Rethinking Work-Life Balance for Child-Free, Solo-Living Professionals

The phrase “work–life balance” often conjures images of harried parents juggling school drop-offs, Zoom (or in my world, Teams) calls, and commutes as workers return to the office. But what happens when “life” doesn’t include children or a partner? An enlightening study by Wilkinson, Tomlinson, and Gardiner turns the spotlight on a long-overlooked group: solo-living professionals without children—a demographic on the rise.

The study interviewed 36 professionals in the UK who live alone and do not have children. What emerged were four specific challenges and dilemmas that disrupt the prevailing narrative that “no kids = no work–life issues.” Here's what they found:

Assumptions About Time

Many workplaces operate under a flawed assumption: if you don’t have children, your time is flexible and your evenings are wide open. Solo-living professionals pushed back hard on this. Without a partner to share household duties, everything—from laundry to taxes to social maintenance—falls to one person. Leisure time? What leisure time?

“I do a lot of DIY myself,” said one participant. “Who do you think is going to do it—the DIY fairy?”

Singletons have to find ways to juggle the burden of work and life demands on their own. As a professional woman without a partner at home to help share the household labour, I feel this pain. I have been fortunate enough to be able to afford a personal assistant to run my errands for me, and yes, I recognize the privilege I enjoy in outsourcing these demands. I simply do not want to spend what little free time that I have doing tasks that take me away from spending time with friends and family, relaxing and focusing on self-care. Most people don’t enjoy this luxury and have to give up their free time to manage it all on their own.

Making time to foster friendships or date often requires intentional effort, especially when professional demands leave little energy or flexibility for spontaneous socializing. Some women in the study noted that their window for finding a partner—and possibly having children—was narrowing, and yet they were trapped in work patterns that left little room for dating.

Legitimacy of Personal Time

One of the most painful findings was the perception that solo-living professionals’ time is somehow less legitimate. Participants felt that taking time off for a personal interest, self-care, or even just rest was often seen (by both managers and peers) as less valid than time off to care for children.

This dynamic led many to feel unable to push back against long hours or say no to last-minute assignments. “We get paid the same,” one participant noted, “so why is my going home less important?”

Lack of Emotional and Financial Support

Living solo means you shoulder everything—emotions, health crises, and rent—alone. One woman, recovering from surgery, described being stuck on the floor with no one to help. I have personally enjoyed the logistics of recovering from a hip surgery solo after my mom left. The highlight - texting a friend to let her know that I was going to shower and I didn’t check back in within 30 minutes to call for assistance as it meant I had fallen! Others spoke of financial fragility: one layoff could mean catastrophe, with no second income to fall back on.

And while coworkers with families might assume single colleagues can “just move” for a job or “pick up the slack,” these assumptions erase the real pressures of managing a life—and a household—solo.

Workplace Vulnerability

With no family waiting at home, work often becomes the central source of meaning, identity, and connection. This intensifies both commitment and vulnerability. Disappointments at work—an unfair review, a missed promotion—hit harder when your workplace feels like your primary source of structure and community.

“You come home and there’s nothing to distract you from it,” one participant said. “Little things get exaggerated in your head.”

Why This Matters for Child-Free Women

The research reveals that solo-living professionals face real, nuanced work–life dilemmas that go unnoticed in traditional workplace policies. Time pressures are real, but so are emotional and financial strains. It’s not about comparing who has it harder; it’s about recognizing that different life paths come with different challenges.

For child-free women, especially those living alone, it’s time for workplaces to evolve past binary policies that prioritize only parental roles.

Check out the article Exploring the work–life challenges and dilemmas faced by managers and professionals who live alone, Work, employment and society 2017, Vol 31(4) 640-656 by Krystal Wilkinson, Jennifer Tomlinson and Jean Gardiner here.

Alysia Christiaen

Creator of CFW² and a child-free woman.