Welcome:

Recently, September was named as “Work-Life Month.” This month’s feature article examines “Balancing the Work-Life Tightrope.” You’ll actually learn that you’re working more and living less. (I know, it’s a news flash!) You’ll also discover the impact this trend has on your organization.  

A hearty welcome to the new subscribers to the e-WOW! Newsletter. Please feel free to forward this newsletter to friends and associates. You can even use the article in company newsletters. We simply request including the contact information in the article—and please send us a copy.  

Reminder: With October in our midst and the Holidays around the corner, it’s time to start planning. Begin the process of creating your own work-life Holiday plan and also begin looking at how you’re going to positively impact those around you.  

It’s now time to get back to work and focusing on the work-balance equation. Another reminder: remember to take great care of you! If you fry the Golden Goose (you), you’ll get no more golden eggs.  

Have an awesome month and keep making a difference!

 
High Five,
Mark Rosenberger, CSP

Featured Article

"Balancing The Work-Life Tightrope"

by Mark Rosenberger, CSP

“A balance between life and work? Surely you jest!” Ask people what they do for a social life and you’ll often receive the “deer in the headlights” look. O.K., it was a theoretical question—if you had a social life what would you do?  

We all talk about the work-life tightrope and yet few have mastered the act. Researchers indicate that between 1977 and 1997 the average work week has increased by 3.5 hours. (and you wish your work week had increased by only that margin!) 

A look at the data from the 1977 Quality of Employment Survey and the 1997 National Study of the Changing Workplace (NSCW) it appears that employees are working longer. Dah, as if I’m telling you something new. But now it’s confirmed in a research paper. Feel better?  

The average work week has gone from 43.6 hours a week in 1977 to 47.1 in 1997.  Data for the 2002 NCSW survey is not yet available. My guess is that with as many companies doing “more with less” we’re most likely working about a 73 hour week. And this is just data on paid jobs—how ‘bout all the other “jobs” we have? 

Fortune Magazine’s September 23, 2003 issue devoted a special section to the work-life balance topic. Why the big deal? Because the stress of managing work and family life is impacting business performance. Effectiveness in many circles is being impacted by high absenteeism and employee turnover—often related to the work-life tightrope issue.  

There’s more enlightening news…researchers have concluded the workplace is changing. Can I hear another, “Dah!?” 

The MIT Sloan School of Management founded the Sloan Work-Family Policy Network. The authors of the 2001 Sloan Work-Family Network Report state that the current state of affairs stems from an outdated image of work and the “ideal worker.”  

The report concludes that the workplace continues to be structured around the ideal worker who starts to work in early adulthood and continues for forty years uninterrupted, taking no time out for child bearing or child rearing. This “ideal worker” is supported by a spouse or family member who takes primary responsibility for the family and community activities. Do you know many of these?

The authors remind us that in the last several decades, “we have moved to a situation where both men and women are bread winners. But we have done so without redesigning work or occupational career paths and without making provisions for family care.” Now you know why you’re going crazy! 

What does this mean for you and your organization? The Work-Life Balance tightrope is most likely on the minds of almost everyone on your team. Some are from the “Sandwich Generation”—those who may be parenting adolescents and school age children while at the same time caring for elderly parents.  Others are involved in both retirement planning and planning for their off springs’ college education. Those with young children will be coping with child care concerns and possibly single parenthood adjustments. The issue touches many team mates on a variety of levels.  

A number of Fortune 500 companies are finding that assisting employees in effectively managing the work-life balance issue contributes not only to employee satisfaction but to the company’s bottom line. A 1998 survey revealed that 94% of employees say that work-life benefits are as important to them as health insurance.  

Bottom line: The world is changing. So is the work world. The organizations that learn to dance most effectively with the work-life issue will attract and retain the best talent, increase effectiveness while gaining an edge on the competition.
 

What is your organization doing to win the work-life tightrope balancing act? Drop me a quick email on your current game plan and I’ll compile thoughts from those who respond. It’ll be a tool you can use to help balance the work-life tightrope. In the mean time, hang in there, you’re not alone. 

Lessons of the Trapeze

Trapeze Buddy Success Characteristic:
Celebrates the Success of Others

Watch any top performing Trapeze Buddy and you’ll notice a person who celebrates the success of others. He realizes that when others win it contributes to a stronger sum of the whole. When more people win, the group wins. That’s cause for celebration! Booker T. Washington stated it well: “You can’t hold a man down without staying down with him.”