Work/Life Balance Speakers

Too much to do, too little time. Do more with less - These seem to be the mantras of our times. BigSpeak's Work/Life Balance Speakers are experts at empowering employees to reconnect with their passion and purpose. The greatest gift you can give your workforce is not just the ability to make a good living, but to make a good life. Helping your team carve out a meaningful, satisfying life will pay dividends in replenished energy and enhanced commitment to you and your firm. From stress management and employee engagement, to simply putting the fun back into work, BigSpeak's Work/Life Balance Speakers help your people restore control over their workload, ensuring bottom-line benefits for your organization, including reductions in absenteeism, recruitment costs and staff turnover.

Worklife balance is a broad concept including proper prioritizing between "work" (career and ambition) on the one hand and "life" (Health, pleasure, leisure, family and spiritual development) on the other. Related, though broader, terms include "lifestyle balance" and "life balance".

History
The work-leisure dichotomy was invented in the mid 1800s.[1][2] In anthropology, a definition of happiness is to have as little separation as possible "between your work and your play."[3][4] The expression "Worklife balance" was first used in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s to describe the balance between an individual's work and personal life.[5] In the United States, this phrase was first used in 1986. Over the past twenty-five years, there has been a substantial increase in work which is felt to be due, in part, by information technology and by an intense, competitive work environment. Long-term loyalty and a "sense of corporate community" have been eroded by a performance culture that expects more and more from their employees yet offers little security in return. Many experts predicted that technology would eliminate most household chores and provide people with much more time to enjoy leisure activities; but many ignore this option, encouraged by prevailing consumerist culture and a political agenda that has "elevated the work ethic to unprecedented heights and thereby reinforced the low value and worth attached to parenting".[citation needed] Many Americans are experiencing burnout due to overwork and increased stress. This condition is seen in nearly all occupations from blue collar workers to upper management. Over the past decade, a rise in workplace violence, an increase in levels of

absenteeism as well as rising workers compensation claims are all evidence of an unhealthy work life balance.[citation needed] Employee assistance professionals say there are many causes for this situation ranging from personal ambition and the pressure of family obligations to the accelerating pace of technology.[1]. According to a recent study for the Center for Work-Life Policy, 1.7 million people consider their jobs and their work hours excessive because of globalization. These difficult and exhausting conditions are having adverse effects. According to the study, fifty percent of top corporate executives are leaving their current positions. Although sixty-four percent of workers feel that their work pressures are "self-inflicted", they state that it is taking a toll on them. The study shows that seventy percent of US respondents and eighty-one percent of global respondents say their jobs are affecting their health. Between forty-six and fifty-nine percent of workers feel that stress is affecting their interpersonal and sexual relationships. Additionally, men feel that there is a certain stigma associated with saying "I can't do this".

[edit] United States history

Main article: Work-life balance (United States) The first enforceable hours' law in the United States was in 1874 when Massachusetts enacted a law which limited the amount of time that women and children could work each week.[1] This limit was set at sixty hours per week. Similar laws were later adopted by about half of the countrys states. Only men in exceptionally hazardous jobs were covered in early legislation and most had no limit to the number of hours their employers could have them work. Ten-hour workdays were accepted in the agriculture industry during certain seasons and six-day workweeks were not unheard of. Bakers did not win the right to work less than ten hours per day until 1905 with the court case of Lochner vs. New York. The general presumption during this period was that the courts would allow regulation of labor concerning women and children, who were thought to be incapable of bargaining on an equal footing with employers and in special need of protection. Men were allowed freedom of contract unless it could be proven that regulating their hours served a higher good for the population at large.[2] During the turn of the twentieth century, the push for an eight-hour workday was geared primarily toward raising the hourly wage. The idea was that by maintaining the current weekly pay while lowering working hours, a fairer rate of pay would result. The slogan, Whether you work by the piece or work by the day, decreasing the hours increases the pay, seemed to carry the mood of the day. [3]

The early twentieth century laid the groundwork for the idea of work-life balance. Advancements in social sciences would move the focus towards the impact of long hours on the physical and mental health of the employee. At this time, however, the new information was used to enhance productivity for the company. The shorter hours movement began to focus on the fact that an overworked employee is more prone to injury or mistake and becomes less productive. Josephine Goldmark wrote a book in 1912 detailing this fact and the Federal Public Works Act was passed the same year. This new act required a forty-hour workweek for employees of government contracted firms. Over the next ten years, the government passed legislation requiring a forty-hour work week for individual industries nearly every time the issue arose in court.[4] When the employees of the steel industry failed to obtain a reduction from their eightyfour-hour work week in 1919, the industry soon allowed their employees an eight-hour workday, a four hour per day reductiona move brought about by much arm-twisting on the part of President Harding. [5] By the 1920s, the average work week was fifty hours and was considered a great stride and well-earned award for Americas working man. (Whaples) The push for fewer hours had come to a close, but they had one more hurdle to overcome. The new concentration was on the ability to work half a day on Saturdays or have the day off completely. The ability to have two days of rest was unprecedented, but was considered vital to finalize an ethical work schedule. Pressure was put on businesses to make the change, especially in industries and cities with a large number of Jewish workers (since the Jewish Sabbath is on Saturday), and they finally achieved this goal by the end of the decade. Where only thirty-two firms had a five-day workweek in 1920, nearly half had adopted the practice by 1927. [6] Their success was short lived. In the 1920s, the workers were coaxed into believing that they wanted to work longer hours and that they would be harmed by measures that limited how many hours they were allowed to work. Social scientists would later name this force the gospel of consumption. Beginning in the 1920s, advertisers persuaded Americans that happiness would not come from leisure time, but from purchasing commodities, and he concluded that this made it easier for managers to allow workers to make more money by working longer hours. [7] Social scientists would conclude that a new work ethic began as Americans left the psychology of scarcity and adopted one of abundance. Some argue that this mentality of consumption or consumerism persists to this day. [8] During the twentieth century, the average workweek has changed drastically. In 1900, the average workweek in manufacturing was approximately fifty-three hours. However, the workweek is responsive to business conditions. During the Great Depression, the average

