How To Manage Work-Life Balance: A Parent’s Guide to Success
The term work life balance gets thrown around an awful lot in the professional world. You’ll hear companies say, “We offer a great work life balance” and it sounds great. Who doesn’t want to balance their life and work. But if you keep saying the term long enough, the words sort of become…meaningless.
Here’s a news flash, if you’re an average American, you’re spending nearly one third of you’re life at work. That’s according to an article by Freshbooks.com which you can read here. If you aren’t great with math, that’s 33 percent of your life. 33 percent may not sound like a lot, but if I told you that you’d be getting punched in the face 33 percent of your life (which is the feeling many Americans have when going to work) I don’t think you’d sign up for that.
Many people love their jobs and love going to work every day, which is great, but once you hit the parenting stage in life, work for many parents takes a back seat to, well, life. If you haven’t before, having a child will make you think about the meaning of work life balance virtually every day. After the initial shock…I mean joy…of having a child, you realize that whatever work you’re currently doing, whether you love it or hate it, is going to have to balance itself around life pretty quickly.
The bad news is, no matter how many times you say the term work life balance, your work and life won’t magically balance itself out. (Are you sick of hearing the term yet? Don’t worry I won’t say it again, I promise.) So how in the world as a parent, can you actually have a meaningful career and a meaningful home life as an involved parent?
***This is a great reason to make sure you keep reading. We don’t want anyone to wind up like Jack Torrence who definitely did not have a good work-life balance. Also for those of you under the age of 30, that one machine thing was called a typewriter.
If that last video felt a little too morbid, don’t worry, I have some good news. I actually have some actionable ways that you can improve and maintain a work life balance. Don’t worry, it won’t be tips like “Have a positive attitude” or “take surveys online and get paid to do it.”
Listen up parents, because even if you can do one thing from this list, it’ll put you in a better place professionally and personally.
Work Remotely When You Can
A few years ago, this may not have been a possibility at your current job but since 2020, the workplace is well, a different place. Now I get it, if you’re someone who wants to be In the office every day because you love seeing people in the flesh then let me try and sell you on a couple points. No matter how old your child is, you are going to need to be available to them between the hours of 9am and 5pm or 8am to 6pm, however you want to slice it.
Unless you’re workplace is one or two minutes away from your home, taking your child to a doctor’s appointment when you have a 45 minute commute home is a stressful event. If you’re saying to yourself, I have someone to take them to the doctor and run errands and pick them up from school, there will still be many times you will need to be home before the normal workday ends. How about sports practices, games, piano lessons, parent teacher conferences. The bottom line is, if you want to be available to your child, working from home is the way to go.
How to do it: You may be completely on board with the remote work situation but unsure of how to approach getting that perk, here’s how to do it:
Make sure it’s an option for your current role.
If it is, speak with your Manager and ask for the opportunity to start out one day or one afternoon per week and gradually work to increase it if things are going well.
Offer to work a little bit longer (especially if you have a long commute because you would be in the car during that time anyway).
Flex Your Hours
v***A side note here, I always thought they were saying “Everybody’s working ON the weekend”. I was very confused as to why everyone was working on the weekend. Regardless, you shouldn’t be working on the weekend unless you’re doing something you love, you’ve flexed your hours, or you’re getting paid a lot of overtime.
This suggestion is aimed towards people who are in the office or on their worksite five days a week. As I said a little while ago, working 8am to 6pm or 9am to 5pm can be difficult when you have children regardless of their age. While there are some jobs that just aren’t flexible at all, many can be.
For the ones that are, you should be taking advantage of it. Maybe It’s working 10 hour days Monday through Wednesday and only working four on Thursday and Friday, or working a night shift instead of the day time shift. Whatever makes the most sense for your schedule, is hat you should go for.
Here’s How to Do It:
Make sure you are in good standing with the company. If you’ve been slacking for the past bunch of years and are not of value to the company, don’t try and make demands that the company has no reason to accommodate.
Outline a plan for your hours and how you will accomplish your work before you meet with your H
Do your homework and talk to people who have flexible work schedules and see how they do it and if it’s possible. If the company has been around for 50 years and you are the first person to ask for flexible hours, you may be in for an uphill battle.
Stay positive and remember to demonstrate how you are an asset to the company and how 1working a flexible schedule will increase your productivity.
Have a Plan for Scheduled Time Off
Whether you have two weeks off every year or six, taking time off from work is extremely important. Most jobs don’t let you carry that extra time over into the next year, and few will pay you for time you don’t take. So that means, if you don’t take your time off, you’ll lose it.
It’definitely difficult to manage your time off when there’s the uncertainty around children; sickness, school vacations, etc. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a plan though.
**No caption needed for this one.
Here’s How to Plan:
Allot a portion of your time for emergency situations, like sickness, school closings, etc.
Plan week vacations before or after company holidays. If your company shuts down for a week during Christmas, try and take the week before or after off as well. This will give you a relaxing two weeks off even though you’ll only have to take off one week.
It’s okay to take time for yourself. Plan a day off while the kids are in school to do something for yourself. Everyone needs to have some “me” time and planning a day or two for yourself is a great idea.
Following the advice outlined above is a great way to start improving your work life balance. If you’re still saying to yourself, well I’ve tried all of those things and my life is still balancing more towards work, here’s a couple quick things you can try that may help in the short term.
Take time during the day to eat lunch: This may sound obvious, but stuffing a Granola Bar and some gummy bears into your mouth while staring at the computer isn’t really a lunch. You don’t have to have a 6 course meal at Ruth’s Chris, but take some time to step away from your work and recharge yourself. If you already get a lunch break, make sure you take it. If you don’t, make some time, even if it’s 15 minutes away from your desk.
Take a walk: If you live in Alaska, Greenland, Iceland, or the North Pole (I’m looking at you Santa), it may be a little tougher to walk around outside if it’s freezing out, but if the weather is good in your area, a 10 or 15 minute walk is great for both your mental and physical health. Again, you don’t have to walk 12 miles or do anything too crazy, even standing outside and looking up at the sky (as long as it’s not raining) can give you the same feeling of leaving your work behind for a few minutes.
Block off your calendar for yourself: If you’re in meetings a lot during the day, make it a point during the week to block off some time to have a break. If you block time off on your calendar, most places will respect that. Use that time to catch up on work so you aren’t doing it late into the night, look at pictures of your children, or look at pictures of a beach in Hawaii. Whatever it is you do, use a little bit of time for yourself.
It’s extremely important for everyone to have a healthy work life balance, especially if you’re a parent. Having a job that you feel refreshed at will help you to have a home life that is a calmer and less stressful environment.
If you want to talk to someone about your work life balance, feel free to reach out to one of our expert Coaches and Career Strategists. Click here to find out about our Work Life Balance Coaching and how you can book a free call.
Do you have some work life balance strategies that work for you? Let us know. We’d love to hear.