The balance in work-life

Not everyone wants the same balance of work-life. These days, the phrase ‘work-life balance’ is usually weighted more steeply at the life component. That is, it is used to stress a need to reduce work and create more life.

Whilst I would agree that in many circumstances people would prefer greater life and less work, it’s not a universally accepted truth.

I am constantly dismayed at the expectation that ‘balance’ implies less work. Depending on your stage in ‘life’ that balance may actually be in the career building stage and a desire to work more, focus on career and drive whatever road (no matter how late or rocky).

Each person is unique, but if you wanted to use generic profiles, generally people will move from the qualification --> single/career commencement --> marriage/house/career growth --> family --> career --> retirement.

It may be that balance can still be achieved even with more work. A good workplace will have people with different levels of balance. A working father may be at the stage where more balance at home is needed. He should not compare himself with the university graduate who has more life at work.

I perhaps feel this more acutely. As a young married woman without children and a keen desire to grow my career, I am often faced by others who envy that I at time of my career, I have a less demanding role. When I seek more challenging roles, I am often met with scorn and the statement “but you can achieve a better work-life balance, most people would be envious, enjoy it well you can”. When I mention that I am at the career building stage, I often wonder if my friends who are more family focused, secretly feel that I am letting the team down and making it harder for them to achieve their balance needs.

Moving forward, a good workplace should strive to have people who desire different levels of balance. Those that want to work more, should be given those opportunities, equally the same goes for those that desire a greater home life. Problems occur when a manager fails to see the value that difference levels of balance occur. This can be exaggerated when staff have unreasonable expectations. I sometimes wonder why people see that the only form of reward is in promotion. Isn’t reward also more life in the balance?

Moral of this post: your level of balance is likely to be different to another person. Support people to achieve the balance that they want, knowing it may not be your level balance... and thats okay.