By Jeffrey N. Gangemi

SOULS FOR SALE.  It may not be cost-effective for companies within every industry to encourage work-life balance. Stacey Kole, deputy dean of the MBA program at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and a clinical professor of economics, says the effectiveness -- and the improvements to bottom-line performance -- of work-life friendly HR policies vary from company to company and manager to manager.

Kole teaches a course called "Managing the Workplace," in which she makes a distinction between industries that benefit from attracting and retaining the best talent and those with greater turnover, where individual relationships aren't as vital to performance. "If you have an endless supply of people willing to give their soul, then it's not an advantage [to retain workers]," says Kole.

By paying attention to the needs of all workers, Harder says he hopes his class will help future managers establish and eventually institutionalize friendlier HR practices within big corporations. Those who "integrate their life and work can be supremely happy," he adds.

By applying the principles learned in class, Kisner not only won the "Above & Beyond the Call of Duty" award at work but he also began a physical-training regimen. In fact, he and his girlfriend have started going to the gym together and say they have a stronger bond than ever. On the fast track to upper management, Kisner plans to pass his secrets of balance on to his employees. But for now, he'll have to fit supreme happiness in somewhere between his morning workout and lunch.

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