I think it was college -
when this all started. When I started to realize that there was not enough of
me to get good grades in school, work a part time job, spend time with my
friends, keep in touch with my family, attend terpAMA meetings, participate in
my sorority’s philanthropy… When I started to feel the pressure of time, and
the fear of not having enough of it.
The quest for work-life
balance has become an ever-increasing hardship for me. Maybe it’s a part of
growing up. Maybe it’s what helps us mature.
I don't know. But I do
know that this semester has shone a light on the issue for me. Devoting four
months to the study of work-life balance has provoked new ways of looking at
it; and to be honest, I don’t know if it’s gotten easier, or if it’s gotten
even harder.
After an entire
semester of researching “work-life-balance” concepts and ideas, I continue to
ask myself how it can really be achieved.
Yes, everything I’ve
written and everything I’ve felt and believed work-life balance should be
sounds nice in theory. But what happens when my kids need money for college,
when my mortgage bills ring the doorbell at the end of the month, when the car
breaks down and needs to be replaced? How do you focus so passionately on the
things you want to do in life, when
there are so many things that you need
to do? And how do you differentiate between a want and a need?
Well, I’m still trying to
figure that out for myself. But I’m not the only one. In fact, the issue has
become so prevalent in America that President Obama and First Lady Michelle
spoke passionately about their own struggles with work-life balance just a few
months ago. They discussed a need for “action on the issue of workplace
flexibility.”
So what is the future for
work-life balance in America?
Large corporations are
beginning to answer this question.
SAS, a business analytics
and software company, is proclaimed one of the top ten “Best Companies to Work
For” by CNN Money. The reason for this being the company’s amazing job benefits
and perks. As an SAS employee, there’s no more need to worry about child day
care – just bring your kid to work! The company offers high-quality, low cost
child care, on top of a free medical center if you ever get sick, a free
fitness and massage center if you’re feeling stressed, and of course, a country
club complete with golf courses, tennis courts, and swimming pools, just in case you simply need a break at
work.
Or how about S.C. Johnson?
Working at this cleaning product giant comes with discounted services that
include, but are not limited to, mailing packages, sending flowers, picking up
or delivering groceries, researching car insurance deals, changing the oil in
your car, and even standing in line for concert tickets.
If that isn’t enough, you
could give Google a try. As number one best company to work for, Google offers
its employees the opportunity to bring their dogs to work, do their laundry at
the free laundry machines, use one of the four gyms, get an unsubsidized
massage, eat at one of the sixteen gourmet cafes for free, and the list goes on
and on.
These are just three
examples of companies that have begun to pioneer the movement of workplace
flexibility. However, for these firms, the solution to helping employees
overcome the struggle of balancing their work lives with their home lives, has
simply been to offer services that bring some of the tasks typically done at
home, right into the workplace itself.
I am not by any means
saying that walking my dog beside my co-workers through the halls at Google is
a hard life.
But I can’t help but
wonder what is next. If we are now able to bring our pets and our children to
work, when will it be our mattresses and our pillows…?
Hi Christine,
ReplyDeleteI have enjoyed reading your heart-felt blogs this semester. What you have particularly written in this post reminded me of what was written in a book I read in December '10: God on a Harley.
A nurse is going through mid-life crisis. She is having an affair with a married doctor at her hospital who doesn't really LOVE her. Her job sucks. She doesn't get along well with her family. In short, nothing is going right in her life. She is depressed and as if in a positive feedback loop, the depression only increases. In other words, she is unable to balance her work and her life, and goes through a terrible time trying to balance the two out.
What happens then is incredible. God appears. On a Harley. He befriends her. And as if to peel away all the depressions, guides her to a life of contentment and happiness. The first thing "God" does is differentiate the protagonist's wants and needs. She has a house stuffed with items she doesn't need. She is paying rent at a hugely expensive condo whose facilities she doesn't need. And she is paying the bills of all these facilities by doing work she doesn't like. So, therefore, she gives up all of these. She sells her house. Takes only the things she wants. And resettles in a very modest beach-front shanty. Her life begins to go on an incline from that point on. Slowly she gets rids of all her wants and needs and as a reader, even my heart warmed.
Even though a work of fiction, God on a Harley provides some lessons on Work-life balance.
I feel like stress comes with life. I remember feeling stressed in junior high and high school, but like you I think that the real stress in life comes in college. And it only gets more stressful from here. Similar to you I have a very busy life and sometimes wonder how I will ever get through it on my own. I like that you admitted to not knowing exactly what a healthy work-life-balance is, and that you are okay with it. There is not just some magic recipe that we can find that will tell us how long we should work, sleep, or spend socially- we just need to figure that out on our own. I honestly don’t think that I will ever really know the exact right balance, but I think that in time I will get better at prioritizing and understanding where more and less of my time needs to be spent.
ReplyDeleteWorkplace flexibility, now that is another story. When you were discussing jobs that seem to have these great benefits I was thinking to myself, “jeez, now that is where I need to get a job after college.” I think that it is a good thing that jobs are more than just a job now, but a place where you can benefit yourself physically and mentally outside of your designated job. Having a place to eat and workout, as well as daycare seems like a dream come true. But you’re right, where is the line drawn? These sorts of jobs are not just a typical 9-5; but a place where you can spend your entire day because of these many benefits. But where do the vacations fit in? And the time you get to spend with your spouse? And the family time outside of the office? Are people really going to start bringing their mattresses and pillows to work in the future? Probably not. But still, where is the line drawn between work and everything else?
Christina,
ReplyDeleteI definitely like your blog. I've read many of your topics, and I am always intrigued by the various views you take on this ever growing topic. That being said, I think a lot of this balance has to do with just growing up in general.
As a kid you have all sorts of time to just play and be creative because you do not have the maturity or the skills to do anything else. As you grow however, you acquire both of these, something that continues throughout life, and you have to apply them. Furthermore, it is a cultural assumption.
Someone who is our age is just expected to be balancing all of these things. Similarly, a middle aged person is expected to balance children, an executive level positions, and house upkeep. With age comes more responsibility....until which point the person is too old to actually make decisions for themselves. Another thing that might have been interesting to look at is the implications of gender on work life balance.
I am currently taking a class on Communication in Gender. In that class, I was really surprised to learn the expectations for men and women and how they differ so drastically from almost at birth. Men are expected to run and fund the household, while women are expected to take care of the family, work, and stay beautiful while making it all look easy. This is clearly seen in the media today.
I think that if you were to "advocate" for something, it would be really cool to push for equality in this regard, and maybe comment on how these expectations really make the differences between these expectations and just how the work life balance issues differ. Overall, I really like your blog, and learned a lot about how I need more balance.