Background and purpose: Organizations strive to increase the work engagement of their employees, as engaged employees are more productive employees, but often neglect the significant effects of work-family balance on work engagement. Numerous studies confirm the importance of work-family balance and work engagement, but there is lack of research that explores the relationship between the concepts. Our research fills a research gap in investigating the impact of work-family balance on work engagement, both directly and through individual perceptions of organizational support for work-family balance. The main aim of our research is to empirically test the relationships between the policies and practices of organizations regarding work-family balance, work-life balance and work engagement.Methods: Using validated questionnaires, we collected data on organizational support for work-family balance (family-friendly policies and practices, support by leader, support by co-workers, working hours and complexity of work), work-family balance and work engagement. The quantitative data for our analysis was collected through a survey of 343 online participants who were employees in various positions in companies in Slovenia.The results: Our results show that the organization's work-family balance policies and practices, such as support by leader, co-workers, and family-friendly policies and practices, have a positive impact on the individual's work-family balance, that work-family balance leads to an increase in work engagement, and that the individual's perception of the organization's work-family balance support leads to an increase in work engagement.Conclusion: Knowledge of important work-family balance implications with an understanding of organizational support for work-family balance and the relationships between the constructs of work-family balance and work engagement can be beneficial to business leaders. This understanding can help them to strengthen employee work engagement through family-friendly policies and practices, and thereby contributing to the area of employee behavior and improving employee productivity.

Background and Purpose: Our research examines the impact of work-life balance on work engagement, both direct impact as well as through job and life satisfaction. The main aim of our research is to empirically test relations between work-life balance, job satisfaction, life satisfaction, and work engagement among higher education lecturers from Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Serbia, and Slovenia. Methods: Using validated questionnaires, we collected data on work-life balance, job satisfaction, life satisfaction and their work engagement. The quantitative data for our analysis were collected through a survey of 164 online participants. Based on an extensive literature review, we have formulated five hypotheses, which we tested in one structural model by using structural equation modelling (SEM). Results: Our findings show that an increase in work-life balance positively relates to life and work satisfaction and that life satisfaction leads to an increase in work engagement. Conclusion: The knowledge of important impact of work-life balance, together with the understanding of the relations between the researched constructs of work-life balance, life satisfaction, job satisfaction and work engagement, can strengthen teachers’ work engagement by respecting employees as actors in other roles and supporting work-family balance in the form of family-friendly policies and practices, and thereby contributes to the area of employee’s behaviour and improves the teacher’s productivity.

Innovations and Lifelong Learning in Sustainable Organization: Innovation and knowledge are two of key factors for sustainable development of company or organization. Particularly in the current period of economic crisis it is crucial to promote lifelong learning and creativity to contribute innovative solutions to various problems. Lifelong learning makes a significant contribution to awareness of the importance of innovation and creativity for sustainable development of organization. In this paper we explore if respondents from Slovenian companies think that innovation and lifelong learning is important for sustainable development of company. Presented are the results of a survey conducted in 67 large and medium-sized enterprises in Slovenia where we upon respondents' judgment examine the correlation between the innovativeness level and lifelong learning, investing in innovativeness and competitive advantage and the promotion of lifelong learning and competitive advantage of the organization. Also the answers to the questions if lifelong learning contributes to the sustainable development of organization and if more the organization takes care of sustainable development the bigger is its competitive advantage before equal bidders are given.

Work-life balance has been a topic of various researches where researches have been mostly concerned with the influence of organizational practices and policies on work-family balance. On the other side the relation between demographics and work-life balance, particularly in academics sphere, has not been well investigated. Therefore we test in our research how gender, age and the academic rank affect work-life balance among higher education lecturers. Participants in this study were higher education lecturers from Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Serbia and Slovenia. The results of our research show that with a higher academic rank the work-life balance among higher education lecturers' increases. Results show no difference in work-life balance among higher education lecturers based on gender. Potential curvilinearity between age and work-life balance among higher education lecturers was not confirmed due to the lack of statistical significance. The results of this study give better insights into the basic demographics' effect on work-life balance, particularly among higher education lecturers. Results of this study can be used both for further research and in practice.

The present time is characterized by high level of competitiveness on the market, the rise of modern information technology, the demands for constant readiness of employees, and long working hours. One of the substantial demographic transformations involves the aging of the workforce. Numerous authors have demonstrated the link between gender and work-life conflict, but only a few researchers have examined how workers experience and manage conflict between their work and home lives across the lifespan. The current study aimed to bridge this gap and examined work-life conflict for individuals aged 30 to 72, focusing on how work-life conflict changes with age. The results show curvilinearity between age in years and work-life conflict. The negative value of the quadratic value coefficient shows a downward concave curve, which confirms curvilinearity and can be interpreted as: the older one is, the less work-life conflict is present - the drop begins after 51 years of age. The results of this study give better insights into the age effect on work-life conflict among higher education lecturers. The implications are foremost for the policymakers, higher education lecturers themselves, and work-life conflict researchers. Results of this study can be used both for further research and in practice. The broad scientific and professional interest in the constructs relating to work-life conflict is growing as global competition increases rapidly, and management expresses the need for such research; work-life conflict plays a remarkable role in the sustainability of organizations through their employees.

Prispevek obravnava razvoj kadrov na Univerzi v Mariboru, ki je ključen za akademsko, raziskovalno in organizacijsko odličnost. Od ustanovitve leta 1975 Univerza v Mariboru sistematično profesionalizira zaposlene, vključno z akademskim, raziskovalnim in nepedagoškim strokovnim osebjem. Razvoj kadrov je prilagojen potrebam družbe, kar se odraža v uvedbi novih pedagoških pristopov, digitalnih tehnologij in bolonjskega sistema študija. Analiza obdobja od leta 2004 do leta 2023 prikazuje nihanja v številu zaposlenih, z vrhuncem leta 2023, ko je imela univerza 2093 zaposlenih. Opazen je trend rasti raziskovalnega in pedagoškega kadra z višjimi akademskimi nazivi ter profesionalizacija delovne sile, zlasti v višjih tarifnih razredih skupin H in J. Strategija razvoja Univerze v Mariboru 2021–2030 (Univerza v Mariboru, 2021b) poudarja pomen medsebojnih odnosov, uravnoteženja dela in življenja ter kontinuiranega razvoja kompetenc preko programov, kot je Izpopolni UM. Ugotovljeno je, da Univerza v Mariboru sledi sodobnim trendom digitalizacije, inovativnosti in vseživljenjskega učenja ter prispeva k razvoju zaposlenih in širše družbe.