Work-life balance is a lot of work too

Work-life balance is a lot of work too

14.03.2021 

When it comes to work-life balance, so much has been said about how to achieve it, the gender dynamics at play and what employers can do to make this goal a reality. What many of these perspectives share is the positioning of work-life balance as a goal to achieve or a finish line we have to cross to be successful adults.

Yet, the way in which we think about work-life balance may be part of the reason it seems so elusive, argues a BBC article. We tell ourselves: “’I’m going to put in eight hours’ worth of work, and then I’m going to put in eight hours’ worth of me time, which will include my family, my hobbies, my workout, my everything,” Anat Lechner, clinical associate professor of management at New York University told BBC. “I don’t think it’s such a simple formula.”

Now, researchers are encouraging us to rethink the concept. Researchers Ioana Lupu of ESSEC Business School in France, and Mayra Ruiz-Castro of the University of Roehampton in the UK argue that it is “a cycle, not an achievement”. This means, instead of thinking about work-life balance as an achievement that we either hit or miss, we should instead think of it as a continuous process that will require tweaks and self-awareness to actively maintain.

The researchers interviewed 80 employees at two London-based firms working in middle or senior management roles. All the participants were between the ages of 30 and 50 and had at least one dependent child.

Of them, 30% of the men and 50% of the women reported resisting working long hours. The others did not resist this, since they believe that’s just what successful professionals do. Those who rejected long hours, the researchers found, had similar ways of maintaining their work-life balance. They were more reflexive — open to examining their own beliefs and judgments — and took regular steps to adjust the factors standing in the way of work-life balance.

“Claiming this mental space to gain clarity of what they want for themselves is the first step toward identifying and implementing alternative ways of working and living,” Ruiz-Castro told BBC.

Ruiz-Castro and Lupu identified the five steps that employees with better work-life balance used. First, they questioned the belief that they have to work long hours to be a “professional” and asked themselves what is causing them stress. Second, they identified the emotions that stress is causing, whether that’s anger or sadness. Third, they would ask themselves if working longer hours is worth cutting back on family time. Then, they considered the alternatives — is there anything that can be changed at their workplace to accommodate their priorities. Finally, they took actionable steps to make that happen, for instance, asking for greater flexibility or not taking on that project.

“Awareness of your emotional state is essential in order to determine the changes you want to make in your work and in your life,” says Lupu.

For more: BBC

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