Work-life balance
“Work-life balance” typically means the achievement by employees of equality between time spent working and personal life.
A good work-life balance for employees can improve staff motivation, increase staff retention rates, reduce absence, attract new talent, and reduce employee stress.
The right to request flexible working is designed to encourage employees to improve their work-life balance. Employees with 26 weeks’ continuous service have the right to request from their employer a change to the number of hours they work, the times they work or the place where they work.
Staff seek greater flexibility as they get older
Employees increasingly look for a job that is tailored to their lives, rather than having to adapt their lives to...
Are employees working too many hours?
The traditional 9am-5pm working day is quickly disappearing, but this is because many employees are regularly working beyond their contracted...
Remote workers ‘should spend at least two days in office’
A study finds that while remote working is linked to positive wellbeing, it has little effect on stress and productivity.
How easy is it to implement a four-day week?
If the four-day week is to be a realistic option for businesses, work needs to be done on how it can be made to suit companies of different sizes.
Should smartphones be banned in the workplace?
Allowing smartphones at work can affect productivity, but is an outright ban the answer?
Shorter City trading day would ‘boost diversity and work-life balance’
Equity market opening hours should be shortened by 90 minutes to allow the trading sector to attract and retain a...
Blanket out-of-hours email bans do more harm than good
Banning staff from accessing emails outside office hours could harm their wellbeing rather than improve work-life balance, a study from...
Union doubtful over government figures on teachers’ hours
Teachers' working hours have fallen by five hours per week over the past three years, according to government figures. But the main education union disagrees
CIPD’s Peter Cheese: HR’s role in improving mental health
On World Mental Health Day, HR teams have been reminded of the scale of the mental ill health “epidemic” and...
Future workplaces should offer an improved ‘human experience’
Employers should think less about new technology and more about improving the “human experience” when considering the future of work,...
Why meeting flexible working requests is easier said than done
With Labour proposing a four-day week and unions campaigning for workers to use technology to spend less time in the...
Sandwich carers struggling to balance work and home
More than half of ‘sandwich carers’ – people who look after both children and older relatives – find balancing their...
‘Radical action’ needed to reduce teachers’ hours
Teachers have worked an average of 46 to 49 hours a week for many years, according to a study by...
Shorter working week would be ‘unrealistic’, report finds
A blanket shortening of the working week would be unrealistic in the UK as it would not meet the needs...
Molson Coors offers staff two weeks’ paid ‘life leave’
Molson Coors Brewing Company is offering staff up to two weeks’ extra paid annual leave to be used for significant...
