The Human Resource: Life work balance

Posted by Warren Cook on July 8, 2016

Do your supervisors understand how to promote life work balance?

Employee productivity is a critical component of business success. In the most fundamental way, the work performance of your employees directly impacts your ability to deliver the products and services to your customers. This reality often motivates supervisors to set unrealistic expectations on employees that over time evolve into a culture that is opposite of the culture leadership envisioned for life work balance.

What often happens is an organization’s desire for life work balance is in direct contradiction with the actions and behaviors of the management team, more specifically the supervisors. For example, unknown to leadership, a supervisor may have set expectations directly or through their actions that it is inappropriate for a staff member to call out sick because the work is more important than their health. This can manifest over time by employees being verbally reprimanded or spoken down to negatively by the supervisor when they experience a personal situation that requires they call off from work. Over time the expectation of the organization alters to be the expectations of the supervisor over a particular group of employees, and these employees become disengaged from the employer as they are unable to experience life work balance as they were led to believe by leadership.

Another example, and this happens all too often in workplaces, is the need for an employee to leave the place of business during the workday to handle personal matters that may arise. Supervisors often prioritize the needs of the business over the needs of their workers, ignoring the life work balance efforts of the organization. The result – an employee at 2 p.m. notifies the supervisor he or she has to leave work to take care of a personal matter, and the unfortunate result – the supervisor tells the employee no, they may not leave. This is not appropriate, as it is the responsibility of the organization to use available resources to perform necessary work. An employee who leaves during the scheduled workday is no longer an available resource, it is that simple. The employee is made to feel they cannot leave, and that is not the case. They may certainly leave at any time if they wish, and in the situation of the prior example, they can decide whether or not they even come to work.

Now I am not implying that there are no consequences for the actions of the employee, I am focusing on the philosophical issue of whether or not an employer has the right to tell an employee whether or not they have to come to work, or that they have to stay at work. If there is a goal to have a culture of life work balance, then your workforce should never believe they are slaves of the business and that they cannot choose to leave when necessary, or that if their life throws them obstacles that demand their time they cannot miss work.

The employer can have policies and practices that hold the employee accountable, such as performance management that requires dependability and regular attendance. The point being made here, for both employees and employers, is that the employer cannot force you to come to work, and cannot force you to stay at work. There is no slavery in the workforce. Consequences for not being at work, sure, you could lose your job, you could receive disciplinary or corrective action, you may lose compensation (be mindful of FLSA laws), but you do not have to be at work or stay there. That is a choice the employee has.

* The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the ownership or management of Chadds Ford Live. We welcome opposing viewpoints. Readers may comment in the comments section or they may submit a Letter to the Editor to: editor@chaddsfordlive.com

About Warren Cook

Warren is the President and co-founder of SymbianceHR and provides strategic oversight for service delivery, business operations, and technical guidance on consulting engagements. He is a human resources subject matter expert with over 25 years of experience as a strategic human resources business partner, project manager, and people leader across private and public sectors organizations. Warren is responsible for the strategic planning of all client consulting engagements from initial needs assessment and compliance review through delivery of customized strategic solutions that meet the client’s business goals. He has a proven track record of providing executive coaching and guidance to business leaders and human resource professionals at all levels including the C-Suite of Fortune 100 companies. Warren is also the Chief Talent Officer and cofounder of SymbianceHiRe, a Symbiance company dedicated to providing direct placement talent acquisition services and temporary and contract staffing solutions to the business community. Warren holds a B.S. in Human Resource Management, an MBA in Project Management, and a M.S. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Warren is the author of “Applicant Interview Preparation – Practical Coaching for Today.”