Archive for the 'Spillover' Category

The Declining Health of the American Worker

Featured Guest Blogger November 2nd, 2009

Maggie Jackson is an award-winning author and journalist known for her penetrating coverage of U.S. social issues. She writes the popular “Balancing Acts” column in the Sunday Boston Globe, and her work has also appeared in The New York Times, Gastronomica, and on National Public Radio. Her latest book, Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age, details the steep costs of our current epidemic deficits of attention while revealing the astonishing scientific discoveries that can help us rekindle our powers of focus in a world of speed and overload. Please note that the views of our guest bloggers do not necessarily reflect the views of the Sloan Work and Family Research Network.

We connect with millions of people across the globe, yet we have trouble sitting down to share a meal with those we love. We’re often so busy being “productive” that we wind up racing right past the important moments in life.

I’m thinking about time because I just wrote one of my “Balancing Acts” columns in the Globe on the declining health of the American worker. Our experience of time is a key to understanding how we can gain a better quality of life, with deeper human connections.

The new report by the Families and Work Institute shows that too many of us are fat, sick, sleepless and inactive. Just 28 percent of U.S. workers say their health is excellent, down from 34 percent six years ago. Workers in poor health are less likely to be loyal, engaged and satisfied with their jobs, the findings show.

Why are we so unhealthy? Certainly, many of us don’t exercise or eat right, and at the heart of these poor habits is often a time drought. About 60 percent feel they don’t have time for themselves, and an equal number report a lack of time for a partner or spouse. Chillingly, 75 percent report not having enough time with their children.

Moreover, those who most often don’t have enough time for the important people in their lives report poorer health – more depression, higher stress, more minor health problems. Nearly half of people who often or very often don’t have time for family and friends show signs of depression, compared with a third of those who sometimes feel this kind of time famine.

Vacations boost health, too. People with paid vacation time are less depressed and stressed than those without any paid holidays. The longer the vacation taken, the more likely a worker is to show few minor health problems. Still, 40 percent of workers don’t take all their vacation time, and the longest vacation taken on average in 2008 was nine days.

I believe that as a result of the mechanization of the Industrial and Digital Ages, we now pattern ourselves after our machinery. We seem to believe that we can be 24/7 beings, who interact in snippets and tweets, measuring our worth quantitatively. This collective adoration of the machine changes our experience of time, and squeezes the serendipity, mystery, and poetry out of our lives. And it just might be killing us, too.

“Elsewhere, USA” and the Blending of Work and Family

Julie Schwartz Weber July 15th, 2009

I am almost done reading Elsewhere, USA by Dalton Conley, and am finding the book to be teeming with interesting observations on how 21st century living blurs the distinctions between work and family life, public and private space, and leisure and work (the blurring of which Conley coins, “weisure.”) Conley discusses the causes in depth (e.g., entrance of women in the workforce and technological advances), as well as the outcome for middle- and upper-class American workers (e.g., increased economic anxiety and an ever-growing sense that one should always be working.)

In an effort to illustrate this blending and boundary-less living, Conley focuses on Google, a model of a modern day employer who, by its own admission, intends to blur these work and family lines. Google’s goal: to have a VERY productive workforce. As Google CEO Eric Schmidt has said outright, “The goal is to strip away everything that gets in our employees’ way.  Let’s face it: programmers want to program, they don’t want to do their laundry.  So we make it easier for them to do both.”

Conley details many of the ways in which Google blurs these lines by affording its employees a workplace in which they can eat, socialize, recreate, errand-run, and yes, work.  Among some of Google’s offering, according to Conley, are the following:

  • A college campus type workplace, with a fun name, “Googleplex”;
  • Gatherings of professionals called “un-conferences”, where large groups of employees meet but the events are unscripted;
  • Free talks, including one by a magician;
  • Free bikes to get from one location to another;
  • Complimentary food and beverages to employees and guests, including family members, during weekdays AND weekends.  Google offers a wide array of food choices, including a cafeteria that serves vegan food, a  smoothie bar, and free mini-kitchen use;
  • Ability for employees to bring their children (to visit, but not to stay) and dogs to work (to stay);
  • Complimentary gym/exercise equipment use;
  • Laundry and dry cleaning services, and washers/dryers located in the basements of select buildings;
  • Field hockey games twice a week on “campus”;
  • Piano, pinball, video arcade games, foosball, and snack stands;
  • Massage services;
  • Free shuttle bus (with WiFi, so that employees can work on their commute) to and from certain lower-cost neighborhoods; and
  • An herb and tomato garden growing in the main outdoor area.

