Employee Work-Life Balance as an HR Imperative

There is a growing awareness in today's workplaces that employees do not give up their lives just because they work. Work and life remain the two most important domains in the life of an employed individual. However, the challenge of balancing work and non-work demands is one of today's central concerns for both individuals and organisations. With the growing diversity of family structures represented in today s workforce, particularly with the growing norm of dual-career families, the importance of managing an employee's work-life balance have increased markedly over the past 20 years. Employers are realising that the quality of an employee's personal and family life impacts work quality and that there are concrete business reasons to promote work and non-work integration. In this paper, we contend that assisting employees to achieve a work-life balance should become a critical part of HR policy and strategy if it is to truly get the best from the organisation's people without leaving them unsatisfied, burnt-out and unfulfilled.