The 1997 National Study of the Changing Workforce (NSCW) surveyed 2,877 employees regarding the relationship between workers' lives on and off the job and changes in the nature of work. The report also provides a historical perspective by comparing data from 1997 with data from the 1992 NSCW and from the U.S. Department of Labor's 1977 Quality of Employment Survey. Guiding the study was a model hypothesizing causal pathways connecting characteristics of employees' jobs and workplaces, characteristics of their lives off the job, and aspects of personal well-being. Among the key findings are the following. Over the past 20 years, the U.S. workforce has become more balanced with respect to gender, older on average, better educated, more racially and ethnically diverse, and more concentrated in managerial and professional occupations. Work has become substantially more demanding. The number of employees with employed spouses/partners has increased. Employed married women spend more time on chores than employed married men. Over half of employed parents with employed spouses rely on relative child care. Nearly 25 percent of employees have experienced stress often in the past 3 months. Over 60 percent say that their chances for job advancement are poor. The majority of employees have access to traditional benefits, with a minority having access to dependent-care benefits. Employee satisfaction, commitment, performance, and retention is associated with high-quality jobs in supportive workplaces. Emerging issues include employers' concerns about Generation X workers, the impact of workers' elder care responsibilities on the labor force, and the potential for work-family backlash. Based on findings, it was concluded that creating a highly supportive workplace is a challenge that is worth the effort. (Author/KB)