Three Reasons to Let Go of Work This Weekend

iStock_000015121523XSmallBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

According to a new article published in the academic journal Current Directions in Psychological Science, work-related stress can follow you home, impacting your emotional and physical health, as well as impairing your ability to do a good job when you’re actually in the office. But, the author says, you can avoid these negative effects of workplace stress by switching off.

“In the fast-paced 24/7 economy, many people are constantly busy and find it increasingly difficult to unwind and relax,” writes Sabine Sonnentag of the University of Mannheim. “Being continuously occupied with job-related issues without mentally disengaging from time to time might seem necessary for employees in many organizations, but it can have negative side effects.”

According to Sonnentag, detaching means turning off your Blackberry, not logging into your email, and forgetting about conflicts with coworkers. This can be difficult for high achievers, but, many studies suggest you’ll be happier and better at your job if you learn to silence the work worry-wart inside your mind. Here are three reasons to let go of work this weekend.

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The New Debate Over ‘Having It All’

Breakfast RoutineBy Robin Madell (San Francisco)

The cover story of this month’s issue of The Atlantic, “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All,” went viral in the first week after its publication. In the controversial article, Princeton University professor and former high-level State Department official Anne-Marie Slaughter reignites a decades-old debate about whether women can have both a successful career and a family.

Slaughter asks if women of her own demographic—“highly educated, well-off women who are privileged enough to have choices in the first place”—can successfully “have it all” as both parents and professionals. The author’s premise is that “the women who have managed to be both mothers and top professionals are superhuman, rich, or self-employed.” In other words, the article suggests that the answer to the often-asked question, “Can women have it all?” is a clear “No” for most women under normal circumstances.

The explosion of media response to this story reveals what women in every position and life situation already knew: that the “having it all” debate is far from over. The Glass Hammer surveyed some of the varied responses to the story to bring you up to speed on the issues.

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Work Life Balance in the View of an Executive Recruiter – and a Therapist

Cute business woman with colleagues in the backgroundBy Joshua M. Patton (Pittsburgh, PA)

Like true love, clean energy, and world peace, the notion of a perfect balance between work and life is a wonderful idea, but one that seems elusive and impractical.

As Michelle Clayman, Founder, Managing Partner, and Chief Investment Officer of New Amsterdam Partners once told The Glass Hammer, “The idea of balance implies that perfection is possible. You’re insane if you think perfection is possible. It’s about what trade-offs you are willing to live with.”

Even on the best days, you can feel like simply a cog in a great machine, and without all the cogs the machine ceases to function.  In today’s corporate world, dedication and loyalty matter a great deal, until they don’t.  Unlike thirty years ago, workers change companies and even careers an average of three times in their lives, according to a 2006 survey conducted by New York University’s School of Continuing and Professional studies.  So why, when it seems as if high performing professionals are able to hop jobs, looking for the next big role, is it more difficult than ever to establish what feels like work/life balance?

Since the great barons of business like Rockefeller and Carnegie faced uprisings with their employees, working conditions in the United States improved over time. Workplaces became more diverse, employees gained more benefits, and the American Dream seemed to be within the reach of anyone who wanted to work for it.

When this changed it is hard to say, but the change was gradual. Perhaps, employees stopped getting raises, sacrificing those and other benefits, so they could wear jeans on Fridays. Things are tough in the economy, and businesses have focused more tightly on the bottom line – and to many, there seems to be no place for a personal life in any of it.  Yet, all hope is not lost. Therapists and corporate recruiters alike recognize the dangers of the overworked, over-stressed employee or executive. How can you better manage your personal work life balance in this economic environment? Here’s what an executive recruiter – and a therapist – advise.

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Professional Duos Make Dual Careers Work at PwC

iStock_000019460231XSmallBy Robin Madell, San Francisco

Dual-career couples represent a large and growing segment of the international workforce. A 2011 study by the SPE Talent Council, which reported results from 93 countries, suggests that dual-career couples comprise about half of the workforce globally.

