Barriers to work-life balance
BE it reporting to the office or working from home, people continue to struggle with juggling their personal lives with their work deliverables. And while we look for the right balance between the two, we need to be mindful of several barriers to achieving the right compromise of work efficiency and personal motivations.
One of the foremost problems facing work-life balance is the lack of management support on alternative working arrangements for fear that their employees will not be productive if they do not report to the office. What these executives do not understand is that the human resource is their most valuable asset, and they need to listen and treat their employees as people, not as workhorses.
I worked in an organization where an application was used to monitor our work which included the time spent on meetings, software used, research, and just about anything I did on my computer. What the application could not measure was my effort at creating an environment where my team could feel engaged and motivated to do their work.
Software that monitors work reduces people to mere workers and takes away the creativity and engagement needed to keep a satisfied and innovative workforce. Executives think they are making datadriven decisions because work is quantified to the minute, but they are actually taking away their employee’s ability to decide for themselves and how best to do their work. This could lead to minimum standard work and employees looking for other organizations which can offer them independence and ownership of their work.
Another barrier to work-life balance is the impractical workload given to employees especially now that there are available productivity and communication tools. Managers seem to think that it is easier for employees when they work from home, so much so that some managers give more work thinking their team can take more work. This depends on the type of work assigned, the skills required to complete the task, and dependencies from other departments to complete the assigned tasks. These add to the pressures of completing deliverables, whether employees work at the office or at home.
If things become so loaded, remind yourself of why you are allowing yourself to be put under such pressures. There are instances when the workload is temporary, so you need to look at the bigger picture and learn as much from it as you can. But if the pressures become sustained, you might need to rethink if your goal is worth the sacrifice. If not, you might have to look for another job that will support or enable you to achieve your goals.
For those that own their businesses or hold management positions, the boundaries between work and personal life can become increasingly blurred. On paper, it is possible to prepare your kids for school before 8 am and then work from there until midmorning and then prepare lunch and even have time to exercise before your afternoon meetings. But in reality, work is not always that predictable unless you work in an office where deliverables are consistent and specific.
In this case, you might have to set clear boundaries and discipline yourself and manage the people that might affect your work. Work-life integration might not be for you and it would be better for you to create clear delineations between work and your personal life. If it cannot be avoided, you might have to set clear expectations to people both from your work and your personal life, so they know how to deal with it when the need arises.
Another significant barrier to work-life balance is an adverse work environment. When workplace bullying is common and discrimination is tolerated, employees will have a hard time becoming productive and efficient, much less engaged. If you are in this kind of environment, your time will be wasted on warding off attacks or defending yourself from skirmishes.
If you cannot avoid this work environment, you need to stay low and try to focus on what you need to do and what you can do. Alert your manager on how the environment is affecting your work so they can do something about it and elevate it to Human Resources (HR) when warranted.
To protect yourself, document your work and loop in your manager especially when you have dependencies with other team members or people outside your own department so your manager can help when needed. Focus on your own work while encouraging your manager and HR to effect changes in the work environment because, ultimately, the work environment is your manager’s and the HR’S responsibility.
Another challenge to having work-life balance are personal issues like family members who are unsupportive, in need of special care, or generally averse to your work. These can take a toll on your physical and mental health especially if you are the primary caregiver.
In these instances, you can talk to unsupportive and difficult family members so you can try to understand why they feel the way they do toward you and, if possible, you can do something about it. For family members who have special needs, you can try arranging for other family members to take turns helping out, or, if you can afford one, hire help to take care of them during the times when you have to go to work. While discovering a setup that works for you and your family members, do not be afraid to experiment to see which setup will work best for everyone.
Ron Jenson, a life coach, wrote a book, titled
Make a Life Not Just a Living, where he explained that success is defined by how you consider all aspects of your life—be it your work, relationships and health. What would you have gained if you worked all the days of your life but lost your health and relationships? Work-life balance is understanding what is important to you and the values that inspire you, and knowing what you need to give up to achieve your ultimate goals.
AROUND THE WORLD AT INTERNATIONAL MINI-BAZAAR AND ASEAN FEST
MALLGOERS had the rare opportunity to shop, taste, and celebrate international culture and cuisines at the recent International Mini-bazaar and Asean Food Fest at the Music Hall of SM Mall of Asia.
A joint project of the Department of Foreign Affairs, the International Bazaar Foundation Inc., and the Asean Ladies Foundation Inc. (ALF), in partnership with SM, the event featured products, food, and culture of the 26 participating countries, as well as 4 local textile merchants.
Maria Lourdes Locsin, wife of former secretary of Foreign Affairs Teodoro Locsin Jr. and chairman of the two foundations, together with ALF president and Malaysian Embassy’s chargé d’affaires Nurriha Ahmad, and IBF president consul Betty Ang, led the opening ceremony. They were joined by no less than former secretary Locsin, as well as ambassadors, spouses of heads of mission, IBF board members, and diplomats from various embassies.
For the last 56 years, the IBF has been hosting the International Bazaar that raises funds to uplift the lives of the less privileged. During the program, H.E. Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian presented the check donation to Locsin, IBF president consul Betty Ang and its board members for their advocacies.
The International Mini-bazaar, IBF’S first bazaar since the pandemic, was a fund-raising event that aimed to foster and strengthen the friendship shared between the Philippines and the rest of the world, all while raising awareness through sumptuous food and signature products.
Participating countries in the bazaar included Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Cambodia, China, Denmark, France, Indonesia, Japan, Myanmar, New Zealand, Peru, Romania, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tanzania, Thailand, Ukraine and Vietnam. From the Philippines, HABI: The Philippine Textile Council, Cora DJ Manimbo Fashion House, CMMAG/ Nikkitita Manila, and fashion designers also joined the bazaar for a cause.
Alongside this mini-bazaar was the Asean Food Fest organized by the ALF, which featured authentic dishes and exotic flavors from the 10 embassies of the Asean memberstates including Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Guests enjoyed both traditional and modern cuisines prepared by the embassies and participating restaurants.