number of hours for production workers in manufacturing dropped to 34.6 each week. During World War II, hours worked rose to forty-five each week. The normal range of hours worked during the four decades after World War II was thirtynine to forty-one hours; (Whaples) however, starting in the 1990s, factory workweek hours began to exceed forty-one hours. As previously mentioned, Americans work approximately 47.1 hours each week; some employees work up to seventy hours. Therefore, it is safe to state that the average number of hours Americans presently work each week is the highest it has been in nearly seventy-five years. In 1900, only nineteen percent of women of working age were in the labor force. In 1999 sixty percent of women worked outside the home. Even if the hours worked were slightly higher at the turn of the century, most households were supported by one paycheck. In 1900, eighty percent of American children had a working father and a stay-at-home mother; however, by 1999, that figure was only twenty-four percent. [9] During the Great Depression, working hours were reduced. By 1932, approximately fifty percent of Americans were working a shortened work week. Instead of reducing wages, employers decided to lay off many workers and attempted to protect the employees that remained by encouraging them to job share. President Hoovers Commission for Work Sharing pushed voluntary hours reductions, and it is estimated that nearly three to five million jobs had been saved. (Whaples) Companies such as Sears, General Motors, and Standard Oil reduced the number of days worked each week, and Akron began a six-hour workday. The AFL began to call for a federally-mandated thirty-hour workweek. [10] By 1933, some experts were predicting that the thirty-hour workweek was within a month of becoming federal law. [11] Congress began hearings on mandating the thirtyhour workweek, and the Senate even passed the bill (which was written by Hugo Black and sponsored in the House by William Connery) fifty-three to thirty. Newly-elected President, Franklin Roosevelt initially supported the bill, but had second thoughts when he realized that the bill had a provision to forbid importation of goods produced by workers who worked longer than thirty hours a week. Instead, Roosevelt began to support the National Industrial Recovery Act. Labor leaders were encouraged to support the NIRA instead of the Black-Connery Thirty-Hour Bill with a guarantee of union organization and collective bargaining. With the threat of a mandated thirty-hour work week, businesses fell into line. [12] When specifics codes for the NIRA were drawn up, shorter hours were no longer a genuine concern.[13] After the Great Depression ended, the average weekly hours worked began to rise. (According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 1934 the average hours worked each week was approximately thirty-four hours). During World War II, hours increased by approximately ten hours a week but, in the aftermath of the war, weekly work hours averaged forty hours. [14]

With automation of the workplace in full swing by the 1970s, large numbers of women began entering the work force and an awareness of stress rose to the forefront [15] In the publication Type A Behavior and Your Heart, cardiologists Meyer Friedman and Ray H. Rosenman wrote about the hurry sickness common to workaholicspeople who had no friends and who never relaxed or went to museums [16] In the late 1970s, Professor Robert Karasek of the University of Lowell (now known as University of Massachusetts Lowell) developed a method for analyzing stress-producing factors in the workplace. It has been widely employed to examine workplace pressures and their relationship with research data on coronary heart disease, musculoskeletal illnesses, psychological strain and absenteeism. Karasek explains, In situations where an individual has high demands on him and low control, the undesirable stress of work and other situations becomes problematic. [17] The 1980s brought new complaints of work-life balance related stress. This time period was given such names as the ME generation, the age of narcissism and the pursuit of loneliness.[18] The number of cases of emotional depression in the United States was believed to have doubled between 1970 and 1990. What you do is what you are was the common and unhealthy assumption. According to 'The Workaholic Syndrome', written by Judith K. Sprankle and Henry Ebel, By their sheer numbers and the consequently narrowing opportunities at every upward run of the organizational ladder, the baby-boomers have been compelled to do more, to move faster, to compete harder. They, in turn, have set the pace for other age groups. The signs of increased stress are legion and have been intensified by an economic climate that mandates that if we marry at all, we marry a working spouse. [19] In the late 1980s, the computer revolution was not only responsible for corporate downsizing, but also increased the demand of employee output. Social critic Jeremy Rifkin states, Back in the agriculture-based society, people were more attuned to generatively [20], and middle-stress disorders and diseases of affluence were not part of life. They werent triggered until the Industrial Age, and now the Information Age has worsened them. Nowadays, instead of seconds, its nanoseconds. We have moved from designing a schedule that real people can execute in whatever time it takes them, to a program which people can monitor but cant affect. [21] In the 1980s, the number of workers compensation claims for gradual mental stress began to rise. Claims rose from 1,844 cases in 1981 to 15,688 in 1999 in the state of California alone. Because of the large number of cases as well as evidence of numerous cases of fraud, efforts were made in the early 1990s to reform the workers compensation program. Led by Republican Governor of California Pete Wilson and Democratic Party State assembly Speaker Willie Brown, the new law stated that claimants had to prove that stress was at least 51 percent of the reason for their illness. [22] Unfortunately, because of these reforms some feel that it is now extremely difficult to be approved for workers compensation. John Burton, dean of the school of management and

labor relations at Rutgers University feels that part of the reason for the decline is that a number of states made it difficult to get stress into the system. So even if the stress is out there, its not showing up (in the compensation statistics). Some of it shows up in the rising violence, which is a crude proxy for the stress out there. [23]

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[edit] Work statistics

According to a survey conducted by the National Life Insurance Company, four out of ten employees state that their jobs are "very" or "extremely" stressful.[2] Those in highstress jobs are three times more likely than others to suffer from stress-related medical conditions and are twice as likely to quit. The study states that women, in particular, report stress related to the conflict between work and family.

