I spent a little time perusing several of the larger job boards recently and noticed that, no matter the job, there’s an increasing trend to offer a statement about the employer’s dedication to work-life and work-family support of its employees.
This statement sometimes comes in the job description, or is often included in the “about the company” section of the posting, but generally reads like this:
My PDA phone cashed it in the other day and I had to purchase a new one. I’ve spent several hours over the past 3 days getting up to speed and ensuring that all my data has transfered to the new one. I also played around a bit, much to my wife’s amusement, importing some pictures so that when my wife and kids called, I’d see their smiling faces on my phone’s display.
My daughter is a bit finicky about her photos and didn’t like the one that I chose, so I went to her MySpace page to download one that she had posted, reasoning that she’d obviously given it the thumbs up, and here’s what I found instead:
According to a survey released yesterday by Deloitte & Touche USA LLP, there is a strong correlation between work-life balance offered and supported by companies and the ethical (or non-ethical) behavior of employees at those companies.
The survey found that:
* 91 percent of all employed adults agreed that workers are more likely to behave ethically at work when they have a good work-life balance.
Fact: When we talk about “family friendly” companies, we’re usually thinking about working mothers, not working fathers.
Family friendly workplaces are usually characterized by discussions surrounding flexible hours, telecommuting, time off and leaves, child care support and assistance, and company culture – and company culture involves all of the aforementioned.
That’s what Susie Wee asks over at her HP Research, Technology, & Teamwork blog.
You see, Susie is conflicted – she’s laying on a beach in sunny Hawaii, blogging away, and feeling a little bit guilty that she’s not able to “sit back, relax, and reflect.”
Susie feels that she may be rationalizing things
In an earlier post today, I wrote about examining our motives when it comes to buying things – goods and services – to seemingly make our lives easier.
The vicious cycle looks like this: We work hard and long, so we wind up dining out several nights a week, or we hire a service to attend to our lawn or our homes or our pets because we “don’t have enough time.” We rely upon these things, and they become integral to our new budgets. This becomes our new ‘norm.’
We then want still more, so we work even harder, finding ourselves with even less time …. The pattern goes on and on.
Check out this post from A.J. Donnison, “the grumpy developer in the corner: Retail Therapy or Low Self Esteem?
‘Retail Therapy’ refers to something many of us indulge in: the act of buying something to make ourselves feel better after working many long hours. It may seem innocent enough, but, as Adam points out, it might serve us well to examine out motives:
Tom Peters, management ‘guru’ and author of In Search of Excellence has this message for us:
“Life-work balance is pretty much an illusion if you want to make an impact in today’s economy.”
Speaking on a panel at a Leadership Forum at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut, Peters pointed out that executives at General Electric “arrive at the office every day at 6:15 a.m.”
According to a recent survey of worldwide senior executives conducted by the Association of Executive Search Consultants, “87 percent felt that work-life balance considerations were critical in their decision whether to join, or remain with, an employer.”
Aileen Taylor, AESC member and Managing Director of Eric Salmon & Partners Limited, observed: “For the first time in twenty plus years in the personal care market place, I am seeing candidates prepared to down-size both their salaries and their prospects within large organizations in favor of quality of life.”
Well, it’s snowing here. I find it extremely ironic that the Cleveland Indians are in town playing ball at Miller Park due to the snow storm in Ohio and because our stadium offers the protection from the elements in the form of its retractable – and close-able – roof.
I’m taking advantage of a canceled appointment or two and some snow closings to share with you some photos I snapped a few moments ago, as well as to let you all know that my life balance/ work-life balance/ work family balance doesn’t consist only of work!
Looking to land that new job or brand your company? Get blogging.
That’s Debbie Weil’s advice. You’ll find her over at BlogWrite for CEOs She was quoted in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal in an article titled “How Blogging Can Help You Get a New Job.”
Check out Gillian Hood-Gabrielson’s Fit for Business blog. Gillian features a Q & A with Sharon Williams, Chairperson of the Alliance for Virtual Businesses.
Ms. Williams supports what I’ve discussed with some of you when it comes to work-life balance:
“A benefit I haven’t covered is the ability to improve work/life balance. By hiring a VA, clients can systemize the business and automate its processes.
Working Mother magazine has published its list of 100 Best Companies – The Family-Friendliest Companies in America. The list measured 7 areas of the companies’ work-life programs:
I came across an interesting report written recently by Lori Herz and Arnie Herz over at Legal Sanity titled “BEYOND BALANCE: How to Cultivate Work-Life Synergy in the Law.”
The report is written about the legal profession, but please feel free to insert your chosen profession where you read the words ‘law’, lawyer’, and/or ‘legal.’ I believe their observations ring true for many of us.
According to a survey of office professionals by Yahoo! Hotjobs, the line between our personal time and professional time is being all but erased as more of us use laptops, mobile phones, and smart phones to stay connected.
This observation comes as no surprise to us.
The survey’s data reveal that “75 percent of respondents say that they use their wireless device equally for both work and personal purposes. In fact, only 8 percent report that they are completely offline when away from the office and 27 percent admit to being so attached to their wireless device, they only leave it alone when they’re sleeping.”
While we can all agree that technology is a wonderful thing, our never-ending tightrope walk is to make use of this technology without becoming a slave to it.
Separation of work life from our home and personal lives is becoming harder and harder. We are constantly being interrupted by ringing cell phones and PDAs beeping with new email messages waiting for our attention.
When we think we’ve escaped the microscope of our working lives, the lights are tuned up brightly and the wonders of technology pull us back – they often divert our attention from achieving what’s most important to us.
Evan Carmichael wrote in a recent Youngentrepreneur blog post titled “How To Find Your Calling” and posed the following question: “So how do you find your calling and get into something you stick with?”
Evan referenced a Fast Company article that suggested three steps:
The Winter 2007 edition of Business Week magazine’s Small Business edition features women who have fled flourishing corporate careers to pursue opportunities as entrepreneurs.
This Time It’s Mine: Why high-powered women are leaving Corporate America to become entrepreneurs profiles 18 corporate women and draws a picture for us of them “then and now.”
