Building a balance: a systematic literature review of work-life programs, work-life balance, and work outcomes in the architecture, engineering, and construction industries

Work-life balance is a major concern in the architecture, engineering, and construction industries. Despite growing interest, research remains fragmented, with limited insights into how work-life programs designed to support employees influence work-life balance and work outcomes. Drawing on the input-process-output framework, we develop an integrated conceptual framework of program availability, work-life balance, and work outcomes. A systematic literature search was conducted using Business Source Elite, ABI/INFORM, Scopus, Web of Science, and PsycInfo, which yielded 41 empirical studies published between 2000 and 2025. Findings reveal that research to date has focused more on employee-level dynamics than on the organizational antecedents and implementation of work-life programs. Strong evidence exists for factors that can lead to work-life balance or work-life conflict, with growing evidence for their subsequent effects on employee outcomes. The findings present a consolidated evidence-based framework to guide theory development and inform effective work-life balance practices within the architecture, engineering, and construction sector. The framework offers organizations a roadmap for implementing sustainable work-life practices that enhance employee well-being and provides a systematic mapping of the literature, showing where research is clustered and where further theoretical and empirical development is required.