Let's Forget 'Work-Life Balance'​, Long Live One Balance

Let's Forget 'Work-Life Balance', Long Live One Balance

There is an approach that we often come across in business life: 'Work-life balance'. In fact, this approach, which tries to establish an equivalence and balance between personal life and career, based on the concept of 'work-life interface', brings with it a very problematic perception. It argues that 'work' is not a part of (personal) life, but an equivalent. However, this is an issue that needs to be discussed more, especially with the pandemic that has entered our lives in the last two years, developing technologies, different generations working together in business life and changing habits. According to the 'The Countries With the Worst Work-Life Balance' report published by Statista based on the data of 2020, Turkey, the country where I live, ranks 4th with 2.5 points according to the length of working hours and the time for leisure and personal care. This is one of the reasons that prompted me to write this article.

Although there are many theoretical approaches and practical application suggestions, with the ideas that have been put forward since the early years of the 20th century, for the relationship and balance between work and personal life, the fact that these two words are still used together with, is an issue that takes place especially in business life - that is, in practice- causing existing problematic applications to persist and reproduce. Organizational changes that have evolved from human resources to talent, from there to people and culture; individual and organizational well-being and the emergence of the concept of 'care-oriented workplace', gig economy, working models and practices in different types of organizations in different parts of the world, are an indication of how this balance (or the imbalance here), is handled. This balance (imbalance), which is especially backed by the capitalist system and the private sector, advises the individual to consider their 'work' as equal to their personal life and to balance the requirements of the job with their personal care. So how did 'work', which takes up one-third of an average person's day, become equivalent to life?

We only have one 'balance'.

What do we do during a day? Sleeping, eating, household chores (cleaning, repairs, etc.), shopping, financial affairs (paying bills, money transfer, investment, etc.), health, personal care and sports, care-oriented responsibilities (family, children, pets, etc.), social life and relationship management, hobbies, learning, education and personal development… I got tired while I was counting. So how is it that all of this can be subsumed under 'life' (or let's say personal life) equated with 'work'? We also know that all these gain different weights in certain periods of our lives, right? For example, with my dog adoption a year ago, my care-oriented responsibilities increased, which changed the balance of my other responsibilities, occupations and preferences. Or I recently started back in the gym, which changed my daily routine. I attended an online training program that went on for several months. How would I keep my balance if I didn't make certain changes in my daily routine for this? So, what scope does this online training fall into as it will enable me to produce more qualified things in my career (i.e. my job)? Work or personal life?

That's why there's something I've been saying often in various settings lately. We only have one 'balance'. In this balance, how to balance all the above-mentioned issues, which ones will change according to the needs and when (gain weight, decrease, disappear, etc.) is possible by the individual's analysis of their own needs and making decisions based on it. In short, let's forget the 'work-life balance' approach that the capitalist system and the private sector back, and let's decide for ourselves where we will position the 'work' in our individual balance and how we will approach it. Long live my balance.

What's in your balance cake? How do you categorize your work? Do you have trouble finding your balance? Let's discuss.

Susan Turner

Founder/Principal at Inherent Knowledge

1y

I might suggest a much simpler observation. Work/life balance (credited to Robert Owen) was reactionary--namely to problems observed for workers in child rearing, work hours, and so forth. The best conversation names what is fact: that when we do our work--in Montessori sense and in basic animal sense (we clean our houses, birds clean their nests)--we are acting in alignment/in balance. It is the introduction of organized work and employer expectations that drive any need for conversation around work/life balance. We must have organized work nowadays, AND more of us would do better as employers, managers, employees, and students if we held first to the Montessori/animal concept when making decisions. #twitter can, for example, be successful if #elonmusk only hires employees and managers who most closely share his Montessori/animal concept of work in their passion areas. And we can be happier as employees when we ourselves understand and act on our personal integral Montessori/animal concept.

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Zeynep Ozler

Group Director @ Yıldız Holding | Corporate Communications, Reputation Management

1y

So true! Long live the balance👏 I am struggling to maintain one🎃

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