Work causes stress. Both men and women work, raise families and go to school. Previously, women in the workforce suffered demotions or abandoned their careers when they had children. Today, families rely on a dual income. As both parents work full time and while raising children, the balance between work and home responsibilities is unbalanced. This imbalance creates stress for both the employee and the employer. Work-life balance is the need to provide a schedule that combines work, family relationships, and leisure into a fulfilling life. Flexible working arrangements balance work and home responsibilities; which helps employees deal with stress, motivates them and empowers them. Organizations must evaluate workplace culture and provide mechanisms to support work-life balance that are mutually beneficial to both the organization and the employee. Each individual has unique responsibilities that define the meaning of work-life balance. Workforce employees who accommodate family and work commitments have achieved a sense of work-life balance (“The Business Imperative,” 2009). The distinction between work and personal life was clear. Today personal commitments suffer from lack of time and energy. Unfortunately, the demands of work exceed those of home, because without work, home does not exist. An unbalanced work life creates negative and disengaged employees. Each year it costs the US economy between $250 and $300 billion in lost productivity alone (Clifton & Rath, 2009). Organizations now realize that their success is directly related to the morale of their employees. Organizations requiring complete loyalty and extraordinary overtime...... middle of paper ......ight%20q2%202009.pdfMcMahon, C., & Pocock, B. Australian Government, EOWA. (2011). Doing things differently: case studies of work-life innovation in six Australian workplaces. Retrieved from http://www.eowa.gov.au/Information_Centres/Resource_Centre/EOWA_Publications/University_of_SA_Case_Study/UniSA_Case%20Studies%20report_April2011.pdfNixon, J. (n.d.). Work-life balance. In M. Simmering (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Business (2nd ed. pp. Tr-Z). Retrieved from http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/Tr-Z/Work-Life-Balance.htmlSHRM. (2011). Shrm research spotlight: Flexible working arrangements. Retrieved from http://www.shrm.org/research/surveyfindings/documents/11-workflexflier_final_rev.pdfYasbek, P. (2004), The business case for company-level work-life balance policies: a review of the literature. Retrieved from http://w.iaa.govt.nz/PDFs/FirmLevelWLB.pdf