Career Doctor Articles

With the kind permission of the Career Doctor, jfo is able to bring you a series of articles to help you in your work situation and longer term career management

Getting the Work-Life Balance Right

There have been quite a lot of items in the media recently about the work-life balance and that has spurred me to put some thought about what this actually means.

In simple terms it could mean work less and play more, but as ever, life is more complex than that. If you work less you tend to earn less money and therefore paying for the playing becomes a problem, unless you are very wealthy, of course.

So in this article I will assume that the reader is of average income and needs to work to earn money. That of course, prompts the saying: “work to live or live to work?” I guess it is a no-brainer to say that “work to live” has to be the best philosophy, for if you are so besotted (or trapped) in your job, that work is everything and “live to work” is your preference or only option, then suggesting that you take more time out from work to “smell the roses” would not be a viable option, however attractive it may sound.

The other expression that comes to mind is that “there are no pockets in a shroud”, so living your life to the full, whilst still on this planet, seems a good approach to getting the right work-life balance.

THE SIX PILLARS

What are the six pillars of everyone’s life? These are career, home, relationships, finance, health and free-time activities. Get these in balance and you’ve got it right; get one or more out of balance, and you will have pressures that lead to feelings of stress and unhappiness.

Certainly a high percentage of the people who visit my consultancy complain to me about their high stress levels and need to work all hours, and this constant pressure is spoiling the quality of their life. Indeed, quality of life seems to be uppermost in many people’s minds, and that is easy to see why. But how to get that balance?

PILLAR 1: CAREER

This is usually the most problematical and stressful, so lets deal with it first. Do you enjoy your job? Do you find going to work on Mondays a pleasure or something you dread? In my experience about 80% of people do not enjoy the job they are in, but most either tolerate the situation, or drift from job to job with no idea of what career they are best suited to.

What prospects are there in your present company? Do you actually enjoy what you do at work? How do you feel about your colleagues and your boss? Do you feel insecure at work? Is there too much travelling involved, either commuting or business travel? The list of questions is endless, but the reader will understand what I am saying. If your job / career is wrong for you, for whatever reason, then do something about it NOW, don’t just tolerate it and go home to your partner and whinge about how much you hate your job.

Of course there are some things you can do to improve your work. Go up to your boss or the HR Manager, and ask if the company will be prepared to consider introducing any of the following benefits which might help reduce your feelings of stress and improve the work element of your work-life balance. Ask about: flexitime, staggered hours, time-off in lieu, compressed working hours, shift swapping, self-rostering, annualised hours, job-sharing, term-time working, tele-working, breaks from work, subsidised restaurant, job-rotation, job-enrichment, sponsored studying for qualifications, etc.

PILLAR 2: HOME

Where you live has a great bearing on the quality of your life. If you live in a dilapidated house, well away from shops, buses, entertainment, etc, well that’s nature’s way of telling you to move! Just think how much money you spend on buying or renting a property and it soon becomes apparent that putting up with a depressing house is very stressful.

Can you have it renovated or is it not worth it? Do you have the money to afford a move? How can you improve your living conditions? Being able to sit in your own garden, beer in hand, in the summer is one of life’s simple pleasures, but if your garden is a tip, well sort it out!

I can almost hear some readers saying that the only way to sort their housing problem out is to find a job that pays more money, and so get deeper on the live-to-work treadmill. I do not have a ready answer for that, all I can say that life is about compromises, and you have to decide your priorities - quality of life or staying on that treadmill.

PILLAR 3: RELATIONSHIPS

Who you live with is a fundamental pillar of your life. Get it right and it can be paradise; get it wrong and it will be hell! The relationship between you and your partner and your children (if applicable) is paramount. We all spend too much time existing and not enough time caring about others.

As a recent divorcee, all I have learned is that relationships have to be worked at constantly, and there is a danger we can take our partner for granted if we take our eye off the ball. The ball is the strength of our relationship, which needs constant nurturing.

How do we juggle this rather obvious observation with the demands of work? Or is there no alternative; one has to be sacrificed to give time to the other? The key to developing the relationship with your partner is quality time. Give him / her some of your time at the right moment, and your relationship will blossom. Simple things like finding time for a quick kiss before you go to work; or taking a long weekend off (never mind the workload) and going away for a quick break. I’m flying to Tours (Loire Valley) for 4 days, courtesy of RyanAir for £42 return - so there’s no excuse nowadays for neglecting relationships.

