Work-Life Balance Definition and Principles

Work-Life Balance definition for the State Services Work-life balance is about the interaction between paid work and other activities, including unpaid work in families and the community, leisure, and personal development. Work-life balance is about creating a productive work culture where the potential for tensions between work and other parts of people's lives is minimised. This means having appropriate employment provisions in place, and organisational systems and supportive management underpinning them. Work-life balance for any one person is having the 'right' combination of participation in paid work (defined by hours and working conditions), and other aspects of their lives. This combination will not remain fixed, but may change over time.

Work-Life Balance principles for the State Services Policy principles Work-life balance should: benefit both the individual and the organisation be responsive to the needs of the organisation (nature of the business, operating hours etc) and demands of their service-users (citizens and/or government) be aligned with the vision and strategic direction of the organisation recognise that the needs of both the organisation and employees are not static, but change over time be broad, in order to cover a wide variety of situations (e.g. not just targeted at those with children) and employee needs be a joint responsibility between employees, their union and the organisation be available to all employees, or have it clearly stated where they are not (e.g. some jobs may not be able to be done part-time) be fair and equitable, recognising that different cultures, abilities/disabilities, religions, beliefs, whanau and family practices may mean different solutions for different people, and that "one size does not fit all" be affordable for the organisation and realistically budgeted value employees for their contribution to the organisation, regardless of their working pattern. Implementation principles Work-life balance programmes should: be flexible, so that work-life balance programmes can be changed to meet the needs of employees and the organisation as they change highlight the need for management, unions and employees to work in partnership to identify issues and discuss relevant and workable solutions be widely communicated, so that employees are aware of what is available be easily accessible, i.e. employees know what is available and feel they can use the provisions without being penalised be integrated with human resource and people management policies and practices be carefully planned and agreed and practical, so that they can work allow for tailoring to meet individual employee needs where possible include a monitoring and evaluation mechanism, to investigate if they are succeeding in their aims and are being applied consistently.