ON THURSDAY night Steve Fitts and Janine Collins gathered for the handover. It is a semi-regular event at their Coogee home, when one parent's day at the office ends, and another's - after cooking the family meal - keeps going.

"We just need to make sure one parent is in the house when the kids are at home; we just run it to the wire basically," says Fitts, who works 60 to 70 hours a week as a commercial interior designer.

"It doesn't sound like a terribly family-friendly event, but it does mean there's a parent there and Janine and I get our professional and career obligations met."

Fitts, 55, nearly quit the industry four years ago, when he was working an 80-hour week. He says it was not just the number of work hours but the way the job became all consuming.

"Every hour is devoted at some level to work, and it's very difficult to separate yourself mentally."

His only escape from work becoming his life was to take six months off, reassess his career and reacquaint himself with his wife and children Arora, now 11, and Angus, 9.

"It was just the fact that I was there and present in their lives - and an active participant, rather than somebody who came and asked some pro-forma questions about how their day was," he says.

While he still works a lot, Fitts says flexibility is a key component of his workplace, where he is a company director. The arrangement has allowed Janine, 47, room to pursue her career as a theatre development manager and freelance publicist. By breaking his day, Fitts gets family time and opportunity to work from home in evenings.

"I think there's always an aspiration which is work less and enjoy things more," he says. "There's no single solution; it's a constant effort to manage the balance."

Leesha McKenny