Is this YOUR answer to work and family balance– blend and blur? Does this purposeful blurring and integrating of work and family by Google seem more palatable than the work and family juggle you experience? We would love to hear your thoughts.

Recent Network Polls: Work-Family and Social Media, Economic Climate

Judi Casey June 10th, 2009

Here are the results of two polls that we posted on the Network’s website. We most recently asked our users about work-family and social media (4/10-5/19/09): If you participate in social media networks (e.g., Facebook, LinkedIn), are you able to keep your personal/family and work lives separate?

Of the 53 respondents, 49% reported that “it’s difficult,” 25% said “it’s easy,” and 26% indicated that “it’s not easy or difficult.”

Read more about the Network’s activities with social media, and about the impact of technology on our work-family lives.

Another Network poll (3/12-4/10/09) inquired about how the current economic climate was affecting your spending habits: Due to the economic climate, have you changed your lifestyle (for example, spending less money, delaying major purchases, cutting non-critical expenses etc.)?

Forty-seven percent replied “quite a bit,” followed by “somewhat” (46%) and “not at all” (7%). We heard from a total of 57 people. Other entries on the economy may be found here and here.

Please answer our latest poll on your experiences with telework on our blog or home page.

Want to Know What People Expect of You? Ask!

Featured Guest Blogger May 4th, 2009

Erika Wendt is a Ph.D. student at the Marshall Goldsmith School of Management and is writing her dissertation on manager perceptions and the potential for bias when employees request flexible work arrangements. She also works in the Executive and Organizational Development department at a San Diego-based Utility company. After graduation she hopes to continue her research on work and family life and become a director of organizational work-life programs.

For a moment, I want to put aside most of the work-life balance advice you have heard and have you think about what your family and friends really need or want from you. This brings me to my first, and only, question: When was the last time you asked?

A friend and I recently discussed how few people ever ask others what they can do to improve their relationships or better meet another person’s needs. We usually assume we know what other people need from us and act accordingly. Think about how much time and energy we spend trying to balance the demands of our work and personal life based solely on what we believe is needed to succeed as a parent, an employee, or a friend. What keeps us from asking others what they need from us? Is it our fears? Are we are afraid of the response we might get? Are we afraid of having to change our current behaviors? Do we deny that we could ever be part of the unbalance in our work-life problems?

Perhaps I can better illustrate this point with a personal example. I am a Ph.D. student, I work about 40 hours a week, and volunteer in my “free” time at a local cooking school. Despite being passionate about helping others achieve work-life balance, I struggle to achieve this for myself! About a year ago, I took a class at school with Marshall Goldsmith, and he encouraged me to ask my family and friends what I could do to be a better daughter, sister, and friend.

With great hesitation, I proceeded to email my parents, my younger sister, and a few of my closest friends. After hitting send, I wished I could have included a disclaimer saying if they were too busy to respond, or if they could not think of any suggestions, it was okay and I completely understood. As it turned out, none of them were too busy and all of them had suggestions. I admit that their responses were not easy to hear; however, they made me realize I had been creating a lot of stress in my life by trying to do everything I thought they wanted from me and very little of what they actually wanted.

Having the courage to ask others what they need from us, may be a crucial step towards creating balance in our work and personal life. When you know what other people want most from you, there is no longer the need to spend all your time and energy trying to also do the 25 other things that are not as important. Your child may want you to attend their basketball game just once a week or your spouse wants to go out for a movie just once a month or, like me, your family and friends just want you to call them more often. Whatever their need, you are never going to know unless you ask.

