Work Life Balance Harmony - Sine of the Times

In September 2022, Zippia published quite a few interesting statistics about work life balance.  The chart below summarizes the biggest barriers to work life balance. (https://www.zippia.com/advice/work-life-balance-statistics/) 

Many would seem surprised that one’s own ambition or “personal perfectionism” is the biggest barrier to work life balance. But many may also admit they are their worst enemy yet they often fail to look within and automatically blame the Company and/or the culture.

People forget that many problems can be taken care of over time when a solution or remedy is allowed to do its job.  In healthcare, a physician will provide a plan of care.  This is what will treat an ailment over time.  Lawyers prepare to plead their case over the duration of a trial.  Many unhappy employees refuse to take a step back and look to work life balance with a wide lens.

Professionals should seek out Work-Life Harmony and forget about Work-Life Balance.  Focusing on balance means that one or the other will be disregarded.  Think of an extreme example.  Many CPAs do not have any balance from January to mid-April.  The volume and hard deadline leave no room for balance.  Once the tax filing deadline passes, many hit the beaches for a well-deserved respite.  If CPAs focused on balance, they would have many unhappy clients with many late tax returns.  CPAs understand that it’s a heavy lift in the early part of the year and it levels throughout the rest of the year.  Their families are aware of this imbalance and make the appropriate accommodations.  Conversely, companies need to accommodate for the times when life (family) needs more attention.  The Holidays or back to school time swing the pendulum in the opposite direction and companies need to make accommodations. 

When one’s work is harmonizing or in sync with their personal life, the two tend to become less entangled given that the person is dedicated to their profession and to their home life.  If one does not enjoy their profession, harmony is not possible, but if they do, this phenomenon allows for work to stay at work and home to stay at home.  I have taken this approach with my staff and my students alike.  If they have pressing issues in their family life, they need to take care of them.  Their work will suffer if they don’t.  What I’ve seen over time is that allowing people some level of accommodation results in accommodations being reciprocated when work needs added attention often without even asking.

Pursuing harmony between one’s professional life and personal life really has to do with when and not how much.  Work typically happens during the day (8-5) Mondays through Friday.  It interferes with the time of day most people would like to get things in their personal life accomplished.  It’s not how much one works it’s when one works.  Working 40 hours per week and adding commute time, prep, and lunch breaks, the average person dedicates roughly 50 hours per week to their profession.  That’s just shy of 30%.  Sleeping 6 hours per night for 7 nights (I’m ignoring binge watching Netflix or painting the town red) takes up another 24% of the week.  Doing the math, that means 45% of the week is personal time. 

Work-life harmony simply means that a person is given autonomy to take care of things when they want and need to.  Being able to leave early to head out of town on a Friday afternoon or being able to clock in on a Saturday for a few hours will empower a person to be successful in work and in life.  Remote work, hybrid work, and technology have made doing so even easier.  Both employers and employees should strive for harmony and not balance.  The appropriate amount of autonomy to complete tasks successfully at work and in life.  Trying to balance just leads to more frustration and lack of performance. Harmony fosters productivity and overall happiness.