Let's Stop Calling It "Work-Life Balance"

I was once asked on a leadership panel, “How do you manage work-life balance?”

My response?

“Work-life balance doesn’t exist. So, let’s stop calling it that.”

You could have heard a pin drop in that ballroom.

Let me explain.

I’ve found that at home, in business, in sports, in faith communities, in volunteering, there are tasks that I love to do, as well as tasks that I need to do. The balance, therefore, is rarely about home life vs. work life. It’s about the balance of love-to’s and need-to’s.

At work, I love to dive into data, discover trends, and provide coaching to our clients who want to understand what their employees appreciate about their work and what is causing frustration. I love speaking at conferences and sharing the latest insights into the multifamily workforce. I love connecting with brilliant minds in our industry and learning what’s keeping them up at night or what they are most excited about. But there are also things that I don’t love but need to get done, like expense reports, prioritizing projects when I want them all right now, and figuring out time-math in data sets.

At home, I love to curl up on the couch with my family and have movie night. I love spending time in my little garden (even though it’s not really producing anything great). I love walking the dog with my husband every evening. But there are also things that I don’t love, but need to do, like dishes, folding laundry, and meal planning.

Every facet of our lives has these love-to’s and need-to’s, and I've observed that when the need-to’s outweigh the love-to’s, that’s when people start to feel out of balance and burnout creeps in.

We see it in our research among team members whose communities or departments are short-staffed. Yes, they feel overwhelmed by the volume of tasks and not having enough resources to tackle all of them on time, which can lead to working more hours or more days per week. But I’d argue the most debilitating part of the equation is the increased volume of need-to’s. A short-staffed team not only has their own list of need-to’s, they now must absorb the vacant role’s need-to’s, which often crowds out any and all of their love-to’s. They are significantly out of balance.

One of the most useful things a supervisor can do is to gain a better understanding of their team members’ love-to’s and need-to’s. Often those need-to’s come in the form of obstacles, and by understanding what those obstacles are, leaders can make decisions to find new or better solutions to get those things done or remove the obstacle altogether.? And guess what? That opens the door to more love-to’s. Equilibrium. Balance.

Where do I start?

It starts with asking the question: what is the biggest obstacle to getting your work done each week?

And also: what do you enjoy most about your work?

In our latest study, we’ve identified the greatest areas of frustration for each position category: Leasing, Maintenance, On-Site Managers, Regionals, Corporate Support, and Corporate Operations. ?What is frustrating to one group is not necessarily as frustrating to another group, so it’s important to understand each group’s perspective and not assume a one-solution-fits-all will address everything.

Whether you start with looking at our collection of data or you have candid conversations with your team, you’re going to gain some ideas on where to focus attention on the love-to’s and need-to’s that are within your circle of influence. And if you would like to take a more structured approach to understanding how your team is doing and what they need in order to do their best work, Ingage by Swift Bunny is here to make that process easy. Just reach out to us HERE.

Download out latest research, The 2024 Mid-Year Employee Engagement Report, to learn the latest trends on what’s working well for team members and where they need additional support.

?- Jen Piccotti

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