[edit] Stress and work-life balance

The number of stress-related disability claims by American employees has doubled[when?] according to the Employee Assistance Professionals Association in Arlington, Virginia. Seventy-five to ninety percent of physician visits are related to stress and, according to the American Institute of Stress, the cost to industry has been estimated at $200 billion$300 billion a year.[3] Steven L. Sauter, chief of the Applied Psychology and Ergonomics Branch of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in Cincinnati, Ohio, states that recent studies show that "the workplace has become the single greatest source of stress". [4] Michael Feuerstein, professor of clinical psychology at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences at Bethesda Naval Hospital states, "We're seeing a greater increase in work-related neuroskeletal disorders from a combination of stress and ergonomic stressors".[5] It is clear that problems caused by stress have become a major concern to both employers and employees. Symptoms of stress are manifested both physiologically and psychologically. Persistent stress can result in cardiovascular disease, sexual health problems, a weaker immune system and frequent headaches, stiff muscles, or backache. It can also result in poor coping skills, irritability, jumpiness, insecurity, exhaustion, and difficulty concentrating. Stress may also perpetuate or lead to binge eating, smoking, and alcohol consumption.

According to James Campbell Quick, a professor of organizational behavior at the University of Texas-Arlington, "The average tenure of presidents at land-grant universities in the past ten years has dropped from approximately seven to three-and-ahalf years".[6] The feeling that simply working hard is not enough anymore is acknowledged by many other American workers. To get ahead, a seventy-hour work week is the new standard. What little time is left is often divvied up among relationships, kids, and sleep. [7] This increase in work hours over the past two decades means that less time will be spent with family, friends, and community as well as pursuing activities that one enjoys and taking the time to grow personally and spiritually.[citation needed] Texas Quick, an expert witness at trials of companies who were accused of overworking their employees, states that when people get worked beyond their capacity, companies pay the price. [8] Although some employers believe that workers should reduce their own stress by simplifying their lives and making a better effort to care for their health, most experts feel that the chief responsibility for reducing stress should be management. According to Esther M. Orioli, president of Essi Systems, a stress management consulting firm, Traditional stress-management programs placed the responsibility of reducing stress on the individual rather than on the organization-where it belongs. No matter how healthy individual employees are when they start out, if they work in a dysfunctional system, theyll burn out. [9]

[edit] Gender differences regarding work-life balance

According to Sylvia Hewlett, president of the Center for Work-Life Policy, if a woman takes time off to care for children or an older parent, employers tend to see these people as less than fully committed. Its as though their identity is transformed. [10] Brett Graff, Nightly Business Report correspondent states that (because a woman may have trouble re-entering the market or, if she does find a position, it will likely be a lower position with less pay). If you thought choosing a baby name was hard, you have yet to wrestle with the idea of leaving your career to be a full-time mom or take care of an older parentMost will want to reenter, but will do so accepting lesser positions or lower wages. [11] This circumstance only increases the work-life balance stress experienced by many women employees. Research conducted by the Kenexa Research Institute (KRI), a division of Kenexa, evaluated how male and female workers perceive work-life balance and found that women are more positive than men in how they perceive their companys efforts to help them balance work and life responsibilities. The report is based on the analysis of data drawn from a representative sample of 10,000 U.S. workers who were surveyed through WorkTrends, KRIs annual survey of worker opinions.

The results indicated a shift in womens perceptions about work-life balance. In the past, women often found it more difficult to maintain balance due to the competing pressures at work and demands at home. [12]

[edit] Work-life balance concerns of men and women alike

Similar discrimination is experienced by men who take time off or reduce working hours for taking care of the family. For many employees todayboth male and femaletheir lives are becoming more consumed with a host of family and other personal responsibilities and interests. Therefore, in an effort to retain employees, it is increasingly important for organizations to recognize this balance. [13]

[edit] Young generation views on work-life balance

According to Kathleen Gerson, Sociologist, young people are searching for new ways to define care that do not force them to choose between spending time with their children and earning an income" and are looking for definition of personal identity that do not pit their own development against creating committed ties to others".[6][7] Young adults believe that parents should get involved and support the children both economically and emotionally, as well as share labor equally. Young people do not believe work-life balance is possible and think it is dangerous to build a life dependent on another when relationships are unpredictable. They are looking for partners to share the house work and family work together.[7][8] Both men and women believe that women should have jobs before considering marriage; for better life and to be happy in marriage. Young people do not think their mothers generations were unhappy. They also do not think they were powerless because they were not economically dependent.

[edit] Identity through work

[edit] Women Today there are many young women who do not want to just stay at home and do house work, but want to have their careers. In fact, women may lose their self-esteem and identities when they stay at home; young women hope that their lives will include strong ties to the workplace.[7][8] [edit] Men Men know that work alone may not provide their lives with meaning. Young men can lose their meaning of life; they want a balance between paid work and personal attachments without being victimized at work.[7] [8]

[edit] Facts

Regarding home life, men and women have similarities with work and home life. Today, home is not a heavenly place which men and women could rest and feel comfort as before, but home is an additional place of work.[7] [9]

[edit] Work-life balance issues and their influence on children

An increasing number of young children are being raised by a childcare provider or another person other than a parent; older children are more likely today to come home to an empty house and spend time with video games, television and the internet with less guidance to offset or control the messages coming from these sources. No one knows how many kids are home after school without an adult, but they know the number is in the millions. Also, according to a study by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the more time that children spent in child care, the more likely their sixth grade teachers were to report behavor problems. [14] The findings are the results of the largest study of child care and development conducted in the United States; the analysis tracked 1,364 children from birth.

