[Note: I’m calling this “Part 1” because I have a hunch I’ll be writing more about this in the years and months to come. ]
In the words of Oprah, here’s what I know for sure:
- Life-work balance is very important to the next generation. I’m not makin’ this up: we’ve now surveyed almost 30,000 folks. Employees in their highly profitable (for companies) 20’s, 30’s and 40’s say that Life-Work Balance (LWB) is their number one priority. It’s more important than having a manager who doesn’t suck. It’s more important than the mission of your organization. All are nice to have, but LWB is the deal-breaker.
- Most companies do not get it. At all. We have clients that hemorrhage talent. Employees say, “We need some flexibility. We want the ability to telecommute, or job-share.” To this, their fat-fisted, out-of-touch empty nester boss says, “You will work the hours we tell you to work. Period.”
- The order is important: it’s Life-work balance, not Work-life balance. This is an important distinction. By calling it “work-life balance” companies infer that work comes before life. Wrong, wrong, wrong. “Life” is the headline; “work” is a sub-category.
- Laptops, Blackberries and cell phones are peddled like crack in corporate America. All of these tools are proclaimed to offer greater “work-life balance” (notice the order of the priorities again?). What they really do is tip the scales away from life and towards work. Now you can work anytime, anywhere…and you do. Your partner, spouse or kids are hiding your Blackberry because they want your full attention. Some of you check your email in bed - sometimes, while having sex. There is a neurological reason that these gadgets have become addictions: our brains process items that are lit-up as urgent priorities. That’s why ambulances have lights. Email is an electronic ambulance that demands your brain’s attention and adrenaline. It’s a digital wormhole from which it’s nearly impossible to escape. Read more about this in my previous blog, Is Life-Work Balance Attainable?
Enough about me. What about you? What do you need to have greater Life-work balance? Add your comments here.
