Work-Life Balance is Not Wrong
If I’m reading him right, Steve over at Brip Blap is trying to disabuse his readers of the notion that work-life balance is a worthy goal. The true objective, he suggests, is a blended life. He writes:
“The key is not to strive for balance, but to find work you enjoy and can integrate with your “life,” . . . . . Figuring out a way to do it in a blended way is better than trying to figure out a balanced way - because if you sell your time for money, there will never be balance.”
I think he asks for much. Blending is certainly something to strive for, but recognize that balance will continue to be the more realistic goal for much of the working world. We’re not all part of the creative class, and there are plenty of people who would be happy just being able to knock off early for an art class or their kid’s soccer game.
There’s a danger in dismissing work-life balance as we strive for a utopia. The danger is that we’ll end up moving backward as we reach for an ideal.
As the fortunate among us strive to blend our own life-work situations, we must remember to do what we can as coworkers and employers to help people achieve balance. By that I mean
- Modeling healthy work behaviors,
- Choosing comments and attitudes that support balanced choices, i.e. no glancing at your watch when a coworker leaves before five o’clock,
- Providing flexible work hours, and
- Promoting people who choose to work flexibly.
Posted by Jaime
Tags: flexible work, work-life balance