[edit] Consequences of an Imbalance

Mental health is a balancing act that may be affected by four factors: the influence of unfavourable genes, by wounding trauma, by private pressures and most recently by the stress of working. [10] Many people expose themselves unsolicited to the so-called job stress, because the "hard worker" enjoys a very high social recognition. These aspects can be the cause of an imbalance in the areas of life. But there are also other reasons which can lead to such an imbalance. Remarkable is for example the increase in non-occupational activities with obligation character, which include mainly house and garden work, maintenance and support of family members or volunteer activities. All this can contribute to the perception of a chronic lack of time. [11] This time pressure is, amongst others, influenced by the own age, the age and number of children in the household, marital status, the profession and level of employment as well as the income level. [12] The psychological strain, which in turn affects the healthiness, increases due to the strong pressure of time, but also by the complexity of work, growing responsibilities, concern for long-term existential protection and more. [13] The mentioned stresses and straints could lead in the long term to irreversible, physical signs of wear as well as to negative effects on the human cardiovascular and immune systems. [14] Psychoanalysts diagnose uncertainty as the dominant attitude to life in the postmodern society. [15] This uncertainty can be caused by the pressure which is executed from the society to the humans. It is the uncertainty to fail, but also the fear of the own limits, not to achieve something what the society expects, and especially the desire for recognition in all areas of life. [16] In today's society we are in a permanent competition. Appearance, occupation, education of the children - everything is compared to a media staged ideal. Everything should be perfect, because this deep-rooted aversion to all average, the

pathological pursue to excellence - these are old traditions. [17] Who ever wants more - on the job, from the partner, from the children, from themselves - will one day be burned out and empty inside. He is then faced with the realization that perfection do not exist. [18] Who is nowadays empty inside and burned out, has in the common language a Burnout. But due to the definitional problems Burnout is till this date no recognized illness. [19] An attempt to define this concept more closely, can be: a condition that get only the passionate, that is certainly not a mental illness but only a grave exhaustion (but, lo and behold, can lead to numerous sick days). [20] It can benefited to the term that it is a disease model which is socially acceptable and also, to some extent, the individual self-esteem stabilizing. This finding in turn facilitates many undetected depressed people, the way to a qualified treatment. [21] According to experts in the field are, in addition to the ultra hard-working and the idealists mainly the perfectionist, the loner, the grim and the thinskinned, especially endangered of a burnout. All together they usually have a lack of a healthy distance to work. [22] Another factor is also, that for example decision-makers in government offices and upper echelons are not allowed to show weaknesses or signs of disease etc., because this would immediately lead to doubts of the ability for further responsibility. It should be noted that only 20% of managers (e.g. in Germany) do sports regularly and also only 2% keep regularly preventive medical check-up. [23] In such a position other priorities seem to be set and the time lacks for regular sports. Frightening is that the job has such a high priority, that people waive screening as a sign of weakness. In contrast to that, the burnout syndrome seems to be gaining popularity. There seems nothing to be ashamed to show weaknesses, but quite the opposite: The burnout is part of a successful career like a home for the role model family. [24] Besides that the statement which describes the burnout as a "socially recognized precious version of the depression and despair that lets also at the moment of failure the self-image intact" fits and therefore concludes "Only losers become depressed, burnout against it is a diagnosis for winners, more precisely, for former winners.. [25] However, it is fact that four out of five Germans complain about too much stress. One in six under 60 swallows at least once a week, a pill for the soul, whether it is against insomnia, depression or just for a bit more drive in the stressful everyday life. [26] The phases of burnout can be described, among other things, first by great ambition, then follows the suppression of failure, isolation and finally, the cynical attitude towards the employer or supervisor. Concerned persons have very often also anxiety disorders and depressions, which are serious mental diseases. Depressions are the predominant causes of the nearly 10,000 suicides that occur alone each year in Germany. [27] The implications of such imbalances can be further measured in figures: In 1993, early retirement due to mental illness still made 15.4 percent of all cases. In 2008, there were already 35.6 percent. Even in the days of illness, the proportion of failures due to mental disorders increased. Statisticians calculated that 41 million absent days in 2008 went to the account of these crises, which led to 3.9 billion euros in lost production costs. [28] For companies it is time to act and support their employees with a healthy work-life-balance.source needed

[edit] Responsibility of the employer

Companies have begun to realize how important the work-life balance is to the productivity and creativity of their employees. Research by Kenexa Research Institute in 2007 shows that those employees who were more favorable toward their organizations efforts to support work-life balance also indicated a much lower intent to leave the organization, greater pride in their organization, a willingness to recommend it as a place to work and higher overall job satisfaction. Employers can offer a range of different programs and initiatives, such as flexible working arrangements in the form of part time, casual and telecommuting work. More proactive employers can provide compulsory leave, strict maximum hours and foster an environment that encourages employees not to continue working after hours. It is generally only highly skilled workers that can enjoy such benefits as written in their contracts, although many professional fields would not go so far as to discourage workaholic behaviour. Unskilled workers will almost always have to rely on bare minimum legal requirements. The legal requirements are low in many countries, in particular, the United States. In contrast, the European Union has gone quite far in assuring a legal work-life balance framework, for example pertaining to parental leave and the non-discrimination of part-time workers. According to Stewart Friedman -- professor of Management and founding director of the Wharton Schools Leadership Program and of its Work/Life Integration Projecta "one size fits all mentality in human resources management often perpetuates frustration among employees. [Its not an] uncommon problem in many HR areas where, for the sake of equality, there's a standard policy that is implemented in a way that's universally applicable -- [even though] everyone's life is different and everyone needs different things in terms of how to integrate the different pieces. It's got to be customized. [29] Friedmans research indicates that the solution lies in approaching the components of work, home, community, and self as a comprehensive system. Instead of taking a zerosum approach, Friedmans Total Leadership program teaches professionals how to successfully pursue four-way wins -- improved performance across all parts of life.

