Introduction Americans are always trying to live better than the next person, have more materialistic items, along with being seen as successful. People are creatures of habit and we always want to do better than the generation before us. But that has required the average person to work harder with longer hours. Education is essential, but to what level is it important? Having a bachelors degree used to be the norm, but as society changes and people’s perceptions change, one needs to at least one graduate degree with some specialized training or certifications. With more education, it can quickly changing the paths of how people are placed into managerial roles. With all that being said, when is one to have time for leisure activities, family, and relaxation? How do we fit all this into a day when work requires at least 8 hours of our time, not to mention some people who commute? Commuting can lead to additional time away from our daily life. When one thinks of work-life balance, one needs to determine what that means for them. Each person has an opinion of areas that are more and less important, but this is where it needs to fit the individual. “Work-Life Balance is not a problem to be solved. It is an issue to be managed,” according to Jim Bird, CEO of Worklifebalance.com (Bird, n.d.). The best way for companies to assist the employee achieve a work-life balance is through work-life training programs. Success at work is just a portion of work-life balance.
Thirty-eight percent of Americans report some tension between their work and home lives. Today’s highly publicized work/life balance conflicts are multiple, and their nature differs significantly depending on the jobs individuals have and on their family situations. Tensions between work and family life clearly have implications for the well-being of individuals and their children and ramifications for society in general. Yet because the personal needs, desires, motivations, and economic circumstances of Americans are so varied, there appears to be no single way to resolve these tensions, no universal best practices with regard to work/life balance. For example,
We’ve looked at work from many different views in this class. From the bottom in Mike Roses book, Mind at Work which looks at the, on the jobsite skills and intelligence needed in the work force. Along with the way our society and education play a role in that. And then there was the middle working class view by journalist and author Barbara Ehreinch and her book Nickel and Dimed, which saw a middle class person look at the low wage lifestyle of Americans, and her failed attempt to live off wages. It ended up very one sided and controversial since it was a wealthier person trying to look in on a subject they could never understand. But one thing that I never really felt or saw either one really look at is the connection between work and life balance they only looked at the different aspects of work and those factors. But I feel there was a factor left out and it is life, family, personal aspects.
Therefore, the work schedule of the majority of Americans is greatly time-consuming and restrictive in how their life is like. Employment is restrictive in the sense that it doesn’t allow for much free time for Americans to do things in their life how they would like. Hochschild states, “But without overstating the case, it seems true that capitalism is a cultural as well as an economic system and that the symbols and rituals of this cultural system compete with, however much they seem to serve, the symbols and rituals of community and family.” (Hochschild 187) Most Americans are employed around capitalistic ideas of efficiency. Employers require employees to commit long hours, days, and years of their life to working for them. Employers also seek maximum efficiency in the time that employees are working. This commitment that employees make to their employment takes away from things that they value as mentioned by Hochschild. Unfortunately, Americans are forced to deal with this because they want to establish economic stability for themselves. Furthermore, the work life of
A respectable college education gives people the advantage to lead themselves in any direction they want to proceed in life. College is a time that students can truly become individuals. They have the opportunity to become more independent and to take on new responsibilities. The bonuses of a college education include more self-confidence, greater economic stability and security, and it makes you a major contributor to the greatest nation on earth.
All high schoolers face the same daunting problem. What they are going to do with their lives. A choice made as an 18 year old, determines future paths for the rest of their lives. Recently the subject of going to college and getting a four year degree has become very controversial. HIgh school students are choosing other alternatives, such as trade school, community college, or even not getting any further education at all. However even with many other options, going to college and getting a bachelor's degree is valuable for everyone.
The United States is commonly known as “No-Vacation Nation” (Thompson, 2012) because Americans typically prioritize work over studies and family. (1)Although people in America take fewer vacations than any nation in the world, socioeconomics may be a reason for why employees focus more on work than research and relationships in the American culture. "There is simply no evidence that working people to death gives you a competitive advantage" (Pawlowski, 2011). (2)As a citizen of the United States and one who has often fallen prey to these ideals, the trend to overwork has been an affliction to overcome. Family and scholarly efforts have been sacrificed, but over the past year or two, I have made a conscious effort to alter my “live to work”
A healthy work/life balance to me means that I am meeting my goals and fulfilling my commitments to the people in those realms of my life. For example, if I am able to, in the time and resources I am given, be able to spend time with friends while being able to pay my bills while meeting my objectives at work; that to me is a successful balance.
