistently found to be associated with work-related, family-related, and domain-unspecific outcomes. Specifically, among the many outcomes that are associated with work–family conflict in a statistically significant manner, the ones that were more strongly associated were organizational citizenship behavior, work-related and general stress, burnout and exhaustion, and job, marital and life satisfaction [ 29 ]. Far fewer studies exist for work–family enrichment, but by comparing the two extant bodies of literature, it is possible to note that the effect sizes of work–family enrichment are comparable to those of work–family conflict [ 20 , 29 ]. For simplicity and because more studies are needed about the relationship between work–family enrichment and conflict [ 33 ], which goes beyond the objectives of this research, we considered only the conflict, in both directions, in our study.

Among the literature considering work-related outcomes, job satisfaction has been the most studied variable [ 29 ]. Job satisfaction represents the extent to which workers like or dislike their job [ 34 ]. Job satisfaction is a central variable in organizational behavior research. Spector [ 34 ] ascribed its importance to three main reasons. Job satisfaction is an indicator of well-being and psychological health, it is related to many behaviors of the worker that are positive for the organization, and finally, it is a very useful indicator of organizational problems when its level is low. In fact, job satisfaction is highly related to burn-out, self-esteem, depression, anxiety and, to a lower extent, perceived physical illness [ 35 ]. It is consistently correlated with job performance [ 36 ] and with four dispositional traits predictive of job performance: self-esteem, generalized self-efficacy, locus of control, and emotional stability [ 37 ]. Job satisfaction has also been found to be a significant predictor of turnover and turnover intention [ 38 , 39 ].

Job satisfaction is also related to the work–family balance. The meta-analysis conducted by Amstad et al. [ 29 ] reported that the correlation with job satisfaction was stronger for work-to-family conflict (weighted mean correlation = −0.26) than for family-to-work conflict (weighted mean correlation = −0.13). Theoretically, the work–family balance affects job satisfaction because an incompatibility between two personally relevant roles creates negative states and feelings. Following the principle that when something threatens something else personally relevant, the first is appraised negatively with negative emotion [ 40 ], and a role that interferes with the fulfilment of another personally relevant role is negatively evaluated. Specifically, a negative evaluation of an individual’s job is formed (i.e., low job satisfaction) depending on the extent to which the job threatens the fulfillment of the family role [ 41 ]. This explanation justifies why family-to-work conflict has been found to have a lower correlation with job satisfaction than work-to-family conflict. In fact, provided that both conflict directions may generate a strain in both domains, the family-to-work conflict will generate a low family satisfaction—instead of a low job satisfaction—because the family role interferes with the work role, and the negative evaluation will be toward the source of the interference [ 41 ]. This was supported by the meta-analysis conducted by Amstad et al. [ 29 ], who found that work-to-family conflict was more strongly correlated with work-related outcomes than family-related ones and that the opposite was true for family-to-work conflict. Based on these premises, we hypothesized that:

Work-to-family and family-to-work conflict will be significantly and negatively related to job satisfaction.

The relationship between work-to-family conflict and job satisfaction will be greater than the relationship between family-to-work conflict and job satisfaction.

2.3. Consequences of Work–Health Balance

The present study aimed to expand the knowledge about the nonwork life domain other than family, specifically the health domain. Despite the importance of the life domain of health, the literature has not offered many studies that consider health in the WLB process or measurement instruments that are specifically designed for the purpose [ 42 ]. Considering the literature about job retention and the quality of working life among workers with an LSHPD [ 43 , 44 ], Gragnano et al. [ 15 ] conceptualized the work–health balance (WHB) as a state in which the worker feels able to effectively balance health and work needs, arising from the perception of how much the characteristics of one’s work are a barrier to health needs and counterbalanced by the evaluation of the helpfulness of the working environment to meet health needs.

Health needs are understood here in a broad sense, covering not only the care needs of workers with chronic illnesses or conditions but all the needs that a worker considers necessary to adequately care for his or her health. From the definition, a measure of the WHB has been developed. The WHB questionnaire measures three distinct constructs: work–health incompatibility, health climate and external support [ 15 ]. The first construct measures how much work commitments hamper the desired management of health. The last two constructs measure the helpfulness of the working environment for health needs. The health climate detects the extent to which workers perceive that management is truly interested in their employees’ health, whereas external support identifies the perception of the level of help available for health problems in the workplace in the form of support from the supervisor and work flexibility.

Studies have shown that elderly workers and workers with an LSHPD have more difficulties in reaching a good WHB [ 45 , 46 ]. In addition, it has been shown that among workers who stop working for cardiovascular diseases, the process of returning to work is faster for those who have a good WHB [ 47 ]. With low levels of the WHB, the rates of presenteeism, emotional exhaustion, workaholism and general psychological distress (GHQ) increase [ 15 , 48 ]. In contrast, a good WHB is associated with greater work autonomy, job engagement, and job satisfaction [ 15 , 49 , 50 , 51 ].

In the WHB, a good balance generates job satisfaction because the work role is not a threat to the management of health. A low level of work-to-family conflict generates job satisfaction because the work role is not a threat to the family domain. Because the two domains at risk are different, the proportion of the job satisfaction variance that is explained by the WHB is expected to not overlap, to a great extent, with the proportion that is explained by the work-to-family conflict. Moreover, in the current working context, characterized by a great heterogeneity of the contemporary labor force with a substantial proportion of elderly workers and workers with an LSHPD, as well as with the increasing spread of a health care system that is based on the active and informed role of patients, we expect the WHB to be as important as work-to-family conflict in shaping attitudes toward job and job satisfaction. Therefore, we hypothesized that:

The WHB will have a significant positive effect on job satisfaction.

The effect size of the WHB on job satisfaction will be at least as large as that of work-to-family conflict.

2.4. The Heterogeneity of the Labor Force and WLB

As stated before, the present study focuses on the problem of the limited consideration that has been given in the WLB literature to the heterogeneity of the contemporary labor force [ 8 ]. The current labor force is characterized not only by a greater female presence but also by an increasing rate of elderly workers, workers with an LSHPD, single workers, and childless couples [ 12 , 13 , 14 ], all with different needs and with a different levels of importance that are given to their various nonworking roles [ 1 ].

This last consideration is particularly relevant in the context of the WLB because the balance is not absolute; rather, it depends on the importance that is given by the worker to the various roles. Therefore, when studying the effect of the WLB on outcomes by using concepts and measures such as work-to-family conflict or the WHB, which measure the balance between a specific nonwork role and work, it is theoretically appropriate to expect that the studied effect will vary based on the importance that is given by the worker to the nonwork role under consideration. In other words, the perception of an imbalance between a specific nonworking role and work will have a negative effect on the outcome to the extent that the nonworking role in question is important for the worker.

Despite the centrality of individual priorities in the definition of the WLB [ 9 , 10 , 16 ], surprisingly few studies have explored how individual priorities moderate the effect of the WLB on outcomes [ 6 , 29 , 52 ], which is a symptom of the limited consideration of diversity in the labor force by the WLB literature [ 1 , 8 ]. Individual differences have been considered as predictors of differences in the level of balance [ 10 , 53 ] instead of as moderators of the effects of the balance on the outcomes. Crooker et al. [ 21 ] developed a theoretical framework that extensively considered differences in individual value systems as moderators, but this study was focused on the genesis of the WLB instead of its consequences.

In the present study, we considered four variables (i.e., age, gender, parental status, and work ability) that, according to the literature, moderate the relationship between the WFB and job satisfaction or, alternatively, the relationship between the WHB and job satisfaction. The hypothesis is that individual conditions and characteristics that increase (or decrease) the importance that is given by the worker to the family or health domain will increase (or decrease) the effect that the work–family balance or the WHB has on job satisfaction.

Gender has been studied in the WLB literature as a possible predictor of different levels of the work–family balance. The hypothesis has been that, since family responsibilities usually pertain more to women, women have worse levels of the work–family balance, but these studies have not consistently supported this hypothesis [ 54 ]. However, research has still indicated that there are significant disparities between men and women pertaining to the work–family balance [ 55 ]. There have also been studies that have indicated that women do value family more than men, and the opposite has been shown to be true for work [ 56 , 57 ]. This is consistent with other studies that have indicated a stronger effect of the work–family balance on job satisfaction [ 58 , 59 ] and negative emotional responses [ 60 ] for women. Based on these premises, we hypothesized that:

The negative effect of work–family conflict (work-to-family and family-to work) on job satisfaction will be stronger for women than for men.

Similarly, there is evidence that parents experience more problems with the work–family balance than workers without children (for a meta-analysis, see [ 61 ]). This is often because family-related demands are higher for parents [ 62 ]. However, we also sustain that the importance that is given to the family domain is higher for workers with children than for those without. Thus, we hypothesized that:

The negative effect of work–family conflict (work-to-family and family-to work) on job satisfaction will be stronger for workers with children than for those without.

Socioemotional selectivity theory (SST) [ 63 ] sustains that individuals have an intrinsic perception of the time left in their life—the future time perspective—and based on that, they adjust their preferences and behavior. A shortened future time perspective promotes the pursuit of short-term emotion-related goals, such as positive emotional and psychological well-being, and it devaluates long-term goals, such as the development of skills or career advancements [ 63 ]. In the WLB literature, SST implies that elderly workers, who have a shorter future time perspective, should consider family relationships more important than work [ 64 ]. Therefore, a high level of work-to-family conflict will affect elderly workers and their evaluation of job satisfaction more than younger worker. In line with this, Treadway et al. [ 65 ] found that, in the presence of a high work-to-family conflict, workers with a more constrained future time perspective experienced a lower continuance commitment than employees with a less shallow future time perspective.

The negative effect of work–family conflict (work-to-family and family-to-work) on job satisfaction will be stronger for elderly workers than for younger workers.

Because increasing age is associated with higher morbidity, (multiple) chronic conditions, and higher use of health services [ 66 ], the importance of the health domain is expected to be higher among elderly workers than younger workers. Therefore, we hypothesized that:

The positive effect of the WHB on job satisfaction will be stronger for elderly workers than for younger workers.

Finally, work ability is expected to play a role in association with the WHB. Work ability represents the perceived ability to do one’s job effectively and to continue to do so in the near future when considering personal health problems and resources [ 66 ]. Thus, in the life of workers with a low work ability, the health domain generally has more importance than workers with a high work ability because health is a current problem. Considering this, we hypothesized that:

The positive effect of the WHB on job satisfaction will be stronger for workers with a low work ability than for those with a high work ability.

3. Materials and Methods

3.1. sample and procedure.

The study involved workers of full age under an employment contract. Entrepreneurs and self-employed workers were excluded. We distributed the link to the online questionnaire with a brief description of the research through social networks (i.e., Facebook and LinkedIn), messaging applications, and email. To begin the assessment, the participants had to read and approve an informed consent form to freely decide whether to participate in the research. The informed consent provided informed about the aim of the study and the procedures to collect the data, and it ensured that there were no potential risks or costs involved. The research team assured the anonymity and confidentiality of the participants’ responses throughout the entire study process. The contact details of the researcher in charge were provided in the event of any further questions. The study was conducted in accordance with the ethical standards set by the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the Ethical Committee of the University of Milano-Bicocca (Prot.160-2014). The number of subjects that started the questionnaire was 350. However, the dataset used in the analyses contained 318 responses after excluding 32 questionnaires because they were substantially incomplete; that is, the subjects opened the online page of the questionnaire but did not answer any questions. These values represent a completion rate of 91%. All participants lived in Italy; 90% lived in northern Italy. Overall, 37%, 28%, and 35% of the respondents were between 20 and 30, 31 and 44, and 45 and 60 years old, respectively. The proportion of men and women, as well as people with and without children, was balanced in the sample (56% women and 58% with children). Among the 134 workers with children, 49%, 43%, and 8% of the respondents had one, two, and three or more children, respectively. The workers with one or more children under the age of twelve were 51%. Most of the respondents had a partner (76%) and at least an upper secondary school diploma (93%). Most of the participants worked full-time (85%) with an open-ended contract (79%) as a white-collar worker (72%). Table 1 presents detailed descriptive statistics of the sample.

Descriptive statistics of the sample (N = 318).

3.2. Measures

The sociodemographic information described above was provided by the respondents at the beginning of the online questionnaire.

Based on the instrument developed by Keeney et al. [ 11 ] to evaluate the importance in the WLB attached to the different life domains (family, health, household management, friendship, training activities, favorite leisure activities, and community involvement), respondents were asked “How important is it in your life to reconcile work with …? ”. The question was asked, changing the final part, for all of the seven domains of life considered. The response scale was a 10-point scale from 1 (not at all important) to 10 (extremely important).

Two forms of the WLB were measured: the work–family balance and the work–health balance. The work–family balance was measured in the form of the work-to-family conflict (WFC—three items, α = 0.79) and family-to-work conflict (FWC—three items, α = 0.72) with the abbreviated version of the measure of work–family conflict [ 67 ]. Answers were given with a five-point Likert scale, from 1 (completely disagree) to 5 (completely agree). The work–health balance was measured with the Work–Health Balance Questionnaire [ 15 ], which was composed of three subscales: work–health incompatibility (WH—six items, α = 0.84), health climate (HC—five items, α = 0.92), and external support (ES—six items, α = 0.81). The total WHB score was calculated by subtracting WHI from the mean of HC and ES. Answers were given according to a five-point rating scale from 1 (completely disagree) to 5 (completely agree) for WHI and from 1 (never) to 5 (always) for HC and ES.

Work ability, the perceived ability to do one’s job effectively and to continue to do so in the near future when considering personal health problems and resources, was measured with the Work Ability Index (WAI) [ 68 ]. The index was calculated from seven factors (α = 0.79) for a total of 10 items with different rating scales.

Job satisfaction was measured with a single item that asked respondents to rate their overall satisfaction with their job on a 5-point scale from 1 (not at all satisfied) to 5 (fully satisfied). The reliability and validity of the single-item measure to assess job satisfaction has been established [ 69 ].

Harman’s single-factor test was adopted to check for a common method bias. The first factor explained 27% of the variance. Given that this fell below the threshold of 50%, the common method bias does not appear to have been a significant factor in this study. The results of the explorative factor analysis performed for the Harman single-factor test are available in the online Supplementary Materials of this article.

3.3. Data Analysis

All data analyses were performed by using R [ 70 ]. The different life domains were ordered according to the mean importance to the WLB that was attached to them by the respondents. Mean and standard deviations were provided for all the life domains. To test whether family and health domains were considered more important than the other life domains in the WLB (H1), the mean of the importance that was attached to health and family were compared to the mean of the importance that was attached to all the other life domains with a paired t-test. Even if no hypothesis was formulated specifically on this point, we explored whether the family and health domain were considered equally important. A paired t-test between the importance ascribed to family and to health was performed.

