Why we Should Stop Talking About Work-life Balance

Kate O’Brien and Liz Erskine argue that instead of focusing on balancing our work and private lives, we should target a sustainable energy budget

WHETHER you manage a large organisation or simply your own career, work-life balance is a defining challenge of the modern world. Changes in family structures, greater workforce participation by women and 24/7 access to the workplace have placed the world of work on a collision course with our private lives. Younger generations are pushing back, voting with their feet to prioritise wellbeing. As a result, work-life balance is now a critical issue in recruiting and retaining high quality staff, and hence a priority for organisations worldwide.

But what if seeking work-life balance, for yourself or your organisation, is looking in the wrong direction? Here we propose a shift, from the simplistic model of work-life balance to a thermodynamic approach: constructing a sustainable long-term energy budget. 

We live our lives at work AND at home

The image of a set of scales, where we carefully adjust our hours at work with our commitments outside of work until they perfectly balance is conceptually simple, but has major flaws.

The idea that “life” only happens outside of work, in direct competition to what we do at work, is as problematic as the assumption that meaning in life is derived solely from paid work. The Apple TV+ series Severance takes this to a grim extreme, attaining perfect work-life balance by severing employees’ consciousness into an “Innie”, who exists entirely in the workplace, and a corresponding “Outie”, who only experiences the world outside work. In effect it creates two separate entities, with no shared memories or experiences. 

This dystopian vision reminds us that our lives are not put on hold when we go to work. We learn and grow, and many of us make friends and even meet our partners in the workplace. Therefore, for the remainder of this article, the term “home” refers to activities outside of work, on the basis that life happens at work and at home.   

Our lives at work and home are multidimensional, and never static

The second issue with the balance metaphor is that it is too simple, because at work and home we are constantly balancing multiple demands on our time and energy, ranging from short-term urgent operational issues through to long-term strategic decisions.

Each day at work, most of us juggle a variety of tasks requiring different degrees of attention, action and consultation. Even when things are running smoothly, disruption can occur at any time. Meanwhile, non-urgent tasks, such as building and maintaining relationships, planning or upskilling, may seem like “optional extras”, but underpin the safe, effective and sustainable functioning of workplaces.

Similarly, home life also involves allocating finite time and energy to multiple often-conflicting priorities. The needs of our partners, children, pets or ageing parents may compete with the desire for rest and relaxation, or for exercise and social connection. Just as in the workplace, unexpected shocks (a sick child, a plumbing failure) can arise at any time, and there is a need to prioritise long-term wellbeing and relationships, rather than postpone to that mythical future “when I have more time”. 

Therefore, rather than a tidy balance on a set of scales, our work-home interactions are more like a sailor constantly adjusting their sails and course to short and long-term weather conditions. Or the control room of an industrial plant, where small changes in one part of the process require manipulation of other parameters to keep things running smoothly!