Work is a big part of life - in some cases, too big.  Hence, there is a good deal of hand-wringing, effort, and money devoted to "work-life balance" issues, especially the scarcity of time and the competing work and "life" demands for that time.  
 
We've learned a thing or two about this problem from our clients. 

First, time itself is often not the problem.  Rather, it is a symptom of an underlying issue.  For example, our statistical analysis for a client identified three major factors that drove whether or not employees felt they had enough time to do a good job at work and to achieve a quality work-life balance.  They are:
 
1. Poor job design
2. Inefficient (or non-existent) work processes
3. Inadequate supervisory skills
 
Second, traditional approaches to directly addressing work-life balance - rather than tackling the underlying causes of that problem - often miss the boat.  Investing in such programs is a risky proposition. 
 
Unless and until work-life balance initiatives are addressed within the larger context of how people and managed and developed, they are unlikely to generate much of a return on investment.
 
So how should your organization begin to identify and address the real factors that are driving work-life balance (or imbalance) for your employees?  One powerful starting point is McBassi's measurement framework, which is summarized in our 2007 Harvard Business Review article.