Balancing Life and Work

"My daughter won't do her homework until I get home at 7:30pm. That means that into the next two hours we have to cram in talking about school, doing homework, having dinner, having a bath and getting ready for bed. My husband works even longer hours than I do and he isn't usually there. It's the time of day when I feel most tired..."

Working long hours have characterized work life in Hong Kong over the years. According to a survey released on September 22 2004 on work-life balance, conducted by the Community Business and the University of Hong Kong, 80% of people in Hong Kong regularly work unpaid overtime, and as a result 28 % take sick leave to recover. The findings also indicated that employees worked in average 55.2 hours per week, particularly those working in the financial services industry, spending an average of 59.6 hours per week in the office. The majority of survey respondents said work impinges on their personal lives.

Lack of harmony between home life and job causes great personal and financial hardship, both to the individual and the company. It contributes to poor morale, low productivity, absenteeism, and high staff turnover in a company. To employees, work life imbalance, apart from affecting family lives, also has a significant impact on individual health. An overwhelming number of respondents in the work-life balance survey indicated they experienced high levels of stress and lack of exercise due to the excessive hours they work and these were commonly associated with health problems, including heart attacks and strokes.

Work life balance refers to the benefits to the individual, business and society of people to have fulfilled lives in and outside work. By taking control of the elements of your life and making the work for you rather than against you, it is possible to start to feel less harassed and pressured from today. Here're some tips for you better balance your work and personal life:

Manage your time

• Give yourself an over-view of what you do by listing the tasks you try to fit into an average day. Could you delegate any of these - or eliminate them altogether?
• Break down larger tasks into manageable stages, and set realistic targets.
• Try not to procrastinate.

Think positive

• Get problems in perspective. Note down the steps you can take to tackle them.
• Make sure there is laughter in your life, whether it is a thought, a video or a person.
• Forget perfection for it is stressful in itself. Pat yourself on the back for what you have achieved. Don't concentrate on your shortcomings.
• Don't blame others. Developing personal responsibility for your own actions will help you keep control of your own life. Try to be positive: "I can choose how to react. I don't have to let things upset me."
• Develop flexibility

Make me-time

• It's important to set aside time every day to use exactly as you want. It may be as brief as a long bath in the evening, or a quick drink with a friend when the children are in bed: space for you to look forward to when no one will be making demands on you.
• Take it in turns with your partner to look after the children for an hour or half a day or more. When it's your turn, do whatever you most feel like at the time, including absolutely nothing.

Find support

• Friends, family, partners, colleagues can all be encouraged into helping or offering sympathy or an ear.

Keep healthy

• The better shape you are in physically, the more able you are to cope with having a busy lifestyle.
• Eat well.
• Exercise is a good way of winding down and it also strengthens you.

Get help

• When you have a demanding job and a family to look after too, it is easy to forget that you also need some "tender loving care"! Time for yourself for being pampers by someone else will give you the strength you need to sustain your caring role. EDS professional consultant can help you relax or deal with the effects of stress.

Remember: Work to Live instead of Living to Work.