Suppose it's Monday morning, and you're sitting at your desk at work, assessing your calendar for the week. This afternoon, you've got meetings with several coworkers and your boss on that big presentation you're giving to clients on Friday. Tomorrow, you're at a mandatory off-site seminar. On Wednesday, you're in computer training, getting up to speed on the new software that your team is using. On Thursday, you're on the road. And, of course, throughout the week, you've got phone calls to make, reports to finish, and research projects to work on. Plus, you've got your dry cleaning to pick up, your son's soccer game to attend, your elderly mother to drive to the doctor, and, let's not forget, sleeping and relaxing.

If you no longer recall what the inside of your gym looks like, if your last vacation was in the '80s, and if your days are spent in a land of diminishing returns, it may be time to consider the balance between your work and your life. Perhaps you're not taking advantage of the work/life balance benefits your company offers. Or perhaps your company's vision of the balance between work and life isn't meeting your needs (nor your company's needs — if your lack of balance is affecting your productivity and the quality of your work).

Creating a company work/life vision that works is a process that you can navigate smoothly if you have the right know-how and tools. Regardless of who initiates and drives the effort — whether it's you, your manager, or a human resources representative — a successful work/life vision will incorporate a multitude of perspectives from every level of the organization.

The following tools and tips will help your company as it seeks to develop a work/life balance vision that addresses the needs of employees, management, and the bottom line.

• Create a state-of-the-art work/life program (Article)
  Learn tips for creating a program that addresses employees' work/life balance needs as well as your company's productivity.
• Create your own work/life vision (Template)
  Use this template for Word to compose your work/life balance vision statement.
• Share the work, share the credit in a Document Workspace (Demo)
  See how you can post your vision statement to a shared location where team members and other employees can contribute their insight.
• Collaborate on office documents in SharePoint Document Workspaces (Article)
  Learn step-by-step how to use Document Workspaces to collaborate with coworkers on your company's work/life balance vision.