Why Do Canadian Organizations Need to Focus on Work-Life Balance?
The link between recruitment and retention of knowledge workers and the availability of work-life policies and supports (Duxbury & Higgins, 2001, Kurland & Bailey, 1999) provides a compelling reason for Canadian organizations to take another look at this issue. The need to benchmark human resource initiatives such as the implementation of flexible work arrangements and family-friendly benefits and policies against competitors, both within and outside the country, has increased dramatically as Canada, and the rest of the industrialized world, enters a “sellers” market for workers in general and skilled labour in particular (AFT Public Employees, 2002; Certified General Accountants Association of Canada, 2005). A number of demographic trends have contributed to these projected labour force shortages, the chief of which is a global aging of the population due to a worldwide transition over time from “high fertility and mortality rates to low fertility and delayed mortality” (Certified Gen
