Maura Thomas is a writer, renowned international speaker and business trainer who specializes in individual and corporate productivity. The author of six business management books, she knows the intricacies of the work-life balance and workplace boundaries, and their changing definitions, as well as any authority.
The terms, used for decades, are the result of increasing challenges of business. Their extremes range from the idea of being “always on” to excessive meetings and constant workplace distractions to changing workplace boundaries. The issues can cause increased pressure, stress and burnout and affect businesses across industries.
“Instead of being a buzzword that is vague and open to interpretation, leaders need to provide for their team members a definition of work-life balance that is relevant to the current business environment,” says Thomas, who consults with companies nationwide. “Then this clarity can serve as a guidepost to employers and employees alike. It can be useful in crafting policies, attracting and keeping talent and, if adopted as a company value, can guide employee behavior at all [levels]. Time away from work also allows the opportunity to engage in activities that stimulate creativity — travel, dining, conversation, books, movies, hobbies.”
Businesses in Southwest Florida aren’t immune to the changing landscape. Patrick (PJ) Bimonte, a member of the board of directors of the American Heart Association in Estero and a longtime business manager, agreed that the work-life environment has changed notably, particularly since COVID-19.
“As a leader, I personally think setting boundaries on work time is very important,” Bimonte says. “But I say, ‘I will not call you after work, but if I do it is going to be because it’s important.’ If everything is a No. 1 priority, nothing is a No. 1 priority. I think if you don’t do that, you lose your sense of the ability to prioritize.”
Thomas offers two common but limiting definitions of work-life balance. It’s the “convenience of being able to manage a personal life during the work day, without the hassle of having to get permission or explain our activities to others.” Another common definition of work-life balance is “equal time or priority to personal and professional activities.”
The owner of Regain Your Time in Austin, Texas, Thomas says the definitions “have weaknesses that are preventing work-life balance from being the solution it should be.”
Better definitions in the changing work environment, particularly in the evolving hybrid work environment in the aftermath of COVID-19, are “work-life integration” and “work-life blending.” The terms, Thomas said, better define the combination of the freedom and convenience on the workplace. They also adequately describe the allocation of time to work vs. non-work.
“In our digital age, it’s all too easy to message employees outside business hours, or even when they’re on vacation,” she says. “And employees feel increasing pressure to respond to messages from the dinner table, the kids’ soccer game — even from bed in the middle of the night! These behaviors sound to me like ‘work-life integration,’ illustrating why this isn’t a useful term. They create a downward spiral in your culture and promote burnout.”
Thomas stressed three components critical to optimal knowledge work: physical well-being, emotional well-being and creativity. A work week of 38 to 45 hours is optimal.
Daniel Berger, author of the recently released book The Quest: The Definitive Guide to Finding Belonging, prefers the term “work-life integration” to “work-life balance.” The Boise, Idaho-based entrepreneur believes the latter doesn’t take into consideration that collectively the workforce spends about 25% of its time working.
“Work-life integration is more about how to integrate whatever you do into your life and vice-versa,” says Berger. “Especially into a post-COVID-19 world where people have their own schedules, usually working hybrid or remote.
“The first thing we have to talk about is the marriage between work and life, that’s the sort of refrain that needs to take place. The second thing I think is that employers need to decide whether they want to have the kind of culture that everyone is always committed and always ‘on’ or a culture where they really respect boundaries between the individual and the workplace.”
Berger cited the recent ouster of Laxman Narasimhan, the former CEO of Starbucks, who also had tenures as CEO of PepsiCo and Reckitt and spent nearly 20 years in management at McKinsey & Company. Narasimhan was known for his work-life philosophy that included not working after 6 p.m.
The unique approach was embraced by many. But it was also viewed as not conducive to success, particularly for a brand of Starbucks’ global prominence.
“I don’t think the workplace is a place where we can find belonging,” Berger says. “But what I do think is that the workplace is a place where we can launch belonging. What I mean by that is that workplace is a place where we can meet friends. We can meet romantic partnerships. We can work together as teams and feel a sense of togetherness.
“But we can’t have those expectations, and if we do, we are really missing a sense of well-being in our own lives. In other words, we have to belong outside the workplace before we can think about belonging inside the workplace.”