[edit] Global comparisons

According to a new study by Harvard and McGill University researchers, the United States lags far behind nearly all wealthy countries when it comes to family-oriented workplace policies such as maternity leave, paid sick days and support for breast feeding. Jody Heyman, founder of the Harvard-based Project on Global Working Families and director of McGills Institute for Health and Social Policy, states that, More countries are providing the workplace protections that millions of Americans can only dream of. The U.S. has been a proud leader in adopting laws that provide for equal opportunity in the workplace, but our work/family protections are among the worst. [30] This observation is being shared by many Americans today and is considered by many experts to be indicative of the current climate. However, the U.S. Labor Department is

examining regulations that give workers unpaid leave to deal with family or medical emergencies (a review that supporters of the FMLA worry might be a prelude to scaling back these protections, as requested by some business groups). At the same time, Senator Chris Dodd from Connecticut is proposing new legislation that would enable workers to take six weeks of paid leave. Congress is also expected to reconsider the Healthy Families Act which is a bill that would require employers with at least fifteen employees to provide seven paid sick days per year.[30] At the state level, California has paid family leave benefits for its workers. New Jersey lawmakers are pushing legislation that would make their state the second state to add this worker benefit. Under one New Jersey proposal, workers who take leave would be paid through the states temporary disability insurance fund, augmented by a 0.1 percent charge on workers weekly wages.[31] Traditionally, many conservatives have opposed paid family leave, but there is a sign that this mindset is beginning to change. Reverend Paul Schenck, a prominent member of the National Pro-Life Action Center recently stated that he would support paid maternity leave on the assumption that it might encourage women to follow through with their pregnancies instead of having abortions. According to Heyman, Across the political spectrum, people are realizing these policies have an enormous impact on working families. If you look at the most competitive economies in the world, all the others except the U.S. have these policies in place. [31] The United States is not as workplace family-oriented as many other wealthy countries. According to a study released by Harvard and McGill University researchers in February 2007, workplace policies for families in the U.S. are weaker than those of all highincome countries and even many middle-and low-income countries. For example, the study notes that the United States is one of only five countries out of 173 that does not guarantee some form of paid maternity leave. (The other countries are Lesotho, Liberia, Swaziland, and Papua New Guinea).[31] Other differences include the fact that fathers are granted paid paternity leave or paid parental leave in sixty-five countries; thirty one of these countries offer at least fourteen weeks of paid leave. The U.S. does not guarantee this to fathers. At least 107 countries protect working womens right to breast-feed and, in at least seventy-three of them, women are paid. The U.S. does not have any federal legislation guaranteeing mothers the right to breast-feed their infants at work. When it comes to sick days, 145 countries provide sick days to their employees; 127 provide a week or more per year. There is not a federal law requiring paid sick days in the United States. At least 134 countries have laws setting the maximum length of the work week; the U.S. does not have a maximum work week length and does not place any limits on the amount of overtime that an employee is required to work each week. (survey) Sweden, Denmark and Norway have the highest level of maternity benefitsSweden provides 68 weeks paid maternity leave, Norway provides 56 weeks paid maternity leave and Denmark provides 52.[32]

American workers average approximately ten paid holidays per year while British workers average twenty-five holidays and German employees thirty. Americans work twelve weeks more a year in total hours than Europeans.[citation needed] In Europe, the Working Time Regulation has implemented a maximum of forty-eight hours of work per week.[33] Many countries have opted for fewer hours. France attempted to introduce a thirty-five hour workweek, and Finland experimented with a thirty-hour week in 1996.[citation needed] In a 2007, the European Quality of Life Survey found that countries in south-eastern Europe had the most common problems with work-life balance. In Croatia and Greece, a little over 70% of working citizens say that they are too tired to do household jobs at least several times a month because of work.[34] In Britain, legislation has been passed allowing parents of children under six to request a more flexible work schedule. Companies must approve this request as long as it does not damage the business. A 2003 Survey of graduates in the UK revealed that graduates value flexibility even more than wages.[35] In all twenty-five European Union countries, voters punish politicians who try to shrink vacations. Even the twenty-two days Estonians, Lithuanians, Poles and Slovenians count as their own is much more generous than the leave allotted to U.S. workers. [36] According to a report by the Families and Work Institute, the average vacation time that Americans took each year averaged 14.6 days. Even when vacation time is offered in some U.S. companies, some choose not to take advantage of it. A 2003 survey by Management Recruiter International stated that fifty percent of executives surveyed didnt have plans to take a vacation. They decided to stay at work and use their vacation time to get caught up on their increased workloads.[36]

How to maintain work-life balance

Norbert Rego, Dec 27, 2010, 12.00am IST Tags:

life

In the fast moving life, there are many pressures that new-age couples have to deal withrunning a home, doing daily chores like cooking/cleaning, raising children and handle the tight deadlines at work! Ever wondered how the 21st century couples can deal with all this? How can they divide their daily work, make sure their children get the right amount of attention and time and also be productive at work?

Today, technology not just makes your life easy and simple, but also brings a work-life balance. There are many working couples, who constantly stay connected on mobile Internet- using email, social networking websites.

