The impact of technology on work- life balance

The busy business executive is typified by 'Type A' characteristics.... driven, ambitious, time-urgent and tetchy, and predisposed to stress related illness!

Individual's with a high need for achievement can be 'workaholic"....the Robert Maxwells of this world who do not differentiate between work and play. Of course, this does not have to be a problem if well matched with the work, and if one loves what one does.....work is play! Workaholics may be perfectionists, but they may also simply love their work so much that they do not want to stop.

Perfectionists may also work silly hours, not necessarily because they enjoy their employment so much, but because they check and double check and amend work until they consider it perfect; they procrastinate and fear failure. Of course, such behaviour makes them slow and can actually prevent them from being model employees. Perfectionists have a great need to prove themselves, perhaps due to some real or imaginary inferiority from their youth (e.g.. born on the wrong side of the tracks, no formal qualifications, or the short man), or due to a critical parent from whom they never obtained praise or unconditional love, or as a result of an inattentive or busy parent whose attention was sorely sought.

Others work long hours because they perjure their soul for the money; they know that their life is not their own, but that is to be expected in that career field where rewards are high. Few people earn fortunes without the associated hours and stress.Certain industries demand long hours which can encroach on personal time (especially where deadlines have to be met). Often, big salaries are paid in compensation, and also due to early burn-out. 'Everyone else does it...it is expected'.

In one company for which I provided consultancy services, many of the employees struggled with the open plan offices and could only concentrate in the relative peace of home, so they took work with them to catch up!

Even off duty, with access to communications, the temptation to check for messages or to just send a quick email remains. It is difficult to switch off if one does not turn off!

Being self-employed and working from home has always been viewed as a means of obtaining freedom and quality of life. All too often one finds that the opposite is true.....the work is there in front of you and not left behind and forgotten at the office....it is too easy to think, 'I will just finish this bit', and once that is done, 'Oh, I might as well complete that while I am at it'. Work becomes all consuming, and one works longer hours rather than flexible hours.

Certainly, individuals with demanding jobs can find that they are permanently on call (especially if working in on an international stage or in a trouble-shooting role). The mobile phone means that one can never escape or be 'out'. Blackberries prevent one from claiming not to have seen the email yet. One woman told me how her husband took his laptop on their honeymoon! Work encroaching on personal life can be damaging to relationships and can negatively impact family life.

Potentially yes, but it is hard to imagine what technologies beyond the mobile and internet could do to make one more available - doctors can already conduct operations from another country over a computer!

There have always been workaholics, but I believe new technologies have certainly contributed to many more people taking work home and not properly switching off (literally and metaphorically).

# I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." -- Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943.

# "Where a calculator on the ENIAC is equipped with 18,000 vacuum tubes and weighs 30 tons, computers in the future may have only 1,000 vacuum tubes and weigh only 1.5 tons." -- Popular Mechanics, 1949

# "I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out the year." -- The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957.

# "But what...is it good for?" -- Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.

# "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." -- Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977.

# "640K ought to be enough for anybody." -- Attributed to Bill Gates, 1981, but believed to be an urban legend.

# "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us." -- Western Union internal memo, 1876.

# "The Americans have need of the telephone, but we do not. We have plenty of messenger boys." -- Sir William Preece, chief engineer of the British Post Office, 1876.

# "The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?" -- David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s.

# "While theoretically and technically television may be feasible, commercially and financially it is an impossibility." -- Lee DeForest, inventor.

# "The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C', the idea must be feasible." -- A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.)

# "Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?" -- H. M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927.

# "I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not Gary Cooper." -- Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in "Gone With the Wind."

# "A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make." -- Response to Debbi Fields' idea of starting Mrs. Fields' Cookies.

# "We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out." -- Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.

# "Radio has no future. Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible. X-rays will prove to be a hoax." -- William Thomson, Lord Kelvin, British scientist, 1899.

# "So we went to Atari and said, 'Hey, we've got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we'll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we'll come work for you.' And they said, 'No.' So then we went to Hewlett-Packard, and they said, 'Hey, we don't need you. You haven't got through college yet.'" -- Apple Computer Inc. founder Steve Jobs on attempts to get Atari and HP interested in his and Steve Wozniak's personal computer.

# "If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said you can't do this." -- Spencer Silver on the work that led to the unique adhesives for 3-M "Post-It" Notepads.

# "It will be years -- not in my time -- before a woman will become Prime Minister." -- Margaret Thatcher, 1974.

# "I see no good reasons why the views given in this volume should shock the religious sensibilities of anyone." -- Charles Darwin, The Origin Of Species, 1869.

# "With over 50 foreign cars already on sale here, the Japanese auto industry isn't likely to carve out a big slice of the U.S. market." -- Business Week, August 2, 1968.

# "That Professor Goddard with his 'chair' in Clark College and the countenancing of the Smithsonian Institution does not know the relation of action to reaction, and of the need to have something better than a vacuum against which to react--to say that would be absurd. Of course, he only seems to lack the knowledge ladled out daily in high schools." -- 1921 New York Times editorial about Robert Goddard's revolutionary rocket work. The remark was retracted in the July 17, 1969 issue.

# "You want to have consistent and uniform muscle development across all of your muscles? It can't be done. It's just a fact of life. You just have to accept inconsistent muscle development as an unalterable condition of weight training." -- Response to Arthur Jones, who solved the "unsolvable" problem by inventing Nautilus.

# "Ours has been the first, and doubtless to be the last, to visit this profitless locality." -- Lt. Joseph Ives, after visiting the Grand Canyon in 1861.

# "Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You're crazy." -- Workers whom Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill for oil in 1859.

