Effective work-life benefits encourage employees to work harder and discourage them from quitting their jobs, according to research by the Corporate Executive Board.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, men and women hold similar views of work-life benefits, the board found in a survey of over 50,000 workers. Moreover, star employees assign almost as much importance to work-life balance as other employees and have similar work-life preferences.

The report found that people who are happy with their work-life benefits

• Work 21 percent harder
• Are 33 percent more likely to plan to stay at that organization

Existing Work-Life Benefits

Current work-life benefits could be better, the report found. Only 16 percent of employees are satisfied with their organization's work-life practices. Nearly a third of workers are skimping on work to meet personal commitments.

The majority of people don't even know what's available to them. Fewer than one-third of employees are aware of their employer's work-life offerings. Work-life benefits might include permission for telecommuting, flexible hours and on-site or subsidized child care.

Of those who are aware, only 25 percent say those offerings match their preferences. And more than half of employees never use the available work-life benefits.

What Work-Life Benefits Do Employees Want?

Employees prefer work-life benefits that help them manage their workload. For instance, they like flexible work schedules, an appropriate amount of work and predictable working hours.

When asked about the five most desirable employer practices,

• 63 percent of employees included a flexible work schedule
• 62 percent cited an appropriate workload
• 13 percent was the average for all other work-life practices.

"Good Pay is not only the factor of best job. People Start realize having a job which able you to balance on work-life may be the best job offer."