The hypotheses about the direction and effect size of work-to-family conflict, family-to-work conflict, and the WHB on job satisfaction (H2a,b and H3a,b) were tested with a multiple linear regression with job satisfaction as the dependent variable and work-to-family conflict, family-to-work conflict and the WHB as independent variables. To evaluate the relative importance of these predictors to the multiple regression model just described, we used the Lindeman, Merenda, and Gold’s metric (LMG) and reported the standardized β . The LMG expresses the squared semipartial correlation that was averaged across all possible ordering of the predictors. Since each order of predictors yields a different decomposition of the model sum of squares, the variance of the dependent variable that is explained by a predictor in a multiple regression varies according to the sequential order in which a predictor is entered into the model in relation to the other predictors. LMG averaged this value for all the possible orders of entry [ 71 ]. As a result, LMG considers both the predictor’s direct effect and its effect when combined with other predictors. Conversely, the standardized β represents only the incremental contribution of each predictor when combined with all remaining predictors [ 71 , 72 ].

This model, as well as the other following models, was controlled for age, marital status, and parental status. The control variables to be included were chosen with a backward model selection by the Akaike information criterion (AIC) from an initial model that included age, gender, education level, marital and parental status, job role, type of contract, and working hours. These preliminary analyses are available in the online Supplementary Material of this article.

Finally, the hypotheses about the moderation of the relation between the work–family balance and/or the WHB with job satisfaction (H4a–e) by individual characteristics (age, gender, parental status, and work ability) were tested with several models—one per moderator—with interaction effects. Continuous variables involved in the interaction were centered on the mean.

4.1. Perceived Importance of Family and Health Domain

The mean and standard deviation of the importance that is attached to the different life domains, ordered by their importance, are listed in Figure 1 .

Mean importance and standard deviation of the seven life domains.

The first paired t-test resulted in a significant difference in the mean of the importance that was attached to health and family (M = 9.27 and SD = 1.04) and those ascribed to the other life domains (M = 7.3 and SD = 1.32); t (317) = 25.7 and p < 0.001. This result supported H1a, that is, the health and family domains were considered to be more important than the other domains in the WLB.

Moreover, the second paired t-test resulted in a nonsignificant difference in the importance that is attached to health (M = 9.29 and SD = 1.18) and those attached to family (M = 9.25 and SD = 1.3); t (317) = 0.57 and p = 0.57. This exploratory analysis showed that health and family are life domains considered of equivalent importance in the WLB.

4.2. Consequences of Work–Family and Work–Health Balance on Job Satisfaction

Table 2 presents the result of the first model that tested the effects of work-to-family conflict, family-to-work conflict, and the WHB on job satisfaction (R 2 = 0.28, F (6/308) = 20.24, and p < 0.001).

Adjusted effects of work-to-family conflict, family-to-work conflict, and the work–health balance (WHB) on job satisfaction.

*** = p < 0.001; ** = p < 0.01; * = p < 0.05; 1 se = standard error.

The model resulted in a significant negative effect of work-to-family conflict and a nonsignificant effect of family-to-work conflict, thus partially supporting H2a. The LMG of work-to-family conflict on job satisfaction (LMG = 0.08) was eight times greater than that of family-to-work conflict (LMG = 0.01). Moreover, the former was statistically significant, while the other was not. These results fully supported H2b. Considering the effect of the WHB on job satisfaction, the model estimated a significant positive effect, supporting H3a. Moreover, the variance that was explained by the WHB (LMG = 0.16) was twice as much as the variance that was explained by work-to-family conflict (LMG = 0.08), supporting H3b.

4.3. Moderators of the Effects of Work–Family and Work–Health Balance

Table 3 reports models 1 and 2, which tested the moderating effect of gender and parental status, respectively.

Adjusted effects of work-to-family conflict, family-to-work conflict, and the WHB on job satisfaction.

*** = p < 0.001; ** = p < 0.01; * = p < 0.05; 1 In model 1, the moderator is gender (female); in model 2, the moderator is parental status (no children). Continuous variables in the interactions have been centered on the mean.

Model 1 (R 2 = 0.30, F (9/305) = 14.54, and p < 0.001) in Table 3 showed a significant negative interaction of gender with work-to-family conflict but no interaction with family-to-work conflict. The interaction indicates that the negative effect of work-to-family conflict on job satisfaction was stronger among women than among men. To facilitate the interpretation, the interaction effect is depicted in Figure 2 . This result partially supported H4a: The effect of the work–family balance, specifically of work-to-family conflict, on job satisfaction was stronger among women than among men.

Moderating effect of gender on the relationship between work-to-family conflict and job satisfaction.

Model 2 (R 2 = 0.31, F (8/306) = 17.46, and p < 0.001) in Table 3 again showed a significant interaction of work-to-family conflict with the moderator (i.e., parental support) but no interaction of the moderator with family-to-work conflict. The interaction indicates that the negative effect of work-to-family conflict on job satisfaction was stronger among workers with children than among those without. This interaction effect is depicted in Figure 3 . This result partially supported H4b: The effect of the work–family balance on job satisfaction, specifically of work-to-family conflict, is stronger among workers with children than among those without.

Moderating effect of parental status on the relationship between work-to-family conflict and job satisfaction.

Table 4 reports models 3 and 4, which tested the effects of two moderators—age and work ability, respectively. Model 3 (R 2 = 0.31, F (9/305) = 15.28, and p < 0.001) in Table 4 showed a significant interaction of age with work-to-family and family-to-work conflict but no interaction with the WHB.

*** = p < 0.001; ** = p < 0.01; * = p < 0.05; 1 In model 3, the moderator is age; in model 4, the moderator is work ability. Continuous variables in the interactions have been centered on the mean.

The interactions showed that the negative effect of work-to-family conflict on job satisfaction increased with age ( Figure 4 a), whereas family-to-work conflict appeared to have a positive effect for older workers ( Figure 4 b). These results again supported H4c only for work-to-family conflict, whereas they showed an unexpected positive effect of family-to-work conflict on job satisfaction among the elderly. In contrast, the results did not support H4d because the effect of the WHB on job satisfaction did not seem to increase with age.

( a ) Moderating effect of age on the relationship between work-to-family conflict and job satisfaction. ( b ) Moderating effect of age on the relationship between family-to-work conflict and job satisfaction.

Model 4 (R 2 = 0.33, F (8/306) = 18.18, and p < 0.001) in Table 4 showed a significant negative interaction between the WHB and work ability. The interaction showed that the positive effect of the WHB on job satisfaction decreased with the increase in work ability ( Figure 5 ). This result supported H4e: The positive effect of the WHB on job satisfaction increased with the decline in work ability.

Moderating effect of work ability on the relationship between the work–health balance and job satisfaction.

5. Discussion

This study aimed to verify the importance of different, specific nonwork domains in the work–life balance process, with a focus on family and health. We also investigated the impact of the work–family balance (in both directions) and the work–health balance on job satisfaction and how the heterogeneity of the current workforce modifies these relationships.

The results supported the first hypothesis. As hypothesized, when considering their work–life balance, the workers attached more importance to the health and family domains than to the other nonwork domains. A further analysis showed that the health and family domains were given similar importance. This result was the starting point of the entire study and justified the inclusion of the concept of the work–health balance. The workers rated family and health as 25% more important than the other nonwork life domain in their work–life balance. The fact that health was important as family is a relevant result, and it was found to be even more important when we analyzed the sample. Indeed, there were no apparent sample characteristics that made this sample more exposed to health issues than the general population. This fact suggests that researchers and companies should pay more attention to the health domain even for workers that are not affected by severe or chronic health conditions.

The second hypothesis concerned the effect of the work–family balance on job satisfaction. The work–family balance was supposed to affect job satisfaction, and work-to-family conflict was supposed to be more important than family-to-work conflict. The results supported this hypothesis and, consistent with other studies, the effect of family-to-work conflict on job satisfaction was smaller than that of work-to-family conflict and was statistically not significant [ 73 ]. This result can be explained in light of the appraisal theory [ 40 ]: If work threatens family life (work–life conflict), work will be negatively appraised; if family issues threaten work participation (family–work conflict), family, not the work, will be negatively appraised [ 41 ]. Consistent with a prior meta-analysis [ 29 ], these results support the “matching-hypothesis” (work-to-family conflict affects the work domain more, whereas family-to-work conflict affects the family domain more) as opposed to the “cross-domain hypothesis” (work-to-family conflict affects the family domain more, whereas family-to-work conflict affects the work domain more). Our study provides new evidence in this sense because the regression model was controlled for the work–health balance and because of the adoption of the LMG metric.

The third hypothesis investigated the effect of the WHB on job satisfaction and its importance relative to work–family conflict. As hypothesized, the WHB had a positive and statistically significant relationship with job satisfaction, and its importance was two times greater than that of work-to-family conflict. This result supports the usefulness of the specific instrument, the WHB questionnaire, and confirms the importance of filling the gap in the literature [ 42 ] by introducing the health domain into the concept of the work–life balance. Even if our results cannot be considered definitive in saying that the health domain is more important than the family domain in the genesis of job satisfaction, they clearly indicate that, when investigating or promoting work–life balance, considering the WHB is at least as important as considering the work–family balance. The common practice of considering the work–life balance as an issue that is related only to family is wrong and limits the possibility to explain work phenomena through the lens of the work–life balance.

The fourth hypothesis was related to the moderation of the effects of work–family conflict and the WHB by specific work characteristics (i.e., gender, parental status, age, and work ability) on job satisfaction. All three hypothesized moderators of the effect of work-to-family conflict on job satisfaction (i.e., gender, parental status, and age) were supported, whereas only one moderator of the family-to-work conflict effect (i.e., age) was sustained. Of the two hypothesized moderators (age and work ability) of the WHB effect on job satisfaction, only the interaction with work ability was supported.

In particular, the impact of work-to-family conflict on job satisfaction was greater for women (H4a), parent workers (H4b), and elderly workers (H4c). The reason for this moderation effect is likely due to the difference in salience of the family domain attached by the groups of workers. Women are likely to evaluate family as more central in their lives than men because of widespread cultural norms and gender-differentiated values [ 56 , 57 ]. Likewise, parents are likely to give more salience to family than people with no children because of cultural norms and, possibly, because of a “self-selection process” that brings people with a high salience of family to be more prone to parenthood than people with a low salience [ 62 , 74 ]. Given such result, it is possible, and should be tested in future studies, that being responsible for eldercare, beyond generally increasing the level of work-to-family conflict, also increases the impact of work-to-family conflict on job satisfaction. Finally, as implied by the socioemotional selectivity theory, elderly workers are likely to consider family relationships more important than younger workers because of a shorter future time perspective [ 64 ].

Given the theoretically coherent nonsignificant main effect of family-to-work conflict on job satisfaction, it was not surprising that the hypothesized moderators of its effects were not relevant. However, the moderation of the effect of family-to-work conflict on job satisfaction by age was significant and indicated that among older workers, a higher level of family-to-work conflict was related to higher job satisfaction. A further analyses showed that the effect of family-to-work conflict was nonsignificant among workers of 27 (the first quartile) and 38 years of age (the mean age), but this effect was statistically significant among workers of 49 years of age (the third quartile). The interpretation of this effect is hazardous with the data at hand. Further studies should investigate this effect while also considering the cross-sectional nature of our study. In fact, it is not possible to exclude that the found relationship was inverse. That is, older workers with higher job satisfaction perceived a higher family-to-work conflict because of a greater importance that is attached to the work domain than other elderly workers with lower job satisfaction.

Concerning the WHB, we hypothesized that its effect on job satisfaction was stronger among older workers (H4d) and workers with a lower WAI score (H4e). Since the interaction term was not significant in the case of age, H4d was not supported. Our results showed that a good WHB was associated with an equally high job satisfaction among all ages. We believe this is simply because, in our sample, the importance that was given to the health domain was not associated with age. This idea was supported by post hoc analyses that correlated the importance that was given by the workers to the health domain with their age, which resulted in a nonsignificant correlation ( r = −0.09, t = −1.62, and p = 0.11). We believe this result indicates that the health domain is crucial for both younger and older workers. There is the possibility that the WHB is a very important dimension at all ages—not only for elderly workers as originally intended [ 15 ]. In contrast, our results supported H4e. With the decline of the WAI, that is, with more health problems affecting job activity, the importance of the positive effect of the WHB on job satisfaction was increased. As proposed elsewhere [ 15 ], workers who are more vulnerable to health problems had a greater gain from their work situation with a good balance between health needs and work demands than healthy workers.

Overall, the results regarding the hypothesized moderators indicate that it is crucial to take into account the heterogeneity of the current workforce and to consider the specificity of different groups of workers when considering the WLB. From the outset, most definitions of the work–life balance have stressed the fact that it is not possible to identify an absolute optimal balance because it depends on the importance that the worker gives to the different domains of life [ 1 , 9 , 10 , 16 ]. Despite being theoretically clear, individual differences have been mainly overlooked in the WLB literature. Our study presents strong evidence that the issue must be considered, especially in light of the large presence of women, elderly individuals, people with an LSHPD, singles, and childless couples in the labor force [ 12 , 13 , 14 ].

The current study presents some limitations to consider when interpreting the results. First, the study design was cross-sectional. This limits our confidence in determining the cause and effect in the relationships between the considered variables. We based our considerations on a strong theoretical basis [ 10 , 29 ], but longitudinal studies are needed to replicate our findings.

Second, we adopted an online recruitment procedure that has the problem of a participant selection bias because of the self-selection of participants [ 75 ]. The online recruitment made our sample not representative of the entire working population, but this was beyond our intent. As explained by Landers and Behrend [ 76 ], when the aim is to test theoretically relevant hypotheses, as in our study, sample representativeness is less crucial than when a study aims to estimate the presence and the level of one or more variables in the workers’ population. Of course, our results must be replicated in other samples to increase their generalizability. By comparing our sample characteristics with data representative of the employees in north Italy [ 77 ] (data shown in the online Supplementary Material of this article), it is possible to note some differences in the proportions of job roles, type of occupations, and levels of education that are worth being mentioned. Specifically, like many studies in the WLB literature [ 7 ], in our sample, there was an over-representation of white-collar workers and an under-representation of blue-collar workers. There was an over-representation of clerical support workers and an under-representation of factory workers, skilled laborers, building workers, elementary occupations, and services and sale workers. Finally, the level of education of the sample was higher than in the general population of employees in north Italy. Given these specificities, it will be necessary to test whether the same results hold across samples with an appropriate representation of factory workers, skilled laborers, building workers, elementary occupations, and services and sale workers, as well as employees with a lower level of education.

Third, the measure of the importance that workers gave to the different life domains was based on the instrument of Keeney et al. [ 11 ], but the final instrument was created ad hoc for this study. Therefore, the measurement instrument may have biased the results regarding the importance of the different life domains. However, it should be considered that the questions that were posed to the participants were quite straightforward, and the values obtained for each domain were plausible and not extreme. Even if the instrument was not fine-tuned for exact comparisons, we believe it was appropriate for the aim of the study. The cited limitations warn against an unconditional generalization of the results of this study that, instead, have to be replicated with stronger research designs and other samples of workers.