Work Life Balance

By: Singh *
The changing economic conditions and social demands have changed the nature of work throughout the world. Originally, work was a matter of necessity and survival. Throughout the years, the role of "work" has evolved and the composition of the workforce has changed. Today, work is widely viewed as a source of personal satisfaction. A good balance in work and life can play a phenomenal role in the attainment of personal and professional goals The objective of this paper is to understand the various issues that have come to the forefront due to the dynamic nature of work. Can the existence of work-life balance programs be attributed to a realization of social responsibility by the employers towards their employees or to a realization of the competitive advantage it offers to employers? Before we can answer this question, we need to define what work-life balance is and various factors associated with it, which is also the purpose of this blog. What is Work Life Balance? By definition work life balance is about people having measure of control over when, where and how they work. There is a view that work-life balance only in the framework of what the company does for the individual. However, work-life balance is a two-pronged approach. The other prong of work-life balance, which many individuals overlook, relates to what individuals do for themselves. The core of work life balance could also be summed as achievement with enjoyment. If an individual goes on working his or her best at work place but not really enjoying the same then happiness and satisfaction can never be achieved. Achievement can be viewed as motive of life while enjoyment is the fuel that drives that motive. While we strike a work life balance, we are not merely balancing our profession and family, we are also balancing our mental and status quo and thereby balancing our emotional intelligence, which is the worldly ability to manage you and to handle others. Organizations can help facilitate work-life balance for their employees through work-life programs and training. Achievement and enjoyment at work is a critical part of work-life balance. Furthermore, achievement andenjoyment in the other three quadrants of one's life (e.g. family, friends andself) is critical as well. Work cultures have often demanded a transformation from inflexibility to flexibility. The underlying principle perhaps is the increasing realization that certain issues pertaining to the imbalance in working life and personal life of an individual are being overlooked. There is a life at work and at home and also a life having space for leisure. With globalization becoming the norm ofthe day, these issues seem to have taken a back seat for quite a while. Worklife 'imbalance' has over a period of time attracted concern because of increasing problems related to employee health, monotony at work place, declining levels of productivity and efficiency at the employee level. The imbalance also has a negative impact in the personal life of working people-some of which have even become social hazards- increasing number of divorces, infertility due high stress levels, advent of nuclear families etc. Professionals today seem to be more interested in jobs that give them increased flexibility at work. Working people have different needs at different stages of their working life. As a result, people strive for balance in their

working hours and their personal commitments. Work life balance has nowbecome a sensitive issue because it offers obvious benefits to organizations and its employees. Successfully addressing this issue can lead to a healthy synergy in the working environment of an organization and its employees. Organizations can look forward to a phenomenal increase in efficiency and working hours and their personal commitments. Work life balance has nowbecome a sensitive issue because it offers obvious benefits to organizations and its employees. Successfully addressing this issue can lead to a healthy synergy in the working environment of an organization and its employees. Organizations can look forward to a phenomenal increase in efficiency and as an ideal place to work in - a place that endows greater volition (flexi-timings etc.) and freedom; and a place that is fun to work in. Employees with a working environment that is conducive. Employee retention may also be seen as an important driver to this. Organizations now focus on grooming their employees who are now not considered merely a work force but regarded as the 'Human Capital' of the organization. Employees with a working environment that is conducive. Employee retention may also be seen as an important driver to this. Organizations now focus on grooming their employees who are now not considered merely a work force but regarded as the 'Human Capital' of the organization. Need and Benefits of Work Life Balance To understand the need of work life balance, one first needs to understand about work life imbalance, as with the understanding of the origin, causes and effects of this imbalance, the balancing act becomes easier. The corporate world of today is exceedingly demanding. The work culture varies from organization to organization. Today the deadlines are getting tighter and an individual's job is not only to match that deadline but also to give quality output. Due to this work pressure it becomes exceedingly difficult to maintain a family life. It becomes very difficult to have the engagement of mind with the engagement of body. In every individual's life there are four stakeholders- own personality, job, family and society. It is very important to give equal importance to all the stakeholders. A person who is a workaholic and does not enjoy his family life cannot be termed a successful person. When a life encounters such imbalance then the peace and harmony of life vanishes and there is an adverse effect of it on the work life too. To avoid such situation one should always try to avoid this imbalance in life. The transition from work life imbalance to work life balance has obvious benefits to an organization andits employees. At the organizational level, balanced nature of work enables increase in productivity and efficiency of employees. Employees become more creativea nd they derive more satisfaction from work. Better teamwork and communication offer a conducive working environment. This leads to enjoyment at work and increased passion for it. Stress levels are well in commitment levels from the employee increase thereby helping an commitment levels from the employee increase thereby helping an organization to inherently develop a strong value system. Work life balance on an individual level can bring phenomenal changes in his life and can also heavily impact a society. A balanced work life is of advantage to an employee's health. Stress levels decline drastically to healthy levels. Individuals derive more value from their work and from life that leads to greater satisfaction and is also seen as a mode of self-actualization. The employee can better understand the nature of his work life balance as work life balance can vary among individuals. It is at this point oftime that an employee starts resting immense trust in the organization and his commitment levels to the organization increase. On the social front, the individual gains when relationships improve. The individual can now willingly devote more time and energy to his social commitments, which is also vital for a happy life. Thus, work-life balance can bring a huge transformation at the organizational and individual levels. It helps an organization to inherently build a strong value system, which is attributed to the work life balance enjoyed at the employee level. Consequently, the organization does not have to impose a formulated framework of organizational values because they now become intrinsic to it.

