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I'm getting a bit irritated logging into LinkedIn only to see the regular article about work-life balance being "dead." If it's not dead, then it's "obsolete" or part of yesteryear.
What was probably the snarkiest yet best response to the whole idea was this:
Bingo, if you ask me. I get employers are doing their best to weed out complete idiots but come on. People have families, hobbies, and lives after they clock out. No family wants to see their spouse or parent "integrate" their work at the dinner table when the topic should be about the kid's day at school.
As a married woman who wants a family, this topic is incredibly important to me. I know hard work, a strong work ethic and a driven attitude are essential at the workplace, but is it okay if I have a family, too? Will it be okay for me to know the documents are going to stay at my desk, or will I have to work on them while I'm nursing an infant? I've worked crazy overtime before. That's nothing new to me. I've been at work until 10 pm on a Friday while everyone else was at happy hour drinking so I could be ahead of my deadlines. I get it. But I wasn't willing to take that work home, or put in 10 pm Fridays every week.
What is up with all this crap about work-life balance being dead?
Because they're greedy! There is really no other reason. I saw that article too...
I melt my personal and professional lives together because I've found that my hobby is directly related to my work. I've been working on a multipurpose application that runs on tablets and PC's that makes my work life this much more efficient. It takes me considerably less time to perform my work than most other engineers I know because of my software. You can say it gives me a high when I work on my app.
That said, I also go to the gym every other night, take my boyfriend out and about during the weekend, etc. Next weekend, I plan on going with my boyfriend to visit my sister's family 3 hours away. We'll be watching their son's baseball game.
The point is if you find a hobby that is related to your work, I see no reason why it shouldn't work to incorporate the 2.
Having said that, I do work for 50-60 hours a week, though. Sometimes, I would get home totally exhausted.
The trouble is also employees who like to go on internet sites and brag about the long hours they put in.
In my experience, the people that work the most hours do so because they are either extremely unproductive or are working those hours with the primary intention of being seen to work long hours.
I think you are getting discouraged, and it's preventing your from seeing other options. The same argument that I hear from you, I hear from my sister all day long. "We just can't make it, unless both of us are working". She spends close to $2k on monthly child care, had to buy a new car, works in a professional office setting where appearance is essential so good clothes are a must, eating out, and so on.......
After all these expenses/taxes she clears roughly $1000 more a month than she would have, if she didn't work. I bet you that her husband could have picked up some of that income, and that they could have cut expenses along the way to help with the rest.
If you really don't want to work, and be stay-at-home mom, I think there are ways on dual income to make it happen. We did, and god knows throughout my grad school years we were getting by on a lot less than my sister will ever have to.
Unfortunately, working is my option because it's my life, and the life of others. Unless of course, you'd like to put a nice paycheck into my hand Many people have to spend the money on childcare because they can't afford to have a SAHM when the other child has disabilities or health issues which incur expenses. Heck, my OWN health issues incur lots of expenses-- I'm a costly person to keep alive and I don't even have children yet! I don't care for new vehicles or the latest designer wear. That is not what I am talking about and that isn't the point of this thread.
I see it as a change in attitude within the general population.
In the old days, the idea was to build a product that was so well designed and built that it would sell itself. Now its build it cheap and sell it for as high as the market will withstand.
Same with the work force.
The idea was to take care of the employees and they will in turn take care of the company. Now, its to squeeze as much productivity for as little head count as possible.
Its all about the bottom line.
I saw this change first hand while working at HP. Soon after Mr. Hewlett passed away in the 2001 timeframe there was a drastic switching of the guards followed by the acquisition of Compaq. Top and upper middle management were replaced with a younger group. HP was traditionally a very work life balance oriented company and much of it followed the lessons from the book The HP Way which was encouraged reading among new hires. From what I saw, work life balance was no longer the focus depending on where you were on the org chart. I still hear pockets within HP were good work life balance is achievable... but not to the extent of the previous decades.
Because some employers want your entire life devoted to them and the company. To them it is work above all else and that includes family. While you sit there working well past time to go home, they are home with their families or out with their families enjoying their life.
Exactly. This type of hypocrisy is common these days. While the big-wigs are out golfing or having fun, the workers are chained to their desks, being "passionate" about trying to keep their jobs. Such is life in a world where the employer holds all the cards.
Why do employers believe working longer hours is somehow going to result in amazing productivity? When I worked longer hours, the only way I was productive was if hardly anyone else was around, and I was left alone. I could get amazing amounts of work done left alone on a Friday night until 9 pm, but if you have a micromanager or chatty coworkers, it doesn't happen. How often do we have the ideal where we can be left alone for long periods of time to be "productive"?
How is all this going on when the economy is lousy?
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Many people have to spend the money on childcare because they can't afford to have a SAHM when the other child has disabilities or health issues which incur expenses. Heck, my OWN health issues incur lots of expenses-- I'm a costly person to keep alive and I don't even have children yet! I don't care for new vehicles or the latest designer wear. That is not what I am talking about and that isn't the point of this thread.
