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I am writing a piece about Work-Life balance for my workplace newsletter and am asking for some input

This is what I have written thus far

In my previous job working at a Hay exporting business, the owner built his own large scale hay baler.
One day it was decided to increase the output and the appropriate adjustments were made.
Output was increased by 20% but no allowances were made for extra workers to deal with this increase. Already working 12 hour shifts, the extra workload had an extremely detrimental effect on me. Both mentally and physically.
So much so that driving home after 6 days of 12 hour night shifts I fell asleep and hit a tree at over 100kpm.
I survived with minor injuries but came incredibly close to being a road statistic.

For many of us our life seems to revolve around work, work and more work.
The proverb - All work and no play makes Jack and Jill dull people has health implications for all of us.
In 1990, Mars got us thinking that there might be more to life than the constant grind.
A Mars a day helps you work, rest and Play.
Alvin Tofler, in his book - Future Shock, talked about how all of us are forced to participate in the rat race of life or be left behind.
Are you having dreams of your work? Do you wake up fretting about your workload for the coming day?
We need to take time out, away from our place of employment, away from our colleagues, away from the constant grind of deadlines and increased productivity.
Taking time for ourselves is imperative if we want a harmonious life.
Work/Life balance relates to our responsibilities on the job and our personal life. Personal life includes family, social and leisure pursuits.
8 hours work, 8 hours recreation, 8 hours play was first coined over 200 years ago and adopted in Victoria in 1856.
A holiday was declared, known as May Day, now known as Labour Day.
It was recognised that workers deserved fairness from their employers and as a result all employees receive gazetted holidays as part of their work contract.

Many workers are on the job for 50 hours a week and this is considered excessive.
Rising before dawn and returning home for dinner then going to bed, repeating the process every day.
This is very unhealthy as it can lead to fretful sleep, not being able to disengage the mind from work related matters.
Changing the way we approach work can have many benefits.
Better mental and physical well being, reducing stress and allowing us to reaffirm our personal relationships.
How do we improve our work/life balance?
Taking at least 3 or 4 holidays of one week duration is a very positive thing to do. Even looking forward to holidays lifts our spirits and reduces work related stress.
Ask your supervisor to not contact you while you are on holiday.
Interact with work colleagues in a positive way. This allows you to want to go to work and not dread the day ahead.
Personally, my free time is going to the John Forrest National Park, or Mt Observation in the Wandoo National Park.
Sitting on the banks of the Serpentine River watching nature go about it's business.
Photographing Bearded Dragons or a mob of Kangaroos. Watching a pair of Galahs feeding their chicks or being in awe of the Avon River in full flood.
These are some of the things I do to unwind from work.
Knowing and engaging with your passions allows you to achieve a work-life balance which will see you refreshed and eager for the coming work week.

What I am asking for are your suggestions about how you manage work/life balance?
How do you disengage from work ensuring you have ample meaningful time away from work and spreading yourself around family and friends?
Thank you for reading this and I will consider any of your thoughts and ideas.

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ninalanyon · 61-69, T

I worked the last thirty years of my working life in Norway where working more than 50 hours a week for more than a month requires that the employer get permission from the Arbeidstilsynet (Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority),

Employers have a legally defined duty to ensure that employees take time off. Salaried workers can mostly set their own working times and are merely expected to work about 37.5 hours a week. I read an article many years ago that claimed that about a hundred thousand people (total population five million) adjust their hours so as to have Friday completely free and thus have a long weekend every week. If I was in the middle of a task that was going well one day then i might work longer than usual but if I was feeling tired or bored then I might just go home early. Occasionally my boss would send an email to us saying that he had tented a cabin in the mountains and was going there to work with a bit of cross country skiing thrown in. He was online, had his mobile phone, etc. so he was just as available as usual.

Of course it's not so simple for hourly paid service workers such as shop assistants, mechanics, etc. But still it's better than most countries I think.

Gusman · 61-69, M

@ninalanyon a flexible workplace must be great to work at.
The employees would be very relaxed and suffer much less stress.
I wish Australia would adopt a less stringent work regime.
But here, all we hear about is raising productivity or fall behind world standards.

ninalanyon · 61-69, T

@Gusman Yes, it was much less stressful in many ways. Slightly more in one way: one is expected to show initiative and get on with things, be self directed, get things done. But you are expected to work smarter and be flexible not to simply work more hours of drudgery.