6. Conclusions

The health issue has emerged in the organizational literature as a central topic. It no longer pertains to only small groups of workers with severe health problems. The changes in the labor force and of the patient’s role in the health system have made it impossible to consider the management of health as an exclusively nonworking activity. This study shows that workers are aware of the importance of the health domain for achieving a good work–life balance. Our results indicate health as a fundamental domain in the work–life balance dynamic that is as important as the family domain, if not more so. Researchers and practitioners should therefore consider the health domain in addition to the family domain when investigating the work–life balance.

By showing the differences in the effects of the work–family balance and the work–health balance on job satisfaction for different categories of workers, the present study demonstrates the importance of individual differences in the work–life balance process. That is, the balance between work and life is not absolute, but it is related to the importance that is given by the worker to the various domains. This relationship is of prominent importance in the current heterogeneous labor force.

Finally, our results provide evidence, to be replicated, that the importance of the work–health balance is not related to age, as previously believed; but only with the health condition.

Overall, this study is relevant for the work–life balance literature because, to the best of our knowledge, it is the first to consider the work–health balance. Moreover, it is one of the few studies that, through moderation analyses, investigates how the effect of the work–life balance on a relevant outcome changes according to workers’ characteristics.

Acknowledgments

We thank Martina Raimondi for her valuable assistance during the process of data collection and Zavagno D. for his help in proofreading the final changes made to the manuscript.

Supplementary Materials

The following are available online at https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/3/907/s1 , Table S1: Factor Loadings of the EFA performed for the Harman’s single factor test, Table S2: Percentage of variance explained by the factors, Table S3: Comparison of the characteristics of the sample with those of the population of employees in north Italy.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, A.G. and M.M.; Methodology, A.G. and S.S.; Formal analysis, A.G.; Investigation, A.G. and M.M.; Data curation, A.G., M.M.; Writing—original draft preparation, A.G.; Writing—review and editing, S.S., M.M. and A.G.; Visualization, A.G. and S.S.; Supervision, M.M.; Project administration, M.M. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

This research received no external funding. The APC was funded by the “Fondo di Ateneo” grant, from the University of Milano-Bicocca to M.M.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funder had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Work-Life Balance in Psychology: 12 Examples and Theories

We might be a professional, a parent, a partner, a sports person, a community member, a friend, a child.

Our roles and responsibilities differ for each role, and the challenge is to meaningfully satisfy these requirements with as little conflict as possible. This is known as work–life balance.

In this post, we explore the concept of work–life balance: what it is, why it’s important, and if it’s possible to achieve.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Happiness & Subjective Wellbeing Exercises for free . These detailed, science-based exercises will help you or your clients identify sources of authentic happiness and strategies to boost wellbeing.

This Article Contains:

What is work–life balance, 4 real-life examples, is balance important 3 benefits according to research, 8 psychology theories & models, is it possible to achieve work–life balance, work–life balance vs work–life integration, positivepsychology.com’s relevant resources, a take-home message.

Work–life balance (WLB) is a somewhat recent phenomenon, arising from employees’ concerns about the demands expected by their work (Guest, 2002). The perceived increase in these demands can be traced to three factors (Guest, 2002):

• Changes in the work environment
• Changes in life
• Changes in individual attitudes

History surrounding the concept of ‘work–life balance’

In the 1970s, the concept of WLB was initially framed as one concerning work–family balance (Lockwood, 2003). This was partly due to concerns surrounding women joining the workforce (Fleetwood, 2007). The workforce primarily comprised men, whereas women were often employed informally. However, when women could engage in formal employment, the result was that they had to juggle both work and family-life responsibilities.

However, the concept of WLB doesn’t affect women only.

For example:

• Men also play an essential role in child rearing.
• Men are not always the primary breadwinner in heterosexual couples.
• Gay couples also have to juggle both work and family-life responsibilities.

Furthermore, couples who do not have children and individuals who are not in relationships should not be excluded from issues around WLB.

Thus, societal pressures for equal labor opportunities and conditions, coupled with general shifts in industries and attitudes toward gender roles, resulted in more attention on WLB.

This is why the concept changed from work– family life balance to work– life balance, since our personal lives are not limited only to familial needs (Lockwood, 2003).

Other changes in the work environment have contributed to concerns about WLB.

• Technological advancements have increased work pressure.
• Deadlines have become increasingly tight.
• The expected response times for communication have become shorter.
• Expectations of superb customer service have become higher.

These changing work demands lead to inevitable changes in personal lives. For example, working overtime and on weekends leads to less time available to spend on personal life interests.

WLB has also been driven by changes in individual attitudes and values. One such example is how societal attitudes toward work and life have changed from one generation to the next (Thijssen, Van der Heijden, & Rocco, 2008; Wey Smola & Sutton, 2002). Specifically, the likelihood of remaining employed at one company has declined since the 1990s (Eby, Butts, & Lockwood, 2003). As a result, some workers may consider work as a separate, dynamic aspect of life that doesn’t require absolute commitment.

Definitions of WLB

There’s no cohesive, agreed-upon definition of work–life balance in the literature (Kalliath & Brough, 2008). However, the common understanding is that there are (at least) two domains in life: work and personal. Both domains require attention and investment, but not at the sacrifice of each other.

Kalliath and Brough (2008) provide the following set of statements that synthesize the various definitions of WLB provided in the literature:

• People perform different roles in their life, including a work role and a personal life role, and the demands of one role can carry over to the demands of another.
• People should be able to commit equal amounts of time and energy to all roles.
• People should feel satisfied with their own performance in various life domains and should function optimally in these domains. Their performance and function across life domains should not clash.
• The roles that people perform in their life and the importance they assign to these roles change. Therefore, satisfaction with WLB depends on which roles people have prioritized now and whether their expectations are met.
• WLB is achieved when there is little conflict between individuals’ work and personal roles.
• WLB is considered to be the degree of autonomy that people have over the demands of various roles and their ability to meet these demands.

Before becoming a professor at the University of Arkansas, Ryoichi Fujiwara was an academic in Japan. She shares the harmful physical symptoms that she experienced from overworking. She lost 22 pounds, was never hungry, couldn’t sleep, and was working every weekend.

At the advice of her doctor, she decided to start keeping regular work hours and avoiding overtime. She also started exercising regularly. After a few months, her appetite returned, and she has maintained a healthier work–life balance (Fujiwara, 2021).

Mohadeseh Ganji was the recipient of the Women Leading Tech Award for Data Science in 2020. She is aware that the nature of the job is to spend most of her working time in front of her computer.

To counter this, she makes an effort to be outdoors, even if only for a short period, and she tries to set boundaries around her working hours. Admittedly, sometimes she cannot maintain these boundaries, but she is aware of this and is always actively working to reinforce them (Fleetwood, 2021).

Monash University interviewed five women researchers at their university and asked them about the challenges that they experience in their jobs.

Most of the researchers touched on the idea of work–life balance, specifically juggling a heavy workload with family responsibilities. For example, Professor Andrea Reupert, Professor Jane Wilkinson, and Associate Professor Ruth Jeanes emphasized that:

• Sharing caregiving roles and responsibilities helps to ease stress experienced by working moms.
• Clear work–life boundaries with time dedicated to specific tasks helps achieve work–life balance (Allen, 2021).

Nigel Marsh worked in a corporate industry and experienced a common challenge: working too much with little time for his family. In his TEDx Talk , he gives his suggestions for what contributes to successful work–life balance.

In his often humorous talk, he argues that it’s difficult to achieve work–life balance, because core issues are not addressed.

These issues are:

• There is a societal emphasis on materialism.
• Individuals must be responsible for their own lives and must be allowed to set their own boundaries.
• Work–life balance isn’t achieved in a single day but could be achieved across a longer period of time.
• Balance means that multiple domains need to be attended to, and micro changes can have macro effects.

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Before heralding WLB as an optimal way of living, let’s first explore some assumptions about WLB within the extant literature.

Assumptions about work–life balance

The first two assumptions about WLB are that there are multiple domains in our lives, including work and personal, and that these domains can be separated (Eikhof, Warhurst, & Haunschild, 2007). However, the degree of separation differs among people and industries. For example, someone who runs a home business may find it more difficult to separate their work life from their personal life.

Another assumption is that we typically dedicate too much time and energy to the work domain. These resources are finite and can include time, energy, and motivation. The result of this imbalance is that we have too few resources to dedicate to other domains, specifically the personal domain (Eikhof et al., 2007).

Studies on WLB do not investigate an imbalance where too few resources are available for work.

Another assumption is that work is a negative domain that results in unhappiness, stress, and other negative states (Eikhof et al., 2007). Presumably, if a balance is struck between these two domains, then the negative effects of work are negated by the positive benefits of personal life. However, the WLB argument ignores how fulfilling and satisfying work can be (Eikhof et al., 2007).

Benefits of work–life balance

Achieving WLB benefits both work and personal lives (Chimote & Srivastava, 2013; Lockwood, 2003).

These benefits include:

• People have more time available to run personal errands, such as servicing cars, and address personal issues, such as going to the doctor. As a result, people are less likely to use work hours on non-work-related issues, use fewer sick days for personal errands, and can also look after themselves through regular medical checkups.
• People who have more time for their personal life report high job satisfaction and, as a result, are less likely to resign. They are also more motivated at work and more productive.
• Happier people who have high job satisfaction and more time for their personal life are less likely to develop illnesses and stress-related conditions.

One limitation of these theories is that the two domains are purposely considered to be separate constructs, and the people in the two domains are different. Therefore, these theories do not extend to situations where work is a family-run business (i.e., when your sibling is also your coworker).

The models are described below.

• Segmentation : The two domains – work and life – exist separately from each other, and there is no relationship between these two domains. Experiences in one domain do not affect experiences in the other.
• Spillover : Work and life domains are separate, but factors in one domain can affect the other. These effects can be negative or positive. Edwards and Rothbard (2000) provide the following definition: the behaviors, feelings, and values of the two domains become more similar.
• Compensation : Experiences and feelings in one domain can be used to make up or compensate for the gaps in another. A typical example is where dissatisfaction in one domain is negated by satisfaction in another. The process of compensation is an active and conscious decision (Edwards & Rothbard, 2000).
• Resource drain : Optimal functioning requires the availability of resources such as time, energy, and motivation. These resources, however, are finite. Sometimes, optimal functioning in one domain might require more resources from another. The transfer of resources is not considered an autonomous process, like in the compensation model (Edwards & Rothbard, 2000).
• Instrumental : The choices in one domain allow for maximum success in another.
• Congruence : Due to the presence of a third variable, the experiences across domains are similar. Examples of these third variables are individual qualities, such as personality or coping styles, or external factors, such as social influences.
• Conflict : The choices and needs of all domains compete for our limited resources, causing stress and/or unhappiness. As a result, our roles across various domains conflict with each other. Conflict may include reduced functioning in personal life due to work pressures (known as work–family conflict); it can also be the other way around, where family pressures impair occupational functioning and performance (known as family–work conflict; Bakker & Demerouti, 2013).
• An eighth theory, the spillover-crossover model , was posited by Bakker and Demerouti (2013). They argue that positive or negative experiences in one domain can spill over to another, but their effects can cross over and impact the wellbeing of other people.

Admittedly, the jury is still out on this question.

Some researchers and professionals have reservations about whether it is possible to achieve WLB (McCormack & Niehoff, 2019).

Although the definition of WLB has its shortcomings, there is enough research to suggest the following:

• It is possible to increase employee job and life satisfaction by improving workplace conditions.
• Stress can affect life satisfaction.
• Healthy WLB can positively affect health (Jones, Burke, & Westman, 2013).

The aim is not to treat WLB as a single goal, which, once achieved, is ignored and never addressed again. Instead, consider WLB to be a kinetic balancing toy.

Sometimes the balance will shift toward work; sometimes it will shift toward personal life. The point is to be aware of feelings about work and personal life and to engage in behaviors that will buttress against the negative effects of stress and of the scale shifting too much toward one particular life domain.

Another consideration is that WLB is not a universal, absolute value. In other words, two people can achieve balance in different ways and at different points along the work–life spectrum.

Reiter (2007) makes a convincing argument that ‘balance’ is subjective; instead of striving toward an absolute value of WLB, it is better to strive toward optimal functioning within different life domains with as little conflict as possible between them.

Work–life integration challenges some assumptions of the typical argument of WLB, specifically that work and personal life are separate domains.

Work–life integration is considered the midpoint between zero and complete segmentation of work and personal life (Morris & Madsen, 2007).

One unique contribution that work–life integration brings to the debate surrounding WLB is the function that the community can play. Researchers who promote work–life integration argue that people in the work, personal life, and community domains can work together to help one another achieve their goals in each domain.

Unfortunately, these same people can also impair success in various life domains. As a result, work–life integration can be considered as an ecosystem containing different people with different roles, and their actions with one another in multiple domains can help or hinder successful work–life integration.

Morris and Madsen (2007) argue that for successful work–life integration, people should consider the following points that can contribute to success and happiness across domains:

• Identifying, addressing, and supporting role demands in various life domains
• Identifying, addressing, and supporting relationship demands in various life domains
• Identifying, addressing, and supporting different responsibilities in various life domains
• Outlining a set of rules about behavior in various life domains but also identifying different responses to these rules and clarifying whether these rules are malleable or concrete
• Identifying the rituals (i.e., structured behaviors that are expected) in different domains and addressing whether these rituals hinder or help domain success
• Identifying the resources that are needed to achieve domain success but also assessing the availability of resources in each domain

Consider this example: Bjorn is newly wed and a new parent. He often works long hours at the local pharmacy. By coming home late, he has less time to spend with his wife and their new baby, and consequently he cannot offer as much emotional support to his wife as he would like. Bjorn is unhappy, and there is some tension between him and his wife; as a result, Bjorn feels angry toward his boss.

Work–life integration theory argues that people are not limited to their roles within only one particular domain; their actions in one domain can affect others.

Therefore, Bjorn’s employers and colleagues must recognize their role in his performance in other domains and put into place certain systems that can lead to optimal functioning in other domains.

Examples would include:

• Recognizing that the long hours are causing tension between Bjorn and his wife
• Recognizing that having a newborn is a stressful experience in general
• Allowing Bjorn to take parental leave
• Allowing Bjorn to work flexible hours so that he can help at home and make up the lost time in other ways
• Allowing Bjorn to take leave in order to take his baby to the doctor or run errands
• Organizing social events so that Bjorn and his wife can meet his colleagues and get advice from other experienced parents
• Communicating clear deadlines and tasks so that Bjorn knows that he is still on track at work and contributing meaningfully
• Communicating clearly with Bjorn if superiors/colleagues feel Bjorn is struggling to meet his deadlines

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We have several tools that can help your client achieve WLB, and a great start is this coaching article – Coaching on Work–Life Balance: 11 Strategies & Questions with practical strategies.