If I Knew Then What I Know Now…

Featured Guest Blogger April 27th, 2009

In 2008, Christina Barlowe founded LifeWork Alliance. Nearly two decades of professional corporate experience, coupled with an MBA and a Masters in Social Work, form the well-rounded skill set necessary to head the innovative organization that is LifeWork Alliance. This combination of extensive real world expertise with a comprehensive education results in a keen understanding of, and passion for, the needs of individual parents as well as the expectations of the organization. Christina has a four year old son who has reshaped her life and has been her source of inspiration. Please note that the views of our guest bloggers do not necessarily reflect the views of the Sloan Work and Family Research Network.

When I was in college and even graduate school (the first time), I had great ideas about what my life would look like. The career, the husband, the kids, the house, the trips and then BAM !

And so it all came, not necessarily in that order. The only problem was integrating those parts of my life proved challenging, or more like close to impossible. Not only was I having trouble balancing it all, I was firmly planted in my new reality but not enjoying any part of the dream. My identity became compartmentalized for thw sake of self preservation as I was thrust either by choice or circumstance, into my various new roles of boss, employee, friend, mother, wife, daughter, professional, and student. Finally, the roller coaster came to a screeching halt after my son turned a year old. I was clueless where I was and how I got there.  It was time for change but I had no idea how to navigate it and the definition of what I wanted changed daily.

This new reality is more prevalent today than ever. Women coming out of college have decisions to make in order to chart their course of establishing their careers and lives. If they are forward thinking, they are looking at how to integrate those careers into a future partnership, extended family unit, and possibly motherhood.

How do you know what form of work / life balance is right for you? Each person is unique and therefore each person’s needs are different. We can and should educate this next generation with our own road maps. You can stay on the main highway, take the scenic route, or make a detour either willingly or because life just has a way of doing that to you.  Would it not be a critical part of their decision making as they construct the framework for their lives?

It is with this inspirational journey that LifeWork Alliance was formed. The organization was formed to address the paradigm shift that is reshaping today’s workforce. The mission is to institute and promote open dialogue between organizations and working parents. I found a distinct void in any such service or community for that matter when I was working my way up the proverbial ladder, and especially when I started my family. I was confused and stumbling, and when I asked for guidance the expectations of my performance were even more demanding now that I was a mother. Luckily, I used that transformation to create a community both online, in corporate settings, and in off-site workshops where people can not only express their challenge with adjusting to their new lives, but also gain valuable tools and insight. There is nothing more powerful than validation and mutual respect.

Self-Employed Women Balance Work, Family Life

Featured Guest Blogger March 23rd, 2009

Self-employed women have been an increasing demographic in our society over the past 15 years:
A recent study, entitled Self-Employed Women and Time Use, administered by the Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration, compared self-employed women to wage-and-salary earners and found that self-employed women are able to spend more time with their children and families, compared to their wage-and-salary earning counterparts. The study found that self-employed women spend about 3.5 more hours per week in household activities than wage-and-salary earning women do, and 6 more hours than men do.

These findings bring up a question for me. With the understanding that women are more likely to be self-employed at home than men are, does this contribute to our expectations of women “doing it all?” For example, our expectation of a self-employed woman will be that she earns an income and does her work well. When she is working from home, do we also expect that she cares for the home? After all, she is there.

I’m not self-employed, but as a PhD student who often works from home, I feel like I am. My “business goal” is finishing my dissertation. I want to devote my time to my work, yet, at lunch, I can’t help but notice that laundry has to be done and the toaster oven could use a cleaning. I’m there, so I might as well just take care of that, too. For whatever reason, because I am home, I feel the obligation to multitask and do two jobs—my regular work, and the housework. Maybe I should start working at the library? Of course, then I wouldn’t be working from home. Catch-22.

