Work/Life Balance

Work/Life balance is a huge deal in the modern world of HR. We talk about the importance of work/life balance and what that looks like in the modern world of always-on internet and cells phones, and worry about burnout and overtime pay, and what we should want.

Unfortunately, it's still a reality for an awful lot of the workforce that an inability to answer an email at 9:00 PM or an unwillingness to put in ten hour days in the office shows. How many people do you know, or how many workplace cultures have you seen, where putting in long hours is seen as a badge of pride, or at least good for bragging rights?

To me, there are several issues with this. The first is that working too much has a negative impact on productivity (see here if you're interested in some of the the research), and the second is that hours worked should come a distinct second to work accomplished. Ten hours of work should not be intrinsically more valued (especially if overtime is being paid out!) than eight hours of work, unless more is being accomplished in that ten hours, which, in my experience, is often not the case. A culture that focuses on results instead of on long hours is going to be focusing on productivity- that makes much more sense, and it allows your staff to go home when they're done for the day, and stay later when something needs doing, and not burn out so badly.

I believe that the reason you see this focus on hours worked is laziness- hours worked is an easy metric, compared to the work of breaking down and assessing progress and achievements, so lazy HR leads to an hours-worked-equals-dedication focus. It's an easy trap to fall into, it's reliable, but it isn't valid, because hours worked does not equal work accomplished.

What do you think? What can you do to shift this mindset in your workplace (if it's there) and do you think you need to?