Work life balance at the individual level enjoys its success in addressing to societal issues. It helps in healing a society off its problems such as increasing infertility among working people, increasing number of divorces and its adverse affect on children. Roles and Responsibilities Organizations are becoming more and more demanding in terms of output. The businesses are being operated in terms of volume and not in terms of values. This disturbs the balance between work and life in employees' lives. The organizations are too exacting in their demands and because of the very high competition, they are able to dictate terms upon the individuals. As the organizations are basically the profit driven entities they are rarely bothered about the personal life and work-satisfaction issues of the employees. Thus they are least concerned at their level with work life satisfaction. Organizations have the work force in plenitude and as far as the people are ready to work as three people instead of one, they don't bother about the consequences the employees may face with this stressful work atmosphere. Individuals are equally responsible for creating work life imbalance, as the silence adopted by the individuals is a major factor responsible for work life imbalance. As people do not raise their voice against the unfair amount of work delegated upon them, they land up with unfair amount of work for themselves. Due to 'high ambitions' of the individuals they put themselves under much more pressure than they can handle. People tend to escape from making decisions and from taking stands. Work life imbalance is creating a different kind of lifestyle. People are having different professional and personal goals, which are often contradictory, and this is ultimately bringing imbalance intheir lives. The Eternal See-Saw: Efforts made by Organizations & Individuals Organizations today have realized the importance of the employee-work-life balance and its importance in the efficiency of the employees. Organizations work-life balance, so that neither the work nor the employee's personal life work-life balance, so that neither the work nor the employee's personal life is affected. The ideas like employees working from virtual offices in theirhomes are well established now and have been accepted with organizations world over. Not only the employee can have total flexibility in their work,they are always close to their family. In offices also, efforts are being made to provide friendly work atmosphere for the employees by providing all sorts of refreshments available for the employee. The employees are given the freedom to have their own ways ofdoing the work. They are given the assignments with deadlines and they can have their own schedule as far as they are meeting the deadlines. Some organizations have gone to the extent of providing family atmosphere for the employees by involving the families of the employees. The idea is to make the family realize that they are also a part of the organization. Besides, these organizations are introducing special leaves for attending to sick parents, to attend to children, etc. Maternity leaves and various holiday packages are being designed for the employees, and also various insurance schemes are there for the employees and their families. Organizations are trying to take care of all the overloads of the employees,so that the employees can better concentrate on the work, so that the employee can enjoy the work and can have a proper work life balance. The thought process of the employees has also evolved and now they have become more decisive when it comes to job. Working Women: Are they being discriminated? Work life imbalance also comes with a different social perspective- How to address the work - life imbalance in the lives of the women work force. The society over the years has recognized women's need to legal and financial independence. Women work force now constitutes a significant percentage ofthe total work force in any organization today. Gender equality and responsibility for caring however, are contested issues. The transition to motherhood still continues to have practical and emotional consequences. When women take break from their careers to fulfill

their right to motherhood, it is considered unprofessional. Moreover, it also affects their professional stature when they return to work. These tend to reinforce gender in-equalities at work place. As a result many women have to make the difficult choice between family and career. Surprisingly the situation in homemaker and as a professional person. So if she has to make a trade-off sometimes, she must take it in her stride and balance it in the other spheres as soon as possible. Homemaker and as a professional person. So if she has to make a trade-off sometimes, she must take it in her stride and balance it in the other spheres as soon as possible. Summary The concept of Work life balance is becoming more and more relevant in a never-dynamic working environment. The role played by the individual is as important as that of the organization in managing this tumultuous see saw. One of the novel approaches to this is by the use of one's emotional intelligence. This will help people realize what they want to do, which in turn will lead to stronger organizations based on stronger values, orientations and ethics.

Need work-life balance? 7 tips

If you can relate, here are seven suggestions that may, to paraphrase rocker Mick Jagger, help you get time on your side: 1. Don't overbook.This may seem unusual to people who try to crowbar as much as possible into every workday. The problem is: Things rarely go according to a prearranged agenda. That means a lot of time falling through the cracks chasing down appointments, unreturned phone calls and other items that simply aren't going to happen. "Don't try to plan on doing too many things," says McGonagle. "Assume that only 50% of the things you plan on doing today will actually get done. If you don't, you'll just waste valuable time trying to find out why things didn't happen." 2. Prioritize ruthlessly.The secret to booking your time effectively boils down to knowing what's important and what can wait. But it's critical to use the sharpest knife possible in trimming the essential from the secondary. "Learn to ask questions that help you determine the level of urgency," says Krista Kurth, co-author of Running on Plenty at Work. "Negotiate longer lead times whenever you can and don't give into the "instant-and-immediate answer" syndrome. Treating everything as top priority is draining and depleting." 3. Learn how to say no. One of the biggest land mines to effective time management is recognizing you don't have to agree to everything and with everyone. Use your priority criteria to identify requests that

simply aren't worth your time. "I've learned that saying no to one thing opens the door to saying yes to something else," says Kurth. "That can mean anything from cleaning my desk to getting a good night's sleep." 4. Organize.Bringing your time into line isn't just a matter of scheduling. The mechanics of how you operate can be every bit as important. That means organizing most every element to allow as smooth a workflow as possible. "Everything in your business should be set up using logical systems so anyone needing anything can find it when they need it," says Peggy Duncan, an Atlanta-based personal productivity authority. "Eliminating clutter and the chaos it causes will give you a gift of 240 to 288 hours every year." 5. Use technology.Although personal habits and practices can do wonders for time management, don't overlook technology as yet another weapon to make the most effective use of your workday. For instance,Microsoft Outlook with Business Contact Manager lets you organize a wide array of customer and product particulars, allowing quick and easy access. "Sticky notes are one of the worst things in the world," says McGonagle. "You should live by your database. That way, nothing is ever forgotten." 6. . . . but don't overdo it.Many businesspeople are gun shy about using technology out of fear that they'll remain too much in touch that their time will be consumed by intrusive e-mails and cell phone calls. Fair enough. Part of effective time management is knowing when to shut things down. Turning off a cell phone or other wireless means of communication establishes boundaries. In short, it helps you balance your personal and professional time. 7. Know it won't always be perfect.Try as we all may, time management isn't an exact science. Don't stress outand waste time in the processby obsessing over every second of time. Do what you can and enjoy whatever time you spend more pleasantly or productively. "Be grateful for what goes right and learn from your mistakes," says Kurth. "Act as if they were scenes in a movie that you get to retake."

