'Time flies when you’re having fun', goes the adage. Time also flies when you are very busy, but rather than having fun, you can soon find yourself stressed in a way that affects not only your mental and emotional wellbeing, but also your physical health.

When there is not enough time in the day, something has to give: but is it to be your work or your personal life? Achieving a balance has become one of the burning issues of the day.

Here are some of the main reasons why more and more people are addressing the topic of work–life balance:

• Two-career families means more demands on both parents to juggle job and family.
• More people living longer means more workers with the care demands of elderly relatives.
• More pressure and longer hours at work on account of modern technology (for example, overflowing inboxes, internet information deluge, and ringing phones) mean people ‘burning out’ younger.

Government figures show that Britain has the longest working hours in Europe, although our workforce is not as productive as those in some countries with shorter hours. So while people are spending more time at work, they are not necessarily achieving more.

The broad argument for greater balance and flexibility at work is that greater satisfaction will lead to fewer stress-related illnesses, less time taken off for sickness, lower staff turnover, and higher productivity. People with a good balance between their work and other responsibilities and interests tend to be more motivated and productive. In other words, happy people work better.

"You have to find some sort of balance across the year. You cannot work flat out without taking holidays. So, by the end of January this year, I had already pre-booked three holidays for the whole year. And they’re all the ‘real thing’, expensive holidays that I know I just can’t put off."

Liz Jackson, Great Guns Marketing

"Problems arise when we don’t plan for balance in our life. The business is not the be all and end all. You have to book time in for yourself. I treat my family and friends like I do my work meetings. I book them in to my diary like anything else and they’re never deprioritised."

Christina Vaughan, Image Source
 

This article features in Manage Your Time from the series of everywoman Simple Approach to Business guides.