The work life balance

Fortunately for almost all of us the days of the Victorian workhouse are long gone and we have managed to establish enough common sense in our working lives so that 20 hours days are a thing of the past.

The debate about the work life balance first came to the fore in the mid 70’s and has raged ever since. Once upon a time it focused mainly upon women’s role in the workplace and how their home life impacted upon their performance. Today many of those anomalies have been eradicated except, according to a recent Sunday Times article, in the financial district of the City where law suits are still rife.

So, have we at last managed to reach equilibrium? Unfortunately almost certainly not. There are still far too many fathers who complain (or in many cases are too afraid to do so) that they see too little of their children because they leave home before their child is up and return after they’re already in bed. From this the phrase “weekend father” has become a widely adopted term and many still feel pressurised to put in the extra hours to earn extra salary or because it is their own business.

Then there are the big corporations. It’s not that long ago that I worked for a Divisional MD who threw his toys out of the pram when his staff went home before 6.30pm rather than at 7pm. We pointed out that many were sitting around the office being seen to be there rather than working and that many were tired and fed up of constant near 11 hour working days. The thought that if they went home and saw their families might mean that they’d come back in the morning happy never occurred to him and he refused to countenance it. The net result is that almost all of us left the company fairly rapidly.

What had once been accepted as an occasional occurrence had become expected and the balance had gone.