5 signs your people don’t have work-life balance

By ExecutiveBrief Staff

When your employees’ lives are too tilted on work, theirs are not the only ones affected but yours, too. See the signs and take action.

A young lad once asked his father how much he was earning per hour. The father replied, “Sixty dollars, son. Why do you ask”? The son innocently said, “So, I will be saving 120 dollars.” The father then asked further, “What for?” and the son further replied, “So that I can pay you to spend time with me for two hours!” The father taken aback, embraced his son with eyes misty and an instant guilt in his heart. Similar stories have been told about the lack of quality time that parents spend with their children, or about marital relationships on the rocks. 

Work has become exacting and has taken most of the time supposedly devoted to personal and social life. The reasons are varied, but the glaring ones are the increasing materialism in this day and age, and the pressures in the workplace in pursuit of increased productivity, efficiency and competitiveness.

People need to earn to pay for household bills, pay for home mortgage, spend for children’s college education or buy a new car. People need to work harder to get promoted, get higher salaries and get recognition. In the process, however, people have become too engrossed in their jobs that work-life balance has become a rarity. People, then, get a false sense of achievement.  Fishing with your son, playing golf with your friends and attending religious service have become items in a wish list for many. Work has become the master of many lives, an all-consuming part of life.

According to statistical studies, working hours vary from country to country. In Japan for example, people work for about 35 hours a week; in UK, 37 hours; and, 47 hours in the United States. The pressures of business competition are taking their toll on employees. Studies on effects of longer working hours have revealed that they are counter productive. Thus, the challenge of work-life balance has been growing in the awareness and consciousness of both the employers and employees . In societies characterized by conflicting responsibilities and commitments, the balancing of work and personal life has also become a significant issue in the workplace. HR professionals now are seeking alternatives to achieve positive results on company bottom lines. They have realized that work-life balance in their employees is a vital determinant to the companies’ long-term viability and success. 

What is life-work balance?
The definition of work-life balance has varying characteristics.  To the employer, it could merely mean short working hours. To the employee, it could mean more time for recreation and company sports activities. To others, it could mean more company-sponsored family affairs. It has different meanings to different groups, and the meaning often depends on the context of a viewpoint.