Get Off the Work-Life Balance Seesaw

Originally written for corporate execs, this entry is still quite good for our purposes. It is followed by some tips you can use to make your own work environment a happier, healthier place to be.

The term work-life balance implies that work and life are on opposite sides of a seesaw or scale and one must be weighed against the other. But employees cannot shed one and take up the other on respective sides of the time clock. We bring our lives to work and we take work home.

Many of our corporate leaders are of the Baby-Boomer generation. They have sacrificed nearly every aspect of their personal lives for the sake of their careers. For them, work-life balance naturally means more emphasis on the life side of the seesaw and our efforts to date have focused on facilitating the life side of the see saw.

There has been a lot of work done on the multi-generational work place. All of it points to the fact that the seesaw illustration of Work-Life Balance does not have the impact that employers hope because while it makes sense to the decision making baby-boomers, it may apply to the rest. At best, many work-life balance initiatives are temporary quick fixes of situations that present themselves in such a way that the costs associated with ignoring them are prohibitive.

Once we accepted the need to accommodate very complicated life situations, we made great inroads. Programs like flexible schedules, job sharing and telecommuting have proven themselves with positive ROI. These are now the givens, not the innovations.

Balanced life initiatives should be made for the purpose of making our companies employers of choice, attracting and engaging top talent for the long term. Achieving such a goal requires more than quick fixes, it demands a shift in the way we construct our work cultures. We must address the needs and perceptions of everyone in the organization. We need to make the workplace fulfilling enough to encourage Baby-Boomers to postpone retirement long enough to pass on what they know. We need to assuage inherent distrust and resulting lack of commitment of Generation X since they are next in line for the helm. We also need to create work environments that nurture the Millennial Generation so that they stay with us long enough to become effective day-after-tomorrow leaders

Savvy leaders are no longer looking at ways of getting people out of the office but we are looking at ways of making the office the place everyone wants to be. Work-life balance is now about balanced lives and the role organizations play in the lives of their associates. Companies are now realizing that in order to better insure their longevity and success, the human organizations that comprise them must become inclusive communities of engagement and commitment. And that means reworking our understanding of our corporate cultures.

So the essential myth about work-life balance that we must dispel is the perception that work and life are two opposing forces on a seesaw. There is no seesaw. There is no distinction between work and life. One does not counterbalance the other. The time clock is not a magic portal between two realities. Both sides are one reality for the person punching the clock. If we expect our companies to survive and thrive, we need to acknowledge and develop the kind of corporate culture that attracts and retains talented and skilled people, who form a cohesive and committed community with a common purpose, a community of engagement.

1. Be nice: The fact is that nice people are better liked and better liked people have it easier than those who make it difficult to like them.

2. Be positive: Negativity attracts negativity. Start complaining and you'll find plenty of company. Fortunately, the same holds true to being positive.

3. Avoid the gossip. Don't spread rumors. Don't join in on complaining about coworkers or your boss or working conditions or even the selection in the vending machines. Gossip breads discontent in the environment and in you as well.

4. Avoid gossipers. They might have a juicy tidbit to share with you but what are they saying about you to others?

5. Offer to help. If something isn't getting done properly or on time, offering to help accomplishes two things. The first is that it makes others aware that you are waiting in a way that is not offensive. The second is that you just might get what you need a little sooner. If needing to help becomes a constant, discuss it with your supervisor under the guise of your coworker being overworked.

6. Do what you can to make it easier for those whose work follows yours in the process chain. If you can save someone time or effort by alphabetizing something or resorting the data for their use or making a small extra effort to make the next step just a little easier, (even if you don't really like the person who benefits) the whole work environment can improve.

7. Please and Thank You are magic words. Use them often and mean them when you do.

Joseph Onesta is a speaker and consultant. His company, Integrity HPI, works with organizations making the work experience better for people and companies.

A Corporate Katrina? Change is in the Air and Things May Never Be the Same Again

Unstable markets, wildly fluctuating prices for commodities and finished goods and increasing doubt about the future role of fossil fuels is causing some business leaders to wonder what the future of doing business looks like. Cancelled sales, postponed projects and hiring freezes are now common. For many companies, the current crisis feels like an economic version of hurricane Katrina, difficult to predict and even harder know how to prepare or react.

At a recent HR conference, I met an HR Director who said these words, “We have been doing the same thing for fifty odd years. It works for us.” I had mixed reactions. Part of me appreciated the confidence in her voice and the sense of stability it conveyed. The idea felt warm and safe. If something isn’t broken, why fix it, right?

At the same time, I knew that for any company to believe that doing nothing, either because of or in spite of our current economic instability, just isn’t wise. There are too many other factors involved and ignoring any one of them might prove to be a fateful, and possibly fatal, decision. We do not need to hunker down and ride out the storm; we need to take action.

Let us consider some of them.

In the past year, there have been numerous exposé articles about the highly paid senior management of underperforming organizations. Historically, we have been able to conceptually separate the individual performance of executives and the other factors which affect the performance of organizations. There is always more going on than a decision from the corner office.

The CEO is responsible to the board and the board members know what they are doing, don’t they? Ultimately who is responsible for the success of an organization? The board is elected by the stockholders. The buck gets passed once again and no one seems to really know just who is responsible.

We seem to be entering an era that applies different meanings to the words accountability and responsibility. Taxpayer, and therefore, voter anger and resentment over the government bailout of the failed banks typify this shift. Corporate America is confronting its definitions of leadership.

