Juggling work-family life, and a career can pose a significant challenge for individuals. Work-family life and a career life balance refers to the balance between workplace commitments, career responsibilities, and personal duties. A crucial step in managing this is to determine how to balance all the commitments in one’s life. Often, in busy times, self-care tends to become the lowest priority, especially when trying to maintain equilibrium between work, career, and personal life. The notion of work-family life and career balance is considered a psychological concept emphasising satisfaction across various life roles. It entails achieving an overall sense of happiness derived from the success and gratification of various role demands. This article aims to discuss the imbalance and balance of work-family life and career balance.
Young parents often encounter challenges and disruptions in their education, career plans, and overall life path. Children born to parents at a young age are more likely to be raised in a single-parent household, and the impact is amplified when mothers have a lower level of education and limited job opportunities in a skill-based economy (Sandstrom et al., 2019). Education and training programs present opportunities for individuals to enhance their skills and credentials, enabling them to pursue employment opportunities with a higher salary and enhanced employee benefits (Eyster et al., 2014).
According to Eyster et al. (2014), the growing emphasis on the significance of workforce development programs in gaining an upward movement has generated a heightened interest in scrutinising the challenges that employees may encounter in accessing, persisting in, and successfully completing education and training initiatives. Current trends suggest that parents who pursue education and training opportunities tend to attain higher earnings, access greater employee benefits like healthcare, and experience improved financial stability (Sandstrom et al., 2019).
The variation between work and non-work demands leads to conflict, resulting in a perceived lack of work-family life and career balance among individuals (Akuamoah-Boateng, 2020). According to Berg et al. (2003), the impact of work-family life and career are attributed to policies relating to employee behaviours and attitudes that gauge outcomes such as absenteeism, reduced turnover, increased job satisfaction, enhanced job productivity, and heightened organisational commitment. Balancing work-family life, and a career has become a growing concern, primarily driven by an increasing number of individuals working to support their income. This has led to an extension of working hours, infringing on family time (Berg et al., 2003).
Job demands, characterised by prolonged weekly hours, involuntary overtime, conflicts with coworkers, and inflexible working arrangements, hinder individuals who would like to effectively maintain a balance between work-family life and career responsibilities (Berg et al., 2003). Maintaining a balanced life that includes both work and leisure can be challenging, particularly without effective stress management. Mental and emotional well-being play crucial roles in an individual’s overall health. Stress arising from an imbalance between work-family life and career can have implications for mental, emotional, and physical health. This imbalance can affect personal health, communication, intimacy in partner relationships, time spent with family and friends, community involvement, as well as work enjoyment and productivity (Bosch, 2008).
The repercussions of such imbalances may manifest as sudden illness, unexpected finances, job loss, or spousal conflict. An excessive imbalance in work-family and career life poses a potential threat to an individual’s physical and mental well-being. Indicators of an imbalance in work-family and career life can impact an individual’s physical health, manifesting in signs such as high blood pressure, fatigue, insomnia, headaches, and stomach distress. Similarly, it can affect their emotional state, leading to symptoms like depression, feelings of helplessness, anxiety, persistent worry, loss of concentration, and a negative attitude and thoughts (Bosch, 2008).
According to Brough et al. (2020), there’s a saying: “eight hours to work, eight hours to play, eight hours to sleep, and eight bob a day”. This balance is reached when an individual evenly allocates time, energy, and commitment across all life roles, ensuring a balanced distribution of resources. Such a balance refers to the extent to which an individual is engaged in and equally satisfied with their work, life, and career roles. Key components of these roles involve maintaining equal time, involvement, and satisfaction across an individual’s work and non-work responsibilities. As per Chinchilla et al. (2009), here are some policies that organisations can implement to aid in achieving a balance between work-family life, and career:
Flexibility of working hours and working place – permitting employees to work systematically either from the office or during times that best suit them, and managing flexible working hours to accommodate family and/or career responsibilities
Workplace flexibility – provides employees with the option to work from home, including alternatives like distance working, allowing them to work remotely to avoid morning and afternoon rush-hour traffic
Professional support and advice – implementation of mentoring and coaching programs provided by the organisation to aid employees in achieving a proper balance between work-family, and career and additionally, offering supplementary training to support career advancement
In conclusion, to establish a work-family and career life balance, consider initiating habits such as getting sufficient sleep by going to bed early and waking up early. Utilise a planner or calendar to prioritise tasks, allocate specific chores to each day of the week, employ “time blocking” and avoid distractions or “time suckers”. It is essential to enhance relationships with family and friends by spending quality time with loved ones, allocate time and attention to physical and mental health, and, make positive choices in career advancements. Achieving this balance can lead to a sense of restfulness and increased energy, enhanced productivity, improved career outcomes, and overall success, resulting in a performance boost.
References
Akuamoah-Boateng, C. (2020, January-June). Balancing work, family and personal life: Perspectives of female staff at the College of Distance Education, University of Cape Coast, Ghana. International Journal of Educational Administration and Policy Studies, 12(1), 43-51. doi:10.5897/IJEAPS2019.0643
Berg, P., Kalleberg, A. L., & Appelbaum, E. (2003, April). Balancing work and family: The role of high-commitment environments. Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, 42(2), 168-188. doi:10.1111/1468-232X.00286
Bosch, K. R. (2008). Making time for work and play. Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Family Life Relationships. United States: The Board of Regents. Retrieved from https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwj1wrPnzJGEAxXBQ0EAHdJlCE04ChAWegQIAxAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fextensionpublications.unl.edu%2Fassets%2Fpdf%2Fg1824.pdf&usg=AOvVaw3aNtLgBUla8YLs2Z5KuLeR&opi=89978449
Brough, P., Timms, C., Chan, X. W., Hawkes, A., & Rasmussen, L. (2020). Handbook of socioeconomic determinants of occupational health. Switzerland: Springer. doi:doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05031-3_20-1
Eyster, L., Callan, T., & Adams, G. (2014). Balancing school, work, and family: Low-income parents’ participation in education and training. Urban Institute. Retrieved from https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwi5oreUy5GEAxWEVEEAHVkuDq04FBAWegQIAhAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.urban.org%2Fresearch%2Fpublication%2Fbalancing-school-work-and-family-low-income-parents-participation-ed
Sandstrom, H., Sullivan, L., Lou, C., Spaulding, S., & Adams, G. (2019). Balancing work with school and training while raising young children. Urban Institute, Washington. Retrieved from https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjgh-nryZGEAxVvXEEAHZCRCKsQFnoECCYQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.urban.org%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fpublication%2F101116%2Fbalancing_work_with_school_and_training_while_
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