Do You Believe That Effective Modern "Work / Life Balance" Is Even Possible? (19/30) (1 Viewer)

[Joe Bryant]

This seemed like a good take on some points.

Striving for "harmony" instead of "balance". https://psyche.co/guides/why-you-should-forget-work-life-balance-in-crafting-a-good-life

Some of it's semantics but I thought it was interesting.

 

[Gally]

I learned early on what I wanted as life went on. My dad owned his own electrical contracting business. He busted his butt and worked 7 days a week building his business and getting to the point where he could back off of that pace as I was graduating high school and going to college. I saw what it did to him and I realized I didn't want that type of life. I had the opportunity to take over his business but Id didn't want that. I got my engineering degree and went that route. I worked for a small company for almost 20 years and loved it. The single owner had one rule - hit my profit number for the year (which was reasonable). I don't care how you do it. It gave us a lot of flexibility on how to run the business side (we were an engineering/manufacturing company in a niche industry). It was great.

Then we got bought out by a huge international company and they proceeded to remove all the aspects of the job that made it enjoyable. Then people started leaving. I was one of them. Now I am working for the government and enjoy the work. I only have about 6 years left before retirement and the work life balance is good.

As a manager, i didn't care much about the work schedule as long as my people got the work done. We were an international company so sometimes there were early morning calls or late night meetings due to time zone issues. I had no problem with my people flexing the schedule to accommodate that. My only rule was to get the work done. That included working less than 40 hrs some weeks or more other weeks as the work required. Everyone liked that approach as it gave them flexibility that met their lifestyle.

Bottom line is I didn't want to own my own business because I didn't want to put it would take to be successful. I wanted a job I could leave at the office for the most part and have that balance. It has worked out well. I also learned fairly early that the work would always be there so there was no real reason it had to be done today making me work 15 hour days. Let it go and pick it back up tomorrow. It will still be there. As long as I communicated that with the customers (when stuff would be done) they were fine with it. I found that poor communication was what made people upset. Not slightly longer lead times on items. So communicate what you can do and then do it. That is the best way to keep everyone happy.

 

[Drunken knight]

I haven’t had decent work/life balance in a while

Hi @Drunken knight . Can you elaborate?

Short version:

First career was in mental health care (clinical and managing health benefits with an MCO). I acknowledge that I was younger and did not have children yet. I felt i had an acceptable w/l balance. Many vacations, could mostly turn work off when i left the office, season tickets for the SF Giants, etc.

I changed careers at 31 (2001). Went to culinary school and started climbing that ladder... cook then different levels of chef. Enjoyed it and again could pretty much turn work off when not at the restaurants or hotels. We had our daughter and that changed things a bit. Culinary hours are not very family friendly. I became the Food & Beverage Purchaser at one the resorts I work for. We moved back to the bay area in 11. I started my own personal chef business and only did events for family and friends. fantastic, though still had to give up weekends. a position was available at a resort in Napa, where they did not have a purchasing program. I accepted and built their program from the ground up. this bled a bit into family time. I moved on to consulting and sales in hospitality (which is what I still do). Many days feel like a sprint due to random contact from clients, plus a lot of contact after hours...including sat and sun. If i am fortunate, Saturdays can be very light. The rest of the week I feel very handcuffed to my computer. I would have like to coach my daughter's lacrosse team, but there is no way to make that work. Social activity is also reduced.

 

[dkp993]

I haven’t had decent work/life balance in a while

Hi @Drunken knight . Can you elaborate?

Short version:

First career was in mental health care (clinical and managing health benefits with an MCO). I acknowledge that I was younger and did not have children yet. I felt i had an acceptable w/l balance. Many vacations, could mostly turn work off when i left the office, season tickets for the Sf Giants, etc)

I changed careers at 31 (2001). Went to culinary school and started climbing that ladder... cook then different levels of chef. Enjoyed it and again could pretty much turn work off when not at the restaurants or hotels. We had our daughter and that changed things a bit. Culinary hours are not very family friendly. I became the Food & Beverage Purchaser at one the resorts I work for. We moved back to the bay area in 11. I started my own personal chef business and only did events for family and friends. fantastic, though still had to give up weekends. a position was available at a resort in Napa, where they did not have a purchasing program. I accepted and built their program from the ground up. this bled a bit into family time. I moved on to consulting and sales in hospitality (which is what I still do). Many days feel like a sprint due to random contact from clients, plus a lot of contact after hours...including sat and sun. If i am fortunate, Saturdays can be very light. The rest of the week I feel very handcuffs to my computer. I would have like to coach my daughter's lacrosse team, but there is no way to make that work. Social activity is also reduced.

F&B brother, no doubt one of the tougher industries to find a ”balance”.

 

[Joe Bryant]

I haven’t had decent work/life balance in a while

Hi @Drunken knight . Can you elaborate?

Short version:

First career was in mental health care (clinical and managing health benefits with an MCO). I acknowledge that I was younger and did not have children yet. I felt i had an acceptable w/l balance. Many vacations, could mostly turn work off when i left the office, season tickets for the Sf Giants, etc)

I changed careers at 31 (2001). Went to culinary school and started climbing that ladder... cook then different levels of chef. Enjoyed it and again could pretty much turn work off when not at the restaurants or hotels. We had our daughter and that changed things a bit. Culinary hours are not very family friendly. I became the Food & Beverage Purchaser at one the resorts I work for. We moved back to the bay area in 11. I started my own personal chef business and only did events for family and friends. fantastic, though still had to give up weekends. a position was available at a resort in Napa, where they did not have a purchasing program. I accepted and built their program from the ground up. this bled a bit into family time. I moved on to consulting and sales in hospitality (which is what I still do). Many days feel like a sprint due to random contact from clients, plus a lot of contact after hours...including sat and sun. If i am fortunate, Saturdays can be very light. The rest of the week I feel very handcuffs to my computer. I would have like to coach my daughter's lacrosse team, but there is no way to make that work. Social activity is also reduced.

Thanks GB. That's helpful. Best to you as you navigate.