Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 2: Today's tip is that when it comes to work life balance,
Speaker 2: flexibility matters more than ours.
Speaker 1: Being able to move.
Speaker 2: Work around on dimensions of time and place means you
Speaker 2: can work quite a few hours and still feel like
Speaker 2: you have a full personal life too. So here's a
Speaker 2: question to ponder. Let's say something interesting or cool in
Speaker 2: your personal life was happening at eleven am on a Wednesday.
Speaker 2: Maybe your elementary school age child is a performing in
Speaker 2: a school talent show. Or if you don't have kids,
Speaker 2: let's say it's your niece or your godson, but it
Speaker 2: is something very important.
Speaker 1: To the child. Would you be able to go? Would
Speaker 1: it be easy? If it weren't particularly easy, how much
Speaker 1: notice would you need? You will quickly see that the
Speaker 1: answer to this question doesn't necessarily depend on how many
Speaker 1: hours you work. Maybe you are a medical professional who
Speaker 1: works part time. Let's say three eight hour days per week,
Speaker 1: but you are normally doing patient procedures on Wednesdays, and
Speaker 1: these are scheduled three months ahead of time, so you
Speaker 1: really can't move them except for extreme emergencies. If the
Speaker 1: talent show came to your attention three weeks ahead of time,
Speaker 1: you probably wouldn't go. On the other hand, maybe you
Speaker 1: are a consultant who travels a lot and logs fifty
Speaker 1: plus hour work weeks, but you tend to decide where
Speaker 1: and when you are going on any given day, whether
Speaker 1: that is to visit a client, to work in your office,
Speaker 1: or work at home. Unless the CEO of your biggest
Speaker 1: client has asked for eleven am on that Wednesday, you
Speaker 1: could probably make it work. That scenario describes my husband,
Speaker 1: so he recently went to a special person's tea at
Speaker 1: our four year old's preschool at eleven am on a Wednesday,
Speaker 1: and then got on a train to go to Washington,
Speaker 1: d C. For a meeting immediately afterwards. In other words,
Speaker 1: it is possible that someone working part time hours wouldn't
Speaker 1: be able to go to something, but someone working more
Speaker 1: than full time hours would. It just depends on how
Speaker 1: much flexibility you have. This is important to realize because
Speaker 1: one of the most common questions I get from people
Speaker 1: who are trying to make work and life fit together
Speaker 1: is whether they should go part time. But if you
Speaker 1: have to work, set out in a set place.
Speaker 2: Going part time might not help as much as you want,
Speaker 2: because the things you want to do won't always happen
Speaker 2: during the hours that you are not working. Whereas, if
Speaker 2: you can set your hours and work from home when
Speaker 2: it makes sense to do so, you can work quite
Speaker 2: a few hours and still be able to do things
Speaker 2: during the traditional work day if you wish, that can
Speaker 2: make work at life balance just feel far more possible.
Speaker 2: There have been some studies finding that this distinction is
Speaker 2: true and does affect how people feel about work in life.
Speaker 2: Many years ago, before COVID made remote work a more
Speaker 2: common choice, there was a study done of a group
Speaker 2: of tech workers. Those who had to be in the
Speaker 2: office at certain times could only work thirty eight hours
Speaker 2: a week before a significant chunk of them experienced work
Speaker 2: life conflict. For those who could set their own hours
Speaker 2: and work from home when they wish to, that breakpoint
Speaker 2: was fifty seven hours a week before a significant chunk
Speaker 2: experienced work life conflict. In case you are doing the math,
Speaker 2: fifty seven hours is fifty percent more hours than thirty
Speaker 2: eight hours. We are talking an absolutely huge difference. Now,
Speaker 2: the point of the Before Breakfast podcast is to give
Speaker 2: useful tips you can put into your life, and I
Speaker 2: am not sure that this tip can immediately be put
Speaker 2: into practice. If your work involves being in a certain
Speaker 2: place at a certain time, then that is what it is.
Speaker 2: But if you are considering a new job, getting clear
Speaker 2: on how flexible it is might be a more important
Speaker 2: form of doute than seeing how many hours you will
Speaker 2: be logging. You might also consider jobs that seem to
Speaker 2: require longer hours but are very flexible. Ask if people
Speaker 2: regularly work from home, or if you are considering going
Speaker 2: part time in order to deal with complexities in your
Speaker 2: personal life. See if your organization might be open to
Speaker 2: your working far more flexibly instead. They might be happier
Speaker 2: to have that option than to see you work less,
Speaker 2: or you could find another organization that is more open
Speaker 2: to your talents. But in any case, these days there
Speaker 2: are a lot of full time and more than full
Speaker 2: time jobs where it is possible to do things in
Speaker 2: your personal life during the traditional work day. You might
Speaker 2: be able to make the pieces of work and life
Speaker 2: fit together better than you thought, so it's worth thinking
Speaker 2: about in the meantime. This is Laura, Thanks for listening,
Speaker 2: and here's to making the most of our time. Thanks
Speaker 2: for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas,
Speaker 2: or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura
Speaker 2: vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia.
Speaker 2: For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 2: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.