We Are Not Superhuman: Why Work-Life Balance Is Good for Everyone
Work-life balance seems increasingly in the news as of late—not least of all on the front page of the New York Times business section—and the outlook seems to be slowly improving when it comes to employers getting on board with work-life balance measures.
There is increasing acknowledgement of what seems like an obvious fact: Our "work life" and "personal life" are interconnected. It's not possible to separate the you who goes to work from the you who exists at home. If things are going badly in one sphere of someone's life, it cannot help but spill over into other aspects as well.
Benefits such as health insurance and employee assistance programs are not offered by employers solely out of goodwill. They help attract good hires, they help retain the people you already have, and most importantly, they help ensure that employees are able to get work done. It's difficult to concentrate on your job when you have a throbbing toothache or when you're busy worrying about how to pay your daughter's medical bills.
Long hours and workplace stress aren't good for workers, and they may not do employers any favors either. A recently-released medical study links job strain to a 20-30 percent higher risk of what's euphemistically called a "cardiac event." And people who are overworked are more likely to make mistakes. It's difficult to muster the rigorous and creative thinking required for software testing when you're stressed out and poorly rested.
Sometimes we are our own worst enemy when it comes to taking a balanced approach to work. However, working a reasonable schedule is not self-indulgence. Neither is ensuring that your job doesn't prevent you from meeting your responsibilities in other areas of your life.
Just like "work you" and "home you" are inextricably linked, what's good for your health is also good for your work. We need to acknowledge that we—both ourselves and others—are not superhuman and that behaving as though we are will eventually catch up to us and our employers.