A highly recommended worksheet is Meeting Needs With Reality Therapy . This worksheet helps clients understand their needs and what actions they could take to meet them.

This tool can be used repeatedly with the same client at various stages of their life because their needs and life circumstances will change with time. The tool takes 20 minutes and could be completed in-session or at home.

If your client approaches you after a negative experience, then you could consider using the Vicious Versus Virtuous Stress Thinking worksheet. In this worksheet, clients can use a table to consider unhelpful versus helpful thinking regarding an event.

This tool is very helpful for clients who may struggle with stress that is perpetuated by negative (vicious) cycles of thinking. Clients learn a useful technique to reframe unhelpful beliefs and thinking and adopt a virtuous cycle of thinking to make the best of what is outside and inside their control.

If you’re looking for more science-based ways to help others develop strategies to boost their wellbeing, this collection contains 17 validated happiness and wellbeing exercises . Use them to help others pursue authentic happiness and work toward a  life filled with purpose and meaning.

Maintaining work–life balance is a continuous lifelong process, and the balance will tilt toward different domains. This tilting is normal; sometimes we need to give more to work, other times to family.

The goal is not to ‘achieve’ work–life balance, because this implies that there is some type of finality to the journey. Balance achieved? Check. Move on.

Instead, the journey toward WLB is dynamic, requires regular reflection, and is different for each person. Therefore, the goal is to be aware of the different roles that we are balancing and to evaluate whether we are meeting those responsibilities in a way that we are satisfied with. Through self-evaluation and self-awareness, we learn more about what balance means to us.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Happiness Exercises for free .

• Allen, K. (2021, March 2). International Women’s Day 2021: The realities of being a woman at the top of academia. Lens . Retrieved March 3, 2021, from https://lens.monash.edu/@education/2021/03/02/1382904/iwd-2021-the-realities-of-being-a-woman-at-the-top-of-academia
• Bakker, A. B., & Demerouti, E. (2013). The spillover-crossover model. In J. G. Grzywacz & E. Demerouti (Eds.), Current issues in work and organizational psychology. New frontiers in work and family research (pp. 54–70). Psychology Press.
• Chimote, N. K., & Srivastava, V. N. (2013). Work-life balance benefits: From the perspective of organizations and employees. IUP Journal of Management Research , 12 (1), 62–73.
• Eby, L. T., Butts, M., & Lockwood, A. (2003). Predictors of success in the era of the boundaryless career.  Journal of Organizational Behavior: The International Journal of Industrial, Occupational and Organizational Psychology and Behavior ,  24 (6), 689–708.
• Edwards, J. R., & Rothbard, N. P. (2000). Mechanisms linking work and family: Clarifying the relationship between work and family constructs. Academy of Management Review , 25 (1), 178–199.
• Eikhof, D. R. , Warhurst, C., & Haunschild, A. (2007). Introduction: What work? What life? What balance? Critical reflections on the work-life balance debate. Employee Relations ,  29 (4), 325–333.
• Fleetwood, C. (2021, March 3). Mohadeseh Ganji reveals how she balances screen time with everyday life. B&T Magazine. Retrieved March 3, 2021, from https://www.bandt.com.au/mohadeseh-ganji-phd-reveals-how-she-balances-screen-time-with-everyday-life-more/
• Fleetwood, S. (2007). Why work–life balance now? The International Journal of Human Resource Management , 18 (3), 387–400.
• Fujiwara, R. (2021, February 11). Overworking tanked my health—until I began to prioritize work-life balance. Science. Retrieved March 3, 2021, from https://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2021/02/overworking-tanked-my-health-until-i-began-prioritize-work-life-balance
• Jones, F., Burke, R. J., & Westman, M. (Eds.). (2013). Work-life balance: A psychological perspective . Psychology Press.
• Guest, D. E. (2002). Perspectives on the study of work-life balance. Social Science Information , 41 (2), 255–279.
• Kalliath, T., & Brough, P. (2008). Work-life balance: A review of the meaning of the balance construct. Journal of Management & Organization , 14 (3), 323–327.
• Lockwood, N. R. (2003). Work/life balance: Challenges and solutions. Society for Human Resource Management.
• McCormack, B. M., & Niehoff, L. (2019, October 17). There is no work-life balance. Litigation Journal. Retrieved from https://www.americanbar.org/groups/litigation/publications/litigation_journal/2019-20/fall/there-no-worklife-balance/
• Morris, M. L., & Madsen, S. R. (2007). Advancing work—life integration in individuals, organizations, and communities. Advances in Developing Human Resources , 9 (4), 439–454.
• Reiter, N. (2007). Work life balance: What do you mean? The ethical ideology underpinning appropriate application. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science , 43 (2), 273–294.
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Importance of Work-Life Balance

Introduction, inequality of work and family, suggested changes, works cited.

In the modern world, the question of how to combine intense professional activity and personal life has become very relevant. This problem has become a concern for an increasing number of enterprises and their employees. The researchers noted an increase in the need for flexible working hours, working from home, or telecommuting. The constant deadline, the frantic pace of life, and the desire to be on time everywhere and all at once led people to the fact that they accumulate fatigue. Thus, even experienced professionals are not able to work constantly with high efficiency. The rhythm of work and the lack of rest do not allow the spent energy to be restored. If a person abandons his personal life, including interaction with family and friends, he loses his taste for life. Many people lose job satisfaction if they have to sacrifice their values or family. Work-life balance is an important indicator determining the ratio of time spent at work and home.

The psychological balance between various spheres of a person’s life is a dynamic process and implies a constant desire to achieve it. The subjective sense of balance between work and personal life is associated with the objective contribution of time or human effort to each area. Still, it is impossible to talk about objective quantitative indicators of any region (Liu et al. 7). For each person, the optimal ratio between these two areas is individual. Thus, the problem arises of establishing the factors that determine the achievement of such a balance, as well as its place among other psychological characteristics of labor activity and human life as a whole.

Beyond family policy in the narrower sense, the labor market, educational and tax policies, and welfare systems are essential for a better work-family balance. In recent years, a large number of reforms have been carried out in politics, which directly or indirectly affected the balance between family and work. Examples include the introduction of parental benefits, the expansion of childcare services, and the increase in the number of full-time schools (Slaughter, Dorment). The question arises whether these and some other reforms followed a strict leitmotif. On the one hand, people are debating about the common goals and modes of action of political measures – planned and unintentional. On the other hand, one should talk about the linkage of individual reforms over time and the ability of changes to be connected to the general structure of political institutions.

In addition, women and men are often assigned certain gender norms. This separation creates an imbalance between maternity leave and parental leave that divides women and men into ‘typical’ work and family roles as viewed by society. This fact prevents men from living the part of a father and women from returning to work (Liu et al. 1-2). Both sexes want to work and have family time, but not everyone has an idea of what specific measures are needed for this.

Typically, when people talk about achieving work-life balance, they are talking about a work schedule that does not require them to sacrifice their time for longer work hours. Enabling workers to combine their non-work life with work — whether they spend that time caring for their mother or running marathons — will open the door to a broader range of influences and ideas (Slaughter). Creating this balance is often considered critical to employee well-being and superior organizational culture.

Now there is still an opinion that an effective employee spends all the time at his desk, and the more, the better this employee. Efficiency naturally peaks and falls for the day ⁠— people will not consistently demonstrate high productivity levels. By reducing the culture of “time macho,” employees will feel less stressed and more energized so that they will get the most out of their time off (Slaughter). The author of the article wonders if it is necessary to spend the inevitable additional hours directly in the office. She notes that some circumstances are certainly more effective if carried out personally (Slaughter). However, armed with email, instant messaging, telephones, and video conferencing technology, it is possible to move towards a culture in which the office is the base of operations rather than a necessary place of work.

Unpaid overtime is also linked to the established definition of professionalism and success when discussing early career building. Slaughter notes that the opinion about a successful career until the age of 45–55 is relevant for the 20th century but not for the modern world. Young people now grow up and start families much later than they used to; life expectancy has also risen from 71 years to 80 years (Slaughter). All this significantly changes priorities throughout life, so the definition of success, which is tied to age and over time, should be reconsidered.

Most people find it difficult to organize themselves in detail in their professional or family life. In addition, going back to work can be like starting over. The result is the same, but life with a child or a large family makes different demands, significantly impacting professional life and the person himself. Since most of the family work is done by women, hidden discrimination occurs, so the lack of reference to gender and family aspects has been widely criticized.

In today’s society, more and more fathers apply for parental leave, receiving a parental allowance and sharing the care of the child with the mother (Dorment). As a result, parents spend more time with their children, and fathers are also allowed to engage in their fathering role more intensively if they are on parental leave. In addition, it will help to relieve the woman in the household or offer her the opportunity to return to work in a more relaxed manner.

With these parental benefits, the family policy will aim to improve employees’ skills, reconcile work and family, and support fathers in childcare. In addition, incentives have been created for women to return to work soon after the birth of a child (Dorment). However, these services are not equally available to all parents (Slaughter). Considering parents in higher-income groups can afford to babysit at home longer than parents in lower-income groups, as long as a well-earning partner also contributes to the income.

Despite the rapidly developing and therefore changing society, it still cannot get rid of the ideas and sensations that have taken root in it. Both authors in their articles emphasize that women are more inclined to choose a family, and men are more likely to choose a career when they face such a choice. Young fathers usually feel left out if they decide to stay with the child while their wife goes to work (Dorment). However, men have become much more involved parents over the last couple of decades, and this also suggests broad support for significant changes in how women balance work and family (Slaughter). Thus, a paradigm shift towards an equal distribution of family responsibilities and childcare will help to abandon the difficult choice between family and work.

Ensuring a balance between different areas of life is seen as an important socio-political problem and a topical issue in terms of economic efficiency and organizational culture. It is also essential to talk about social, cultural, and educational topics to create a family culture. Women, men, business, politics, and society must work together for equality. It is the only way to create a framework that does not force employees to choose between work, career, and family and that is offered to all talented people, regardless of gender and age.

The main criterion for changing the concept of a successful career and a happy family life lies primarily in the process of changing society. The problem of allocating time and energy to both family and work is becoming more and more common among employees. However, this can be avoided by changing established workflow structures such as overwork and being in the office all the time to achieve early success. In addition, changing the vision of gender roles will greatly help women in their careers and improve the overall economic situation of the country. Outcomes in the family and career spheres depend on conformity or inconsistency at various levels of individual preferences and working conditions.

Dorment, Richard. “Why Men Still Can’t Have It All.” Esquire , 2020.

Liu, Pei, et al. “ Predicting Work–Family Balance: A New Perspective on Person–Environment Fit. ” Frontiers in Psychology , vol. 10, 2019.

Slaughter, Anne-Marie. “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All.” The Atlantic , Atlantic Media Company, 2022.

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The Importance of Achieving Work-Life Balance: Why It Matters

In the competitive world, balancing work and life is vital for mental and physical health. Struggling to balance career pressures and neglecting relationships, hobbies, self-care, and happiness. This article emphasizes work-life balance's importance and offers tips for achieving it.

Do you find yourself constantly stressed and overwhelmed by the demands of work and personal life? Achieving a work-life balance is crucial for your overall well-being and happiness. In today's fast-paced and competitive world, it can be easy to prioritize work and neglect other important aspects of life. However, maintaining a healthy balance between work and personal life is essential for both your mental and physical health.

In recent years, the concept of work-life balance has gained significant attention as more and more individuals struggle to juggle their professional and personal responsibilities. The pressure to excel in one's career often leads to neglecting personal relationships, hobbies, and self-care. This imbalance can have detrimental effects on both professional performance and personal happiness.

Achieving work-life balance beneficial not only for individuals but also for organizations. Employees who can maintain a healthy balance between work and personal life are more productive, engaged, and satisfied. In this article, we will explore the importance of work-life balance and provide practical tips on achieving it in today's demanding world.

What Is Work-Life Balance?

Work-life balance is the ability to strike a healthy equilibrium between work and private lives. It is about creating the right balance of activities in both realms to maximize job satisfaction, personal happiness, and productivity in our own space. Many people feel that achieving work-life balance requires striking a perfect harmony between family commitments, social responsibilities, and time spent at work. When this delicate balance is achieved, it can help lead to higher levels of contentment in all areas of life.

In practice, effort must be put into determining the most beneficial ratio for each person's unique circumstances; how much time should be given to furthering one’s career versus enjoying time with family? It also involves establishing rigid boundaries around time away from work and breaking down mental barriers that contribute to feelings of guilt or inadequacy when ‘switching off’ outside of office hours. Ultimately this could bring greater yet sustainable sets of productivity increases while allowing well-deserved rest during non-working periods. With such clarity on what factors are important for lifestyle satisfaction, they would ultimately feel able to set their own objectives towards improved quality of life.

Why Is Work-Life Balance Important?

When talking about work-life balance, it is important to acknowledge that it is beneficial for everyone, not just women. Studies have shown that men have expressed similar desires to achieve a positive balance between work and personal life. The language men use when discussing this concept differs slightly from the language used by women; men are more likely to talk about striving for a sense of success in all facets of their lives rather than balancing all competing areas of their lives.

Ultimately, the goal is to create a meaningful, manageable rhythm that allows them to contribute actively in both work and non-work aspects without compromising on any area. This intersection can help bring immense satisfaction and opportunities for growth, which can result in feeling content with one’s lifestyle. Work-life balance cultivates healthier relationships with family or friends as well as colleagues or peers. Therefore it’s safe to say that for everyone (including both men and women), achieving a healthy work-life balance provides plenty of benefits that make the effort worthwhile and impactful.

How to Improve Work-Life Balance?

Here are some tips on how to improve work-life balance:

Stay Ahead of the Curve

When it comes to managing time, planning is essential in combining work activities with leisure, social, or fitness activities. Being intentional in allocating various times for different tasks can help ensure that you strike a balance between achieving important work objectives and taking care of personal commitments. For instance, if you have several virtual meetings back-to-back, why not take them while you are on a walk outdoors? This way, you can get some fresh air and a few minutes away from your home office's sedentary nature. You could also take a call outside (if ambient noise allows!) or invite a friend over to work with you so that there is someone to share the experience with.

Additionally, try actively thinking of ways to make mundane tasks more enjoyable by experimenting a bit- this could be anything from listening to your favorite podcast while cooking dinner or going for a walk after filing paperwork and putting emails into folders. The idea is to recognize your responsibilities while also carving out pockets of personal joy during the day. Doing so helps maintain focus and productivity toward achieving goals while allowing room for self-care in our often hectic routines.

Engage in Beyond-Work Pursuits

Engaging in something we love outside of work can help us stay energized and motivated. Whether it's playing music, crafting, exercising, or painting, having a passion project can be a great way to unwind and relax after a long day. By immersing ourselves in something that brings us joy and creativity, we open the door to finding new solutions to problems at work.

