Purpose The purpose of this article is to consider why worklife balance has become a major issue, and the likely outcomes of the widespread dissatisfaction with current work schedules. Designmethodologyapproach The article reviews international evidence on hours of work and time use, and the academic literature on employees attitudes towards their hours of work, and perceptions and complaints about worklife imbalances. Findings Working time has not lengthened and complaints about time pressure are unrelated to hours actually worked. The sources of the widespread dissatisfaction with current work schedules will lie in a combination of other trends increased labour market participation by women, work intensification, the spread of feelings of job insecurity, more work being done at odd hours, the spread of new information and communication technologies, free time increasing more slowly than spending power and aspirations, and relatively long hours becoming most common among employees and the selfemployed in higher status jobs. An outcome is unlikely to be a general downward trend in hours worked on account of the substantial opportunity costs that would often be incurred by employees, and because some mainly middle class employees have access to a number of effective coping strategies. Research limitationsimplications Nearly all the evidence considered and available is from Western countries. Practical implications Regulation of working time with the aim of delivering more acceptable worklife balances needs to deliver flexibility at employees' discretion rather than any standard solution. Originalityvalue The article offers a synthesis of evidence from sources that are rarely drawn together mainly labour market research, and leisure studies.