We are learning lessons that a few CEOs have known for a long time. The true success of an organization depends on how that organization functions as a vibrant entity, a living organism, inclusive of its work culture, its business processes, its ethics and its role in the lives of the people who work there.

Evolving technology changes the way we do business almost on a daily basis, yet we are often unprepared to adjust and respond to those changes. We no longer have the luxury of time to figure out how to use new technology to our best advantage. The decision making processes that have given us 20 years, for example, to fool around with variations of e-learning no longer apply.

The baby boomers are going to retire whether we like it or not. Businesses have received yet one more reprieve from the brain drain of boomer retirement since retirement accounts have once more suffered record losses. This time, however, boomers are not in a position to simply add another ten years to their careers like they did the last time around. They no longer know what retirement will look like and as a consequence, our leaders are less able to predict the composition of our workforce.

This crisis begs another nagging question. We have democratized the stock market with on-line trading and we have placed the responsibility for planning for our retired workforce in the hands of individual workers. Defined pension plans are all but non-existent. The future of Social Security always seems to be in doubt. And, now individual retirement accounts have been gutted by stock-market instability.

We have taken the planning responsibility away from corporations and placed it in the hands of individuals without providing adequate education. They have had to rely on questionable sources of public information, the “advice” of investment sales people and on 401K administrators who legally can provide only the vaguest direction. Combine uneducated decisions with a volatile market and we have people who are now looking at their government for help since their employers have washed their hands of them.

Where do we expect the government to get the funds it will need to help them when the traditional source of income, the lower to middle income tax base is tapped out? The corporate voices who wanted to eliminate the predictable expense of defined pension plans are now hearing what may well be their raucous corporate swan song. Whether or not we see direct taxation or simply the loss of tax breaks, we might predict that the job of the CFO may grow considerably more difficult. In hindsight, how viable was our decision to change our retirement planning strategies?

The issues revolving around the multigenerational and multicultural workplace are increasing in complexity. We attend seminars on understanding the different generations but what do we do with that information? Organizations are struggling with engagement, diversity, inclusion, recruitment and retention. They are faced with the pending retirement drain on experience and skills and their organizations will soon be in the hands of those less experienced and far less self-sacrificing.

Economic crisis only exacerbates these issues. Increasing unemployment makes people available but there is a gap between the people who are available and the people we think we want to hire. Every recruiter I know, both corporate and independent, reports being inundated with the resumes of people who are considered unqualified. What is wrong with this picture? Are there simply no qualified people or are we setting our hopes on finding a super hero?

Rather than fretting over the difficulty of finding the right person to fit the job, we may have to rethink the position. The problem is if you change one job description, you may have to change five more. Does your company enjoy the level of engagement and commitment that will adjust to these changes or will you need to hire two people to fill one position? Which of these alternatives is really the most expensive in the long run?

If we are honest, I have not pointed out anything that is completely new. We simply do not like thinking about these concepts. We would prefer, like that HR executive at the conference, to continue to do things the way we have always done them.

While we still have time, we are going to have to endure the discomfort of change yet again and focus on building and nurturing a work culture that not only embraces change but maintains the engagement, commitment and accountability necessary to sustain the organization no matter what the economic climate.

Work As Play

If you get this, you'll improve your game, be more valuable to your employer, and frankly, be a lot happier in the long run.

Human beings have an infinite capacity to find ways of entertaining themselves. I recently heard about a South African sport called Kudu Spitting. A Kudu is a kind of antelope and participants collect the cherry-sized kudu droppings and see how far they can spit them. Yes, we are talking about kudu poop and yes, they spit it with their mouths.

Play is magic. It makes time seem to pass more quickly. No matter how strenuous or challenging the play is, we are motivated, energized and rejuvenated by it. Play inspires us to improve our performance. We strive to get better and better and when we are done, we look forward to the next opportunity to play.

Wouldn’t it be nice if work could be as much fun as our favorite games? Imagine having fun at work all day long and coming home afterwards filled with energy and looking forward to going back the next day!

Play can be as physically challenging and mentally stressful as work. Yet, we thrive on play while work can be soul destroying. Why is that?

Philosopher Alan Watts identified the critical difference for us. When we feel compelled or obligated to perform a task, it feels like work. When there is no sense of obligation, whatever we are doing feels more like play. When we treat everything we do, including work, as play, a sort of miracle happens. It all becomes rather fun.

Now, among mundane and boring jobs, bagging groceries has to be in the top ten. A few years ago, I took a job at the local grocery store while recovering from two spinal surgeries. I just needed to get out of the house and do something physical. In order to inure myself to the lack of mental challenge, I created a number of little games. I mentally evaluated how healthy each order was and devised a ranking system. I also challenged myself to see how quickly and efficiently I could bag large orders using fewer bags. As I collected shopping cars from the parking lot, I worked toward increasing the number of carts I could manage and navigate without losing control of them.

According to Watts, the key to my ability to convert bagging groceries into pure play was the fact that I didn’t feel obligated to do it. I was in that job because I had specifically chosen to do that work for my own reasons. But, it is not difficult for me to apply the same standard to anything that I do. I have chosen my career. I choose my clients. When I commit myself to a particular project, I voluntarily sign the contract. I may make that choice because I want or need the money but the choice is mine all the same.

According to an on-going work-life balance survey by Integrity HPI, 24% of survey participants feel trapped in their current job. Trapped, stuck, unable to break away, in other words, they feel obligated to continue. It might be difficult for those people to convert their jobs into play but they are the ones who would benefit most from doing so. It is possible that they are in the wrong job yet I suspect that they are more likely in the wrong mind-set.

