Work-life Matters : Crafting a New Balance at Work and at Home

Work-life balance isn’t about where or how you spend your time. At least not solely. It’s about where and how you use and replenish your energy. Work matters. Life matters. Work-life matters.

As we start to navigate life during and after the pandemic, employers and employees are increasingly re-evaluating how work can be made more sustainable and more fulfilling. Many employees - particularly Gen X and Gen Z - are seeking a new psychological contract with their employers. 

Putting these trends into context and offering practical solutions, this book takes a deep dive into why work matters as part of a healthy and fulfilling life. The authors present a new and different way of thinking about the matter of balance, arguing that there is no hard divide between ‘work’ and life’ because ‘work’ takes place entirely within ‘life’ and you can’t balance two things when one is a subset of the other. To achieve the balance required for a healthy existence, we need to recognisethat there are activities in all parts of work-life that drain our energy and others that give us a buzz. Rather than trying to solve the drain of hard work by living it large at the weekend – or compensating for an unfulfilling home life by working like a demon, we need to create balance at work and balance at home.

Now is a golden opportunity to re-examine the world of work and job-craft to make them more satisfying, less draining and more energising. The ideas in this book provide a practical guide to help that process.

David Pendleton is Professor in Leadership at Henley Business School, and a member of the Henley Centre for Leadership.  He co-founded the Edgecumbe consulting group in 1995 where he worked with a wide range of clients from the airline, hospitality, retail, pharmaceuticals, healthcare and professional and financial services sectors in Europe, Asia and America. He was Executive Chair of Edgecumbe from 1995-2005.  The holder of an Oxford doctorate in Psychology, David is a Chartered Psychologist an Associate Fellow of the Saïd Business School, Oxford University, an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners and a member of their Trustee Board.