Sandra hardly ever goes into the office. She makes an effort for important meetings, but most days she stays at home, where she believes she is more productive.

Amazing as it may sound, her employer is 100% behind her. With access to e-mail, Skype and other technologies, she avoids the stress and wasted time of negotiating traffic and is able to attend to her commitments as the mother of two small children.

Ten years ago this may have been unusual, but today more and more companies are realising the benefits of letting their employees find solutions that allow them to improve their work-life balance, and in so doing become more productive.

Bonnie Currin, the marketing director of recruitment solutions provider, PAG, lives in East London and manages people based in Durban, Joburg and Cape Town.

"The world of work has no boundaries; the goal is to unlock the potential of an ever-faster, versatile, innovative workforce. We live in a hyper-connected and interactive world with people's strengths being the biggest asset to any organisation, so why limit this potential by geographical boundaries?"

Currin's move to East London means she spends much time travelling and on the phone. "We meet as a team via a teleconference every week, and I communicate with each team member on a daily basis. I ensure my accessibility to my team which often means I spend more than five hours on the telephone per day, resulting in much of my other work responsibilities being completed in the evenings."

Fundile Nyati, the CEO of Proactive Health Solutions, says companies need to pay more attention to employees' satisfaction - or watch their bottom line suffer.

"The human capital is every company's greatest asset. But it can also be its greatest liability if the employees' wellbeing is not given the necessary priority by employers. Higher performing, healthier and more productive employees are some of the key levers that drive a business, while a decline in employee motivation and productivity results in the opposite."

Paul Fick, MD of Spescom DataFusion, saysmanagers have a responsibility to encourage their staff to achieve a work-life balance, especially in highly stressful contact centres.

This environment may not allow for staff to work from other towns, but offering staff more flexible working hours can make work more satisfying, and using software to manage the process adds to its efficiency. Fick says the right tools can help managers help their staff strike a balance between their home and work lives despite the demands of a globalised world.

"The ubiquity of technology and increasing globalisation of business means work time is now any time. Personal time thus needs to be defined by the individual. This responsibility needs to be taken seriously and employers need to ensure staff recognise the requirement for balance."

The way in which Currin has struck a balance has not been without challenges. She says that team dynamics may have taken a knock and it is difficult to build personal relationships with staff without face-to-face conversations.

"Business-mature staff members adapt well to a decentralised approach as they don't need to be micro-managed, but more junior staff who require more mentoring and daily management would not achieve the same results without a manager present daily."

However, overall she believes that the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. "Proof of our decentralised management approach success is in the results, with my region posting the best revenue results, and I achieved the highest Leadership Index score in PAG, which is rated across various management elements."