Jaine Carter and James D. Carter - Scripps Howard News Service
With unemployment temporarily escalating, and non-traditional work environments
sprouting up at companies everywhere, the delicate balance between work and
personal life has never been as important to workers and managers.
Families are fragmenting and free time is becoming scarce. Issues revolving
around working mothers, overstressed husbands, and home offices are getting
more pronounced as the cost of living increases and premiums for insurance and
prescription drugs jump out of sight.
New realities have emerged while companies are struggling to stay on top of
a moving trend. To help sort the myths from realities revolving around the Work/Life
balance challenge, Harvard Business Review has compiled a collection of articles
that offer a broad perspective on tough real-life issues we all deal with at
home as well as the workplace. Myths, with countering realities are discussed
by preeminent thinkers whose work has defined an entire field, in Harvard Business
Review on Work and Life Balance.
- Myth: Alternative work places are the smart move for any company - it saves
on costs and works well for every worker - who would not want to work form home?
- Reality: 30-40 million Americans are now either telecommuters or home-based
workers, but this is not the right choice for every company. Managers need to
take a close look at the company culture, job requirements, and systems improvement
needs before signing onto an alternative workplace.
Workers, too, should consider the consequences of leaving the company's headquarters
to work alone, away from the action. Corporate decisions are not made in isolation.
If an employee's goals include advancing within the organization, the first
reality should be the knowledge that putting in face time creates credibility.
Home-based workers often find themselves performing tasks that do not require
coworker interaction.
- Myth: Employees spend most of their waking hours at work, often causing unsatisfactory
home lives.
- Reality: Most executives spend about half their waking time at work. Problems
at home are most likely due to wrong assumptions, fear of confronting conflict,
and putting off problems until they become overwhelming. At issue is the reality
that many workers are under the impression that they are expected to spend large
blocks of time at work. Workers who are attempting to balance work and family
should spend time evaluating how their time is actually spent. They might find
that much of their work time is actually spent putting out fires someone else
has started.
- Myth: Upper management can play a role in preventing worker burnout.
- Reality: It is true that management could do a better job of providing resources
to help workers balance work and family. However, in today's shaky economic
environment, employees should not depend on any one job or employer to keep
them happy. Management is more concerned with getting the job done. Employees
should continue to develop skills and be more self-sufficient at stopping personal
burnout before it happens, or look for another job.
- Myth: Women managers are too costly to employ and promote.
- Reality: While women do leave the workforce at a higher rate than men, opportunity,
flexibility, and family support are the keys to retaining the best women employee
and eliminating the extra cost of employing them.
According to Felice Schwartz, contributing author to Harvard Business Review
on Work and Life Balance, " Women managers cost more to employ than men.
Turnover is higher, and they are more apt to plateau or to interrupt their careers."
Therefore, the assumption is that companies are more likely to lose the money
they invest in developing women managers.
- Myth: To reach the executive level you must sacrifice your personal life.
- Reality: There are executives who "have their cake and eat it too."
Executives who can work long stressful hours, yet go home energized, have a
workplace that removes some of the typical obstacles for them. These workers
have three basic traits: they adapt well to change, they find the right job,
and they handle career disappointments well.
- Myth: Work and personal life are a zero-sum game. A gain in one area means
a loss in the other.
- Reality: Managers and workers can collaborate to achieve work and personal
objectives to everyone's benefit. Three clear steps help achieve a mutually
beneficial end: clearly state both personal and work priorities, acknowledge
and celebrate worker's roles outside the office, and continually experiment
with the way work gets done in the office.
Progressive companies encourage employees to step outside the boundaries, continually
asking, "Is there a better way to accomplish this goal." Then, they
will go one step further. Process management is the family saving trend of the
coming decade. Instead of focusing on "projects," successful Balancers
will look at the total process of all the projects necessary to accomplish an
objective. What could be a better objective than balancing work and family,
successfully?
Photo Copyright William Thomas Cain / Getty Images
Copyright Scripps Howard News Service 2003
