Work/life balance reflects concerns about Quality of Working Life (QWL), Job Satisfaction, the home-work interface, and Organisational Stress. All of which impact on the bottom line through lost productivity, increased sickness absence and labour turnover, low morale and poor quality and customer service. And of course stress can impact on you personally, as well as those close to you. (Click here for 10-point Stress checklist)

As long ago as 1999 an Ashridge College survey showed that 77% of managers found work to be a source of stress and 93% of them were committed to spending more time with their families. And in the Management Today survey that year half the workforce said it felt guilty leaving work on time. In addition the Institute of Directors report that 40% of Directors regard stress as a major problem and 90% of them think working practices could be at fault.

In the UK, according to the Health & Safety Executive:

 - About 1/2 a million people experience work-related stress which makes them ill
 - Up to 5 million people feel "very" or "extremely" stressed by their work
 - 12.8 million working days were lost to stress, depression and anxiety in 2004/5
 - Stress now costs the economy approaching £1/2 Billion per year.
 - Stress related sickness absence has increased five-fold since the 1950s

And there have been several stress-related settlements running into many thousands of pounds.

What’s the answer?
There is no quick fix but a good starting point is to carry out a review of existing practices, a risk assessment based on the HSE Management Guidelines, and/or a stress audit. I have extensive experience in this area and can assist by carrying out audits, developing policies, and by providing training for managers and staff.
For organisations wishing to benchmark themselves, I can carry out a QWL survey using the QWL Questionnaire – specifically designed by ASE for this purpose. The QWLQ is designed to assess the quality of life in the workplace and can be used with individuals, groups or whole organisations. It measures support from managers and relationships with work colleagues, involvement and responsibility at work, and provides diagnostic information about organisations experiencing personnel difficulties including work-related stress.