Work and family life balance is the link between employment and other essential things in life, such as your family, sports and social life, domestic tasks and volunteer obligations.
The most precious present a person can give to their spouse and family is uninterrupted time because it is the memories we make that matter most at the end of the day.
In addition, individuals tend to have the mental and emotional energy to give their children the loving attention they need to develop, learn, and flourish if they have a solid work-life balance. As a result, it is crucial to balance your responsibilities, prioritise your spouse, and schedule time for your children.
So, how then can an individual achieve a work-life balance with the current economic situation?
To balance work and life relationships, one must first understand to make balance a priority. It is crucial to make it a priority to set a balance between work and family life. Making it a point of duty will allow you to reorganise and plan yourself to achieve the goal. The modern-day system has almost brought into extinction the existence of communal living, which helps ease some stress from nursing mothers.
However, working and nursing mothers can adopt a modern approach by employing the service of homemakers, the market runs personnel, dry cleaners, etc., to help handle some house chores to effectively and efficiently balance work and family life.
Also, communication is another way of achieving a work-life balance. It is essential to communicate your activities at work and within the family with your family members. This will give them an understanding of your task and how it can be efficiently managed and carried out to achieve a good result. Good communication with family members can also spur quality suggestions to speed up the realisation of your home and office goals.
In addition, individuals must keep an eye on the speed limit. Speed is valued in the workplace because it boosts productivity. On the other hand, the house does not share this fondness. Families thrive on love and communication rather than speed and production. So, to balance work and family life, leave your fast-paced mindset at work and relax with your family at home.
Another critical way to achieve balance is to set boundaries. Individuals must set limits to avoid interference of work activities on family or leisure time and encroachment of leisure time during working hours. Boundaries distinguish between protecting your work from family distractions and protecting your family from work duties.
It is easy to tell when your actions are not in the best interests of one element of your life when you have clear boundaries. For instance, receiving phone calls related to work during dinner can be avoided if appropriate limits are set and put in place.
Likewise, it is essential to estimate the cost. The notion of “opportunity cost” states that every time we spend time, money, or energy on anything, we forfeit the chance to spend that time, money, or energy on something else.
A sustainable work/family balance implies that we prioritise our opportunity costs in favour of the most critical priorities and consider the consequences of actions when making decisions at work.
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Furthermore, individuals must accept that balancing may not always be attainable. During the quest to strike a work-family balance, there will always be occasions when individuals must choose between work and family. It is impossible to always hit the right balance in life.
For instance, when a family member needs medical attention, one may take time off work to attend to such needs. Also, when there is a task in the office that requires urgent completion, there may be a need to take time meant for family duties to complete such a task.
Finally, take care of your home. This may be a wake-up call to slow down, cultivate biblical contentment, and spend more time at home if we provide the least time to the people we cherish most. It is crucial to prioritise the home because work will not love us back as much as we have devoted enough time to it before the downtimes.
As a matter of fact, an employer who values productivity will look for an agile person to replace the work you were doing during the downtimes, leaving you to your cross. When you pass away, your coworkers won’t be there to see you, but your children might. Thus, the family will stand by you at the trying times, and as such, they are too vital and fragile to exist on leftovers.
In conclusion, there is nothing wrong with working hard to advance, but one must not lose sight of the important things and people that indeed count. So, when a person can satisfy family obligations while also performing professional tasks, they have found a work-life balance.
Busayo Aderounmu is an economist and researcher.
