Tales from the Corporate Frontlines: The Beauty of Work/Life Balance

This article relates to Work/Life Balance competency, commonly evaluated in employee satisfaction surveys. It reflects an employee's reaction to working a large amount of overtime for an extended period, and its effect on well being. This competency reveals how your staff feels with regard to the balance between work and personal life and covers topics such as priority of family and hours on the job. Organizations that enjoy a high satisfaction level in this area will normally show a low absenteeism rate and experience higher employee retention. Evaluating this competency can be especially useful in understanding issues relating to a workforce that is commonly tardy or absent from work.

This short story, The Beauty of Work/Life Balance, is part of AlphaMeasure's compilation, Tales from the Corporate Frontlines. It illustrates how even a temporary lack of balance can affect the health and well being of members of the workforce. Companies can benefit from preserving this balance, otherwise they risk high turnover, low productivity and absenteeism as a result.

Anonymous Submission

Only two weeks into my new job as a field sales support representative, I felt as though I had entered a nightmare. When hired I was told to expect a significant amount of overtime in the early days. The business I worked for was a new acquisition of a very old company, and there was plenty to be done as far as resettling the operation in its new home.

But as time went on, there seemed to be more work rather than less. Every day stretched from eight hours to eleven or twelve, and full weekend days were becoming a habit. I told myself that maybe week three would be better, but became tired and cranky as it turned into more of the same.

I am not a whiner, I just happen to live a full life. I am one of those people who works to live - not the other way around - and I was not happy missing out on my hobbies, social life with friends and family, and even my housework. Even though I wasn't spending much time at home, things were still getting dusty and dirty in my absence.

As week three turned into a full month, I realized that I'd missed my niece's birthday, my brother's graduation ceremony, and more than one weekend trip to see my best friend, who lives in New York City. I hadn't grocery shopped, never seemed to cook anymore, and was keeping laundry in various stages of completion in several rooms of my apartment. I felt the physical effects of overwork as well, every morning when my alarm sounded. I fell asleep at night with my fingers twitching as if pecking at a phantom keyboard. How do people do this all the time? I asked myself. Do you really become accustomed to spending so many hours at work?

Fortunately, the marathon ended shortly afterward. Our supervisors thanked us and the company treated us to a special dinner at a wonderful restaurant, as well as a few days of comp time to use as the overtime decreased. The gratitude shown was heartwarming. I came away from the experience with the sense that it's okay to upset the work/life balance for the short run, if necessary, but companies that make it a practice, not to mention their employees, must suffer substantial losses in health and sanity!

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Josh Greenberg is President of AlphaMeasure, Inc.

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