Ways to deal with a personal crisis at work... Given today's work scenario, most people tend to spend more time in the office than at home. However, whether that is reason enough to share your personal problems with people at work is something you need to decide with utmost care. Most of us go through difficult times

at some point or other and some of us may want to share our problems with others. However, there are some dos and don'ts of doing so, especially at work: 1. Be clear about the reasons. Some people communicate their problems because they are unable to deal with their emotions. This is a completely wrong approach. Only if you feel that a personal problem might actually come in the way of your work, keep your seniors and colleagues in the loop. Allow them to plan for potential contingencies rather than deal with unpleasant surprises. 2. Take time to build trust. Start with sharing problems which will not damage your reputation even if it went to others 3. February 2011at work. If the person you have shared it with keeps it confidential, you can take him/her into confidence and share more. 4. Do not make it a habit. Although sharing problems may not be a treated as a sign of weakness, it's best to not overdo it. If you make it a habit, you will lose your credibility. Remember, your boss or colleagues may be good human beings but they don't want to spend all their time listening to and understanding your problems. 5. Build inner strength. Act on your problem instead of just sharing it. If there are people you are really close to at work, take their help in keeping your calm, exploring your own options and putting your action plan in place.

Work/life balance at IBM

Maintaining the essential work life balance has become a business imperative, and is mostly not very easy to achieve. That's where IBM's employee-friendly policies come into picture. Be it flexible work arrangements or child care services, we recognize that these have a positive impact on employee productivity & retention, and therefore are looked upon as a business imperative. Complementing these policies are Wellbeing services, which spans several areas ranging from Influenza Vaccination to Emotional Well-being programs. Not surprisingly IBM is well known in the industry for its work life balance, and for the nineteenth year in succession, has featured in the 'best companies' list of various magazines, including Working Mother.

Five ways to maintain work-life balance

By Kukil Bora, SiliconIndia, Wednesday, 13 April 2011, 07:07 IST Bangalore: Are you feeling overworked? Is finding the balance between work and the rest of your life not working out for you? Don?t get upset, you?re not alone. In this fast moving life we are surrounded by many pressures that we've to deal with every other day. Especially for urban working women, running a home and handling the tight deadlines at work can really be quite a task. Here are few suggestions that can be effective in maintaining a better balancing while playing both the roles.

1. Time management

The time-waster in you steal your productivity in the form of reading email, net surfing, or making personal calls. As a result, you work overtime, more than 10 hours a day. You are way too busy to get off your desk for a lunch break, so you starve instead. You compromise on your social life to finish your monthly projections. By tracking your daily activities, you get to know how did you spend whole day and with such a practice of properly analyzing and scheduling, you can design your day according to your work load to manage your professional and social life better. 2. Use technology

No doubt that personal habits and practices can be very effective in time management, but technology can also be yet another weapon in serving the same. There are several ways a busy executive can make technology more effective for his or her own use. For instance, Microsoft Outlook with Business Contact Manager can be very useful for you in organizing your contacts, with quick and easy access.

3. Leave your work at work

When you go home after your working hours, focus on your family. There is very little that will be that much of an emergency that it can't wait until the next morning. Taking your works at home creates tension and makes you stressful even if you are lying on your bed at home, which will ultimately affect your family as well. Leave work at work.

4. Organize/Prioritize

In order to make the work-flow as smooth as possible, it's very important for you to organize every element of your daily life. According to experts, everything in your business should be set up using logical systems so anyone needing anything can find it when they need it. Selecting what's important and what can wait contributes a lot to the booking your time effectively. Emphasis should always be on trimming the essential from the secondary.

5. Don't overbook

Don't pack your entire day full with meetings and tasks. Things don't always go as planned and you need some buffer. Hence, it is recommended to take sufficient amount of work so that you can handle them well. Otherwise, your work hours will get extended.

8 strategies to regain the lost work-life balance

Attack the Panic: Instead of falling victim to a panic attack, you need to attack it yourself. Panicking would be the last thing you would want to happen when already plenty of things are going wrong. Even if you feel panicky, try and choose modest, recoverable steps to address the situation. This is not the time to make hurried decisions because you may end up regretting. If you think, you are getting panicky by each passing day, DO NOT hesitate in seeking medical advice. Trust us, there's nothing wrong in that. Prioritise Like Crazy: Use the sharpest knife to slice the essential from secondary. In other words, prioritise ruthlessly. Take your call on which are the things that are important and which are the ones that can be kept in the parking lot for the time being. A good way to do this is keep asking questions from

yourself. Decide on things which can be bypassed. After prioritising, it's important you implement everything.

Organise Meticulously: One of the keys to regain the work-life balance is eliminate the clutter which all around us. Apart from merely scheduling your day, you need to organise every element which aids the smooth flow of work. Make lists and follow them. You will find that you would be able to deliver more in the same duration as you used to do previously. This also includes organizing those time-consuming household chores. Take a Body Inventory: Are you sleeping well? Are you eating good stuff? What are your energy levels? Analyse. Te get the work-life balance back on track, you first need to restore your well being. Say Yes to No: If you are one of those who cannot displease anybody, this is going to get tougher for you. You have to learn to say no. You need to not abide by all the rules set down by other people. Use the priority list to decide your YESes and NO's. You have to be forthright and crystal clear about your motives. You'll learn that saying no to one thing opens the door to saying yes to something else.

Keep the Goal and Drop the Plan: Sometimes the best way to achieve a goal is to let go of our plans. You may have formulated plans long time back when things were in your favour. Do a prompt revision of commitments and try to bring your current activity in sync with the resources at your disposal. This should not interfere with your goal. It's just like taking an alternative route to reach your destination. A Return to the Source: It's definitely the time to turn back to your spiritual orientation or tradition. Connect with what for you is the source of life or spirit. To begin with, you can start with Yoga and meditation. However, you must never hesitate from exploring new avenues. Keep a Log: Track everything you do for one week. Include work-related and non-work-related activities. Decide what's significant and satisfies you the most. Cut or delegate activities you don't enjoy, don't have time for or do only out of guilt. If you don't have the authority to make certain decisions, talk to your supervisor. (MensXP.com)