Abstract: Since the 1980s, the principle of work-life balance has been enshrined in the labor standards of the International Labour Organization as well as in the legislation of the European Union and many other countries. The principle has important economic and social significance as well as legal values and is of great significance for promoting employment, especially women's employment, and gender equality, meeting the needs of family care, and protecting workers' rights. The introduction of this principle will help China meet the challenges of a low birth rate and an aging population, promote the construction of a birth-friendly society, improve working time rules, and expand the functions of labor law. China should establish the principle of work-life balance in its labor law and comprehensively build the rules of work-life balance by improving the system of maternity and parental leaves and other care leaves and introducing the right to request flexible work arrangements and the right to disconnect. 

Key Words: work-life balance, birth-friendly, caring leave, flexible working arrangements, the right to disconnect

Author: Xie Zengyi, research fellow and deputy director, CASS Institute of Law;

Source: 4 (2025) Chinese Journal of Law.