Having hobbies not only helps to reduce mental stress but physical as well. Research reveals that hobbies can help reduce stress, decreasing our chance of getting highly exposed to diseases and illnesses due to accumulated tension. Furthermore, when we feel truly passionate about something, it is much easier for us to stay on-task and efficiently complete goals set forth by our employers. We show better commitment when our job is not the only thing fueling our desire for success; when we have hobbies that inspire us, our enthusiasm carries over into our professional lives as well.

Pay attention to your physical and mental health

Taking care of our health is of utmost importance. When we are healthy, our bodies can tackle more and perform better. Regular physical exercise is an important part of health care as it helps to reduce stress, anxiety, and depression. People who exercise regularly also tend to be sharper mentally, have more energy, and overall improved well-being. It’s important to find exercises that you like that fit into your daily routine and to stick with them consistently even when life seems too busy.

Getting enough sleep is not only essential for physical health; it's also important for mental wellness. Quality sleep can help keep us alert during the day and maintain better emotional equilibrium over time. Try setting a regular sleeping pattern, making sure you make up for any lost sleep to restore your body’s natural rhythms. Regarding dieting, watch out for what you eat by consuming lots of fruits, vegetables, proteins and carbohydrates which ensure adequate nourishment. Also, drinking alcohol or other drugs in moderation is important as it can have an appreciable impact on health if taken indiscriminately or in large quantities without proper guidance at all times. So ultimately, it all boils down to leading a healthy lifestyle with proper exercising and dieting to ensure work-life balance.

Create dedicated time segments for each task on your schedule

Time management is essential for prioritizing our most important tasks and projects. One way to do this is to set blocks of time dedicated to specific tasks. This can help people stay more organized, preventing tasks from getting jumbled up throughout their day. The type of tasks you assign yourself should coincide with when you feel the most productive during the day. For instance, if mornings are when your brain is at its peak, designate that time for projects requiring a lot of creative thinking. Later in the day, use blocks of time for reviewing messages or scheduling meetings.

These set blocks of time also provide structure and security; knowing exactly when we have to tend to certain responsibilities prevents us from ever feeling overloaded or overwhelmed. Additionally, they help prevent procrastination by providing concrete goals and deadlines that must be met throughout the day. We can also look forward to focusing on things that make us feel accomplished and excited about our work since those tasks have designated slots in our schedules. Setting blocks of time ensures that no task gets neglected while also allowing enough flexibility so that we can still take care of any unanticipated chores that come up during the day.

Practice mindfulness

Mindfulness is a valuable practice that helps us to live our lives in balance. With mindfulness, we can be more in tune with our body and mind and better understand ourselves. Being mindful helps us to notice moments when imbalances may creep in, like when our body may be trying to tell us something we're trying hard to ignore.

Practicing mindfulness techniques such as meditation or breath awareness can help make these messages easier to recognize. Observing them while going about our usual activities can be difficult, so taking time out of our schedules to become more conscious of thought patterns and physical sensations is invaluable. By being mindful of our needs, it’s possible to break out of patterns where you suppress a need to work or go through the day's activities without attending properly to your body's wellbeing. If ignored for too long, the imbalance will become harder and harder until you eventually wake up in the middle of the night unable to concentrate on anything, let alone carry on with those spreadsheets at work!

Establish Open Lines of Communication with Your Manager

Maintaining a healthy work-life balance can be very difficult when it feels like you are not getting enough work done. It's easy to feel overwhelmed and start to doubt yourself, but the good news is that help is available. Having an open and honest conversation with your manager or leader is one of the best things you can do in this situation. You can discuss how busy you're feeling and ask for advice on where to spend your time most effectively.

Once you've identified any potential areas of improvement or tasks that need prioritizing, it might be time to bring up the topic of bringing on additional assistance or streamlining certain processes. Your manager will likely need some convincing, so be prepared to provide concrete examples of how hiring extra help or improving productivity would benefit the company. Be sure to provide tangible evidence whenever possible to back up your ideas, as this will give your request more credibility and increase chances for successful implementation.

Take a Closer Look at Your Finances

Financial reviews are a great way to take control of your finances. Often people tend to want the newest, most expensive items for their home or at work, but it is important to balance our needs with our funds and look into ways that we can save money. A first step could include asking yourself questions like “Do I really need a new car or laptop?” and “Could I get some of the things I need second-hand?”.

If you are renovating your home, try looking into DIY options and think about whether you could manage in a smaller space or not. You should also consider whether bringing lunch to work would be more cost-efficient than relying on takeaway; such small savings can make a big impact over time if consistently done. Finally, you should investigate any available government support that may be applicable to your situation, as you may be able to receive financial assistance in areas such as housing bills or health costs. Taking stock of these few points will help keep your finances in check while ensuring that you don't overlook any opportunities for fulling obtaining all that you need and desire in life without worrying about how much it costs you in the long run.

Practice Ending Work at a Designated Time

The ability to work from home has its own advantages, but it can also be detrimental if workers fail to properly manage their hours. Many people may find themselves staying up late or getting lost in their work and neglecting other responsibilities, such as family time. It's important to create a balance by establishing a certain time that marks the end of your work day. Once you've come up with this cutoff hour, you'll need to enforce it and resist any urge or temptation to keep going.

To increase the effectiveness of this practice, consider powering down any devices related to your job once your allotted work hours are over; this will help condition you into adhering to the schedule and motivate you to finish tasks quicker throughout the day. Alternatively, some workers may choose to “lock” their office door to signify that working time is complete for the day. Additionally, consider scheduling something else for afterward, like reading a book or playing a sport, so there would be an added incentive for you to wrap up on time. With these approaches, you should be able to finally carve out some free time for yourself!

The Key Reasons Behind Prioritizing Work-Life Balance

Making the most out of life means different things to different people. To some, it’s about filling each moment with experiences and adventure. To others, it’s about making a small contribution to the betterment of one’s community or the world at large. Regardless of what brings someone joy and satisfaction, it is true that you only have one life — and you really should be striving to make it worth something.

Below are the reasons why maintaining a work-life balance is so important:

Improves Your Quality of Life - A proper work-life balance can help improve your quality of life in many ways. By balancing your professional and personal life, you can have more time to spend with family and friends, pursue hobbies or passions, and take time for yourself, ultimately making you happier and more fulfilled.

Increases Productivity - Taking regular breaks and having a good work-life balance can actually make you more productive in the long run. By taking breaks, you’re giving yourself time to recuperate and recharge, resulting in improved focus and motivation for your work tasks.

Prevents Burnout - If you don’t take breaks from your work and take care of yourself, you’re more likely to experience burnout. Burnout is a common problem for those who are overworked or don’t have enough free time. It can result in fatigue, lack of motivation, and even depression.

Helps You Make Better Decisions - A balanced life allows you to be in the right mindset to make important decisions. If you’re overworked and stressed, it can be difficult to think clearly and make smart choices.

Positively Impacts Your Mental Health - Taking time for yourself is key when it comes to maintaining your mental health. When you take regular breaks from work, you give your mind time to reset and restore energy levels. This can help reduce stress, improve your mood, and foster a positive outlook on life.

It is therefore important to take a step back now and then to assess what is truly meaningful for you in life, from spending quality time with family and friends, learning new hobbies or skills, or playing an active role in your workplace and career development. We all have aspirations for our lives as individual challenges and goals; achieving these can help provide us with feelings of personal fulfillment that will stay with us long after our lives have ended. Make sure that this isn’t something you regret by not living your life to its fullest potential; seize any opportunities that come your way, whether good or bad!

What Can Managers Do To Improve Work-Life Balance?

To properly improve work-life balance, managers must be supportive and understand the importance of promoting and participating in a workplace that supports work-life balance. To ensure this, managers should provide training for their team to equip them with the ability to identify any issues of burnout or stress, allowing them to support staff before it becomes an overwhelming issue. Furthermore, managers should lead by example to practice good ethics in ensuring employees have enough breaks away from their desks and use their free time wisely - like attending meetings during office hours. This way, circumstances that cause poor balance won’t be imposed on any employee but can be recognized proactively.

Work-life balance benefits both employers and employees, making its improvement all the more worthwhile - the key is taking advantage of the above ideas provided and using them as conversation starters amongst your teams. Businesses will encourage self-care instead of being deterred by speaking openly about work-life balance and implementing healthy protocols in daily practice. It will also allow employees feeling overwhelmed with stress or having difficulty managing ample workloads to reach out for support within the organization. Ultimately providing managers with practical tools allows them to foster an environment where employees can thrive professionally and personally.

Creating a more balanced lifestyle starts with recognizing the value of balanced living. Many people nowadays are trying to achieve work-life balance to take control over their own life. They often become too focused on work, sacrificing their health and mental well-being for the sake of job performance and career progress. But it’s important to understand that creating a better life extends beyond working long hours, pursuing a promotion, and gaining success in professional endeavors alone. More importantly, it’s about taking adequate care of our physical and mental health, developing meaningful relationships with family and friends, pursuing hobbies outside work, and dedicating some time for relaxation.

To create a more balanced lifestyle, one should prioritize what is truly important based on their individual needs. Achieving optimal balance is an individual journey, so don’t feel obligated to follow someone else’s idea of how things should be done but rather focus your energy on yourself. Taking a few proactive steps towards better life balance can be hard at first, but it will soon teach you much about personal responsibility while also being incredibly rewarding in the end. Start by thinking carefully about why finding balance matters to you - what do you want out of your current life: stability or flexibility? From there on, continue outlining your goals and start taking action towards a better balance!

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Essay on Work Life Balance

Students are often asked to write an essay on Work Life Balance in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Work Life Balance

Understanding work-life balance.

Work-life balance is about dividing your time between work and personal activities. It is important because it helps you stay happy, healthy, and productive.

Importance of Work-Life Balance

When you have a good work-life balance, you can focus on your job and still have time for hobbies, family, and friends. This balance can reduce stress and increase job satisfaction.

Strategies for Achieving Balance

To achieve work-life balance, set boundaries between work and personal time. Prioritize tasks and take breaks to relax. Remember, balance is key to a fulfilling life.

Also check:

• 10 Lines on Work Life Balance

250 Words Essay on Work Life Balance

Introduction.

Work-life balance, a concept that once seemed like a far-off dream, has now become a central discussion point in modern society. It represents the equilibrium that an individual needs between their work and personal life.

The Importance of Balance

A well-balanced life is crucial for personal happiness, relationships, and overall well-being. It also impacts productivity, job satisfaction, and even the quality of work. An imbalance can lead to stress, burnout, and health issues.

The Role of Employers

Employers play a significant role in promoting work-life balance. They can implement flexible working hours, remote working opportunities, and limit overtime. Encouraging employees to take regular breaks and vacation time also contributes to a healthier work environment.

Personal Responsibility

However, the onus is not solely on employers. Individuals must also take responsibility for managing their time effectively. This includes setting boundaries, prioritizing tasks, and ensuring they allocate time for leisure and relaxation.

In conclusion, work-life balance is not a luxury but a necessity in the modern world. It requires a collective effort from both employers and employees. By prioritizing this balance, we can create a healthier, happier, and more productive society.

500 Words Essay on Work Life Balance

Introduction to work-life balance.

Work-life balance, a term that has gained significant traction in recent years, refers to the equilibrium that an individual needs to maintain between work-related activities and personal life. In a fast-paced world where the boundaries between work and personal life are increasingly blurred, achieving this balance is both challenging and crucial.

The Importance of Work-Life Balance

Work-life balance is more than a trendy buzzword; it’s a critical aspect of a healthy work environment. It aids in the reduction of stress and burnout, often associated with a heavy workload and long hours. When work-life balance is achieved, it contributes to the overall well-being of individuals, leading to increased productivity, job satisfaction, and positive attitudes towards work. It also fosters a sense of control over one’s work and personal life, promoting a more harmonious and fulfilling existence.

Challenges to Work-Life Balance

In today’s era of technological advancements, the line between work and personal life has become increasingly blurred. The ability to work remotely or from home, while offering flexibility, can also lead to “always-on” work culture. This culture can create an environment where employees feel they are expected to be available around the clock, leading to increased stress and decreased personal time.

Moreover, societal and peer pressure can also create a culture of overwork. The glorification of being busy and the association of long hours with dedication and productivity often leads to an imbalance, affecting both mental and physical health.

Strategies for Achieving Work-Life Balance

Achieving work-life balance requires concerted effort from both individuals and organizations. Here are a few strategies that can help:

1. Setting Boundaries: It’s crucial to establish clear boundaries between work and personal life. This could mean setting specific work hours, taking regular breaks, and ensuring time for relaxation and leisure activities.

2. Time Management: Effective time management is key. Prioritizing tasks, delegating when possible, and using productivity tools can help manage workload and free up time for personal activities.

3. Self-Care: Regular exercise, a healthy diet, and adequate sleep are essential for maintaining physical health and mental well-being, enabling better coping with stress.

4. Organizational Policies: Companies can foster work-life balance by implementing policies such as flexible working hours, remote work options, and promoting a culture that values employee well-being.

Work-life balance is not a luxury, but a necessity for holistic well-being. It is a dynamic process that requires continuous effort and adaptation to the changing demands of our personal and professional lives. By prioritizing both work and personal life, individuals can achieve a sense of harmony and satisfaction, leading to a healthier and more productive life.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

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84 Work-Life Balance Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best work-life balance topic ideas & essay examples, 👍 simple & easy work-life balance essay titles, 💡 good research topics about work-life balance, ❓ research questions on work-life balance.