If a hunter working in the South African bush could think up Kudu spitting, you can creatively find ways to make your job fun and exciting. Give it a shot. Have a go. You’re it!

Joseph Onesta is a Speaker, Trainer and Coach. The focus of his practice, Integrity HPI is making life and work better for people and for companies. Visit his website, http://www.integrityhpi.com for more information or to invite him to speak at your event.

Forget About the Gym!

To look at me, you would never guess that I have been a member of a health club since 1989. That is because, with the exception of brief spurts of intense motivation, I almost never go. It is not so much that I dislike the activity but rather, getting there, changing my clothes, working out, showering, changing my clothes again and getting back into my routine take up way too much time out of my day. I simply cannot fit going to the gym into my schedule.

I am not alone. The best estimates that I can find on-line from a number of sources indicate that upwards of 70% of health club members never or rarely use their membership.

Most of us need to work. We would like to spend time with our spouses, family and friends. We may study. We may have a spiritual or community life. And then there is exercise. In the face of that sort of to-do list, what do we cut out?

Despite our better intentions, may of us cut out the exercise. We know that lack of sufficient exercise results in obesity, reduced cardio-vascular health, increased stress and even depression. We buy gym memberships we don’t use. Many of us own home exercise equipment that gathers dust. We swallow expensive supplements and subscribe to controlled food-delivery services. In the end, we make ourselves sick with guilt when none of it works and we are too ashamed of ourselves to take advantage of all those money-back guarantees.

In my quest for a balanced life, I have come to terms with the fact that exercising for sake of it is not a priority to me. I have done many of the subtle things commonly suggested to increase my activity. I park several extra blocks from my office. I choose parking spaces far from the store entrance. I take the stairs rather then the elevator. I sometimes spend my break time walking around the block. It is not enough!

Enter the humble toofer. A toofer is an activity that gives us double return on our investment of time and energy—the result of “two for” the investment of one. Toofers allow me to combine items on my to-do list and help me find some of that sought-for balance in life.

Take, for example, the task of getting the car washed. If you drive to the car wash, reaching for your wallet is about all the exercise you are going to get. But, if you wash the car by hand, you get a clean car as well as some exercise. That is a simple toofer. Add into the equation, all the money you save and you have double toofer. Wash the car by hand with the kids and the return goes through the roof! You get a clean car. You get exercise. You have some fun. You spend time with the kids. And you save a little money.

Toofers that help increase exercise are everywhere. All we need is a little imagination and some planning. Rather than going to the movies, consider taking a walking tour of a local neighborhood or a visit to the museum, art exhibit or zoo. You’ll get some exercise and learn something as well.

Around the house, you might plant a vegetable garden, do some serious spring-cleaning, mow the lawn or paint a room. Volunteer for community clean-up day or build a house with Habitat for Humanity. Do any of these activities with family or friends and you exponentially increase the benefits.

I truly admire the folks at the gym with their chiseled athletic bodies. I wish I could go to the beach and not feel that I had somehow failed as a physical specimen. But I also know, beyond any doubt, that those people did not get those bodies from three twenty-minute workouts a week—no matter what the commercials say!

It takes real work and a lot of time to get a body like the ones we see in those commercials. I just do not have that kind of time. I would have to sacrifice another important facet of my life in order to spend that sort of time at the gym. So, I have forgotten all about the gym and the guilt for not going. As far as home exercise equipment goes, free weights make interesting stepping stones in the garden.

I’ll stick with the toofer. A little exercise is better than none. While I may not be an Adonis, my life is in better balance, I get exercise, have fun and get a few chores done in the bargain.

Balanced Life Tip: A Short Nap Can Go A Long Way

During my first semester in college I met an fine arts major named Beth who believed sleep was a waste of time. She slept in 20 minute chunks diligently working on projects in between several naps a day. She was perpetually fatigued, lethargic and lived in a dream-like fog that many of her friends took for being “cool.”

Beth was an extreme case but she typifies a common American mistake: When it comes to sleep, we’ve got better things to do. Consequently, so many of us are so sleep deprived that sleep disorders are common.

Just look around:

Advertising media bombard us with commercials for both prescription and over the counter sleep aids.

We see as many commercials and advertisements for mattresses promising better rest. How many of us haven’t walked into a store at the mall to find out what our “sleep number” is and who can resist finding out what the Tempur-Pedic mattress feels like? If you haven’t done this yet, admit that you’ve been tempted.

Convenience store shelves are stocked with vitamin packs and energy drinks.

Coffee is now an American obsession, commonly consumed even among teenagers. ($18 Billion of coffee a year is consumed in the US.)

Just twenty years ago, it would have been difficult to find someone who had undergone a sleep test. And if you actually knew someone who had experienced a test, chances were that he or she had travelled quite a distance, perhaps even by air, to be tested at a sleep center. Now, a simple count of the directory at sleepcenters.org reveals that there are at least 945 sleep test centers across the country. According to Sleep Centers of America, more than 70 million Americans have a sleep disorder and more than 10 million people a year consult their physicians regarding sleep-related issues.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, drowsy driving in America kills more than 1,500 people a year and causes 71,000 injuries in an estimated 100,000 sleep-related crashes a year.

If you ask me, America could do with a nap.

Winston Churchill put it eloquently when he wrote, “Nature had not intended mankind to work from 8 in the morning until midnight without the refreshment of blessed oblivion which, even if it lasts only 20 minutes, is sufficient to renew all vital forces.”

A Short Nap Can Go A Long Way!

Research has demonstrated that even a brief nap of between 20 to 45 minutes, will rejuvenate you, and increase your ability to concentrate making you more productive.

Until a few years ago, I pushed myself as hard as any other baby-boomer in the work force. I got up early, went into the office, worked late, came home and had trouble sleeping because I was so wound up. One day, I arrived an hour early for a meeting and I waited in my car.

The next time I glanced at the clock, it was 20 minutes later, a snore and awakened me. Apart from the slight self-conscious embarrassment of the snore, I felt terrific and my meeting went really well. I had recently read an article on power naps and had scoffed at the idea of companies putting in power nap facilities. Who is going to pay someone to take a nap? But, I was so impressed with by my own experience; I tried it again, this time on purpose. The difference was amazing. I began planning my appointments so that I could find half an hour a day for a nap. I purchased a sleep mask and a small travel pillow and kept them in the car. Since then, napping has become part of my regular routine. While others are socializing in the lunchroom, you’ll find me reclined in my car taking Winston Churchill’s recommended 20 minutes.

There are lots of people take naps. They don’t talk about it. It’s a secret because on some level, I think it embarrasses them. I admit, I nap in my car because I don’t think I could stand the ribbing I’d get if someone were to hear snoring behind my office door. I’ve met quite a number of people who say that they could never nap for just twenty minutes. They confess that they would be out for hours. Well, that just makes a stronger argument for the fact that most of us are sleep deprived.

Sleep researchers have discovered that sleep deprivation makes it difficult for us to learn and concentrate. Sleep deprived people are less productive, more forgetful and more prone to both error and accidents. It also causes weight gain, impairs our immune system, reduces our ability to handle stress and leaves us cranky.

Any one of these side-effects can set our work-life balance off kilter. By not getting enough sleep; we increase our exposure to all of them. Getting enough sleep is one of the most effective steps we can take to improving the quality of our lives. Here are ten simple things you can do to improve your sleep:

1. Save time to unwind. Give yourself more than an hour of mindless activity at the end of the day so that you do not spend half the night reliving the events of the day or rehearsing what might happen the next day. Read something frivolous. Watch TV. Pray or meditate.

2. Don’t eat late. In sleep, you body wants to heal and rejuvenate. If it is spending half the night digesting food, you are not reaping the full benefit of your sleep. Don’t eat less than two or three hours before going to sleep.

3. Avoid drinking a lot of fluids before bedtime if you often find yourself waking up to visit the bathroom.

4. Avoid caffeine after 2 pm. I know this may go against everything you hold dear and Starbucks stockholder may scoff, but the effects of caffeine can last a long time. If you need a picker-upper in the afternoon, rather than reaching for a cup of coffee or an energy drink, consider the humble nap or some physical exercise to get your energy flowing.

5. Consider non-chemical sleep aids. Buy a sleep mask and/or ear-plugs if you are a light sleeper. Pull the drapes closed. Cover LED lights. And if you live on a busy street or in a noisy building, white background noise may help--a recording of waves or rain or even the hum of a fan. (My dishwasher puts me right under.)

6. Invest in a good mattress. You spend a third of your life in bed, invest in a high-quality mattress that meets your needs.

7. Set your internal clock. Try to go to bed and get up at the same time every day whether you are working or not. You’ll know you are getting enough sleep when you wake up right before your alarm feeling refreshed and ready for the day.

8. Regulate your alcohol consumption. While alcohol can relax, it also has a dehydrating effect and reduces the quality of your sleep.

9. Consider power napping in the middle of the day but more than 8 hours before you go to bed. Napping later may make it difficult to fall asleep and stay asleep.

10. Get more physical exercise during the day. If our work is not physically taxing, chances are, we aren’t working our bodies as hard as we work our minds. A little exercise can set things right.

For more balanced life tips or to subscribe to my Balanced Life Tips please visit my website at www.integrityhpi.com

Kudos for a Job Well Done: Two Exceptional Work-Life Balance Efforts

This blog entry is all about kudos. So often I find myself telling others how to improve their work life balance, and this week I’ve got two examples of things I never thought of.

One of the companies where I do some training is a call center in Pittsburgh. The company does telemarketing and with they way many people treat telemarketers, the job itself can be quite negative. It takes a lot of effort not to let that negativity spill over into the workplace.

While there are a number of restaurants in the area, the available choices are monotonous and repetitive and not very health conscious. The other day, I was walking through the call center and noticed someone eating what looked like a delicious meal, a real meal, out of a plastic lunch box.

“That looks great,” I commented.

“It is. I got it from Joan,” was the response. The person then proceeded to explain to me that a fellow employee, Joan had organized a sort of co-op for lunches. Joan likes to cook and clearly has considerable talent and skill in the kitchen. She collects a nominal amount of money ($25 for 5 meals) from all her participants and provides what could easily be called a gourmet lunch to the members of the co-op.

I take my hat off to Joan, who in her own very creative way, has contributed to making that call center a place to look forward to going. If I weren’t diabetic and a vegetarian, I’d consider joining the co-op. Kudos Joan for a job well done and much appreciated. Thanks for making work a better place to be.

A client I coach told me about another outstanding effort by one of our local hospitals. One of the managers has had considerable problems. Apparently her husband is out of work after hip replacement surgery. The manager herself had already had one bout with cancer and now it was back. Because of having already used up her sick time and vacation time, she was looking at unpaid leave for treatment and recovery.

Fellow employees are being allowed to “donate” accrued paid time off in order to give this co-worker some income while she is in treatment and recovery. Many of her coworkers gladly have sacrificed a day or two of PTO to helping her through this difficult time. Of course it would be even better if the employer stepped up to the plate and matched the gift.

The sense of community there is laudable and the flexibility of the Human Resources/Payroll office to allow the transfer of earned PTO is commendable. Well done. Well done. Well done.

Please help make work better for everyone! My company, Integrity HPI is conducting a work-life balance survey. It takes about 15 minutes and you can remain completely anonymous if you choose. Your information will be used to establish base-line data for future work-life balance analysis and program design and implementation. You'll also receive a free copy of my e-book, "102 Tips to a Balanced Life", when it is published this fall. Visit the website and follow the survey link. Thanks for your help!

www.integrityhpi.com

Look forward to going to work?

I wonder how many people get up every day dreading the fact that they have to go to work. Years ago, there were mattress commercials on TV that boasted, "You spend a third of your life in bed. How comfortable is your mattress?" Well, let me take a twist on that. YOU SPEND MORE THAN A THIRD OF YOUR LIFE AT WORK; HOW COMFORTABLE IS YOUR JOB?

If you think your job isn't comfortable, ask yourself some questions.

1. Do you like what you do? If you don't, what are you doing about that? Are you going to school, exploring other options, talking to your boss about other opportunities? If you are doing work that you don't like, you are doing the wrong work--no matter how much it pays.

2. Are you doing your best? A lot of job dissatisfaction can be rooted in the fact that we aren't invested in our job. If we don't believe the work we do is important, we probably aren't doing our best work. Try doing the best job you can, even if you think your job isn't so important and you just might find the passion for your work that is lacking. Consider the myriad of hobbies with which people amuse themselves. People collect things and make things and study things that comparatively few people think are important. They are passionate and in most cases, the hobby COSTS them money rather than adding to their bank balance. Put a little passion into your job and might well see some changes in your attitude!

3. Does the company you work for support or undermine your values? OK, money is money but are you willing to compromise important parts of your personality just to make a buck? For example: If you are a person who wishes to lead a green life and your company doesn't even bother to recycle, you are probably frustrated. You have two choice. Try and get the company to gradually go greener or to find a greener company to work for.

4. Do you like the people at your job? Look at the people around you. Are they sour, complaining whiners who never have a positive thing to say? Do they respect you and your opinions? Do you feel comfortable, pleasantly surprised and do you greet them if you see them say, at the mall or in the park? Or, do you look the other way and hope they don't see you?

5. What about next year? Can you see yourself in the same job or even the same company in a year? If not, what should you change? Now, changing jobs often isn't good for your resume, no matter how easy it might or might not be for you. Consider changing something about your job that will make it better. It could be as simple as your attitude and as complicated as looking for opportunities to add dimension to your duties. If you see your job as temporary, you'll not be able to see all the potential it probably offers you.

Take my Work-Life Balance survey! It only takes about 15 minutes. You can remain completely anonymous but if you choose to use a valid e-mail address, you can receive a copy of the survey results, and/or a free subscription to weekly work-life balance tips and a copy of our e-book "102 Tips for Living a Balanced Life" Visit www.integrityhpi.com to take the survey. (Tell your friends.)

Babies at Work?

DON'T FORGET TO VOTE AT THE END OF THE BLOG ENTRY!

One of the major problems employers face is motivating and engaging younger workers to remain with the company long enough to develop and contribute expertise—something they are losing rapidly as baby boomers retire.

The millennial generation, as they are called, are in high demand and one of its defining characteristics is there unwillingness to make great sacrifices they way their parents did. They want to work fewer hours. They work on the go, electronically connected wherever they are. They change jobs, companies and careers more often and with less provocation than their predecessors.

A USA Today cover story for yesterday, March 31, 2008, by Stephanie Armour highlighted the efforts of some companies allowing new mothers, and in some cases, new fathers, to bring an infant to work, usually until they are old enough to crawl. It stands to reason, younger people are, in general, the ones having the babies and if they are going to take time off work to do so, they are more likely to simply quit their jobs knowing that in a few months, they can easily find another one.

MAYA Design, last years recipient of the Pittsburgh Human Resource Association’s (PHRA) People Do Matter award, was featured as being a pioneer in the babies at work program development. In a presentation made at the PHRA conference last year, their test mother actually work more billable hours after giving birth than she had the previous year. Is it possible that having a baby in the office motivates more productivity?

There are pros and cons like any other work-life balance program instituted in an organization. When companies are considering such programs, there are some fundamental questions they need to ask before consulting the lawyers and trying to set about creating the rules and procedures for the program.

Before considering the cost of implementation, companies should think through and evaluate the cost of NOT implementing a program. How many employees are likely to miss work, quit, be distracted or less productive without it. This sort of calculation is part of projected Return on Investment (ROI) but is often left out because it’s difficult if not expensive to measure in it’s own right.

How will other employees react to the program? Will they see it as showing favoritism? Will it seem inequitable to them? Can this program be presented as part of a suite of equalizing benefits?

Then, and only then, should we consider the design of the program and the inevitable discussions with the lawyers. The lawyers will nay-say and unless there is visionary leadership to push the lawyers into taking the extra steps to make such programs work, there’s no point in the discussion.

The designers also have to keep in mind that no matter how hard they work at the design and implementation, something somewhere will go wrong. There are lessons to be learned but they shouldn’t stop us from facilitating work-life balance.

What do you think? Should new mothers be permitted to bring infants to work?
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=nb2u3qq5qHe5aykJ5zSXdg_3d_3d

The Boss Button?

I just finished reading an article by Dan Wetzel called, "America's Tournament: Buttoned down in which he reports that last year, "American businesses lost and estimated $1.2 billion in worker productivity during the NCAA tournament, mostly during the first two days."

He reports that the Internet feed people who are running the Internet broadcast of the games have even developed something they call a boss button that will dump the screen when their boss is in close proximity. Imagine that, an entire company watching the games from individual cubicles. Will the button stop them from cheering on their team?

Savvy employers know that events like this cost them in productivity no matter what they do. I suggest taking full work-life balance advantage of it. If nothing else, employers can drastically reduce the number of times employee stop work to check the score by simply having them sign up for an email blast that will up date them on the scores periodically.

The get the biggest work-life balance bang out of this sort of thing, play it up all the way. Since productivity is going to take a dive anyway, why not turn it into an employee appreciation event. Broadcast important games in the employee lounge. Serve snacks and run a few contests with team products, sweatshirts, key chains, that sort of thing, as prizes.

Now I don't mean shut down the company for the whole time but rather than having employees pressing their boss buttons when he or she is in close proximity, there are real morale and work-life balance points to be had by letting them watch portions of the game while munching on a company lunch.

The Balanced Life

For years we have been talking about work-life balance. Corporations have spent millions of dollars, often demonstrating solid return on their investment, on establishing work/life balance programs. Yet that balance seems to elude us.

Just the other day, I was speaking with a coaching client who recently became unemployed and she was telling me about how she is spending her days. "I thought I'd have some time to do a decent job search and maybe even catch up on some of my reading but honestly, I don't know how I got anything done at all when I was working. I barely have enough time to just do the chores!"

She's not the first person to experience how busy life can be even without work. How much time is enough? Forget the question. It the wrong question to ask.

People don't naturally balance their lives if given sufficient time. It is true that balance is highly individual but there are some general principals we can all apply to achieve a greater sense of balance in our lives.

Balance happens both internally and externally. The working world looks at the external factors in a person's life and tries to accommodate it. Responsibilities, Obligations and commitments take up hours in a day and work/life balance programs try to accommodate them. Got to pick up the kids, go to the grocery store for Mom, take Dad to the doctor's office, then go to the dry-cleaners, order dinner from the restaurant, take Daughter to her soccer game and Son to his Scout meeting. But without internal balance, you really don't have a chance at balancing the external.

Internal balance is composed of five aspects: physical; intellectual; social; emotional and spiritual. (Order doesn't intend significance.) Each has their place and if we can accommodate them, find our internal balance, we are very likely to be able to more effectively cope with and balance the external factors in our lives.

Over the next five weeks, I'll be talking about each of these aspects individually and I hope to get some real input from you. So subscribe to the blog if you want to be reminded of new entries or send me an email and I'll put you on my update list.

Your Job Can Make a Real Difference

There was a time in my life when I took a job to make a difference in the world and little did I know that one of the biggest differences would be the change in me. I'm posting the story because it's good. You don't have to change careers or make huge sacrifices to make a difference. You can make a difference everyday no matter where you are. Part of the work-life balance is work. Your job should count and matter to you. Check out my personal website if you want to learn more about following your bliss. www.josephonesta.com

In 1995, I had a successful career teaching university English in Los Angeles but my personal life was in turmoil. It seemed everyone I knew was in some stage of terminal HIV disease. Hospital visits and memorial services were just a part of life. At 35 years old, I was experiencing the same level of peer loss my parents were experience in their 70’s.

Though I held a lot of hands, ran errands, sat in waiting rooms, it didn’t feel like I could do anything for the people around me. I suffered from something called survivor’s guilt. Why among all my friends was I the one to escape the plague? It seems warped to think that way. I should have been glad that I was free of that virus but being uninfected made me almost a freak. I sometimes felt like I had to apologize for being HIV negative.

I really wanted to do more for them so I made a bold move, some say a crazy move. I quit teaching and took a job working for AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA) cutting my income by about 75%. I created the nation’s premier day program for people living with AIDS. If I couldn’t stop them from dieing, I could help improve their lives in some way.

It was like day camp for people with AIDS. I was a cross between Julie on the Love Boat and Mother Theresa. I recruited, trained and managed volunteers to lead activities and administer services. I solicited donations of goods, services, products and equipment. What I couldn’t get from a volunteer or a donor, I often supplied myself.

It worked! More than 2000 clients participated but instead of being exuberant, I was exhausted. Nothing was ever good enough. They complained, tried to tell me how to do it better, whined when there wasn’t enough and criticized everything. They used characteristic rapier wit to cut me to shreds. I knew it was the frustration they felt in life that made them complain but it still hurt. It still tore me down. Inside of six months, I was beginning to fizzle out.

One day as I scrambled though the crowds setting up activities, handing out vouchers, scheduling appointments, a client stepped into my path and would not move aside until I heard her out. Chantal was six foot four and in transition from being a big, rather unattractive man to being a larger than life, very unattractive woman.

“I need to speak with you,” She held one hand on her hip, the decorated fingernails on the other cutting the air between us. I stopped waiting for yet another complaint. When she knew she had my attention, she spoke. “These bitches are going to chew you up and spit you out. You need to stand up, Joseph.”

Sure, I felt pretty chewed up already but stand up? How could I stand up to the people I was trying to serve? What I needed to do was try harder, work harder, go more. I thanked her for her comment and tried to ease my way around her.

“Oh, no, uh-uh.” she said. “Look at me. Do you think I can live my life without giving myself a pep talk once in a while? When one of these bitches has anything to say to you that doesn’t begin with please or end with thank you, in the back of your mind you need to say to yourself, “I am fabulous!”

When you wake up in the morning, the first words that come to mind should be, “I am fabulous.” Every time you look at your face in the mirror, “I am fabulous.” When you step outside your door to greet the day, “I am fabulous.” Joseph, let me be the first to tell you, I think you are fabulous.”

OK, I admit it. I thought she was nuts. I’d been living in Southern California for five years but I was still a Western Pennsylvanian. This affirmation stuff was kind of a joke to me. Surprisingly, it stuck. Whenever I was having a bad day, I could see Chantal telling me I was fabulous. “I am fabulous” became a kind of mantra that made my work a lot lighter.

“How are you doing today, Joseph?”
“Fabulous, just fabulous.”

After two years of poverty in the name of AIDS, I needed to take another job to dig myself out of the debt I had created for that program. I took a job directing a team of personal finance speakers for Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Los Angeles and one day, I was winding up a speech on credit reports to a room of perhaps 60 people when a person stood up in the back of the room and asked if I had remembered him.

“I am at client at AIDS Project Los Angeles,” he said boldly. “I just want to say that I believe I am alive today because of the man standing in front of this room. His program gave me a reason to live. I had a place to go. I had something to look forward to and I just want to say in front of everyone that I think this guy is…”

Go head. You can finish his sentence…fabulous. Considering when I first started recruiting volunteers for my program, most people with AIDS didn’t live more than two years, perhaps he was right. He had made it well past the two year mark and so did many others. Some are still around today which is more than a miracle.

I don’t take responsibility for miracles. Newer medications and treatments take the spotlight there. I do look back and see a fundamental truth. When you follow your bliss, as Joseph Campbell said, you put your self on track to live the life that you should be living. You line up with the energy of the universe and who knows, the universe might just send a six foot four transgendered person to encourage you along the way just when you need her most.

Cell Phone Slave Declares Freedom

In 1986, I was sitting with an elderly lady of society in New York City when her telephone rang. The telephone was located on the chairside table where she sat. There was no answering machine attached. I asked her if she wanted to take the call fearing she might have thought it impolite to answer while we chatted. (I also admit that the ringing anoyed me but that's another story.)

"I had the telephone installed for my convenience. It is not convenient right now for me to answer it." We waited and the phone stopped ringing.

Flash forward, 1998, I'm sitting in an outdoor cafe in Santa Monica California with my friend Micheleangelo. (Yes there are living people today with that name.) His cell phone rang for the third time during our brief visit and yet again, I wait several minutes, listening to his side of what I consider an inane conversation. I'm getting pretty ticked off. Not only are these people interrupting him but they are interrupting me. I drop some money on the table, pretend to look at my watch and mouth the words, "I gotta go. I'm going to be late" and I cut out.

Flash forward another 9 years, it's 2007 and I am sitting in a Thai restaurant in Pittsburgh, PA. I've been working endlessly on my career, building my work-life balance consulting practice. I'm with my partner Elihu, someone I've barely seen in the last two weeks. Between his work schedule and mine, these moments alone are rare. My cell phone rings. I had been waiting all day for a call from a potential client. As I reach for my cell phone, I feel like I'm outside my body watching the scene unfold. As I pull the cell phone from my pocket, I remeber that society lady and Michelangelo and without looking to see who was calling, I press the button on the side of phone ignoring the call and tossing it back into my pocket.

Elihu asks me why I didn't take the call and I tell him, "You are the most important person in my life. There is no one I want to or need to talk to right now more than you."

The server, who had been waiting to take our order, was stunned. She actually had a tear in her eye. "That is so sweet," she said. Elihu beamed and we had a fantastic meal.

Part of finding bliss and balancing all of the things that go on in our lives is understanding what is and what is not important and when it's important. Think about how often you answer your phone and it isn't anyting important at all. Think how many times you have to stop doing something that is important in order to take a call that is not.

Bliss
Joseph

The Company Holiday Party

There is a blurring of what is and is not appropriate during many office parties. People are loosening up and letting go. The bosses say they want you to have fun but take it from someone who has been to many office parties. Stay on the safe side. You are still at work.

The office party may be free flowing with holiday "spirits" but get drunk on your own time, away from the office. A drink or two, you know your limit, won't hurt but you don't really want to let your hair down all the way. Office relationships have been permanently damaged and people have lost their jobs for things they've said and done while supposedly "off the clock" at the office party. One of my clients once told me of an office party at which, an inebriated young man made a sexual overture toward the CEO's wife! OK, he was drunk. He didn't realize who she was. He didn't realize what he was doing and he probably wouldn't have done that if he were sober. He was still looking for a new job.

Dress appropriately; it's still work! It's nice to get dressed up but save the overtly sexy wear for truly social events. You don't want to be the object of unwelcome attention during the party and you don't want to be the source of all the gossip after.

If you are a manager, you have to go. It's unfortunate but all right for an employee to opt out but if you have supervisory responsibilities, you really should be there. You are, in effect, a host to the people you supervise but you never stop being the leader. You might relax a bit but remember that your behavior and demeanor should reflect the same quality of character you display while on the job. In fact, you still are on the job.

Avoid cliquish behavior. Of course it's natural to want to be with the people you know but you see them all the time. If you really want to spend time with your immediate co-workers, you should do this on your own. The office party is a great time to get to know others in the company a little better. It's also an opportunity to let people see who you are. Make a point of mingling, shaking hands and remembering names. You'll build allies throughout the organization who can make your life and your job easier in ways you cannot imagine.

