Transformation of work-life balance perception in cee countries in the post-pandemic era

Work-life balance is a crucial concept in today's world, as the tension between work and personal life is increasing due to remote work and long working hours. The article aimed to identify the degree of implementation of work-life balance elements in the work systems of organizations. The authors note a gap in the research regarding work-life balance, particularly in terms of the specificity of perspectives and differences in approaches among companies from various sectors. Additionally, there is a lack of analysis comparing the perceptions of local entrepreneurs and companies with foreign majority ownership. The survey distribution and data collection were conducted using the Google Forms platform from January to December 2020 in the CEE region. To test the hypotheses, the authors used a series of pairwise, non-parametric Wilcoxon tests, Mann-Whitney U test, and Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA to compare the expected and current state. In cases of significant effects, the analyses were supplemented with effect size indices. The study suggests that work-life balance is given more attention in larger companies in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. This study also shows that companies with foreign majority ownership pay marginally more attention to work-life balance. The sphere of business also significantly affected the work-life balance rating, with the service sector showing higher ratings than the industrial production sector. The positive aspect of the study is that entrepreneurs have relatively significant expectations for the development of work-life balance. However, the study is limited to only CEE countries, and future studies plan to expand the respondent database to include Western European countries for comparison.