We make the case in this chapter that work-life balance is an important topic because research has shown that work-life balance influences a host of organizational outcomes (e.g., organizational identification, loyalty, and commitment; turnover, job performance, employee morale, and organizational citizenship) and personal outcomes (employee stress, employee burnout, employee wellbeing, satisfaction with life overall, personal happiness, eudaimonia, satisfaction with family life, satisfaction with social life, satisfaction with leisure life, satisfaction with spiritual life, satisfaction with financial life, etc.).

This chapter addresses the topic of integration, a cognition-based personal intervention serving to balance work life with other important life domains such as family life, social life, and leisure life through the principle of spillover. Positive spillover refers to the mental process by which the individual allows positive feelings invested in one life domain to spill over to other domains. Positive spillover occurs when life domains are highly interdependent and integrated. We discuss four interventions that employees use to integrate their life domains to achieve work-life balance: (1) temporal, (2) physical, (3) behavior, and (4) communicative We also discuss intervention programs that organizations can institutionalize to achieve higher levels of employee work-life balance based on these personal strategies.

In this chapter we discuss how people try to achieve work-life balance and maintain a semblance of life satisfaction by allotting more time, energy, and financial resources in roles and life domains that can produce more personal happiness. Conversely, they decrease their involvement in roles and domains that are dissatisfying. We also discuss intervention programs that organizations can use to help their employees achieve greater work-life balance through behavior-based compensation.

In this chapter, we discuss much of the research that explains how work-life balance contributes significantly to life satisfaction. We explain the direct link between work-life balance and overall life satisfaction through satisfaction in multiple domains, positive spillover of domain satisfaction, and minimal role conflict. Furthermore, there are two indirect links, namely through domain satisfaction (satisfaction with marital life, family life, health and safety, and leisure life) and stress reduction (emotional exhaustion, psychological distress, and mental health).

This chapter covers the research focusing on how employees use a behavior-based personal intervention to balance their work life with other important life domains such as family life, social life, and leisure life. This personal intervention involves role engagement in multiple roles and domains. Role engagement can be implemented through (1) increasing role involvement in a manner consistent with life priorities, (2) engaging in multiple life domains to achieve positive balance, and (3) engaging in important roles with harmonious passion. We also discuss intervention programs that organizations can institutionalize to achieve higher levels of employee work-life balance through role engagement.

In this chapter we describe segmentation— a cognition-based intervention of work-life balance. Segmentation involves creating boundaries (or psychological walls) to insulate life domains. The goal is to prevent negative spillover from the segmented domain to other domains. We discuss four different segmentation interventions that people commonly use to prevent negative spillover: temporal, physical, behavior, and communicative. We also discuss intervention programs that organizations can institutionalize to achieve higher levels of employee work-life balance based on these segmentation interventions.

This chapter summarizes much of the books content, which is divided into three parts. The first part (Chapters 1-3) describes the conceptual foundation of the research on work-life balance (definitions, importance of the construct, and the link of the construct to employee wellbeing). The second part (Chapters 4-8) describes five behavior-based, personal interventions that people commonly used to achieve work-life balance, namely (1) engaging in multiple roles and domains, (2) increasing role enrichment, (3) engaging in behavior-based compensation, (4) managing role conflict, and (5) creating role balance. Part 3 of the book (Chapters 9-12) focuses on four personal interventions of work-life balance that are cognition-based. These are (1) segmenting roles and domains, (2) integrating roles and domains, (3) engaging in value-based compensation, and (4) applying whole-life perspective in decision-making. Based on the psychological principles underlying these nine personal interventions, we developed concrete training material for instructors of work-life balance to use in the context of workshops and seminars.

In this chapter we discuss the concept of value-based compensation and the research supporting it. This concept refers to individuals changing the way they perceive the importance of work and nonwork roles and life domains as a function of their successes and failures. They value those roles/domains they find satisfying and devalue those they find dissatisfying. Doing so allows them to maintain a semblance of life satisfaction overall. That is, they “compensate” for the dissatisfaction they experience in roles by decreasing their salience; and conversely, they increase the salience of satisfying roles. We discuss two specific interventions used in value-based compensation: (1) sequencing work and nonwork goals and (2) revising existing work and nonwork goals and selecting new goals. We also discuss intervention programs that organizations can institutionalize to achieve higher levels of employee work-life balance based on these personal interventions.

In this chapter we discuss how people try to achieve work-life balance and maintain an acceptable level of life satisfaction by reducing role conflict. Reducing role conflict is typically operationalized by (1) matching role resources with role demands, (2) managing time, and (3) managing stress. We also discuss intervention programs that organizations can use to help their employees achieve greater work-life balance through managing role conflict.