Stop whining. The revolution will not be televised - or at least that's what Flavor Flav told me. Beatings will continue until morale improves.
Fights will go on as long as they have to....
Work/Life balance was one of the topics for a recent roundtable sponsored by Halogen Software (the HR Raging Debates Roundtable), one of my favorite vendors in the Talent Management sotware space. The roundtable participants include thought leaders: Josh Bersin, President and CEO, Bersin & Associates; Peter Cappelli, Professor of Management at The Wharton School; David Creelman, CEO, Creelman Research; Kris Dunn, VP of People, DAXKO and blogger at HR Capitalist and Fistful of Talent (WHO?); Richard Hadden, author of the Contented Cows leadership books; Lance Haun, Vice President of Outreach, MeritBuilder and blogger at Rehaul; Sharlyn Lauby, President, Internal Talent Management Group and blogger at HR Bartender; Ed Lawler, Distinguished Professor of Business at the Marshall School of Business; Laurie Ruettimann, Blogger at PunkRock HR; and Libby Sartain, former CHRO of Yahoo! Inc. and Southwest Airlines, author, and HR advisor.
It's a cool series, so go check it out.
Back to the topic - we discussed work/life balance and even coined a new phrase - "weisure". Here's the question for today from the series:
Is "weisure" good for business or do we need to maintain boundaries between work and leisure?
Here's what I said:
"Unless you are an hourly worker in America, boundries between work and leisure are dead. Work bleeds into life, and life bleeds into work. People have the smart phone, aka the “digital leash”. Work will never be the same. It’s already gone.
For those of you who say you’re going to enforce your own boundries and not work when you’re out of the office, I hope you’ve already made your bones in your career. Why? Because if you’re competing against others, the boss getting a response from a team member within 20 minutes vs having to wait until the next morning to hear from you means one thing: You’ll be in the job you’re currently holding for a long, long time.
Perception is reality.
As for the talent, “weisure” means one thing. You’re going to be working away from the office, so find something you love for a career — otherwise you’re going to hate your life. For the company – if you have any smartphones in your workforce, PLEASE stop making your talent that holds a smartphone take 3 hours of PTO to go to the doctor. You’re trying to have it both ways, and it’s lame. You may think you’re hardcore on this, but trust me – the managers who get it have already stopped tracking PTO for stuff like this - regardless of your policy. <written during Sunday night with football in the background>
My favorite part about the response is that work/life balance is a choice, as is working 50 vs. 40 hours. You can do it. There's also someone out there more than willing to outwork you or be responsive on the weekends.
Choose wisely, my friends. And check out the other responses in the Raging Debate series by clicking here....
