Close aides and friends have reported that Jowell adored her husband, but pressure on the relationship came when certain revelations were made regarding Mills's business dealings. The international lawyer admitted he had taken a £400,000 sterling bribe from Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. It is also thought he used both Jowell's name and her close relationship with Tony Blair in support of a lawyer's licence in Dubai.

Jowell's decision to walk away from her marriage raises certain issues in our modern society. Her case may be an unusual one, but 'regular' people can empathise with her situation. Studies have revealed that more and more people are finding it difficult to maintain a work-life balance and are experiencing work-life conflict.

Increasingly, workers have problems with role overload and role interference. Longer hours, high-flying careers and high levels of stress are leading to some individuals putting their career first.

A recent survey by the National Centre for Partnership and Performance found that workers feel they have to choose between competing roles "in order to satisfy the expectations of one at the expense of the other". One aspect of this is that family interferes with work and personal or family demands are met at its expense.

To avoid a work-family conflict, "you have to decide with your partner the boundaries of where work starts and ends, " says Tara Dalrymple, director at Busy Lizzie, a lifestyle management company in Galway. Busy Lizzie sells blocks of hours of time to both businesses and people on a personal level , , one way to achieve a balance in the work and home life.

Living to work rather than working to live can result in unhappiness, says Dalrymple. "I've seen it happen in London in the banking industry. Men who are earning millions are the loneliest people I've ever met.

People are losing the skill of communication , , they hide behind work. It goes back essentially to that work-life balance; you have to have a life as well as work. Life isn't a dress rehearsal, after all."

Travel abroad Another example where a work-life conflict can happen is when a worker is asked to go overseas, says Gerry McLarnon, human resources expert at International Human Resources Consultancy. "It's very important for companies to get a full picture of the person they want to send; otherwise, projects are at risk, " he adds.

"Let's assume there's a family situation; if a company wishes the project to be successful, they have to look at more than the people doing the job. If they are moving with the family, what are the implications around schooling, what if the partner is working , , what will that do to the marriage?"

From a company's perspective, it is in its best interest to make sure it gets it right, because otherwise it could waste large amounts of money, warns McLarnon.

From a family's perspective, he says, employees should sit down and look at the pros and cons of the situation, and what needs to be done to make it work. "I think sometimes in the excitement of the moment they can get caught up in the short term and miss out on some of the important issues. Sometimes the family does become the loser."

Ever more people are giving more time to their careers and this is another cause of work-life conflict.