work-life balance? 1. part of 2 work-life balance..........is not about balance!!!

1

WORK-LIFE BALANCE?

2Part of

WORK-LIFE BALANCE....

......IS NOT ABOUT BALANCE!!!

©MCE 2015 All Rights Reserved3

Some Statistics…and the Cost

88% of employees say they have a hard time juggling work and life (Aon Consulting, 2000).

42% of employees have responsibility for children under 18 years of age

The average American works 1 month more than the average Japanese worker and 3 months more than the average German worker (ILO, 2000).

89% of European employees say work/life balance is a “problem”; 54% say it’s a “significant problem” (SHRM, 2010).

44% of men ages 35-44 say they do NOT have adequate balance (SHRM, 2010). Of those…

37% say that family time is the first thing that suffers.22% say that personal time reading/relaxing is the first thing that suffers.


Now go back with me to the 5th Century and listen to the advice St. Benedict gave his rather startled followers:

I'd like all of you to pause for a moment, you wretched weaklings, and take stock of your miserable

existence.

First signs of work-life issues?


Just a little story

A story about a 5 year old boy and his hard working father


Four Observations: Observation 1

An honest debate is required about work and personal life. But the trouble is so many people talk so much rubbish about work-life balance.

Certain job and career choices are fundamentally incompatible with being meaningfully engaged on a day-to-day basis with a young family.

The reality of the society is: there are thousands and thousands of people out there leading lives of quiet, screaming desperation, where they work long, hard hours at jobs they hate to enable them to buy things they don't need to impress people they don't like.

Are the solutions or rather suggestions of companies really getting to the nub of the issue OR is it just symptom fighting?

According to Nigel March: how to achieve work-life balance



It's up to us as individuals to take control and responsibility for the type of lives that we want to lead.

If you don't design your life, someone else will design it for you, and you may just not like their idea of balance.

Companies , HR, management, will never solve the issue:On the one hand, putting childcare facilities in the workplace is wonderful and enlightened. On the other hand, it's a nightmare -- it just means you spend more time at the bloody office. We have to be responsible for setting and enforcing the boundaries that we want in our life.




Be careful with the time frame that we choose upon which to judge our balance.

Be realistic. You can't do it all in one day.

A day is too short; "after I retire" is too long. There's got to be a middle way.




We need to approach balance in a balanced way.

Typical scenario: I work 10 hours a day; I commute two hours a day. All of my relationships have failed. There's nothing in my life apart from my work.

“So, I've decided to get a grip and sort it out. So I joined a gym.”

Lovely though physical exercises: you will become fit but your balance is as messy as before.

There are other parts to life.



You must know, there are 4 sides to WLB

EMOTIONAL SPIRITUAL

INTELLECTUAL PHYSICAL

And we have to attend to all 4 of them AT ONCE.

WITH THE SMALL THINGS THAT MATTER.

©MCE 2015 All Rights Reserved

Some best practices towards Work Life balance


1. Simplify

Learn to say “no”

No one is indispensable

Stay at home. Listen to music

CHILL OUT


2. De - Stress

Stress – higher levels of work load

But “Take it EASY”

So De-Stress

Take up:YogaPaintingMediationDeep Breathing!


3. Be a Child

Read Fairy Tales to your child

Take a pet

Eat cotton candy, ice cone

Go on holiday

An impulse outing with family.

NO one’s looking!!


4. Share the Load

In family, divide the tasks like Cooking is fun

In Work place :

DELEGATE“Don’t do their fishing for them, Teach them how to fish”


5. Slow Down

Do Not get pulled from different directions

One step at a time.

Let go to see light, discover new ways to get things done.


6. Take Care of your Health

“All work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy”

Take a walk with the dog

Take up Sport, Hobby

Well balanced food

Please SLEEP on time


7. Don’t Postpone

Never Procrastinate

Avoidance takes up more energy than actually doing it


8. Have a Positive Approach

Look around you. So many things to be grateful about.

Make a list of things you are thankful for…


9. Take Charge

Plan Ahead,

Long TermMedium TermShort Term


That is all nice and dandy...but...