• Work Life Balance Essay These non-monetary benefits include the number of hours that a person is expected to commit to the job and other benefits given by the employer to the employee.
• Benefits of Work-Life Balance Managers can help their workforce to attain a work and life balance by: implementing flexible working schedules and work arrangements that meet the needs of employees, being respectful and thoughtful of employee personal responsibilities, creating […]
• Work-Life Balance and Its Influences on Employee Development and Career Management Coussey is of the opinion that work-life balance entails developing working practices that are beneficial to both the organization and the employees. Integration of work-life balance as a human resource management strategy is beneficial to […]
• Work-Life Balance: A Comparison of Policies in the UK and Australia It tries to understand the basic issues in those countries that contribute to work-life conflict and compares the policies pursued by the two countries in tackling the problems in balancing work and life.
• Work-Life Balance: Retaining the Most Skilled Professionals The ability of a person to maintain the healthy work-life balance is critical for his performance and commitment to the goals set by leaders.
• Flexible Work Schedule and Work-Life Balance The human resource practices in some local and multinational companies are addressed and it is sought if a set of policies related to work-life balance in a multinational corporation can be applicable to a subsidiary […]
• Evaluation of YouTube Trends: Impact of Work-Life Balance It is possible to damage their reputation at work if they let their personal life have too much of an effect on how they behave on the job.
• Improving Work-Life Balance During Distant Work The review of literature concerning the improvement of employees’ work-life balance revealed that three aspects might affect the WLB of the employees.
• Impact of Work-Life Balance on Emloyee’s Life The Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act is a policy that intends to create work-life balance by securing employees 12 weeks of paid leave to care for their families when the need arises.
• Impact of Cloud Technologies on Work-Life Balance in Washington D.C. In a 2013 article in the Guardian, a business director said the following when discussing the introduction of cloud technologies, “the age of work/life balance is over, it’s now about blend”. Washington D.C.firms and federal […]
• Studying and Working Balance The fact that a person has decided to go back to school does not make the day any longer; what will be important is to “create time” this means that the individual prioritizes the activities […]
• The Importance of Work-Life Balance Labor Unions: definitions and scope Business units’ efforts contributed to maintain work-life balance Government’s way of enhancing work-life balance Indeed, there are a number of efforts from all sides: the unions, the business sector and […]
• Work-Life Balance Development in the UK Retail Stores But, at the same time, the eternal desire to work and the necessity to do it in order to satisfy one’s personal needs and the needs of people that a certain person is responsible for, […]
• Cost Center Employees’ Work-Life Balance The situation is attributable to the ineffectiveness of the previous supervisor. The rationale for the suggestion is that the leader will ensure every person’s needs are met.
• Work-Life Balance and Professional Development The assessment revealed that the factors that contributed to my work-life imbalanced come from different spheres of life such as family and personal relationships, social life, workplace communication and dynamics, personal habits, and the structure […]
• Roads and Transport Authority Work-Life Balance For employee pay, it is critical to follow legislation, organizational policies, and the work contract. To improve the organizational culture and environment, companies follow discrimination legislation that focuses on religion and race/ethnicity.
• Work-Life Balance: Emirati Men and Women Comparison In the survey, work balance was defined as achieving equilibrium between work and home. Both men and women in the survey formed 50% respectively.
• Self-Care Techniques in Work-Life Balance That is why it is important to focus on self-care techniques in order to maintain the balance between the professional and personal life, prevent the negative results of ongoing stresses and challenges, and be effective […]
• The Work-And-Life Balance in the U.S. Companies From this point, it is necessary to discuss the approaches followed in the U.S.companies in order to guarantee the work-and-life balance for their employees in terms of proposing policies on the maternity leave and care […]
• Employee Work-Life Balance The study recommended the improvement of satisfaction of employees in the SME sector in the effort to increase their retention. The existence of scholarly evidence on the value of WLB in enhancing job satisfaction and […]
• Work-Life Balance in Saudi Arabia Many employees relate work with life’s fulfillment, and connect their satisfaction at work with their feelings and satisfaction in life, and happiness with their family.
• The Notion of the Work-Life Balance The revelations led to a change in the organizational outlook of work and personal life and work-life balance issues begun to receive significant attention by employers during the 1980s.
• The Problem of Work-Family Imbalance in Society The absence of the mother in the family probably contributes to the work-family imbalance problem that Chris is facing in raising his son.
• Can Responsible Leadership Affect Work-Life Balance or Imbalance?
• Better Work-Life Balance Survey in NCC Bank Limited
• The Ideology and Politics of Work and Family Policy in Australia
• Can Employee’s Work-Life Balance Contribute to Business Sustainability
• Corporate Work-Life Balance Systems in the Opinion of Generation Z
• Creating Work-Life Balance Internal Culture and Performing Social Responsibility
• Life Course Savings Scheme Potential to Improve Work-Life Balance
• Does Work-Life Balance Affect Pro-Environmental Behaviour?
• Work-Life Balance Practices Affect Organizational Output
• Emotional Intelligence and Work-Life Balance in the IT Sector
• The Relations Between Employer Flexibility and Employee Work-Life Balance
• Correlation of Employment and Appropriate Work-Life Balance
• The Work Life Balance: An Integral Part of The Human Resource Department
• The Relationships Between Ethical Issues and Work-Life Balance
• Work-Life Balance Programs in Organizations
• Key Factors Determining Work-Life Balance
• Guilt, Gender, and Work-Life Balance in Japan
• Work-Life Balance Policies for Employees and Employers
• How Organizational Bureaucratization Affects Work-Life Balance
• The Work-Life Balance Is a Key to Being the Best
• The Relations Between Human Resource Management and Employees’ Work-Life Balance
• The Mediation Effect of Job Satisfaction and Satisfaction With Work-Life Balance
• Institutional Pressures and Internal Motivations of Work-Life Balance Organisational Arrangements
• Making the Link Between Work-Life Balance Practices and Organizational Performance
• Measuring Work-Life Balance Using Time Diary Data
• Managing Work-Life Balance in Contemporary Workplaces
• Need for Work-Life Balance Educational Programs
• Occupational Stress and Work-Life Balance in the Public Sector in Saudi Arabia
• The Realities of Work-Life Balance in a Low-Income Neighbourhood
• Psychological Contract: Work-Life Balance in Retail
• Refine Your Work-Life Balance by Setting Healthy Boundaries
• Work-Life Balance: The Links With Management Practices and Productivity
• State, Market and Work-Life Balance: Canadian Employment and Labour Policies
• Stress Level Among Nurses in ER Department and Their Work-Life Balance
• Talent Management, Work-Life Balance and Retention Strategies
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• Why Has Work-Life Balance Become a Key Issue in HRM?
• The Work-Life Balance in Nestle International Management
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• What Can Be the Balance Between Work and Personal Life?
• What Is the Ideology and Policy of Work and Family Policy in Australia?
• What Is the Accenture Work-Life Balance Programs?
• Can Employee’s Work-Life Balance Contribute to Business Sustainability?
• Does the Practice of Work-Life Balance Affect Organizational Results and Capital Review?
• How Can Emotional Intelligence and Work-Life Balance Be Related?
• What Can Corporate Systems of Work-Life Balance Look Like in the Eyes of Generation Z?
• What Could Be the Potential of the Savings Schemes to Improve Work-Life Balance?
• What Is the Relationship Between Employment and a Proper Work-Life Balance?
• What Do Emotional Intelligence and Work-Life Balance in the It Sector Have in Common?
• What Is the Relationship Between Employer Flexibility and Employee Work-Life Balance?
• What Are the Work-Life Balance Programs in Organizations?
• What Is the Work-Life Balance Policy for Employees and Employers?
• How Does Organizational Bureaucratization Affect Work-Life Balance in the World?
• What Is the Relationship Between Gender Balance and Work-Life Balance?
• How Is the Work-Life Balance a Key to Being the Best?
• What Are the Established Links Between Balance Practice and Personal Life?
• What Is the Need for Work-Life Balance Education Programs?
• What Is the Relationship Between Flexible Working Hours, Work-Life Balance, and Job Satisfaction?
• Why Work-Life Balance Doesn’t Work?
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Work-Life Balance Is a Cycle, Not an Achievement

• Mayra Ruiz-Castro

A five-step approach to identify and overcome unhealthy work habits.

Research has definitively shown that overwork isn’t good for employees or their companies — and yet, in practice, it can be hard to overcome unhealthy work habits and reach a more sustainable work-life balance. To explore what it takes for busy professionals to make a change for the better, the authors conducted a series of interviews with mid- and senior-level managers at two global firms. They found that while the majority of respondents assumed working long hours was inevitable, a significant minority of them were able to resist this pressure and achieve a healthier balance through a process of increasing awareness, conscious reprioritizing, and implementation of public and private changes. The authors go on to emphasize that to achieve lasting change, you must view this process not as a one-time activity, but as a cycle in which you constantly re-evaluate your evolving feelings and priorities, and adjust your work and life choices accordingly.

Despite the resounding evidence that working long hours can be harmful to both employees and employers, many professionals still struggle to overcome their assumptions — and their deeply-ingrained habits — around work hours. What does it take to free yourself from these unhealthy patterns and reach a more sustainable, rewarding work-life balance?

• IL Ioana Lupu is an Associate Professor at ESSEC Business School France. She is interested in overwork, work-compulsion & performance measurement in knowledge-intensive settings, such as audit, consulting, and law firms. Follow her on LinkedIn and Twitter @lupu_io.
• MR Mayra Ruiz-Castro is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Roehampton, UK. Her research focuses on equality at work and at home. Follow her on LinkedIn and Twitter at @MayraRuizCastr1.

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106 Work-Life Balance Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

Inside This Article

Achieving a healthy work-life balance is crucial for maintaining overall well-being and happiness. However, finding the right balance can be challenging, especially in today's fast-paced and demanding world. To help you explore this important topic further, we have compiled a list of 106 work-life balance essay topic ideas and examples. Whether you are a student looking for inspiration for your next essay or a professional seeking to improve your work-life balance, these topics are sure to spark your interest.

• The importance of work-life balance for overall well-being
• Strategies for achieving work-life balance
• The impact of technology on work-life balance
• Balancing work and family responsibilities
• The role of employers in promoting work-life balance
• The benefits of a flexible work schedule
• The consequences of a poor work-life balance
• Work-life balance challenges faced by remote workers
• The stigma surrounding work-life balance in the workplace
• The link between work-life balance and mental health
• Balancing work and personal relationships
• The impact of work-life balance on job satisfaction
• The role of self-care in achieving work-life balance
• The importance of setting boundaries to maintain work-life balance
• The benefits of unplugging from work during non-working hours
• The impact of burnout on work-life balance
• The benefits of mindfulness in achieving work-life balance
• The role of exercise in maintaining work-life balance
• The impact of work-life balance on productivity
• Balancing work and leisure activities
• The benefits of taking regular breaks during the workday
• The impact of work-life balance on physical health
• The benefits of time management in achieving work-life balance
• The consequences of workaholism on work-life balance
• The importance of setting realistic goals to maintain work-life balance
• Balancing work and hobbies
• The impact of stress on work-life balance
• The benefits of a supportive work environment for work-life balance
• The role of communication in achieving work-life balance
• The impact of work-life balance on creativity and innovation
• The benefits of a healthy work-life balance for career advancement
• The consequences of neglecting work-life balance
• The impact of work-life balance on job performance
• Balancing work and personal finances
• The benefits of time off in maintaining work-life balance
• The consequences of overworking on work-life balance
• The impact of work-life balance on job turnover
• The benefits of work-life balance for employee retention
• The role of leadership in promoting work-life balance
• The impact of workplace culture on work-life balance
• The benefits of remote work for achieving work-life balance
• The consequences of a lack of work-life balance for mental health
• The impact of work-life balance on employee engagement
• Balancing work and caregiving responsibilities
• The benefits of work-life balance for overall happiness
• The consequences of work-life imbalance for personal relationships
• The impact of work-life balance on work-life conflict
• The benefits of work-life balance for job satisfaction
• The role of technology in promoting work-life balance
• The impact of work-life balance on work-life integration
• Balancing work and education
• The benefits of work-life balance for career progression
• The consequences of neglecting work-life balance for physical health
• The impact of work-life balance on work-life harmony
• The benefits of work-life balance for stress management
• The role of flexibility in achieving work-life balance
• The impact of work-life balance on work-life boundaries
• The benefits of work-life balance for overall well-being
• The consequences of a lack of work-life balance for job satisfaction
• Balancing work and volunteer commitments
• The impact of work-life balance on work-life satisfaction
• The benefits of work-life balance for work-life fulfillment
• The role of self-reflection in achieving work-life balance
• The impact of work-life balance on work-life enrichment
• The benefits of work-life balance for work-life engagement
• The consequences of neglecting work-life balance for work-life fulfillment
• The impact of work-life balance on work-life achievement
• The benefits of work-life balance for work-life success
• The role of self-awareness in achieving work-life balance
• The impact of work-life balance on work-life effectiveness
• The benefits of work-life balance for work-life efficiency
• The consequences of neglecting work-life balance for work-life effectiveness
• The impact of work-life balance on work-life productivity
• The benefits of work-life balance for work-life performance
• The impact of work-life balance on work-life well-being
• The benefits of work-life balance for work-life happiness

In conclusion, achieving a healthy work-life balance is essential for maintaining overall well-being and happiness. By exploring these 106 work-life balance essay topic ideas and examples, you can gain a better understanding of the importance of work-life balance and discover strategies for achieving it in your own life. Whether you are a student or a professional, these topics are sure to inspire you to prioritize your well-being and find the right balance between work and personal life.

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Work Life is Atlassian’s flagship publication dedicated to unleashing the potential of every team through real-life advice, inspiring stories, and thoughtful perspectives from leaders around the world.

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Work Futurist

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The importance of teamwork (as proven by science)

Healthy teams enjoy benefits that go far beyond the company’s bottom line.

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5-second summary

• Research shows that collaborative problem-solving leads to better outcomes.
• People are more likely to take calculated risks that lead to innovation if they have the support of a team behind them.
• Working in a team encourages personal growth, increases job satisfaction, and reduces stress.

Anyone who thought the rise of distributed work would be the downfall of teamwork has probably changed their tune by now. The truth is, teamwork is more important than ever.

“The use of teams and collaboration expectations have been consistently rising,” says Dr. Scott Tannenbaum , a researcher and president of the Group for Organizational Effectiveness. “And when I say teams, I’m talking about all types of teams, whether it’s stable work teams [or] teams that now, in the current environment, are operating virtually.”

Teamwork is essential to a company’s success, says John J. Murphy, author of Pulling Together: 10 Rules for High-Performance Teamwork . “Each individual has unique gifts, and talents and skills. When we bring them to the table and share them for a common purpose, it can give companies a real competitive advantage.”

But here’s the real magic of teamwork: when done right, it has benefits that go far beyond boosting the company’s bottom line. (Learn about some classic models that can lead to stronger teamwork here .)

10 benefits of teamwork

1. teamwork enables better problem solving.

How to avoid groupthink on your team

Albert Einstein gets all the credit for discovering the theory of relativity, but the truth is that he relied on conversations with friends and colleagues to refine his concept. And that’s almost always the case.

“Behind every genius is a team,” says Murphy. “When people play off each other’s skills and knowledge, they can create solutions that are practical and useful.”

Science reinforces the idea that many brains are better than one. “We found that groups of size three, four, and five outperformed the best individuals,” says Dr. Patrick Laughlin a researcher at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “[We] attribute this performance to the ability of people to work together to generate and adopt correct responses, reject erroneous responses, and effectively process information.”

Not everyone processes information in the same way. Some people like to jump into problem-solving mode immediately, while others prefer time to gather their thoughts and consider multiple options before making a contribution. Asking people to provide input asynchronously allows everyone the space to work in a way that’s comfortable for them.

2. Teamwork unlocks potential for innovation

According to Frans Johansson, author of The Medici Effect , some of the most innovative ideas happen at “the intersection” – the place where ideas from different industries and cultures collide.

“Most people think success comes from surrounding yourself with others that are like you,” says Johansson. “But true success and breakthrough innovation involves discomfort. Discomfort pushes you to grow. This is where difference of experience, opinion, and perspective come in. Diversity is a well-documented pathway to unlocking new opportunities, overcoming new challenges, and gaining new insights.”

