Eight out of ten employees would love to spend more time with their friends and family in 2004 according to a survey published by the Department of Trade and Industry's Work-Life Balance campaign.

Apparently all that is stopping us doing this is our inability to balance our work and our lives.

Despite nine in ten workers (87%) thinking that having interests and commitments outside the workplace helps to achieve a more fulfilling work-life balance, less than four in ten (37%) adults between 55 and 65.have have changed their working hours, at some point, to accommodate other interests. Younger workers were less concerned about the change - or just less organised - with nearly half (47%) of 16-24 year olds having changed their working hours to accommodate their personal lives.

Nearly four in ten adults (38%) between the ages of 35 and 55 feel they spend too much time at work, at the expense of other commitments. It makes one wonder if the other 62% think they should spend more time at work.

Before we manage to get our work/life balance right and take advantage of flexible working practices, it's on to the next trend. This year, the fashion is for employee wellness.

At the third annual Institute for Health and Productivity Management forum in London last month Neil Snowball, global head of wellness at Goldman Sachs, said firms were "waking up to the realisation" that they can increase productivity more by concentrating on wellness and the working environment than through introducing flexible working practices".

Snowball (anyone having an 'Animal Farm' moment?) went on to say that the challenge for firms now was to create "more effective measurement techniques" to provide evidence to the board of the value of wellness activities."

The question is, how far will this go? Employers have already banned drinking at lunch times and can fire you for taking drugs at any time. Could they be set to demand that employees give up smoking, have the right body/mass index and spend at least an hour a day in the company gym?

Hmm. Being paid to exercise. That could work.

Research by Portfolio Payroll on behalf of Peninsula law firm shows that just under half of recruiters do not bother to check work references of people they hire. That's despite 66% of respondents claiming to having had problems with new employees whose work history was not investigated

Almost 70% added that if a candidate put in an exceptional performance at the interview stage they would not bother to check his or her work history.

It makes you wish you had told your last boss what you really thought of them.

Forget funky fonts and heavyweight cream paper. You have exactly five seconds to stop your CV heading into the round filing cabinet under the recruiters desk according to the results of a survey by Pitman Training.

If the person looking at your CV can spot a mistake in those five seconds, they'll be on the hunt for more instead of actually reading your carefully constructed paragraphs about how you took on lots of responsibility and are happy working in a tame[sic].

More than three-quarters of UK workers would like to resign this year and set up in business on their own claims a new report by HR consultancy Chiumento.

Yet only 5 per cent believe that they will actually take the plunge during 2004, 25 percent confess that this is just another new year's resolution that they have made before and more than 40 per cent admit that they are unlikely ever to gamble on setting up their own business.

This is all despite two-thirds of people believing they have the skills required to succeed and 85 per cent of those who did become self-employed saying that the risk was worth it and they were much happier.

A fifth of Britons would be more likely to take the plunge and start their own business if they had a partner to start it with rather than going it alone, according to new research from Lloyds TSB Business.

David Singleton, managing director, Lloyds TSB Business, said: 'Small businesses are started successfully every day, by a huge range of people, of all ages - including those with families and mortgages.

'Business ownership is a genuine alternative, but many people reject it without thoroughly exploring the facts

'With good planning, advice and professional support, budding entrepreneurs would be more confident of their own ability and so would feel more inclined to make their business ownership dreams come true.'

So what are you waiting for?