This little phrase, “work-life balance,” gets significant airplay in the media, on social media, in job postings, in the workspace and – probably most often – at home. Since the pandemic, I have heard the phrase “work-life balance” used a lot. It’s also a phrase that seems to invoke a passionate response in some people and not so much in others. Over the last several years, it has become one of the more common reasons that people give when they choose to leave a job, particularly when leaving jobs in companies like ours. Thinking about this has prompted me to explore work-life balance in more depth.
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, work-life balance is defined as the amount of time you spend doing your job compared with the amount of time you spend with your family and doing things you enjoy.
I think everyone will admit that it is great to spend time with family and to have time when you can do things that you enjoy. Personally, it was great being home over the holidays, seeing my family and working on my truck and other projects. But, no matter how much I liked being there, I knew I had to come back and go to work.
Work is a necessity; we work to get a paycheck that we use to live our lives the way we want to. We all come to BIW to earn a paycheck so we can keep our family safe, fed, housed, cared for and hopefully have a little fun along the way. That’s why we work!
So far, probably no disagreement! But what about the notion of work-life balance?
During my life and career, I have found it interesting to watch people’s attitudes toward work change over time. When my family was just starting, I had to work whatever jobs I could on top of my “day job” to help make ends meet. It wasn’t only limited to me – my wife worked as well. We both knew that we needed money to live – pay the bills, eat and hopefully save some for a rainy day (which always happens at the worst possible time). We both did what we had to do to take care of our kids, as they were the most important aspect of our life. Work-life balance wasn’t something we thought about. Usually Sunday mornings and early afternoons were when we had family time. During the rest of the week, it seemed we would see each other only in passing as we handed off kids and headed off in different directions.
Probably for most of the first five-to-seven years of our marriage, we never believed one job would be enough to support our family. I remember not only working full time as an aircraft mechanic (and taking all the overtime I could), but also having a part time job at the hardware store and bartending a few nights a week. My wife and I would work different shifts to make sure we covered the kids. It got more challenging when I went back to college. But for the most part, my wife and I accepted that lifestyle at that time as what we needed to do. I remember us talking about being tired, but we didn’t really complain much. We made the most of the time we had and enjoyed our time with our kids.
Today, I have chosen to work away from my family here in Maine with you. That’s a choice that I made that offers a terrible work-life balance, but this is an important mission to me.
So what role does the company play in establishing work-life balance? I believe the company is here to provide you with an opportunity to use your skills to earn a paycheck so that you can live your life outside of work. The company doesn’t owe you or me anything other than that. However, the company can offer you much more than a paycheck: personal and professional growth if you work hard, demonstrate your willingness to help the company succeed, take on additional responsibility and be a positive force within it. The growth can pay off in more opportunities, greater pay, and a sense of pride and accomplishment that you are contributing to a vital mission. Your employment – your career – is yours to manage, and what you want to get out of it is up to you to decide. The company doesn’t owe you a career, but you can build a great career working for a company like ours. You get out what you put in.
Work-life balance is personal and only you can determine what the right level of balance is for you and your family. I made those choices with my wife about what was right for our family. You have to do the same. It’s hard to manage your career and a family – and it always has been. But that doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice your career/job or your family or outside interests. Through my experiences as well as others, we have demonstrated that you can build a successful career and work while managing family obligations or personal interests and not “missing out.” Lots of people have already succeeded at it. You just need to figure out what works for you!
Finding a new job should be a last resort. All companies have the same basic function and owe you the same thing – pay for work provided. In a company like ours, you can find a new career path if the one you’re in doesn’t allow you to have the balance that you want. I encourage you to talk to a leader you trust here at BIW if work-life balance is something you are struggling with, and do so before you make a decision to leave.
See you on the deckplates!
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