Stop saying “we ought to do that” and make that booking!

PILLAR 4: FINANCE

Yes I know we can all do with more money, yet is that necessarily true? Sit down and work out what your minimum financial needs are. I’ll bet you’ll be pleasantly surprised. I am not suggesting we should all live as paupers, watching every penny, for that will seriously affect the quality of our lives. Yet equally if we can get a fine balance between the minimum essential income and a reasonable quality of consumerism, our attitude towards money may be modified.

If you can come to realise that you do not have to spend as much as you currently do, that will have a marked effect on how you view the job that you do. Maybe by reducing the overtime you do, the hours you work, or indeed, the type of job you do, you will enjoy a better work-life balance, despite having a slightly reduced income.

In my consultancy I have had numerous clients who have come to this conclusion and who want me to help them find a less demanding and stressful job, even if it means taking a pay cut. There was a senior buyer, earning £60,000 pa, who came to me on the verge of a nervous breakdown. He was “burnt-out” (his own words) and he wanted to down-size his career. The bottom line was that I helped him to find a job as an office manager, paying £25,000pa.

As a result he is a very happy bunny. He calculated that he could live on the smaller salary, he was only squandering the larger salary on things that seemed good yet were only superficial. His stress levels plummeted, his relationship with his wife improved as a result, and I suspect that his health improved too. A classic example of making a large financial sacrifice to get a better work-life balance. Brave man. I don’t advocate that for everyone, though!

PILLAR 5: HEALTH

It goes without saying that if your job is threatening your health, do something about it. Maybe you need to speak to your boss / HR manager if you think the company is negligent in any way. Perhaps an air-extractor should be fitted, or better safety clothing provided. Most of these improvements are obvious and the legislation exists to compel your employer to provide a safe working environment.

However, there are some jobs which carry an inevitable risk to your health - like roofer, miner, deep-sea fishing, professional boxer, etc - though I suspect that there will be very few of those who will be reading this article! But seriously, if you are in a job which, by its very nature, poses a threat to your health, well then quit, is my advice. No job is worth endangering your health, no matter how well it pays.

I am thinking here of one of my clients who is driving a courier van. It a no-brainer, but he works from 5.30 am till 8.00 pm and earns a shed-load of money. The price he is paying, health-wise, for earning such a high wage, does not bear thinking about. I can see the stress he is under and how it is affecting his relationship with his wife. At least he recognises that he has his work-life balance wrong, and has come to me to help him find a less stressful, if less well-paid, job. He will save his health, his marriage and his sanity.

PILLAR 6: FREE TIME ACTIVITIES

I once read that a man’s second-best friend (after his dog) is his shed. Men like to retreat into their shed to retire into their own world. Pottering about, fixing this, repairing that. I suppose, being a mere male, that the ladies’ version of a shed is the kitchen. But ladies, please do not tell me I am a male chauvinist pig, I am only theorising!

Seriously, how we all use our free time is very important. Yes I know that the shopping has to be got, the car washed, the bedroom decorated and the lawns mowed, but after all that, is that all there is to life? What you do with your free time is so important to your work-life balance, that just doing these essentials means that you are missing something very special.

Do something positive with your free time. Learn to dance, paint or arrange flowers. Take up that sport you’ve always wanted; buy up that classic car and get it back on the road; fly out to Australia and visit Ayers Rock; buy that holiday home in Spain you’ve always fantasised about, yet never quite got round to arranging. Do a bunjy jump. Climb a mountain.

One of the things I get my clients to do is list their life targets; things like I’ve just mentioned. It is quite amazing what people would really like to do with their lives, yet just need a push to turn dreams into reality. I would not like to go to my grave wishing I should have done something, yet did nothing to make it happen. What a waste.

What is my life target? To buy a Harley Davidson when I retire and drive around America. “Silly old fool; the oldest swinger in town” is that what I hear you say?

So resolve to do something you really want to do with your free time. Go and smell the roses. Here is your check-list: plan your future; own the challenge; set your goals; manage your time; take planned action; evaluate the results. Get all the six pillars as right as you can, and you will have achieved your work-life balance.

Good luck!

The Career Doctor is Eric Hearn, Chartered MCIPD and Managing Director of Milverton Career Solutions Ltd, Ascot, Berkshire, UK.

Contact details:
Tel: 01344 624383
Email: milvertoncareers@btconnect.com
Website: www.careerdevelopment.co.uk

Related Link: Check out jfo's Work-Life Balance Comparison by country