One of the hardest juggling acts in life is that of “work life balance”. This becomes even more difficult when you become a dad…

What does work-life balance mean?

The expression “work-life balance” was first used in the late 1970s to describe the balance between an individual’s work and personal life. Since then the pressures of work have become more intense partly due to the advances in information technology as well as the work environment becoming more competitive than ever before. Company loyalty and a culture of “corporate community” have in some cases taken precedence over life outside the workplace.

Work-life balance is all about combating the daily pressures of the rat-race and finding the time to enjoy life and enjoy the family that loves you.

Family friendly workplaces

Businesses increasingly want to be seen as family friendly as many strive to become the “Employer of Choice” in their field. As the mentality of potential recruits changes, businesses also need to adopt a new approach to ensure they get their fair share of the best recruits.

The hard part for someone looking for a job though is identifying which companies are family friendly. When considering your next step in the job market check out the policies and culture of the organization with regard to family matters prior to commencing employment.

Policies you may want to know about include:

• Flexible working
• Maternity & Paternity leave
• Home Working
• Is there a workplace nursery/childcare facility
• Flexibility if the need to take time off for family emergencies arise
• The option for a career break
• Leave policy and the availability of taking leave during the school holidays.
• Overtime policy. You may want to ask about the working time “norm”. You may be scheduled to finish at 5pm but it may be that no-one ever seems to leave work until after 6pm.

Finding the balance that suits you and your lifestyle

The importance of spending time with your family should not be lost as you try to move up the ladder of career success in an attempt to provide a better standard of living for your household.

Family should be number one on your priority list. At Superdads we certainly believe this to be the case and for us family always comes first.

There are many ways to improve your work-life balance but finding this balance really is an individual thing and may not prove all that easy. Everyone will have their own ideas as to what the ideal balance is but here are a few of our ideas to help you in achieving the right balance for you:

Working Hours:

Try and work hours that fit around your family life. For example, if you need to work extra hours why not go to work early rather than staying late every night?

Do you really need to spend long hours at work? Can you be more efficient in getting the job done avoiding nights in the office at 6 and 7pm? Also if something can wait until the next day – leave it until the next day. You have a family at home that is more important.

Is it possible to work form home? This will eliminate the travel time form both ends of the day meaning you are essentially available to your family immediately after you clock off.

What are the policies on flexible working that your employer operates? Can you work extra hours on one day to free up time on another day?

Don’t take work home with you. When you arrive home be there in spirit for your family as well as body. Arriving home with work to do is as good to your family as you staying at work.

Enjoy being with your family. Make time to enjoy the children and make time for your partner. Maybe you’ll need to stop going for the quick drink after work with your work-mates but it’s worth it.

Time management is the biggest part of improving your work-life balance. Here is our guide on how to improve your time management –

• Put your personal commitments onto a piece of paper in order of importance. You should include partner, children, relatives, friends, relaxation, hobbies/leisure activities.
• Now break your working day down into categories such as internal meetings, staff management, admin and so on. Make sure you cover all areas.
• Make a note of the time spent on each activity in point 2 ( include time outside working hours ).
• Consider for yourself whether you think you are you devoting too much time to work at the expense of your personal life? If you think you are then it’s time to do something about it so start by thinking about what your ideal work-life balance would be.
• Set realistic goals. Improved time-management might enable you to finish work an hour or two earlier or have the odd weekend or afternoon off here and there.
• How do you reduce your working week? Look at the breakdown of your working week and stop doing things that are a waste of your time for example, doing someone else’s job or taking extended lunch breaks. Rationalize your time and use it to the maximum benefit of the business and yourself.
• Make improvements on your day to day activities and habits. For example, stop checking for emails every half hour if three times a day is sufficient. In addition, go home on time more regularly. Once you get used to leaving work on time it will become the norm and you’ll feel comfortable doing so.
• Set yourself objectives every day. This will help you avoid being sidetracked. If you don’t get something done, put it on top of your list for the following day.
• Delegate tasks to others. This not only enables you to reduce your workload but will make your employees feel empowered. Make sure though that you give sufficient training for delegated tasks otherwise you’ll end up doing it yourself later on.
• Remember to take regular breaks. Frequent breaks will enable you to get more done in a shorter space of time than trying to work straight through without stopping.

If you have any ideas on how the work-life balance could be improved please post them into our forum or send us a message via the contact us page.

Author: SuperDads

We’re here to make a difference. Superdads not only offers advice but we are her e to promote the importance of fatherhood. Many people are oblivious to the fact that Dads really do matter and this is something we’d like to put right.

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