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Work/Life Balance

by Marie Mosely BSc Hons    

More than ever people are trying to balance having a career, a family, a mortage and a good holiday once a year.  Creating work/life balance involves making conscious choices about what we do with our time.

Is your life controlling you or are you controlling it?

Tens of millions of people claim that work is causing them to be ill and stressed.  This includes suffering from migranes, rashes and digestive problems to being irritable and bad tempered and drinking too much.  Many say they would rather have their hours cut than win the lottery as a way of improving their quality of life.

We need to be physically, emotionally and mentally strong to manage in today’s business environment.  High performance has a direct link with how people expend, renew and recover their energy.

Life is based on tension – it’s the normal state!  However, if we crank the tension up or down too much it becomes harmful, it will cause burnout or rustout.

What can YOU do?

Decide how you want to spend your time. 

Research shows that people need breaks.  In any one year, you need to take a combination of long week-ends, odd days off and your full holiday entitlement to make sure that you are productive, creative and re-energised.

Look after yourself.  Keep yourself fit and in top mental form.  Unless you feel good about yourself you can never bring about good results on a sustainable basis in any job you have.

Create balance in your life.  Know what YOU want.  People fail because they have erratic aims, uncertain destinations, no life balance and fluctuating courage.

Ask yourself:

what do I really want to do with my life?

what would be a success for me?

what makes me happy?

who do I want to spend time with?

how do I want my career to develop?

what effort am I prepared to put in to that?

what are my personal development needs?

my education needs?

Organisations are beginning to understand that because of the changes, re-structures and uncertainty people have been dealing with in the past years, they need to re-think how they live their lives.  They are beginning to take as much care of their HI (Human Intelligence) as their AI (Artificial Intelligence).

What can organisations do?

Match people to roles and give them the training, support and development they need for those roles.

Allow people to work flexitime or to work from home

Don’t encourage a culture where people feel they need to stay late

Make sure people take breaks

Motivation, morale, productivity, co-operation, teamwork, sickness and absenteeism, all have a direct impact on the bottom line.  Take action now and measure the difference it makes.

Do what you can.  Try what you can.  See what you can accomplish.  You won’t be here for long!


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