According to a 2012 Catalyst study, nearly 60 percent of married couples with children in the United States were dual-career couples in 2011. A recent article published by the American Counseling Association (ACA) reports that the number within major U.S. corporations may be as high as 70 percent, and notes that earlier research has predicted that the percentage may climb to 80 percent in the next decade.

In addition to these percentages reported for heterosexual married couples, there are also many gay and lesbian working couples in the mix. The ACA article noted that the number of gay and lesbian dual-career couples is expected to increase along with straight couples. The article also pointed out that gay and lesbian dual-career couples “share common relationship and career experiences with dual-career heterosexual couples, such as time management, multiple roles, and division of labor.”

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Addressing Work-Life Challenges in Asia

iStock_000006074898XSmallBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

According to the latest report by Catalyst, work-life fit is a key issue in Asia – for women and men. In fact, the research – which polled almost 2,000 high potential employees of US or European multinationals working in Asia – revealed that 89% of women and 91% of men said work-life fit was “very important” to them.

On the other hand, only about half of respondents said work-life fit was “easy.”

As companies become more global, Catalyst says, they need to begin devising work-life strategies that work in the context of local cultures. The authors, Laura Sabattini and Nancy M. Carter, explain, “As with other workplace strategies, implementing work-life programs requires the thoughtful integration of a global approach and local customs to ensure the strategies make sense in employees’ day-to-day lives.”

While men and women reported similar views toward work-life fit in the research, the authors believe that the issue is more salient for those companies looking to get the competitive edge by attracting and retaining more women. They write, “Hiring skilled women can provide a competitive advantage for global companies, especially in countries such as India and China, where women’s economic and workforce participation is on the rise.”

They add, “Global enterprises have the potential to influence employment practices–across both borders and continents, creating work environments that foster greater consideration of employees’ unique work-life challenges and that are more inclusive of women.”

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Day-to-Day Flexibility Increases, While Career Flex Drops

Businesswoman using smart phoneBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

According to the latest study [PDF] by the Families and Work Institute and the Society for Human Resource Management, flexible working options are becoming more common. On the other hand, it’s becoming more difficult for individuals who make significant changes – like taking a break from work for family responsibilities – to get back into the workforce at the same rate as a few years ago.

For example, while the use of flex time, working from home, or taking time off during the day have all increased since the last survey was performed in 2005, more extensive changes in how people work have decreased. The ability to “return to work gradually after childbirth or adoption,” “take a career break,” or “move between part time and full time work,” have all decreased since 2005.

Day-to-day, the need for more flexibility is clear – today we are seeing increased workloads and busier workers, who are often part of dual-career families. New technology is cutting the physical ties that bind people to the office. And companies are recognizing that.

On the other hand, companies do not seem to be acknowledging the importance of retaining long-term, experienced employees who may need to decrease their work-schedule for a more extended amount of time due to personal pulls. Because women disproportionately take extended leaves of absence or shift between full and part time, this new data suggests that companies may face challenges keeping the pipeline of talented women flowing to the top.

Research shows that when companies refuse to work with women based on their long-term flexibility needs, they leave the workforce altogether. And that’s bad for families, communities, and companies.

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Is the Opt Out Myth Officially Defeated?

iStock_000006262297XSmallBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Recently Pew Research released the results of a new study showing that career aspirations are increasing in women. According to the research, the importance women aged 18-34 placed on career aspiration increased by 10% between 1997 and 2011. Not only that, the importance of career aspirations to men aged 18-24 only increased by 1%. In fact, the study showed, more young women (66%) than men (59%) named “being successful in a high paying career or profession” as very important or one of the most important things to them.

And it’s not just young women. The importance of a high paying career to women aged 35 to 64 also rose significantly in the same time period – from 26% to 42%. That’s an even bigger leap than for younger women. Men of the same age group only saw a 2% increase in the importance of a high paying career.

The ambition gap is officially closed. But what’s really surprising is how much more quickly women’s ambition seems to be growing. Will companies be able to keep up with women’s soaring career goals? And now that we can clearly see that the importance women place on their career is equal to (surpassing, even) men at every age, can we finally lay the opt-out myth to rest?