The Four-Day Work Week and the Death of the Flexible Workplace Initiative

Featured Guest Blogger January 19th, 2009

Margaret M. DiBianca joined Young Conaway’s Employment Group after graduating magna cum laude from Villanova University School of Law. Molly is a monthly contributor to the Delaware Employment Law Letter and is the acting Editor of Young Conaway’s employment-law blog, DelawareEmploymentLawBlog.com. Please note that the views of our guest bloggers do not necessarily reflect the views of the Sloan Work and Family Research Network.

The four-day work week has been hyped as the solution to the search for a flexible workplace. This is nothing more than hype. Truth be told, the four-day workweek is the antithesis of flexibility.

The demands for scheduling with employees change from employee to employee and, even with one individual, are subject to change depending on what else is happening in his or her life. The only thing that is static and unchanging in this definition of flexibility is the employee’s request to define their schedule for themselves and to change it as needed.

The four-day work week falls far short of this test for flexibility. Instead of being able to come and go on a schedule that is adaptable to their needs and the needs of their friends and families, employees are required to be in the workplace for at least 11 hours every day for the same four consecutive days each week. If your doctor’s office is closed on Friday, you’re plain out of luck. If you need to pick up your daughter after school, there’s not much hope that you could come into work early to make up the time—unless you want to arrive at 4 a.m. to ensure that you can leave by 3 that afternoon.

If the strict hours don’t bother you, consider the lack of flexibility during non-working time in a four-day work week. Employees who leave work by 5 p.m. five days a week are able to run an errand or two on the way to pick the kids up from day care. Once home, there is time to put something on the table for dinner and oversee homework time. Parents can leave work in time for the weeknight soccer game or recital—without having to take a half day of leave.

For the employee working four 10-hour days each week, these options become much more difficult to effectuate. In order to get the family up and out the door, drop the children off at school, commute to the office, and still make it to work on time, most people need between 90 and 180 minutes after waking. We’ll estimate it on the short side and say that an employee who is due to work by 7 a.m. has to get up no later than 5:30 a.m. Eleven hours later, at 6 p.m., the employee leaves work, picks up the children, and stops to put gasoline in the car. Assuming they make no other stops, they return home at 7 p.m. At the later hour, it’s exhausting to think about cooking, so a delivery order is called into the local pizza parlor.

Read the mail, change clothes, check the answering machine, and set the table and it’s already 8 p.m. Only two and a half hours before bedtime if you hope to get close to 8 hours’ sleep. By the time the pizza arrives, is gobbled down, and is cleaned up, the so-called “quality time” with the family is over and everyone heads to bed. There isn’t even time for “American Idol,” never mind a few moments to talk about the day’s events.

With this schedule, the four-day work week seems far from flexible. Instead, it seems to be all-consuming and, frankly, exhausting.

Has Technology Improved or Complicated Your Work-Family Balance?

Judi Casey December 26th, 2008

We recently asked our visitors (11/6–11/21/08) if technology has improved or complicated their work-family balance.  I was surprised to learn that 51% of our small sample (N=29) indicated that technology had improved their work-family balance, whereas 41% reported that technology had complicated their work-family balance.  Less than 8% indicated no change.

We’ve previously discussed this issue on our blog asking whether technology helps fathers to achieve work-family balance as well as learning about research on how technology impacts our ability to focus and be connected with one another. Recently, I discussed the top trends in work-life and included the blurring of work and family boundaries due to technology.

Technology is also discussed in two Work and Family Encyclopedia Entries, Boundary and Border Theory and Work-Family Integration as well as Historical Perspective on Social Change.

Lastly, Network News interviews explore technology issues such as Slowing Down to Look at “Busyness” and Distracted: The Erosion of Attention, which includes a graphic illustrating how mobile data and communication activities vary by age.

Check out our latest poll on the home page and blog home page!

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Work Family Flow

Featured Guest Blogger November 25th, 2008

Jodie Benveniste is the director and founder of Parent Wellbeing—-an organization dedicated to helping parents improve their quality of life. An author, parenting expert and mother of two children, Jodie has a background in psychology, human resources and academic research. Parent Wellbeing has pioneered a unique approach to work family issues, Work Family Flow, which helps organizations attract, retain and engage top talent. Work Family Flow corporate workshops and consulting help parents make the most of their work and family lives so they care better for their children and are more effective, productive employees. Please note that the views of our guest bloggers do not necessarily reflect the views of the Sloan Work and Family Research Network.

