Doris Young Associates'
Young Thoughts
Volume 8 Issue I
January, 2008
IN THIS ISSUE
What is Work-Life Balance?
On The Lighter Side
What is Work-Life Balance?Work-life balance has become a buzzword in today's health care organizations. According to Wikipedia, the expression work-life balance was first used in 1986 in the United States and in the UK from the late 1970s to help explain the unhealthy life choices many people were making when choosing to neglect other important area of their lives such as family, friends, and hobbies in favor of work-related chores and goals. According to Madeleine Bunting, author of "Willing Slaves - How the Overwork Culture is Ruling our Lives", comparing 1977 with 1997, Americans have increased their average work week from 43.6 hours to 47.1 hours excluding travel time. Over the past decade we've seen a rise in workplace violence, levels of absenteeism and workers' compensation claims. All demonstrating a need for a healthy work life balance. The National Life Insurance Co. found four out of ten employees' believe their jobs are "very" or "extremely" stressful and people with high stress jobs three times more likely to suffer from stress-related medical conditions and twice as likely to quit. According to the American Institute of Stress seventy-five to ninety percent of physician visits are related to stress and the cost to industry is estimated at $200 billion-$300 billion a year. Further, the number of stress-related disability claims has doubled according to the Employee Assistance Professionals Association. Americans are frequently experiencing burnout due to overwork and increased stress. According to a recent study for the Center for Work-Life Policy, 1.7 million people consider their jobs and their work hours excessive. These hard and tiring conditions are having adverse effects. According to the study fifty percent of top corporate executives are leaving their current positions. Although sixty-four percent of workers feel their work pressures are "self-inflicted", they state it's taking a toll on them. The study shows that, nationally, seventy percent, and globally, eighty-one percent, say their jobs are affecting their health. Between forty-six and fifty-nine percent of workers feel stress is affecting their interpersonal and sexual relationships. Additionally, men feel there is a certain stigma associated with saying "I can't do this". The idea of work-life balance and advancements in social sciences have moved the focus towards the impact of long hours on the physical and mental health of employees. However, in the past most information was used to enhance productivity for the company because overworked employees are more prone to injury or mistake and becomes less productive. All leading to a stressed workforce. It's clear that problems caused by stress have become a major concern to both employers and employees. Symptoms of stress are manifested both physiologically and psychologically. Persistent stress can result in cardiovascular disease, hypertension, sexual health problems, insomnia, a weak immune system, frequent headaches, stiff muscles, or backache. It can also result in poor coping skills, irritability, jumpiness, insecurity, exhaustion, and difficulty concentrating. Stress may also perpetuate or lead to binge eating, smoking, and alcohol consumption. How can work-life balance be achieved? It's vitally important to know what energizes and what drain us. As health care providers, we know how to take care of everyone, often at our own expense. Our plates are full of so many wonderful things to do and accomplish. It's easy to put ourselves on the back burner. However, it's vital to acknowledge each person has a right, in fact a need, to honor and nurture him or her self while taking care of others. In turn, when individuals give themselves permission to take time for self-care, they give the same permission to everyone else. I encourage you to move past your guilt or unease and accept that you're worthy and deserve to be self-fulfilled. It's important for you to believe you can have what you want. Then, give yourself the freedom to ask for and fulfill the desires of your heart. Jane began to feel tired of listening to her colleagues complaining in the lounge about each other, the manager, and their husbands. She wanted to play a new role in the office, so she decided to stop being part of the gossip. When a staff member came to complain about someone else, she took the opportunity to ask if the complainer had spoken with the person. She also offered to role-play the conversation. Not long after she started doing this, she began to notice people stopped coming to talk with her. Soon other staff members began to stop gossiping. It didn't take long before no one was complaining without making a plan to work out the issue. Eventually, the staff became more solution-focused and supportive. It wasn't long before the group started having more social gatherings and interacting like an innovative team. Anne felt exhausted and started noticing she was making errors at work. She identified her compulsion to take care of others, which gave her no time for herself. Everything felt like a duty, even getting together with friends. She felt resentment toward her husband and kids. Anne wanted to do arts and crafts and enjoy reading on her days off, but felt guilty whenever she took time for herself. At our first coaching session, Anne decided to take a half-day on her next day off and enjoy arts and crafts. Interestingly, Anne found she was so energized the next day that she also actually enjoyed doing her chores. She knew she was on to something. She also had told herself she had no time for exercise, though she knew it would catch up with her one day. As she explored this further, she discovered her mother had taught her it was selfish to take care of herself. She began to distinguish her unjustified guilt. Her hardest struggle was to do self-fulfilling things in spite of her feelings of guilt. She kept a journal of her experiences. When Anne finally overcame her guilt, she took mornings off from her chores on her day off at least once a week and did arts and crafts while she did her laundry. She was amazed at how much more energy she had and how much less resentment she felt. She became more rested and the mistakes stopped. Once people know what drains them and what energizes them it's important to identify their priorities and organize their life accordingly. First each person must determine their satisfaction and priorities in areas of family and children, financial life, personal development, physical fitness, social life, living environment, hobbies & recreation including adventures and travel, work life, spiritual life and marriage/single life. It's key to split your time according to your priorities and to be fully focused on whatever you are doing at the time. If you're at work be fully present at work and when you're doing your hobby be fully focused on that and so on. Next, look at what your spending time doing compared with your list of priorities. Be really honest with yourself. If you have things that are taking your time that aren't on your list of priorities make a schedule adjustment. Let go of things that aren't on your top-five list of priorities. After setting up a schedule that matches your time with your priorities determine how much of the time is for you and how much is for others. It's great to give to others, but if there isn't down time for you, reevaluate your time schedule. If your work overlaps your personal time or down time make some adjustments or talk with your boss. Often people believe that spending long hours at work makes them a better employee and many health care cultures give recognition in working long hours. However, efficiency does deteriorate after excessive hours at work due to fatigue and resentment. More can be accomplished in less time when people have downtime for themselves. Creative ways of dealing with things happen during downtime time that makes work more efficient. Asking for help and accepting it when it's offered is important. Many people think they're showing weakness if they ask or accept help and that's absolutely untrue. Everyone needs help to get the many tasks done. Get childcare from friends and family or create a weekend swap with neighbors to have alone time with your spouse. Be creative, but relentless when focusing on your time and priorities. Make sure there is time for fun and relaxation. It's impossible to have a balanced life without it. This can be anything from a yoga class, a date night, a night out with the guys/girls, or art classes. Put these things in your planner and make it just as important as work responsibilities or any other appointment. Doris Young, PhD, RN is the author of "Save the First Dance for You, The Complete Nurse's Guide to Serving Your Profession, Your Patients, and Yourself." Contact Doris Young at 757 624-9603 for Leadership Coaching, Leadership Empowerment Accelerated Coach Training, and Creating Loyalty in the Workplace Programs.
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