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STEM Fields: Something’s Gotta Give

iStock_000017448696XSmallBy Tina Vasquez (Los Angeles)

We hear it all the time: why are women still so underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematical (STEM) fields? There are scientific fields in which women are plentiful, such as medicine, and though it’s true that women remain grossly under-represented in engineering and computing, things are changing – perhaps more rapidly than we’ve been led to believe.

The Why So Few? report released by the American Association of University Women (AAUW) found that at the top level of math abilities, where boys are overrepresented, the gender gap is rapidly shrinking. Among sixth and seventh graders who score more than 700 on the math SAT, 30 years ago boys outnumbered girls 13 to one, but only about three to one now.

Plus, women, who aren’t socialized to pursue careers in STEM fields, must sometimes combat outright discrimination if they do pursue careers in these fields. That was made especially clear when Harvard’s former president and the current director of the National Economic Council for the Obama administration, Lawrence H. Summers, made some highly offensive remarks several years ago, implying that women might lack an intrinsic aptitude for math and science – which we know is not true.

It’s offensive that women’s abilities are still being called into question, requiring scientific tests to prove they’re just as capable of excelling in fields and subjects historically dominated by men. This discriminatory attitude lives on the culture of STEM – and it’s embarrassing that it continues today. But discrimination is only part of the problem when it comes to the lack of women in these fields. The other half the equation, according to a new study by the Association of Women in Science (AWIS), is the work life challenges associated with careers in STEM.

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How Do You Measure Work/Life Balance?

iStock_000003367609XSmallBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

According to a recent study released by the Future of Children (a research collaboration between Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and the Brookings Institution), state programs intended to ease work/life balance challenges do not put undue strain on economies.

Taking a macro view of work/life issues, the study compares competitiveness and unemployment data from the International Labour Organization, the World Economic Forum, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and other sources to determine if countries that offer safety net programs like paid parental leave or guaranteed time off for breast feeding were worse off economically.

And, it found, no – state programs designed to better facilitate work/life balance did not put extra stress on an economic system. The study said:

“…an examination of the most competitive economies as well as the economies with low unemployment rates makes clear that ensuring that all parents are available to care for their children’s healthy development does not preclude a country from being highly competitive economically.”

This is good news for people living in countries that guarantee these kinds of programs – the research shows that, even through the recession, these particular policies have not caused the most competitive economies to suffer. Perhaps this will encourage laggard states (we’re looking at you, US) to adopt policies that ensure families have better health and wellness opportunities. But in taking a macro look at work/life balance, the study doesn’t really cover the fact that childcare is only a small slice of the work/life pie.

Work/life balance (integration, effectiveness, fit, etc.) isn’t only about childcare, or elder care, or caretaking in general. It’s also about self-respect, mental and emotional health, physical health, productivity, and living the life you want to live – whether that means grabbing a 15-minute manicure in between board committee meetings, baking PTA cupcakes while on a call with the Beijing office, or spending the weekend hiking in the Adirondacks.

It’s personal. And that means work/life balance at the micro level is a much harder quality to measure.

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Does Work/Life Balance Mean Sacrifice?

iStock_000008507186XSmallBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

According to a new study by Accenture, work life balance is becoming the norm. The survey polled almost 4000 male and female executives in 31 countries around the globe, and almost three quarters of respondents (71%) said they have work life balance all or most of the time.

“It was higher than I expected,” said Nellie Borrero, Diversity and Inclusion lead at Accenture. “Several years ago, we may have seen a different answer.”

Nevertheless, the survey, entitled “The Path Forward,” revealed some challenging data. Despite the high percentage of executives who said they had work/life balance, 41% said their career had had a negative impact on their family. In addition, 42% said they often sacrifice time with their family to succeed.

The survey might show that work/life balance is taking on a new understanding – an acknowledgement that ‘having it all’ is not a reality. Balance means there are always going to be sacrifices when it comes to work and family, and that making those sacrifices is okay.

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