Work Life Balance
by Sarah
Once again Alan Sugar has caused controversy with his comments about the single mum on his show who was missing her daughter and home sick. He said work and the business have to come first, which of course many employers would agree with just before he sacked her. The Apprentice as I understand it (whilst not an avid viewer myself) means that contestants have to stay away from home for the duration of the show and have little contact with their families. As previous winner Tim said this morning on the BBC breakfast couch he had to have short-term pain for a long term gain goal.
For some people this is not so short term and people (traditionally women) have to juggle work and home life on a daily basis. The million dollar question is how do you strike the perfect work/life balance? Nobody seems to have the answer to this question. People say the child’s early years are the most important but this can apply equally if you are setting up in business. Those with senior roles or owner managers also have the increased stress that goes with the long hours culture. Media images bombard us with mothers like Angelina Jolie who have careers, happy marraige, lovely home and many children. They appear to have it all. What we don’t see however is the reality that she probably has a team of people nannies, cooks, cleaners, gardeners etc etc running the show behind the scenes. This all comes with the superstar lifestyle but for us ordinary working folk this is not reality nor a possibility.
So can we really have it all? Successful career, family, health, happy marriage/partnership and perfect home. I think not! We can have degrees of a bit of everything but in reality nothing is perfect, you cannot have it all and something has got to give.
Research has shown that many of us at one time or another in our lives will want to work flexibly which is part of the Government’s long term plan to give us all (regardless of family circumstances) the right to request to work flexibly. This is likely to be our right within the next few years but will it work and bring us more of a work/life balance - what do you think?
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