Better together: 8 essential teamwork skills to master

A recent report from the consulting firm McKinsey & Company backs this up. It found teams made up of members from diverse backgrounds (gender, age, ethnicity, etc.) are more creative and perform better by up to 35 percent, compared to more homogeneous teams. Instead of looking at an issue from your individual vantage point, you get a 360-degree picture, which can lead to an exponential increase in ideas.

Research from Tufts University suggests that just being exposed to diversity can shift the way you think. A study on a diverse mock jury found that interacting with individuals who are different forces people to be more open minded, and to expect that reaching consensus will take effort.

3. Teamwork makes for happier employees

As part of our ongoing research on teamwork, we surveyed more than 1,000 team members across a range of industries and found that when honest feedback, mutual respect, and personal openness were encouraged, team members were 80 percent more likely to report higher emotional well-being.

Having happy employees is a worthwhile goal in itself, but the company benefits, too. Research from the University of Warwick in England suggests happy employees are up to 20 percent more productive than unhappy employees. And who couldn’t benefit from a happiness boost?

4. Teamwork enhances personal growth

Being part of a team can help you grow. “By sharing information and essentially cross-training each other, each individual member of the team can flourish,” says Murphy. You might discover new concepts from colleagues with different experiences. You can also learn from someone else’s mistakes, which helps you sidestep future errors.

You might even learn something new about yourself, says Dr. Susan McDaniel, a psychologist at the University of Rochester Medical Center and one of the guest editors of America Psychologist’s special edition on “ The Science of Teamwork .”

“We all have blind spots about our behaviors and strengths that we may be unaware of, and feedback from a team member can expose them,” she says. Recognizing these strengths and addressing the weaknesses can make you a better team member, and even a better person. “Maybe working in a team you’ll discover you could be a better listener. That’s a skill you can grow in, and then take home and use to improve your family interactions,” McDaniel points out.

5. Teamwork lowers the risk of burnout

6 ways to bounce back from burnout

A Gallup study of nearly 7,500 full-time employees found that 23 percent of employees feel burned out at work very often or always. Another 44 percent say they sometimes feel this way. What helps? Sharing the load.

Team members can provide emotional support to each other because they often understand the demands and stress of completing work even better than managers, says Ben Wigert, lead researcher for Gallup’s workplace management practice.

And managers are not off the hook! The study also found that knowing your boss has your back protects against burnout too.

6. Teamwork gives opportunities for growth

Collaboration in the workplace isn’t unlike teamwork on the baseball diamond. When the pitcher and outfielders each excel at their individual roles, the team has a better chance of winning.

Off the playing field, that idea is more important than ever. Changes in technology and increased globalization mean that organizations are facing problems so complex that a single individual simply can’t possess all the necessary knowledge to solve them, says Wigert. When team members use their unique skills to shine in their own roles, it creates an environment based on mutual respect and cooperation that benefits the whole group, notes Murphy.

7. Teamwork boosts productivity

Getting a pat on the back from the boss can boost an employee’s motivation, but receiving kudos from a team member may be even more effective.

The TINYpulse Employee Engagement and Organizational Culture Report surveyed more than 200,000 employees. Participants reported that having the respect of their peers was the #1 reason they go the extra mile at work.

8. Teamwork allows for smarter risk-taking

When you work alone, you might be hesitant to put your neck on the line. When you work on a team, you know you have the support of the entire group to fall back on in case of failure. That security typically allows teams to take the kind of risks that create “Eureka!” ideas.

But here’s one place where size does matter. The most disruptive ideas often come from small teams, suggests recent research in the journal Nature , possibly because larger teams argue more, which can get in the way of coming up with those big ideas.

Wharton Business School researchers also discovered that small is the secret to success: they found that two-person teams took 36 minutes to build a Lego figure while four-person teams took 52 minutes to finish — more than 44 percent longer.

There’s no definitive ideal small team size, but consider following Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ two-pizza rule : no matter how large your company gets, teams shouldn’t be larger than what two pizzas can feed.

9. Teamwork yields fewer mistakes

If your team has good energy – you encourage and inspire each other, and you have fun together – you’ll feel less stressed, says Murphy. “Studies show that stress makes us stupid, and leads us to make more mistakes,” says Murphy.

Of course, the converse is also true: when your team feels less frazzled, you’ll make fewer errors. That’s worth keeping in mind, especially if you’re one of the 61 percent of workers who cite work as a significant source of stress .

10. Teamwork sparks creativity

Stale solutions often come out of working in a vacuum. When people with different perspectives come together in group brainstorms, on the other hand, innovative ideas can rise to the surface – with one caveat. Research shows this can only happen when communication within the team is open and collaborative, notes Wigert. The most creative solutions can only come up when there’s a level of trust that lets team members ask ‘stupid’ questions, propose out-there ideas, and receive constructive criticism.  

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Home — Essay Samples — Life — Workers — The Importance of Quality of Work Life

The Importance of Quality of Work Life

• Categories: Workers Workplace

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Words: 597 |

Published: Jan 4, 2019

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Essay on Hard Work

500 words essay on  hard work.

Hard work is an essential thing we all need in life. It is impossible to achieve greatness without working hard. In other words, an idle person cannot gain anything if they wish to sit and wait for something else. On the other hand, one who keeps working hard constantly will definitely gain success in life and this is exactly what essay on hard work will elaborate upon.

Importance of Hard Work

Hard work is important and history has proved it time and again. The great Edison used to work for many hours a day and he dozed off on his laboratory table only with his books as his pillow.

Similarly, the prime minister of India, late Pt. Nehru used to work for 17 hours a day and seven days a week. He did not enjoy any holidays. Our great leader, Mahatma Gandhi worked round the clock to win freedom for our country.

Thus, we see that hard work paid off for all these people. One must be constantly vigil to work hard as it can help you achieve your dreams. As we say, man is born to work. Just like steel, he shines in use and rusts in rest.

When we work hard in life, we can achieve anything and overcome any obstacle. Moreover, we can also lead a better life knowing that we have put in our all and given our best to whatever work we are doing.

Key to Success

Hard work is definitely the key to success. What we earn by sweating our brow gives us greater happiness than something we get by a stroke of luck. As humans, we wish to achieve many things in life.

These things need hard work to be able to come true. Poverty is not the curse but idealness is. When we waste our time, time will also waste us. Hard work can help anyone achieve success. Great people were born in cottages but died in palaces.

Thus, it shows how through great work one can get the key to success. When you start working hard, you will notice changes in your life. You will become more disciplined and focused on your work.

Moreover, you will start seeing results within a short time. It is nothing but proof that when you work hard, things like determination, focus, concentration, come automatically to you. As a result, nothing will stop you from achieving success .

Success is not just someone being famous and rich in life. When you work hard and lead a comfortable life filled with love that is also a success. Hard work must not limit to work but also your personal life. When you put in hard work in work and relationships, life will prosper.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Conclusion of the Essay on Hard Work

If we get the determination and focus, we can all work hard for a better future. It is important to concentrate as it ensures our work is finishing on time and in a better manner. Therefore, by working hard, we can increase our concentration power and open doors to new opportunities.

FAQ of Essay on Hard Work

Question 1: What is the importance of hard work?

Answer 1: Hard work teaches us discipline , dedication and determination. It is certainly important because it is only through hard work that we can achieve the goals of our life. Thus, we all must work hard.

Question 2: Does hard work lead to success?

Answer 2: Yes, hard work, together with the time will definitely lead to success. It is what can help you achieve a better life. Moreover, the harder you work, the more confident you will become in life.

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A New Perspective on Work and Life

Posted on May 28, 2024 by tjrueff

By Taylor Rueff

Today marks two weeks since I left for Paros, Greece, ready to dive into a new environment, start my days early, and immerse myself in work. I envisioned setting up my laptop in a café or by the beach, embracing a routine similar to what I was used to back in America. Life is built around staying productive. However, I quickly discovered that the rhythm of life on this beautiful island is different.

In Paros, most places don’t open early in the morning, and the locals don’t wake up at the crack of dawn. I was initially surprised to find that many shops and businesses take a siesta from 2 to 5 in the afternoon, a “quiet time” meant for relaxation. This was so different to the constant hustle of the American work culture. Where it’s common to multitask, to work long hours, or to hear someone brag about how little sleep they got the night before.

The slower pace of life in Paros has been a refreshing change. Here, people take the time to enjoy their meals, rather than rushing through a quick lunch at their desks. It’s even uncommon to see residents on their phones while dining, let alone working on a laptop. Meals are a social event, an opportunity to connect with friends and family, fostering a strong sense of community. This goes beyond dining; the people of Paros value their leisure time, prioritizing personal well-being and relationships over relentless productivity.

This experience has very much impacted my perspective on work and life. The island’s lifestyle has taught me the importance of balance, reminding me that taking time to rest and enjoy life is not just beneficial, but essential. It’s a lesson in working smarter, not harder—emphasizing quality over quantity.

Studying abroad is about gaining new perspectives, and Paros has provided that. It’s not just about learning and working in a different setting but about adopting a healthier, more fulfilling approach to both. We not only came here to learn, to work, but to learn how to work better. While my next two weeks here, especially, will demand long hours and lots of hard work, I hope to carry these lessons with me, integrating a bit of the Paros way into my daily life, wherever I may be.

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Peer-reviewed

Research Article

Development of a curricular thread to foster medical students’ critical reflection and promote action on climate change, health, and equity

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, United States of America

Roles Data curation, Visualization, Writing – review & editing

Roles Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology

Affiliation Program in Medical Humanities, Trent Center for Bioethics, Humanities & History of Medicine, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, United States of America

Roles Conceptualization

Affiliation Interprofessional Education Program, Western University of Health Sciences, Lebanon, OR, United States of America

Roles Investigation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Roles Methodology, Project administration, Writing – original draft

Affiliation Duke University Medical Center Library & Archives, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, United States of America

Affiliation Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, United States of America

Affiliation Practice of Medical Education, Department of Cell Biology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, United States of America

Roles Conceptualization, Investigation

Affiliation Trent Center for Bioethics, Humanities & History of Medicine, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, United States of America

Roles Investigation, Methodology, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliation Practice of Medical Education, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, United States of America

• Trisha Dalapati, 
• Emily J. Alway, 
• Sneha Mantri, 
• Phillip Mitchell, 
• Ian A. George, 
• Samantha Kaplan, 
• Kathryn M. Andolsek, 
• J. Matthew Velkey, 
• Jennifer Lawson, 
• Andrew J. Muzyk

• Published: May 30, 2024
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0303615
• Peer Review
• Reader Comments

Introduction

Due to the health consequences arising from climate change, medical students will inevitably interact with affected patients during their training and careers. Accordingly, medical schools must incorporate education on the impacts of climate change on health and equity into their curricula. We created a curricular thread called “Climate Change, Health, and Equity” in the first-year preclinical medical program to teach foundational concepts and foster self-reflection and critical consciousness.

The authors developed a continuum of practice including administrators, educators and faculty members, students, and community partners to plan and design curricular activities. First-year medical students at Duke University School of Medicine participated in seven mandatory foundational lectures and two experiential learning opportunities in the local community. Following completion of activities, students wrote a critical reflection essay and completed a self-directed learning exercise. Essays were evaluated using the REFLECT rubric to assess if students achieved critical reflection and for thematic analysis by Bloom’s Taxonomy.

All students (118) submitted essays. A random sample of 30 (25%) essays underwent analysis. Evaluation by the REFLECT rubric underscored that all students were reflecting or critically reflecting on thread content. Thematic analysis highlighted that all students (30/30, 100%) were adept at identifying new areas of medical knowledge and connecting concepts to individual experiences, institutional practices, and public health and policy. Most students (27/30; 90%) used emotionally laden words, expressing negative feelings like frustration and fear but also positive sentiments of solidarity and hope regarding climate change and effects on health. Many students (24/30; 80%) expressed actionable items at every level including continuing self-directed learning and conversing with patients, minimizing healthcare waste, and advocating for climate-friendly policies.

After participating in the curricular thread, most medical students reflected on cognitive, affective, and actionable aspects relating to climate change, health, and equity.

Citation: Dalapati T, Alway EJ, Mantri S, Mitchell P, George IA, Kaplan S, et al. (2024) Development of a curricular thread to foster medical students’ critical reflection and promote action on climate change, health, and equity. PLoS ONE 19(5): e0303615. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0303615

Editor: Frederick Grinnell, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, UNITED STATES

Received: October 2, 2023; Accepted: April 26, 2024; Published: May 30, 2024

Copyright: © 2024 Dalapati et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: All relevant data are within the manuscript.

Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work.

Competing interests: No authors have competing interests

Beyond learning about the conditions of the human body, diagnostics, and treatment modalities, medical students are well-positioned to examine how patients’ health is affected by the surrounding environment, including the climate, geography, and healthcare inequities in the community. With the inevitable health consequences arising from climate change, medical students will interact with affected patients during their training and careers. Students are increasingly aware that the very healthcare systems they are members of contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions underlying anthropogenic climate change [ 1 , 2 ]. Moreover, while all individuals may be affected, communities that are historically marginalized, medically underserved, and older are at higher risk of experiencing the health impacts of climate change due to structural inequities [ 3 , 4 ]. At present, medical schools have both an opportunity and a responsibility to promote action-oriented learning in undergraduate medical education (UME) at the intersection of climate change and health.

In 2015, over one hundred health professional schools signed the Health Educator’s Climate Commitment, an international pledge to train the next generation of health professionals to care for patients impacted by climate change [ 5 ]. Medical schools are responding by incorporating climate change topics into UME. From 2019 to 2022, the Liaison Committee on Medical Education reported that the percentage of medical schools providing climate change instruction more than doubled from 27% to 55% [ 6 ]. In addition to learning the facts and diagnoses related to climate change, medical students are uniquely situated to be “agents of change” by identifying, researching, and advocating for climate resilience, environmental justice, and health equity [ 7 , 8 ]. Education on climate change’s effects on health has the potential to be transformative, allowing students and educators to synthesize factual information, reflect on content beyond the classroom, and evoke commitment to personal and professional behavior change.

However, UME faces challenges with incorporating climate concepts into curricula. Recurring barriers include competition for time, space, and faculty in the existing curriculum [ 9 , 10 ]. Climate change and its health impacts are also new topics for medical educators. Building teaching capacity, assessing resources, and integrating new material into existing content necessitate time and associated administrative and financial support [ 9 – 12 ]. Finally, there is a dearth of robust assessments to evaluate student learning. Assessments are critical as they signal learning priorities to students, confirm knowledge acquisition and behavior change, and facilitate sharing of successful interventions across programs and institutions [ 10 , 11 , 13 , 14 ]. Thought leaders have recommended learning objectives for climate change and health education, and suggested when and how to deliver content and assessments within existing educational frameworks [ 13 – 18 ].

In fall 2022, faculty members and trainees met to address the lack of UME at our institution, Duke University School of Medicine (DUSOM), focused on climate change and its health impacts. Subsequently, we created a community of practice (CoP) of educators and students. The CoP’s purpose was to identify areas within the first-year medical curriculum where topics of climate change could be integrated and to then develop a curricular thread in the first-year medical program with clear objectives and measurable outcomes. The resulting curricular thread was named Climate Change, Health, and Equity.

