Print ArticleI had just returned from a week´s holiday in the beautiful setting of Byron Bay on the east coast of Australia where we attended the wedding of my sister-in-law Elka and her fiancé Mark. I did pack my mobile and laptop but they didn´t get much of a workout. I had too much fun relaxing with relatives and doing a bit of boogie boarding down at the beach with the kids.
During the week I noticed my brother-in law, Derek attending to his Blackberry at various intervals. This got me thinking about the debate the rages about technology blurring the lines between work and home life. The boomer generation in particular views devices like laptops and Blackberries as a gross invasion of our family time and the modern ogre upsetting our work life balance.
Because I have been either self-employed or have run my own business when I go on holidays I like to be on holidays. I only like to open up my laptop if I get a particular urge to or if I get bored on vacation. When you work for a particular company I can understand the importance of staying in touch with your work. To me technology isn´t an intrusion. It provides you with the one thing that many people have fought for over the years…the freedom to choose.
With the technological advancements you now have a choice on how you want to balance your time between work and family activities. Work life balance isn´t about rationing out 50 % of your time for work and 50% of your time for your life outside work. It´s about being adaptable to the constant state of flux of our family and work commitments so that you experience fulfillment in your work and your life.
Derek seemed quite relaxed during his holiday and to me he appears to have a good work life balance. Because he regularly uses his Blackberry, I asked him whether he felt that his dreaded Blackberry was this big threat to his work life balance does it cause his work to intrude into his home life. And with a wife and four children under the age of 9, I´d have to say that the home life is rather busy for this upper level manager for the energy company, Stanwell.
"If I completely switch off and ignore work completely while on holidays, so many hundreds of emails and messages pile up in one week that I end up spending the next week at work digging myself out of a hole. It defeats the purpose of having a vacation."
So how can you use such technology in a way that helps your work life balance?
The key to maintaining a suitable work life balance is that you´ve got to have times when you put the laptops, mobiles and Blackberries away. Derek had a surprisingly simple solution for having his technology serve his work life balance as opposed to it turning him into a slave on 24-hour call to his work.
"When I´m at home or on vacation I have my Blackberry on vibrate so I can answer it when I want to."
During your time at home and on vacation there are plenty of small periods of time when you can tidy up a few work issues without it affecting your time and enjoyment with your family and friends. And because you are in a more relaxed frame of mind on vacation you will find that it is a lot easier dealing with some work challenges while lazing about by a pool with family and friends…now that´s having a great work life balance.
During the week I noticed my brother-in law, Derek attending to his Blackberry at various intervals. This got me thinking about the debate the rages about technology blurring the lines between work and home life. The boomer generation in particular views devices like laptops and Blackberries as a gross invasion of our family time and the modern ogre upsetting our work life balance.
Because I have been either self-employed or have run my own business when I go on holidays I like to be on holidays. I only like to open up my laptop if I get a particular urge to or if I get bored on vacation. When you work for a particular company I can understand the importance of staying in touch with your work. To me technology isn´t an intrusion. It provides you with the one thing that many people have fought for over the years…the freedom to choose.
With the technological advancements you now have a choice on how you want to balance your time between work and family activities. Work life balance isn´t about rationing out 50 % of your time for work and 50% of your time for your life outside work. It´s about being adaptable to the constant state of flux of our family and work commitments so that you experience fulfillment in your work and your life.
Derek seemed quite relaxed during his holiday and to me he appears to have a good work life balance. Because he regularly uses his Blackberry, I asked him whether he felt that his dreaded Blackberry was this big threat to his work life balance does it cause his work to intrude into his home life. And with a wife and four children under the age of 9, I´d have to say that the home life is rather busy for this upper level manager for the energy company, Stanwell.
"If I completely switch off and ignore work completely while on holidays, so many hundreds of emails and messages pile up in one week that I end up spending the next week at work digging myself out of a hole. It defeats the purpose of having a vacation."
So how can you use such technology in a way that helps your work life balance?
The key to maintaining a suitable work life balance is that you´ve got to have times when you put the laptops, mobiles and Blackberries away. Derek had a surprisingly simple solution for having his technology serve his work life balance as opposed to it turning him into a slave on 24-hour call to his work.
"When I´m at home or on vacation I have my Blackberry on vibrate so I can answer it when I want to."
During your time at home and on vacation there are plenty of small periods of time when you can tidy up a few work issues without it affecting your time and enjoyment with your family and friends. And because you are in a more relaxed frame of mind on vacation you will find that it is a lot easier dealing with some work challenges while lazing about by a pool with family and friends…now that´s having a great work life balance.
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