Balancing the Scales: A Configurational Approach to Work-Life Balance

Work-life balance is a topic eliciting much attention and scholarship. Yet what scholars mean by work-life balance is wide-ranging. This review focuses on work-life balance scholarship published primarily between 2000 and 2020. To understand what constitutes balance, we integrate this research with work on enrichment and depletion, two constructs that contribute to work-life balance. We identify four configurations of enrichment and depletion that undergird different levels of work-life balance: (a) low enrichment and high depletion (no balance), (b) low enrichment and low depletion (minimal balance), (c) high depletion and high enrichment (balance), and (d) low depletion and high enrichment (balance/flourishing). We examine how other factors, such as cognitive and behavioral factors, other individual differences, and organizational factors, relate to enrichment, depletion, and work-life balance. We conclude with future research directions and practical implications, urging scholars and practitioners to consider novel work-life concerns from the lenses of enrichment and depletion.