# "Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau." -- Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University, 1929.

# "There is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever be obtainable. It would mean that the atom would have to be shattered at will." -- Albert Einstein, 1932.

# "The bomb will never go off. I speak as an expert in explosives." -- Admiral William Leahy, U.S. Atomic Bomb Project.

# "Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value." -- Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre.

# "There will never be a bigger plane built." -- A Boeing engineer, after the first flight of the 247, a twin engine plane that holds ten people.

# "Everything that can be invented has been invented." -- Attributed to Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899, but known to be an urban legend.

# "Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction." -- Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at Toulouse, 1872.

# "The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon." -- Sir John Eric Ericksen, British surgeon, appointed Surgeon-Extraordinary to Queen Victoria 1873.

Obviously, if one is well-matched with one's work, playing to one's strengths and fulfilled, it is less of an issue....one should not feel out of one's depth and one should be enjoying what one does. One can happily stay up all night playing computer games or reading a good book if that is pleasing and satisfying.... if work provides the same level of satisfaction, that is not necessarily an issue.

However, everyone needs to rest and sleep! A break can enable one to return to a task refreshed and with renewed enthusiasm ( that crossword clue with which you were struggling the night before so often comes to you in a flash the next morning when you look again). Build in some technology free time and feel the difference - discover conversation and family life again, rebuild relationships, relax, have fun, take air and exercise, and notice how quickly you get things done the next day!

Worksmart: Prioritise, organise, rationalise, think logically rather than emotionally. Ask for help when necessary. Delegate when required. With everything feeling under control there should be less stress and fewer sleepless nights.

Social support: Good friends and a good partner can offer moral support, but can also involve you in activities which take you away from work (and they need your attention too!). Plan leisure time like you plan your work activities.

Have a routine or work schedule, and stick to it! Take regular breaks. Try to do a good job, not a perfect one! Turn off the mobile! Go out and 'forget' to take it with you!

"Work-life balance is an important element of Good Work, the interconnection of quality of working life and productive workplace. The world of work is changing, both the structure of the labour market and the types of work we do. Employees are the 21st century organisation's greatest asset - accountants are even adding human capital to the balance sheet.

The big picture

The structure of the labour market in the UK has changed dramatically over the last few years and will continue to change:

* We remain in full-or part-time education until we are older, while more of us are opting to retire at an earlier age.
* The largest growth in labour market participation between 1990 and 2000 occurred among mothers with young children.
* It is projected that 66% of the increase in the UK population between 2000 and 2025 will be attributable to immigration.
* Generation Y (those born after 1978) has entered the workforce: these young workers look at an organisation's track record on corporate social responsibility and are not afraid to negotiate flexible working terms.

The types of work we do and the nature of work itself have also changed dramatically over the past 20 years:

* Over 22.5 million people in the UK are employed in the service sector and just 4.6 million in manufacturing. (ONS 2008).
* The intensity of work has increased: average working hours are shorter but work is carried out faster. Intensification affects all countries in the EU, all industry sectors and all occupational categories.
* Changes in technology (IT and telephony) give employers more flexibility in terms of the way they ask people to work. 80% of managers said that virtual working (also called e-working) is a key business issue, according to a 2003 Roffey Park report.

Good work-life balance policies and practices help meet these changes and are good for business as well as employees. Some benefits can be directly measured financially.

The business benefits of work-life balance

Increased productivity, mediated through the factors listed below, as well as:

* The degree of control an employee has over their tasks impacts their effectiveness at work.
* A 2003 DTI study revealed that 49% of companies saw a positive increase in productivity. (DTI The second work-life balance study. Results from the employers survey - executive summary 2003).

Improved recruitment and retention:

* Labour turnover is expensive, both in terms of direct replacement costs and the loss of skills and knowledge.
* A DTI poll found all workers were interested in good work-life balance policies, but they are particularly important to carers, parents (mothers and fathers), graduates and older workers
* BT saved £3m in recruitment costs in the year to March 2003, since 98% of women returned after maternity leave.

Lower rates of absenteeism:

* The CBI believes that absenteeism levels are the main reason why UK productivity lags behind the US and some parts of Europe, costing the UK £11.6bn per year.
* Good work-life balance policies take account of long term absence, the causes of stress and the needs of different groups. See our work on Health and Wellbeing
* The London Borough of Camden experienced a 2.5% reduction in the cost of sickness absence in the first year it introduced a work-life balance strategy.

Reduced overheads:

* BT saved £52m in overheads in the year to March 2003 by increasing its number of home workers; this also means an annual saving of £10m in fuel costs.
* An improved customer experience
* A more motivated, satisfied and equitable workforce.

To find the right work-life balance strategy for your business, you will need to identify what your business wants to achieve from it, e.g. more women at senior positions or greater workforce diversity."

This is a specially formulated diet designed to help women cope with the stress that builds up during the day.

BREAKFAST
1 grapefruit
1 slice whole-wheat toast
1 cup skim milk

LUNCH
A small portion lean, steamed chicken with a cup of spinach
1 cup herbal tea
1 Hershey kiss

AFTERNOON TEA
the rest of the kisses in the bag
1 tub of Hagen Daas ice cream with choc-chip topping

DINNER
4 bottles of wine (red or white)
2 loaves garlic bread
1 family size supreme pizza
3 Snickers bars

LATE NIGHT SNACK
whole frozen Sarah Lee cheesecake (eaten directly from the freezer)

REMEMBER:
STRESSED SPELLED BACKWARDS IS "DESSERTS"
Send this to all the women you know or ever knew, and you will immediately lose 10 pounds.