Benefits and Costs

People have family and personal responsibilities and needs outside of work, whether it is the caring of children and/or elderly parents, or the pursuit of personal interests, activities or hobbies. Finding ways to accommodate these responsibilities and needs can make a real difference to employees and to an organization. Work-Life balance is about creating supportive, healthy work environments for employees who are striving to better integrate their work and personal responsibilities. By implementing proactive programs and initiatives that support employees, organizations can strengthen employee commitment and loyalty, resulting in higher productivity, improved customer satisfaction and healthier bottom lines.

Organizational and Employer Benefits

Work-life balance programs and practices can benefit an organization's bottom line while at the same time, provide other indirect benefits both to employees and employers. While some of these benefits might be more tangible and quantifiable than others, they nonetheless can contribute to significant positive organizational gain. Many businesses are already seeing the benefits for themselves. The following article "the business case for work-life balance" explores some of the benefits of work-life balance. It presents data from various studies that show the cost effectiveness of work-life balance programs and practices and provides a few tips on how you can use the information to build a personalized business case for your organization.

Please also visit our Research and Documents page to search our bibliography by subject for references and links to several research studies on the benefits and costs of work-life balance.