A 30+ year old man was busy in his laptop, completely focused
in his work, making some office calls on a perfect Sunday Morning in a Neonatal
Intensive Care Unit of Hospital. A nurse was standing next to him asking him to
come for Doctor’s counseling session. I head this man saying, “Give me 2
minutes, let me finish this and come”. For a moment the nurse was stunned and
she yelled,” the Doctor needs your consent for the heart surgery of your new
born baby. We cannot wait.”
Well, what was important for him? Work or life. Then the
next question pops up, whether his organization was considerate on his emergency situation
or not?
What is Work Life Balance and why is this so important?
Striking a healthy balance, in the so called ambition driven
job market while giving the best to our loved ones. Sounds very simple, isn't it? Managing both the personal and professional commitments in an organized fashion
with a desired outcome. It is basically a challenge in addressing on how to
balance work and non work demands. Personal life is all about you, your family and spending quality time with self and family. A content personal life will enable to perform better in work.
Where does this
start?
A 25 year old girl coming to urban life with an ambition to
build a career out of her life. She wanted a promotion and another after that,
in the corporate world. Working up to 14 hours in a day, just to fulfill the
never ending client deadlines. Stretching self and raising the bars every
appraisal, trying to satisfy the demands of her Manager and her clients. Her
idea was to get promoted as much as possible until her marriage and kids came
into her life. Her mother quotes” It is not good for your health, we do not
want to see you fatigue and struggle all the time”. She replies, “I’m just 25,
this will not be the case later on in my life.”
Every organization will always strive for client satisfaction
and maximize the billable hours. This is eventually a never ending and ongoing story
of a profit making organization. So you start this habit from the beginning of
your career and eventually end up expecting the same from you and from others
during the career progression journey. The questions which she ponders: “Will I
be taken off the promotion list, if I ask for work life balance with my Manager”,
“What will my colleagues think, if I leave little early for the day to visit a
science exhibition.”
Marissa
Mayer, CEO of Yahoo returned to office within 1- 2 weeks of her giving birth to
her baby. Many say, she was working from home even in those 2 weeks of
maternity leave. This could well be an inspiration to many to focus on their
aspirations and careers, but the question is “Can everybody manage it
effectively?”
The top 100 fortune organizations of the world, which care
and support Work life Balance for their employees have succeeded from a long
term perspective and managed talent retention and employee satisfaction. They
do follow most of the below said programs and ensure the benefits are reaped to
the employees.
- Work Life Balance as core organization value
- Employee Feedback on work life programs
- Designated team for work life management
- Review Employee work life plans
- Supervisors trained on work life practices
Employee support
programs:
- On Premises Child care facility
- Counseling Services
- Family Room
- Elder care subsidies
- Child care subsidies
- Wellness programs
- Work Life balance education programs
- Remote working options
- Flexible work hours
- Part Time work options
- Emergency leave
- Family care leave
- Marriage leave
Above all, employee as an individual should be self
empowered to make a decision on what is critical for him/ her and family on a
situation basis. End of the day, what matters is YOU & YOUR FAMILY!
How does an organization check whether these programs work in mutual interest?
Perform periodic review with the below checklist:
How does an organization check whether these programs work in mutual interest?
Perform periodic review with the below checklist:
- What has been the financial burden to the organization?
- Has there been any unanticipated damages or benefits?
- What has worked and what hasn't?
- What changes has to be made in the programs?
Very useful thoughts and you have covered all the possible solutions to balance work and family life.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, one other reason why people stretch their work is due to their inability to develop second level manager or employee and empower others to handle the work in critical times. There can be many reasons for not doing this...insecurity, loss of opportunity, fear of failure etc.
Organization can also implement a Fliexible working system by enforcing an employee to take planned few days of leave (fixed number of days) in a year instead of encashment or carryover for the enxt year.