Work- life balance is both impractical and undesirable.

“not everyone wants to give equal weight to work and personal life, but this should not mean that choosing one

means sacrificing the other”


And it is not getting easier...

22

What we know about people and work . . .

Work used to be a “place”, now it's any place Growing mobile/OTTO (Other Than Traditional Office) workforce Need to work across time zones and geographies (peer-to-peer video) The proliferation of devices... work doesn't have to be done on a laptop anymore Technology enabling a different kind of work and culture Entrance of Gen Y ... the social media generation


And it is not getting easier...


From WLB to WLI

So if “balance” is not the correct metaphor, what is?

Move from WLB to the idea of Work - Life Integration, which implies a “blend” of the many aspects of our lives.

WLI

Is a systematic approach to functioning and finding satisfaction in both work and non-work lives, independent of the time spent in either sphere.


Work – Life Integration

“Work – Life Balance” is often seen as a structural problem. It is about rearranging your schedule, instituting policies XYZ, THEN we can have true balance and harmony in our lives.

Work - Life Integration is NOT a structural problem. WLI is best examined through two “frames” of reference. If you want a “life well lived”, you need to take care of the life you lead and the organization you foster.


The Life You Lead VALUES, MISSION, “W

HY”

HOW DO YOU SPEND YOUR

TIME / TALENT / TREASURE

WHAT D

O YO

U UNIQ

UELY

CONTRIBUTE ?

WHO


You Have Choices

It explores the way an individual addresses interaction of work and family (or life). Essentially, does work interrupt family, or does family

interrupt work?

For the most part, people display one of five basic “behaviors”:

Integrators don’t see either as an interruption, and seem to find a way to have fulfilment in both aspects.

Separators don’t see either as an interruption either, as they can clearly put both aspects in a compartmentalized “box”.

Work Firsters tend to see family as the interruption, while

Family Firsters tend to see work as the interruption.

Cyclers are a bit like Integrators, as they seem to be able to find time for both, but they find it by a shift in focus from being Work Firsters to Family Firsters as the need arises.

The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) has done research on these personal aspects of Work/Life Integration, and has developed what they call the WorkLife Indicator


The Organization you foster

Work - Life Integration is mostly about the life we lead. We make choices about what is important to us, and our choices drive our actions.

However, WLI is also about our organizations. After all, “work” is a large part of the WLI equation.

Regardless of your role in an organization, you have influence and frankly a responsibility to foster an organization that respects and promotes WLI Integration.

There are three aspects to this idea: Structural, the Cultural, and Relational


How to Create a WLI Culture?

Now comes the part where your personal commitment to leading a WLI lifestyle and the organizational imperative to commit to WLi coming together.

This is the tough part, but now that you have an understanding of the end goal, this work will seem purposeful.


How to Create a WLI Culture? VALUES, MISSION, “W

HY”

HOW DO YOU SPEND YOUR

TIME / TALENT / TREASURE

WHAT D

O YO

U UNIQ

UELY

CONTRIBUTE ?

WHO

Structural

Cultural Relational

The Life You Lead The Organization

You Foster

The real sweet spot, however, is if the 3 circles of your individual sense of WLI aligns with your organization’s commitment to WLI


If it were easy, we wouldn’t need to be talking about it.

It is possible to create a life well lived, but it is not easy. There are barriers that can get in the way of creating a culture of WLI in

our lives and our organizations.

One barrier is the degree that you control where, how, and when you spend your time. This is the one aspect of the life you lead that is mostly determined by the type of job you have and the personal circumstances of your life.

We need to have an honest conversation about what WLI looks like for each of us. If you can have that conversation as working groups/ units/departments and frame WLI as a strategic organizational advantage, perhaps you all can have an “integrated” life.


If it were easy, we wouldn’t need to be talking about it.

It is possible to create a life well lived, but it is not easy. There are barriers that can get in the way of creating a culture of WLI in

our lives and our organizations.

Second barrier is “Look at your plate”


THANK YOU

ANY QUESTIONS

work-life balance? 1. part of 2 work-life balance..........is not about balance!!!

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