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Balancing Life and Work: Perspectives and Solutions Finding a balance between life and work is one of the most pressing issues of our society today, particularly for the mid-career person (i.e. ages from 28 to 45). There are multiple reasons for this, which include: more demanding careers, more involved parenting of children (childcare), greater support needed by our parents (eldercare), and a greater need for two incomes (dual income couples) in order to maintain a satisfactory lifestyle. In the research literature we refer to these issues as work-life conflict or work-life balance. Work life conflict can be broken down into several subcategories that all relate to interference between the two domains: time (when you have to be in two places at once like a late work meeting and a volunteer function), physical health (when you come home too tired to play with your children), psychological health (when you come home and are so stressed that you don’t enjoy your spouses’ company), and behaviour (when you try to delegate activities to family members like you do to co-workers). These issues are more pronounced in families where there are children and eldercare issues but they also relate to anyone who works and has interests outside of work. These issues cut across our own lives, our organizations and our communities. Balancing work and life activities is a critical component to individual and societal well-being. So what can be done to integrate these two important aspects of who we are? Well, given that this issue cuts across individuals, organizations and communities we can look to these areas for potential solutions. Although everyone’s situation may be unique it is possible to identify options that may work for everyone. These ideas are designed to get you started with addressing the issues that relate to your own work-life balance. Let’s start with what you can do as an individual. First, you should create a balance sheet of resources and pressures. A resource is anything that helps you in your life (resources can be positive feelings, coping skills, children, friends, family, physical health, healthy nutrition, co-workers, a supportive boss, supportive work arrangements). A pressure is anything that creates strain in your life such as: scheduling conflicts, time pressure, too many obligations, poor nutrition, lack of exercise). In some cases you may have the same items on either side of the balance sheet but for different reasons (e.g. being a volunteer may create scheduling conflicts with work but also make you feel good about contributing to the community). For these items that cross into both areas try to identify if the net effect is a resource or a burden. Once your list is complete, then look to see what pressures you can reduce and what resources you could utilize to a greater extent. Some of these things you can do on your own (e.g. exercising to deal with stress) but some items will require organizational or community changes. Let’s start with organizational changes. It is well established that in North America we consider work to be far less flexible than our personal lives. In other words, although we may value our family activities more we typically sacrifice those activities when work demands require it. Therefore, it is important to explore what we can change in our places of work. Does your organization have proactive work life policies (e.g. flexible start and finish work times, job sharing, part-time work options, personal leave days, extended vacation)? Does your immediate manager support your needs outside of work? In other words, does your manager agree with any work-life policies the organization has. Have you ever had a direct conversation with your manager about these issues? Moreover, does your organization encourage the use of these policies or does their utilization result in reduced career opportunities? How much can you control how and when you do your work? How much stress is there at work (e.g. amount of work, deadlines, difficult co-workers, demanding customers, poor technological support, rework due to poor quality, lack of consistent systems)? Try to partner with your employer to work through these issues first. Employers should be interested in these issues because they relate to the retention of skilled employees. If you can’t change things with your current employer then think about changing employers. If this is an option and you decide to do this, then research new companies with vigor. A number of publications (e.g. Macleans, Canadian Business, National Quality Institute) identify those companies that are award winning with respect to work-life balance. If you can’t leave your present job and you can’t change aspects of your work then there may be community supports you can draw on. Communities are becoming more interested in work life balance issues because they have implications for community health (i.e. mental and physical health issues, divorce rates, volunteerism rates). You may have resources in your own neighbourhood that could be utilized – for example, alternating driving your own and others’ children to sporting events or designating days for parents to wait at bus stops. There may be formal community supports such as: community or school sponsored child care, physical health related events, as well as fee for service resources (e.g. stress seminars, yoga). If your work-life balance is important to you then you have to make it a priority. Engage your support network, your own personal resources and work to find solutions. This may take time, commitment and sacrifice but it can be achieved. I final note needs to be made with respect this issue and how the roles we take in life (be that a worker, partner, parent, volunteer, parishioner, and citizen to name a few) adds to who we are. People who have multiple role identities can find other aspects of themselves as buffers when things are difficult in any one or more areas of their lives. Take for example, a bad day at work and the resulting negative mood that you take with you when you arrive home. This mood is summarily eliminated when your daughter comes and gives you a big hug and says she loves you. The issues at work haven’t gone away but it certainly gives you a short term reprieve which may make things better when you go back the next day. This example demonstrates that we need to approach life in an integrated way and work towards healthy relationships in everything we do. In this way we can be ready for the challenges and opportunities that we will face in the future. Dr. Peter Hausdorf is a recognized expert in work-life balance. In addition to his research at the University of Guelph and his consulting work through iNERGY HR Solutions he has served on a federal government panel on work-life issues, appeared on CBC’s Venture and is an invited speaker for many associations on these and related issues. With a demanding career, family obligations and community work, he has personally faced work-life balance issues and continues to work towards solutions for his own and others’ needs in this area. iNERGY HR Solutions is a consulting firm focused on bringing the best HR practices to entrepreneurial business. We help organizations maximize their human resources for solid, business growth. Employee well-being is an important resource for organizations and we help companies to achieve this and more. |
     
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