We know from extensive research that the vast majority of working parents struggle to combine work and family. They report feeling guilty, rushed for time, and overloaded (1). For organizations, these difficulties contribute to job dissatisfaction, low organizational commitment, high intent to turnover and increased absenteeism (2).

For over a decade, we’ve been talking about ‘work family balance’ as the way for working parents to better manage their work and family responsibilities. But the limitations of ‘work family balance,’ with its scarcity assumption, have been exposed by researchers and commentators, notably Ellen Galinsky in her groundbreaking book, Ask the Children (3). Hence, work family research has expanded its scope to consider ‘work family enrichment,’ where work and family build and benefit rather than simply clash and conflict.

Work family research and the experience of working parents suggests, therefore, that we need a new language to discuss the work and family combination. One that:

  • Understands the interrelationships and interconnections between work and family
  • Recognizes that work offers benefits to family life, and family life offers benefits to the workplace, and
  • Appreciates that ‘well’ parents are more productive and effective at work, and care better for their children.

That is why at Parent Wellbeing, we talk about Work Family Flow— a new understanding of work and family. Work Family Flow is not about ‘balancing’ work and family. It’s about optimizing work and family. It’s about helping people make the most of their work and family experience.

Work Family Flow begins with increased well-being, because we know from the empirical findings emerging from positive psychology that happy people are more effective and productive at work, and they develop better relationships with colleagues, partners and their children. By equipping working parents with empirically validated tools to increase their wellbeing, parents and children benefit, and organizations improve their bottom line.

For more information about Work Family Flow please visit http://www.parentwellbeing.com or download the Work Family Flow White Paper .

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1. Pocock, B., Skinner, N. & Williams, P. (2007). Work, life and time: The Australian work + life index. Centre for Work + Life, University of South Australia.
2. Duxbury, L. & Higgins, C. (2008). Work life balance in Australia in the new Millennium: Rhetoric versus reality. Beaton Consulting.
3. Galinsky, E. (1999). Ask the children: The breakthrough study that reveals how to succeed at work and parenting. New York: Harper Collins.

‘Tis a Gift to be Free

Julie Schwartz Weber November 12th, 2008

The time crunch— something most Americans experience on a regular basis— affects many aspects of American family life. Most recently, it has even led my spouse and me to rethink our gift giving policies to each other. Instead of finding and acquiring (e.g., buying) the “perfect” gifts for each other in line with one of our hobbies, interests, or passions, this year we are giving each other the gift of LEISURE TIME for self.

This shift in gift focus has grown out of an increased sense that our daily juggle, in which we voluntarily choose to care for our kids, our domestic sphere, and our jobs, is plain exhausting and leaves little room for leisure time for our individual selves. This sense of loss of time for self is reflected in a 2002 national survey, in which 55% of all employees noted that they did not have enough time for themselves. Working fathers reported spending only 1.3 hours a day and working mothers reported spending a mere .9 hours a day on themselves.

This lack of time for self makes sense when one considers:

1. 70% of all families with children are headed by two employed parents or by a single working parent;

2. The combined weekly hours of dual-earner couples with children has increased significantly over the past 25 years, from 81 to 91 hours;

3. Technology such as email, Blackberries, and computers enables us to work anytime and anywhere, and thus, for many, it is hard to be “off duty;”

4. The amount of time spent caring for and doing things with children on workdays has also increased over the past 25 years, from 5.2 hours a day in 1977 to 6.2 hours day in 2002.

So, for this holiday season ahead, especially in light of increased financial constraints, perhaps you want to join my husband and me and give gifts of leisure time to your partners and friends. Not only is it easy to give, but it is also inexpensive and greatly appreciated. It has become that “perfect” gift for adults in our home!

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