Study title

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

In 2000, the Government launched the Work-Life Balance Campaign, targeting employers to promote the benefits of flexible working for all employees. Although this campaign was not specifically aimed at parents or carers, the legislation restricted rights to apply for changes in the hours, timing or place of work to those employees with caring responsibilities.

The then Department for Education and Employment (later the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) and now the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS)) carried out the first Work-Life Balance Survey (WLB1) in 2000 (held at the UK Data Archive under SN 4465). It was used to assess how far employers operated work-life balance practices and whether employees felt that existing practices met their needs. The first survey was followed up in 2003 by a second survey, a two-part survey of employees and employers (WLB2) (held under SNs 5079 and 5080) and by a third wave in 2006 and 2007 (WLB3) (held under SNs 7028 and 5787). The fourth employee survey was carried out in 2011 (held under SN 7112) and the fourth employers survey was completed in 2013 (held under SN 7775).


Main Topics:

The first work-life balance study is based on three questionnaire surveys that directly addressed the question of work-life balance:

a representative survey of 2500 employers with five or more employees at the establishment level (the Employer Survey);

interviews with 248 head offices of establishments that participated in the Employer Survey (the Head Office Survey);

a survey of 7561 persons in employment (the Employee Survey).

Detailed information relating to each survey may be found in the documentation.