Ha! Who would?ve thought that I of all people would be blogging about work life balance. I constantly feel as though I have a million things on my plate and that I?m struggling to keep up. Through my participation in clubs, work, and school, my mind is constantly worrying about something. My go-go-go mentality has been like this for about a year now, and I need a change ASAP. It?s to the point where I?m sacrificing my own mental sanity for my jobs and schoolwork.
Work, it seems like a insignificant part of our day, you clock in then clock out. But on average, Americans work 43 hours per week out of a total of 120 hours, take out the recommended sleep time and we work 43 out of 80 total hours. That means we work more than half the time in our daily lives. most americans believe in The American Dream. that means employees believe in working that much time for the chance of being rich, having expensive things and being successful. the problem with that is the The American Dream is getting less and less possible each and every day.
Ms. Isabel Rimanoczy made great points in this article. Though some may view her as a work body, she and I share a mutual understanding when it comes to work-life balance. Ms. Rimanoczy is not buying the idea that there is some sort of balance between the two aspects of our lives. “Work-life balance is dead” and it may be a good thing” (Rimanoczy, 2015). I agree with her statement because if anyone takes the time to think about it, they will soon come to terms with the idea that it really becomes impossible to separate work and personal life. Some of us grow up with moral values, standards, and family traditions carried on through religious beliefs. When we go to work we will bring along our character because our personal life defines us as
Understanding this fact is critical in understanding how true work-life balance can benefit not just the employees but the company as well. When employees are in better control of their lives, are motivated and are able to manage stress better, the attendant productivity will ultimately, positively affect the organization within which these employees work. Achieving optimal work-life balance is critical to job satisfaction. Job satisfaction is the degree to which people enjoy their work. (Spector 1997). Singh 2013 identifies that job satisfaction reflects how well an individual is happy with various aspects of his job to which work-life balance is an aspect. The following factors make up a Work life Balance plan that should be implemented by the Jones Bank of Canada and caters to the varying needs of Baby boomers, Generation X and Millennials.
Nursing education has progressed throughout history from one of uneducated lay persons to the current standards we know today. As the career has progressed it has become apparent that there is a need for a skilled labor forced trained to deal with the sick and dying, “the provision of nursing care by American women…demonstrated the effectiveness of skilled nursing on improving outcomes for sick and injured soldiers” (Creasia & Friberg, 2011, p. 4). However, as the career progresses so does the need for more specialized training amongst nurses to help them deal with the changing atmosphere of patient care. The future
Liberal Arts are academic subjects such as literature, philosophy, mathematics, and social and physical sciences as distinct from professional and technical subjects. This approach to education provides students with specialized ability in a chosen major as well as builds a foundation of skills and knowledge that can be applied among many career paths and academic pursuits. Employers value the ability to solve problems, adapt to change, work across disciplines, and collaborate with others, which are distinctive tenants acquired when you pursue a major in liberal arts. Clearly, all successful careers require critical thinking, teamwork, sensitivity to cultural, demographic, economic and societal differences and political perspectives. A
After high school, a choice that many students have to make is whether to go to college or not. There are many factors that go into one’s decision. There are pros and cons to going to college and also there are pros and cons for not going to college. But the decision that will give someone the better opportunity to have a more successful life is to go to college. The money that one will earn after getting a college degree will be more than the money a person will make without getting a college degree. As our society has continued to evolve, education has become the optimal route to professional success: pursuing a degree is the best way to receive training, to gain expertise in a given field, and even to guide you and help you make choices
A healthy work-life balance has many benefits including better general health for the employees, higher job satisfaction, reduced stress in both the professional and personal life and greater focus on meeting the work objectives.