I-JUST-THOUGHT-THIS-WAS-INTERESTING DEPT
No matter how you're connected to the network of people associated with Moebius Syndrome, many of us share something in common--we work. We have jobs. And I can tell from all of our conversations and the snippets we gain from our lives that all of us struggle with something simple--that work/life balance. How do we find that right balance? I found a story the other day that speaks to this--maybe you'll find it interesting, too. Read on:
That “work-life” balance thing we keep hearing so much about?
More than 39 percent of employees worldwide say they haven’t got it, according to newly released research from Hay Group, a global management consulting firm.
Not surprisingly, this dissatisfaction leads to high employee turnover.
“Organizations across the globe continue to ask their employees to
‘do more with less,’ leading to increasing dissatisfaction with
work-life balance,” said Mark Royal, senior principal at Hay Group Insight, and co-author of “The Enemy of Engagement,” a book about workplace frustration and productivity.
The research, which is updated annually, was culled from responses
from more than 5 million employees in more than 400 companies across 65
countries.
Some of the findings are surprising. For example, Central America
ranks highest in work-life balance, with 70 percent of employees saying
their companies support them in achieving a reasonable balance between
work and personal life. North America is second (65 percent), followed
by eastern Asia (63 percent), Latin America and the Caribbean (63
percent), and Southern Asia (62 percent).
Interestingly, only 44 percent of employees in Western Europe — the
stereotypical epicenter of harmonious existences — said their companies
support them in achieving a reasonable work-life balance, an 11
percentage point drop from 2011. That’s compared to 56 percent of
employees in Eastern Europe. The United Kingdom fell in the middle,
while Africa and the Middle East report the bleakest perceptions.
And though many companies believe that telecommuting or allowing employees to work flexible hours are sufficient, they’re not.
“Providing people with flexibility over where and when they work can
be a part of dealing with work life balance concerns, but our message is
that while they might be of help, they’re not addressing the
fundamental concerns,” he said. “For too many of today’s workers there
is simply too much work and not enough time.”
The numbers back up his assertions: More than one in four (27
percent) of dissatisfied employees plans to leave their companies within
the next two years, he said.
To retain them, Royal believes that companies must approach the
work-life balance issue as a “challenge to enhancing productivity.”
“Organizations need to think about broader solutions,” he told ABC News.
“The solution has to extend to helping people work smarter as well as
harder. If organizations can help employees be more efficient while they
are at work, they reduce the likelihood that work demands will spill
out over the work day and crowd out time to attend to personal
responsibilities.”
"There are no such things as limits to growth, because there are no limits on the human capacity for intelligence, imagination and wonder."--Ronald Reagan
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