The goal of the Climate Change, Health, and Equity thread was to develop medical students’ critical consciousness–an awareness of the impact climate change has on health that overcomes preexisting biases and is liberated from others’ beliefs [ 19 ]. In addition to foundational lectures, we intended to foster the growth of medical students’ critical consciousness using facilitated discussions, self-reflection and writing exercises, and experiential learning activities focused on informed advocacy, personal accountability, and environmental health justice.

Needs assessment and creation of the community of practice

In fall 2022, faculty members and students of the DUSOM met to identify opportunities to integrate climate change and its health impacts within the UME. The meeting resulted in the creation of an interdisciplinary CoP of medical administrators, educators, students; faculty from the Nicholas School of the Environment, Schools of Nursing and Medicine, Center for Bioethics, Humanities, and History of Medicine, and Medical Center Library; community educators from the Museum of Life and Science, the Nasher Museum of Art, and Moms Clean Air Force. Importantly, the CoP’s medical educators included course directors of the first-year curriculum and medical students of all years, including student-leaders of the DUSOM Sustainability Committee and Environmental Justice and Health Equity Student Group. The CoP was tasked to develop and pilot a curricular thread, named Climate Change, Healthy and Equity, in the first-year Doctor of Medicine (MD) program by spring 2023.

Kern’s six step approach to curriculum development was used to establish a needs assessment and a framework [ 20 ]. Key papers in the medical education literature were appraised for current practices, gaps, and future directions [ 21 – 23 ]. Educational theories of transformative learning by Mezirow and Freire [ 19 , 24 , 25 ], and CoP by Lave and Wenger were used to design, execute, and assess the thread [ 26 ]. Learning objectives were mapped to cognitive, affective, and psychomotor learning domains.

The curricular thread lectures were designed to provide an overview of climate change and health for all medical students. Students in the CoP also voiced the need for self-reflection activities and experiential learning opportunities that would highlight the pressing nature of climate change on the surrounding community’s health and serve as tangible reasons to continue self-directed learning and informed advocacy beyond the curricular thread.

The main goals of Climate Change, Health, and Equity thread became to have medical students (1) understand the basic concepts of the planetary health framework [ 27 ]; (2) identify effects of climate change on physical and mental health; (3) describe climate change as a social driver of health in the local community; (4) recognize examples of how climate policy disproportionately affects the health and equity of communities of color and of lower socioeconomic status; (5) recognize the importance of and learn from the lived experiences of communities disproportionately affected by climate change; (6) identify opportunities to advocate and partner with patients, community members, and policymakers to promote health equity and climate resilience; and (7) establish personal and professional accountability for continued self-directed learning.

Thread development

After assessing the current first-year curriculum, the Climate Change, Health, and Equity thread was embedded into the required 21-week Foundations of Patient Care 2 (FPC2) course in the spring 2023 semester. Study authors AM and JV are co-directors of FPC2 and rearranged and revised content to accommodate the addition of this thread into the course.

All thread content was developed by the CoP. The thread consisted of seven lectures, including a session on critical analysis of primary literature; facilitated discussion following each lecture; two experiential learning activities in the community; and optional extracurricular opportunities ( Table 1 ). Faculty and community experts were invited to create and deliver lectures. Each lecture contained three parts: 1) foundational knowledge, 2) the connection between climate change and health, and 3) opportunities for personal and professional advocacy and community partnership.

• PPT PowerPoint slide
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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0303615.t001

The lecture on critical analysis of primary literature was led by study author SK, a Research and Education Liaison Librarian at DUSOM. The objective of the session was to teach students how to effectively search interdisciplinary and subject-specific databases to identify literature on climate change and its health impacts and locate clinical decision-making tools. Following completion of the session, students were tasked with completing a self-directed learning activity in which they independently accessed, selected, and critically analyzed a primary literature source examining a lived experience related to climate. This activity aligned with LCME standard 6.3 for Self-Directed and Lifelong Learning [ 28 ], and the findings will be reported in a separate paper.

For the two experiential learning activities in the community, members of the CoP organized guided tours and presentations at the Museum of Life and Science and Nasher Museum of Art. Students were guided through special exhibits on the climate crisis. The goal of the tour was to stimulate perspective-taking by considering the diverse lived experiences within local, national, and global communities and imagining the impact of climate change on the health of subjects within art pieces and installations. Opportunities for extracurricular involvement were advertised in-class and by email, and included symposiums hosted by national and local organizations and volunteer events with the Environmental Justice and Health Equity Student Group.

At the conclusion of the thread, students were given two prompts designed by the CoP and intended to probe changes in preexisting beliefs and attitudes, motivation to continue learning about climate change as a social driver of health, and likelihood of participating in advocacy and community engagement. All students were required to submit a 500-word critical reflection essay. Study author SK discussed the Reflection, Evaluation for Learners’ Enhanced Competencies Tool (REFLECT) rubric with students prior to the essay assignment and shared examples modeling reflective writing [ 29 ].

Prompt 1 was “Many individuals already recognize the importance of advocating for environmental justice and can intellectualize the collective responsibility needed to create change. However, “ advocating ” can be a challenging and nebulous endeavor. Please share how and if this course motivates you to act in your clinical profession and in your daily civic life.” Prompt 2 was “There are communities who are disproportionately affected or will be disproportionately affected by climate change. To gain meaningful context, it is essential to learn about the lived experiences of these community members and partner with community advocates. Please share how you plan to continue engaging and learning with these individuals.”

We used a sample of 30 essays, approximately 25% of the total submissions, with the expectation that this sample size would be sufficient to reach saturation, or identification of most unique themes [ 30 – 32 ]. Submitted essays were deidentified and assigned a number. A random number generator identified 30 numbers, and the corresponding essays were used in the analysis. Study authors TD and EA graded the selected essays according to the REFLECT rubric. As a standard setting practice, TD and EA reviewed four essays blindly and then together. The remaining essays were reviewed and graded independently; scores for each criterion were then averaged. Similarly, study authors SM and PM, who are trained in narrative medicine, performed the thematic analysis of the selected essays. Study author SM is a faculty member at DUSOM but not directly involved in this thread, and PM is a faculty member at an external United States health sciences university. SM and PM reviewed five essays together to develop a codebook. The remaining essays were reviewed and coded independently. Themes were organized according to Bloom’s Taxonomy into cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains and further classified according to the socio-ecological model for health promotion into individual, institutional, societal/community, and policy factors [ 33 , 34 ].

Study approval

The Duke University Institutional Review Board determined data collected for the Climate Change, Health, and Equity curricular thread was exempted educational research. All students participating in the curricular thread were informed of the educational research. Students were required to complete the critical reflection essay for the FPC2 course. However, they could opt out of having their essay included in this analysis by contacting an assigned individual at DUSOM, who was not involved with the thread; if the students did not contact the assigned individual, consent to have their essay analyzed was assumed. We adhered to the Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research [ 35 ].

One hundred percent of the 118 first-year medical students who participated in the thread submitted an essay, and none opted out of inclusion in the analysis. Thirty of the 118 submitted essays (25% of the total sample) were randomly chosen for assessment by the REFLECT rubric and for the thematic analysis by Bloom’s Taxonomy. Average scores from the REFLECT rubric highlighted that most students were reflecting or critically reflecting on thread material. None of the essays showed “nonreflective" elements ( Fig 1 ). Major themes and supporting quotes from these essays are listed in Tables 2 to 4.

A sample of thirty essays was reviewed for elements of 1) Analysis and meaning making, 2) Attending to emotions, 3) Description of conflict, 4) Presence, 5) Writing spectrum. Criterion from each essay was scored as nonreflective (1 point), introspection (2 points), reflection (3 points), or critical reflection (4 points). Aggregate scores from all essays were averaged. For each criterion, it was found that students were either reflecting or critically reflecting. No essay was found to have non-reflective elements.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0303615.g001

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0303615.t002

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0303615.t003

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0303615.t004

Cognitive domain

Every student (30/30; 100%) addressed the cognitive domain ( Table 2 ). At the individual level, students commented on newly gained vocabulary, knowledge about pathology related to heat, air quality, and infectious diseases, and perspectives on the effects of climate change on individual-level disparities. At the institutional level, students discussed how the medical field’s carbon footprint contributes to climate change and how spikes in emergency visits tend to correlate with heat exposure. Students reflected on the importance of understanding the effects of climate change on the communities they are members of. Many also described how community-level health disparities they knew about previously (e.g. redlining, mental health) were linked to climate change, effectively appraising and re-evaluating their prior assumptions. Students recognized that inaction at the policy-level would contribute to widespread problems despite changes at the individual, institutional, and societal levels. They offered solutions based on their synthesized knowledge such as posing fiscal penalties on companies creating environmental hazards and taking measures for resilience and adaptation.

Affective domain

Nearly all students (27/30; 90%) addressed the affective domain in their essays ( Table 3 ). At the individual level, students recalled experiencing or noticing the consequences of climate change both personally and professionally in clinical settings. Students used emotionally laden words when describing their feelings on climate change mitigation efforts, including “dismay”, “insurmountable”, “paralyzed by fear”, and “powerlessness,” and directed negative emotions towards the healthcare system. Students voiced critiques of this curricular thread and areas for improvement but also expressed a sense of solidarity after participating in the curricular thread alongside peers and the CoP. From the museum exhibits, students reflected on the affective importance of including perspectives that are often excluded from conversations centered around the environment, including Indigenous peoples, urban residents, and rural farmworkers. Finally, concern and anxiety regarding the lack of policy addressing climate change and its downstream effects on human health were frequently discussed.

Psychomotor (action) domain

Nearly every essay (24/30; 80%) included statements expressing the need for action ( Table 4 ) at the individual level (e.g. using reusable grocery bags, volunteering for creek clean-ups, talking to patients about climate change during interviews) and/or the institutional level (e.g. using light-emitting diode (LED) rather than incandescent lights, promoting sustainable transport services). Several students indicated a desire to continue learning about climate change and planetary health, through local grassroots organizations and patient-centric tools such as the Durham Neighborhood Compass, a local database that maps demographic, environmental, and health statistics according to zip code. The students conveyed that utilizing these tools could allow them to ask patients relevant questions and offer appropriate resources. Lastly, students acknowledged the power of collective influence and the sense of responsibility they felt following participation in the curricular thread to advocate for climate change policy and to vote for policies that mitigate harm to human health.

The Climate Change, Health, and Equity curricular thread united educators, students, and relevant community members to address the challenges of time and space in the UME in delivering content on climate change and its health impacts. Through dynamic conversations centered on the current and future impacts of climate change on health, we created foundational lectures, guided discussions, organized experiences in the community, and facilitated self-reflection on learner’s attitudes and beliefs. This multi-pronged approach ultimately led students to express both the need for action and their desire to further learn from the lived experiences of patients affected by climate change in their self-reflection essays. Uniquely, we included self-reflection and experiential learning activities after students in the CoP voiced that seeing tangible effects of climate change on the health of communities may invoke desires to continue learning and advocating beyond the curricular thread.

We drew on Mezirow’s transformative learning theory by establishing a learning environment that exposed students to dilemmas posed by climate change, examined preexisting belief systems, cultivated learning and perspectives, shared sentiments through discussion and critical reflection, and explored skills needed for successful reintegration in a transformed reality [ 24 ]. We applied Freire’s educational learning theory to develop students’ critical consciousness through creation of a communal learning environment where the teacher and learner become equals who learn from one another and the world around them [ 19 , 25 ]. Utilizing a learning approach that incorporated engagement with the community brought forth the first-hand perspectives of individuals facing social, political, and economic realities of climate change. In doing so, we adhered to an essential component of Freire’s theory of connecting the learners to the “others” about whom they are learning. By taking students outside of the classroom, we challenged students to disentangle biases derived from traditional narratives learned secondhand and to reframe their views based on primary accounts.

Assessments were an essential component of our thread and served two purposes. First, our evaluation tools addressed the general challenge in medical education that new innovations often lack systematic assessment. Second, our evaluation helped us determine if students were exploring their critical consciousness. The reflection essays revealed that content delivery was effective as students reported an increased cognitive understanding of the climate’s impact on health. This was further contextualized by affective growth wherein students were able to connect new knowledge with existing frameworks and emotional responses. Although developing critical consciousness is a continuous process, the nearly unanimous reflections in the affective and psychomotor domains focused on responsibility and action highlight the impact our thread had on promoting introspection.

For future directions, we plan to measure the long-term impact of the thread on knowledge and action. Longitudinal follow-up is especially critical as our school’s curriculum consists of only a single pre-clerkship year. Our cohort was limited to these first-year students, and we did not have a control group of students to compare reflection outcomes to. After completing future clerkships, the first-year students who participated in this thread may rethink what they have learned about climate change and health and reconsider the practicality of the behaviors and actions described in their reflections. For example, several students wanted to incorporate climate counseling into patient encounters. Follow-up after completion of the clerkships will elucidate whether counseling was feasible, and if not, what were the encountered challenges that could be addressed.

Experts have highlighted that sustainability and climate awareness are core values akin to professionalism and ethics that should be incorporated throughout training using a variety of teaching modalities as a theme rather than as standalone topics [ 10 , 13 ]. To this end, we are considering how to expand the Climate Change, Health, and Equity thread to weave throughout years of the UME. We plan to track how climate impacts on health are taught intentionally or encountered as part of the hidden UME curriculum.

Several students wanted even more diverse perspectives and a greater understanding of the impact that institutional, state, and federal policies have had on environmental justice locally. We will incorporate this feedback in future thread iterations, especially as planetary health and environmental justice encompasses efforts of all allied health professionals. Accordingly, we recommend that institutions with multiple professional schools should work towards an interprofessional framework.

Although our study was conducted at a single institution during a single year, we developed our thread such that it could be readily adapted at other health professional programs. We recognize that the impacts of climate change and resulting inequities have regional differences, such as distribution of infectious disease, and community-specific variation based on pre-existing conditions of the local population, the nearby environment, and risk exposure [ 13 ]. Other health professional programs can adapt the didactic materials and the experiential community-based activities to provide meaningful learning opportunities that can be tailored locally [ 36 , 37 ]. For example, the Museum of Life and Science and Nasher Museum of Art tours that were organized for this thread could be exchanged for immersive, creative experiences at neighborhood community centers disproportionately affected by climate change, local farms and food distribution and recovery programs, waste and treatment facilities, and fieldwork sites to appreciate how environmental health is surveilled. These experiences would provide health professional students opportunities to learn about local planetary health priorities and to reflect critically on practices back in traditional training spaces.

We view the education provided by the Climate Change, Health, and Equity thread as imperative to medical students’ education, personal growth, and professional responsibility to their patients. We will continue developing our first-year thread by incorporating insights gained from this cohort, extending educational activities into subsequent years of UME, and partnering with allied health professional programs and institutions.

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