The Real Talk About Work Life Balance

The work life balance conversation is an interesting topic and I love discussing this within networking groups, my clients and candidates. I am going to give "my opinion" on the work life balance topic and provide some points you may need to consider before taking that job!

I will also provide "my opinion" for employers on how to have a conversation with an employee if they move the goalpost and want a better trade off in their favour in the name of "Work life Balance"

There is good reasons to wanting better work life balance, (If there is such a thing) however my belief is, if you want to achieve greatness in any job/career you need to apply constant commitment to become the Virtuoso. All you need to do is look at all the world class artist and see they had to trade their time to be the best.

Ultimately it just depends what you want from life and want is important to you, I am yet to see and hear of someone climbing the career ladder being promoted and getting large pay increases for doing the minimum or base level work. We are expansive beings and growth is in or DNA, I did a previous article on why going the extra mile is important and I believe its crucial to success in your own right.

Lets Begin.......??

What you may want to consider before you accept and start any job

• What are the working hours, am I expected to work past these hours and in what circumstances would it be when I have to work past the standard hours
• Will this job offer flexitime, Hybrid, Work from home/anywhere options
• What are the policies on overtime
• How long do I get for Breaks, Lunch, do you provide support for health and wellbeing

When you are at an interview, I would suggest against reading off in list form, instead let the conversation flow, if anything has been missed you can follow-up on the next interview and at the back end when the offer comes in, the information will be on the offer letter and/or contract so you have plenty of time to digest and make the right decision for you.

I have accepted the job knowing high demands but now I want better work life balance

• First you need to accept there may be resistance from your employer and you need to own that
• Understand that everyone's circumstances changes, what was fine for you 1 year ago has now changed and there is nothing wrong with that
• Talk with your manager making it more conversational and support focused rather then making demands or instant changes
• Understand this new information may take time for your employer to digest so work with them and support them also in the transition

I am a employer and my staff has asked for more work life balance

• Let them know you will do your best to support them, ask them what they want, why/how have things changed and when they want the changes to go live, but do not make any promises until you can commit to the changes
• Be clear with then, advise them if they are looking to do less, with less responsibilities, their career path for promotion etc. may be slower and its only fair that other people who are happy with the responsibility are more likely to get that promotion
• If your employee is still expecting to be first for promotions etc but wanting to do less, its back to listening to them and understanding why they believe they feel they should still be a contender when they are looking for a trade off on work commitments and responsibility

What are your thoughts on this?