Work Life Balance

[Yahwe]

These are three words which pop up a lot in my job. Everybody seems concerned with them.

David Cameron has come out in support of them.

I see 3 sides to the argument:

The government: Longterm the government wants maximum taxes and that means as hard-a-working workforce as possible. Short-term the gov. wants to seem soft and sweet so it wins votes.

The Employer: max profits v. need to retain workforce

But at the end of the day what surely matters is the willingness of the workforce to vote with it's feet. All too few people chose to actually have fewer hours for less cash.

You all complain about work/life balance but none of you are committed to it: offer you and extra £2,000 to carry on the same job and you'll sell your own babies!

Perhaps this is why the retirement age being raised to 68 is such an unimportant topic. Why we have known for the last 30 years that we have far fewer public holidays than the rest of Europe yet do nothing about it. Essentially people prefer to be bullied and treated badly.

[lokken]

Work Life balance is a myth, as the minute you try it your employer looks at you with a glum face and you miss out on progressing further. I am under the impression that many people work beyond their contracted hours because they feel they have to. You can't afford to work just to your contract.

If someone gave me assurances that it wouldn't affect me in any way to have this 'work life balance' then I'm sure I would jump at the chance. The way I see it employers don't give a shit about our "work life balance" simply because there are various expectations and criteria for progression in a career that go dead straight against it.

I have no problem with working til 68. It gives me something to do.

[Tomkat]

Doesn't affect me - I get a better pension package than most people (I think only the police have a better deal) - I'm already on it as I didn't opt-out - and if things go as they are now, I'll be retiring at 60

[meglamaniac]

Teachers do indeed get nice benefits.
My Dad was a social worker until he retired - early, at 60. He was able to do so due to the much better benefits package you get working for the public service sector. He still does some "freelance" social work and marks exams for one of the local colleges on related matters, which isn't bad I guess.

[dda]

Most people do make work/life choices.

They decide to work longer hours as they feel that the extra money will allow them to enjoy additional things and increase the quality of their leisure time.

Some people don't really want to relax and enjoy working, no matter how much they may bitch about it.

Many people feel very badly when they retire. They feel that they have lost their identity because of their lack of employment. They lose self-esteem.

Speaking from the other end of a career than most of you, I have constantly made balancing decisions. This is one of the reasons I chose to work for the government instead of in private practice. The hours were better though the pay was worse. Vacation was with pay. Sick leave was paid. I will retire in January of 2009 and will actually have a higher income than I do now. Yet, I do wonder how I will react to being out of work.

My wife, The Lady Joy, retired a few years ago and also has her full pay in retirement and will soon be applying for government benefits as will which will push her to about 120% of her working wage. However, she is restless and wishes she had a small, part-time job.

Just because people chose to work rather than to have leisure time doesn't mean that they aren't balancing to their liking.

[Nodrog]

The only good pensions package is one where you get to invest the money yourself.

[Dante Hicks]

Originally Posted by lokken

Work Life balance is a myth, as the minute you try it your employer looks at you with a glum face and you miss out on progressing further.

I think this really depends on your employer. Parts of the public sector (and quasi-public sector) seem more relaxed than other areas. I worked from home today, I do flexible hours and I could opt to cut my days from 5 to 4 or 3 if I chose.

[Snurx]

I work 4-5 hours a day, and thus make less money then most people. However, I can sleep late, I can do things after work and so on. It's great, and I would recomend it to anybody. (The ultimate would be to work 8 hours two days a week and 4 hours the rest, but that's pretty hard)

I could also work in the private and double my income. However, I really like my job, and I got social security up my ass

However, the real ultimate would be that the workers decided that they did not need their bosses and I would work one hour a day and get everything free and we would be happy and stuff

[JonnyBGood]

Originally Posted by Snurx

However, the real ultimate would be that the workers decided that they did not need their bosses and I would work one hour a day and get everything free and we would be happy and stuff

:teddybear: