Expand “Work-Life” Beyond “Work-Family”
As I recently completed a course on Work-Life Effectiveness, it came to my attention that a lot of the discussion about the elusive “balance” of our lives inside and outside of work often focuses on balancing work and family. And by “family,” it usually means the family you create – by procreation, adoption, through marriage to a parent, etc. This default can be harmful because:
It equates life outside of work with “family,” which alienates people without families
It typically neglects the care that some people provide for their family of origin – e.g., parents, siblings, etc.
It places limits on what life beyond work actually is – even people with families have other aspects of their lives to tend to
It implies that only family-related duties and activities are legitimate in the discussion of making work flexible
The pandemic provided a rare opportunity for us to evaluate how we contextualize work in our lives. Although I feel we made some advances in terms of acknowledging mental health, overall wellness, and people’s capacity to function at work in the midst of personal challenges, much of the dialogue still revolved around this work-family dynamic. I challenge you to broaden your perspective by considering the different ways individuals live their lives, and all that life outside of work encompasses, including fulfilling our physical, spiritual, creative, and other needs. Have a conversation with your peers and your teams. I’m pretty sure it will uncover new factors to consider in making your work environment and policies more inclusive.