What Do You Need to Do to Maintain a Work-Life Balance?
For Ann Laurie Fratticcioli, owner of Time Well Spent – a Concierge and Personal Errand Services based in Central New Jersey – the work-life balance debate has come to the forefront. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg’s book Lean In talks about how women should stop holding themselves back from reaching their full corporate wellness potential, and who could forget Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer recently laying down the law with her policy of no telecommuting, and offering expanded maternity leave benefits?
According to Fratticcioli, ‘Reactions, both in agreement and disagreement, have been passionate. So where does that leave you and me? Should we strive to achieve work-life balance? Is it possible? Does it even exist? I think work-life balance is definitely attainable, but every individual’s definition of work-life balance is different. It’s a personal choice we make about how we want to live our lives.’
Fratticcioli notes that you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t think it’s realistic to draw a line in the sand and say, “This is work, this is my personal life, and never the twain shall meet.” However, she argues that this line has been permanently blurred thanks to technology, and so it is near-impossible to keep your personal life from invading our professional life and vice versa.
‘For those who complain about people bringing work home too often, let’s be honest,’ Fratticcioli says. ‘We were scheduling doctor’s appointments, figuring out soccer practice carpools and writing out bills from the office long before we started answering work emails on our smartphones at home. It goes both ways.’ She adds, ‘How we define work-life balance is a personal choice because we all have different priorities. What’s acceptable or unacceptable – to you, your family, and your professional goals?’
Fratticcioli comments that you need to set up certain boundaries in order to protect family wellness, and your own personal wellbeing. She throws down the gauntlet: ‘What time should you be home from work? When is it time to put the smartphone away? Is it okay to keep it on as long as you don’t answer calls or respond to emails?…More importantly, how far are you willing to go to maintain your definition of work-life balance? Are you willing to tell your boss that you’re unavailable during certain times at home? Are you willing to look for a new job if your current job simply won’t allow for the balance you need?’
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