If you are invited to be someone's guest or you are going to your spouses holiday party, the same rules apply but double. Your goal is to look good, be polite and stand quietly next to your spouse and let him or her make a good impression. You are not there to have a good ime; you are there to accompany the person you care about.

Make sure to extend your mingling to those high level managers and senior managers with whom you don't normally interact. The two most critical elements in getting promoted, getting better assignments and more challenging or interesting projects are having a higher level "sponsor"—that is someone who remembers you and thinks of you as they are discussing assignments and being a respected and well-liked person. The company party is a great time to make a positive impression.

Hate your job?

"I don't really have a job, but I can understand why one would hate it if they were so burdened." --Oscar Wilde (supposedly but I don't know for sure)

The number of people who are absolutely unhappy at work is astounding! Nearly every day some article or news story crosses my screen encouraging me to find a new job, learn how to cope with an nut-case boss or negotiate a raise.

I fully appreciate the role the company plays in this mass discontent but is it possible that everywhere is so bad that everyone who works there wants to change jobs? How much am I responsible for my own bliss at work?

There are lots of things I can't control in my life. No matter how much they frustrate me, the only real thing I can do is control my reaction to them. There is no doubt that some people find themselves in jobs that are a bad fit and that they stay in them for reasons that make them feel trapped. But running away and changing jobs is not usually where we are going to find bliss at work.

There are some concrete strategies you can employ to achieve a greater sense of bliss at work. No one seems to be talking about them, so I will.

Understand how your job affects the jobs of others. Usually what we do either feeds off of or into the work of someone else in the organization. If we understand this process flow, we will understand the importance of what we do.

Don't feed the gossip mill. Gossip behind the backs of others and I guarantee there will be people talking after you leave the room and you probably wouldn't like what they are saying.
Cut the complaining. Negativity only breeds negativity. Look at the positives and if you can't see any, make them happen. I'm not saying that you need to be Pollyanna on a rainy day but most of what you hate about your job is in the way you look at it, not in the job itself. If you have suggestions for improvement, write them up and take them to your boss. Save them for evaluation time.

Be likable and friendly to your coworkers and to your superiors. I hate to admit it but much of life is a popularity contest. When we were in high-school, there were popular people and the rest of us. The secret of popularity is being likable, non-judgemental and positive with integrity. If your coworkers like you, they won't be jealous or resentful of your success. If your bosses and supervisors like you, they will more likely champion your advancement in the organziation when promotions are on the horizon.

Mentor AND be mentored. Older folks on the job have a lot to offer. Younger folks do to. It's just that they have differences. If you are one of the people who can bridge the gap between the baby boomers and the milenials, work will be more fulfilling. Instead of judging how "they" are, why not learn about them and share experiences in a non-judgmental way. Milenials, you might be able to learn from the experience of those boomers and boomers, you could probably use a little help keeping up with the changes that seem to be everywhere.

Help others do better and feel better about being there. Whether you simply hold the door for someone or you offer to help with with some of their tasks, working collaboratively, smiling, contributing and appreciating your coworkers will not only make their day better, it will do as much for yours.

Document your achievements and successes. Keep a working journal that indicates progress and/or completion of projects, special accomplishments, and achievements. Set improvement goals every day and comment on your successes. Also comment on special things that make your day seem lighter and more pleasant. "Stella was really glad about getting her vacation request approved." "John seemed to really appreciate my comments on the report he made." Not only will you feel better about the job you do, you'll also have useful information that you can use to contribute to your evaluation.

Establish your own IDP. (Individual Development Plan) Look at the positions of those people who are one or two rungs above you on the ladder. Look at others who perform similar jobs better than you do. What goals and practical steps can you set and take to be more successful and more promotable at work?

Even if you are in a job that is a bad fit, it is your job for now. Success in it will better your chances of finding a position that is more suited to you.

Do You Look Forward to Going to Work

I can't tell you how many people I've interviewed who have said that the thing they like best about their jobs is going home at the end of the day. Why do they hate their job? And, if they hate their job so much, why do they do it?

Let's face it. Some people just like to complain. It's the way they live. But that can't be everybody! What's going on? Here are a few ideas to help you feel a bit more postive during your commute.

Everything is boring once in a while. Just because doing your job seems a little tedious or repetitive, it doesn't mean it's time to walk away. Life has its ups and downs. There is a certain amount of repitition in everything and boredom is really in the eye of the beholder. You have to get past both of these obstacles and when you do, you may be glad you stuck around.

Consider inovation. If your job is boring and repetitive, look for ways of making the work easier or smarter or converting what you do you into a game. I knew a customer service rep in California who kept a tally of kinds of people she spoke to. Now her classifications weren't the most kind in the world but she actually saw a pattern of problems and when she discussed it, the pattern--not the game, with her boss, it resulted in process changes that made their jobs easier.

On the other hand, it might be time for a change. It may be time to find a new job, set your eyes on new horizons and do something about your own discontent. There are many people who have buried themselvs deep into jobs that mean little more than a paycheck to them. They don't value what they do at all.

These are the first to complain about being underpaid. These complainers are in a sense, correct. They are not paid appropriately for the amount of discomfort their jobs cause them even if the salary is appropriate for the position. If what the complainers are saying is, "You can't pay me enough to do this," they are certainly in the wrong job. On the other hand, if they complain about everything, perhaps the problem isn't the job.

Sometimes other causes of our discontent are spilling over into our jobs. Maybe I argued with my spouse or bounced a check or got a flat tire. If I spend most of my working time thinking about all the difficulties I have at home, my emotions will affect my job and I won't be happy there. In fact, I won't be happy anywhere. I need to make some internal changes before I start searching for a new job.