Politicians of all colours have clicked into the work-life balance debate.  They view it as a potential solution to achieving many key public policy objectives, such as supporting families, tackling poverty & exclusion, reducing congestion/enhancing the environment and improving public services.  But there's a debate as to what role government should play in all of this.  Can it help fostering a better work-life balance in both private and public sector organisations?  Should it pull together the various cross-government initiatives and look to future policy, including how ICT can assist?  Should it use the tools of government: for example, a technology-based tax credit to help business or even the introduction of a skills portfolio, such as a 'flexible working' skill set, prior to beginning working life?  Whatever, the role of ICT is one of the key drivers but seems to be overlooked by decision-makers and opinion-formers as an important factor in meeting these policy goals.

The ability to work 'on the move', from home or during non-standard hours allows us to think more widely about how we apportion our time. Will 'early risers' be able to work in the mornings, and 'night owls' in the evenings, when they are at their most creative?

If they do, will normal, daytime hours be theirs to use as they wish? How do we protect 'down time'? In the days before the mobile, the blackberry and the laptop, the train journey taking us to that conference was for reading a novel. Now it is spent working.

Have we increased our efficiency, at the expense of feeding our soul? And if the workforce is no longer a cohesive body, what are the dangers of that change, from the point of view of both the organisation and its employees? What does this do to the social side of work, the meetings of colleagues and those philosophical discussions around the water cooler?