From the article: Life and Family Challenges With Flexible Work Schedules?
You've experienced the challenges of balancing the needs of your work and life. Both work and life are becoming more complex so creating optimal work performance in combination with a balanced life is increasingly difficult. Many employers are taking steps to assist employees to obtain balance in their work and life. But, balancing work and life is never easy even with employer sanctioned flexible work options. You've made work and life balance choices that help you with optimal performance. Share how you balance the important facets of your work and life. See More Reader Responses. What Is Working for You?
schedule time!
- I like to schedule appointments to meet with "friends" of mine that are actually time for me to decompress. It helps to physically block out that time on my calendar to force myself away from either work or life, depending on what's overbearing at the moment. I try not to cancel these unless it's really an emergency.
- —Guest leln
Give It the Fair Time
- I think that making a list as well as thinking carefully with full interest to all issues would fulfill the useful time management and balance.
- —Guest islmam
What is working for you
- Would like to know more on achieving work life balance for employees in my company vis a vis ensuring no dilution in productivity standards
- —Guest raghunandanv@chemoil.com
Forget balance. Think synergy
- Too much emphasis is being placed on parceling out bits of time to find the elusive balance. Examine all of your life's activities and relationships and identify those that energize you and those that deplete you. How aligned is your work-life with who you are: values, passions, strengths, personality. How are you forging meaningful relationships with like-minded individuals that will help you reach your goals? Invest your energies first on figuring this out - identifying a common thread of meaning between both work and life spheres. Then you can allocate time more meaningfully.
- —Guest Lydia Fernandes
Make a to-do list
- At the start of the day, before you head for the job, make a to-do list that covers job tasks as well as other aspects of your life giving adequate time to each of the things listed and then, follow the routine.
- —Guest Faryal Humayun
Teleworking for Work and Life Balance
- Telework is a great way to achieve work-life balance, because you can stop wasting time commuting, and escape the rigid 9-5 M-F schedule. Being able to get a haircut or mow the lawn or do the dishes during a break in the day, instead of wandering to the snack machine or making small-talk with colleagues, means you don't have to do those those errands during the evening or on the weekend. But telework has its dangers too - you can find yourself on-call and online 24x7 if you're not careful. My SafeTelework blog has entries with tips and ideas for making the most of telework.
- —Guest Joel H.
Be Realistic and Find What Works for You
- Juggling work, life, family is definitely harder than I expected. I'd always been a driven person able to accomplish almost anything I set my mind to... but parenting has been humbling!! And wonderful, awe-inspiring, and the most amazing experience ever, but HARD. It took me awhile to learn that I needed to adjust my expectations to be more realistic, such as changing the # of items on my daily "To Do" list from 10 to maybe 2! Another big part of being realistic for me was changing my job situation. I started looking for jobs that would be more flexible (telecommuting, flextime, part-time) and got frustrated at how difficult it was to find anything decent. So, I ended up starting my own site, FlexJobs.com, to help people like me looking for more legitimate, online jobs. It's been hard, but I work from home, flexible hours, and I love it! It helps me to achieve a MUCH better work-life balance than if I worked outside of the house, and I love what I'm doing, which is important to me.
- —Guest Sara - FlexJobs
Enjoy at least part of the work
- Hi, My work involves "writing" 30-50 hours a week. I make sure that when I am surfing the web for research, I occasionally follow links for recreational purposes too. This prevents it from being "work" all the time.
- —quotations
Remember to stop every now and then.
- One of the big problems with working from home is that the office is always there. and if you do something you enjoy doing, you may find yourself quite happy to go back in "to finish something up." Day after day, and in the meantime partner and kids get used to life without you. Not good...
- —nacheroo
Balancing Work and Family
- It can be extremely difficult, with caring for an aging parent, working full time, being married, volunteering and having a new puppy! I try to make sure that I make time (I actually schedule parent time and a date night with my husband each week) for the things and people that are most important to me. That also means that I have to say "no" to new projects, and I have had to cut back on golf, which takes too many hours. Still, I consciously make those decisions. I also make sure I still get enough sleep!
- —Guest Balancing Act
Don't telecommute
- After working in a 100% telecommute freelance position for several years, I feel that for me getting a better balance between work and life is going to have to involve getting work out of my home and going back to a traditional employment arrangement. When working from home as a freelancer it is way too easy for work to take over your life. I look forward to the day that I'll be able to have my home, and my time away from the work, be my life again instead of just time that I should probably be working and earning money but am doing other things instead.
- —Guest KD
Prioritize/Early Start
- When I get up early in the mornining, pray and then exercise...it REALLY gets me going for the whole day. I am mentally and emotionally focused!
- —Guest Ms. Mo
Juggle something you love
- I have a day job, three freelance writing jobs, and a challenging volunteer job. All but the day job relate to fitness and healthy diet, so I am writing about what I would be doing for my own good and my own entertainment anyway. I build my vacations around my fitness activity. Because I have to write about the topic, it keeps me faithful to my fitness plan. My husband is tolerant of this and we don't have kids or grandkids. My day job has generous vacation benefits and a good retirement plan, so we have some security to explore the rest of our lives. It certainly helps that all of my extracurricular activity is built around being active and healthy.
- —Guest wb
Plan, Plan, Plan But Be Flexible
- I work from home and I care for an elderly relative. I have a sitter who watches him sometimes and my husband also helps out on his days off. His schedule is widely varied. In order to make time for family, myself, and to stay sane, I have to plan ahead, but I also have to be very flexible to cope with the days when DH gets called into work unexpectedly or the sitter calls in. The only way I can make it work is to work ahead and to have back-up plans when things beyond my control happen that make my plans fall apart!
- —Guest Connie G.
Just say "No"
- It took me a really long time to learn how to do this, but it's really a huge help in terms of staying organized and keeping things balanced. Instead of saying "maybe" or "we'll see" when I'm asked to do something, I just say "no" if I'm being asked to do something I know I probably won't do. Then I'm not pressured to try to squeeze something in and the person who asked me isn't disappointed when I don't show up or don't get whatever it was done.
- —Guest Susan Ward
Work from home days
- My employer is quite generous in allowing employees to work from home up to two days per week, and allowing employees to adjust their daily schedules. Some employees come in at 8:30 and leave at 5:00 and others come in at 10 and leave at 6:30. Meetings typically occur between 10am and 4pm, and they've also set up a webinar system so that employees who are working from home can phone in and follow the meeting. This flexibility really helps working parents -- staff morale is high and staff turnover is low. There are a set of policies in place for employees who are working from home -- they need to be on instant message and available via phone. The work-from-home days can be the most productive days of all, because it's easier to concentrate without all the usual office distractions and endless meetings. These policies make it easier to balance home and work responsibilities.
- —Guest Susan
My Balance Plan
- I have worked from home for almost twenty years. Initially I struggled with "I wasn't really working" guilt if I took 10 minutes to load the washing machine etc., etc. My biggest problem was never switching off from work. Eventually with the help of a business colleague we came up with a strategy. I moved my work space from the dining room to an underused room in the house. I kept all work-related paperwork and paraphernalia in that room. I agreed that at a set time I would close the door and go back into my home (I was allowed back in momentarily as was needed but had to watch it closely). On a Friday evening, I cleared my desk, shut down the computer and effectively left my work behind. It has worked so well. I am able to balance work/life and if it is urgent I can go in and do what is necessary, just as I would have driven to the office. But, other than that I keep the two separate and I love it. I cannot envisage going back to an office.
- —ElaineLemm