But as I said it's not all roses for everyone. One of my sons gave up his job in a shop because the hours he had to work were so irregular that it was causing him serious stress. The irregularity was a by product of the employer optimising their wage bill with part time workers and working on the edge of what is legal here.

Productivity per hour is quite high in Norway. According to Wikipedia it is the highest in thee world in GNI terms and number two in GDP per hour (GDP = gross domestic product, GNI = gross national income). I have no idea where the statistics come from o how they were determined but they do seem reasonable to me.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_labour_productivity

Of course it helps that most of the countries at the top of this list are exporting high value goods rather than low value bulk commodities.

Australia really should be more like Sweden. A lot of Sweden's wealth comes from mining but it doesn't just ship the raw materials abroad and buy back finished goods, it does a lot of its own refining and manufacturing whereas Australia sells the low value ore to China and buys back high value manufactured goods.

Take Wikipedia's statistics with a grain of salt though. If you read further down the page you'll see some more tables from different organizations that sort countries in different orders.

DeWayfarer · 61-69, M

I didn't balance it. There's only 24 hours in a day, 8 of which you need to sleep.

Work 12 hours that only leaves 4 hours just to unwind before you get to sleep.

I was pulling up to 64 hours a week for 3 months straight once. Yes 7 days a week . It's legal here to do that. As long as you don't go to double time. Which is a full 16 hours.

They would have even done over 16 hours if they didn't have to pay double time.

There's no limit on the hours per week. Nor an increase after you work 50 hours in a week. 10 hours times seven could legally be done without double time. That's 70 hours a week.

Now I never got 70 hours per week, yet 64 hours per hours of was far too close. Then do it for 3 straight months!

I wasn't allowed to pull PTO (vacation time) either.

There's no balance at all in that equation.

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DeWayfarer · 61-69, M

@Gusman it's not a requirement here. The only law that exists is the hourly rates. After 8 hours it's time and a half. After 16 hours it's double time. Figure that out, only 8 hours left in the day.

Gusman · 61-69, M

@DeWayfarer Not good.
If we work 8 hours, the next 2 hours are time and a half, any time after that is double time.
Saturdays - first 3 hours time and a half, then double time
Sundays - All double time.

DeWayfarer · 61-69, M

@Gusman no such law in California, here.

My week began on Wednesday in fact, when I got one day off on Tuesday. Only on holiday's did I get more than one day off. And if the holiday falled on a Tuesday, I didn't get a holiday.

Get this one. Some employers only have 6 hour days. Yet if you work 7 days a week, they will cut the seventh day to 4 hours, because after 40 hours they must pay overtime.

So no full days off ever.

AngelUnforgiven · 51-55, F

That was a great read, you did very well. You have to be mentally prepared to separate your work and home life. I worked as a supervisor, on call 24/7 right before the pandemic and my anxiety was through the roof. Any time my phone rang my heart raced. Because if i couldn't find someone to cover a shift it meant that i had to do it, my final straw was when 3 people called off back to back (12 hour shifts) and i had to work 36 hours straight, i had a splitting headache and my husband told me to quit, he said you are killing yourself. Tell them you will not be returning to work. Even now, on my off days i still feel like I'm on call and get anxious when my phone rings thinking its work. So i have to turn my ringer off and just check my phone every couple of hours.

Gusman · 61-69, M

@AngelUnforgiven Thank you.
Have you sat down with your employer about the stress you are having in your job?
There needs to be a cut off point and as your husband says, continuing in the same vane could lead to health issues.

AngelUnforgiven · 51-55, F

@Gusman i left that job. So its in the rearview mirror.

SunshineGirl · 36-40, F

That's really well written. I'm glad you found have found a workplace that encourages honest thinking like this.

I am fortunate to work in a profession which has struggled to train and retain sufficient numbers of qualified staff for a number of years, so those of us who stick around for long enough tend to build up bargaining power. I have to work irregular and unsocial hours to fulfil my job role, but this is usually compensated with flexibility and time in lieu.

Having children helps. You need a good portion of time with no work demands and in our workplace this is freely given.

The job I do is easily quantifiable. My "productivity" compares favourably with those in other countries working longer hours and less flexibly.

Gusman · 61-69, M

@SunshineGirl Thank you for the feed-back.
I posted this on another site and received comments such as - boring, too wordy, too personal.
I will be giving it to the editor for appraisal within the week.

scorpiolovedeep · 51-55, M

Hi mate,

I have been in Construction for almost 3 decades and have been working 55/60 hrs per week excl travel.

Unfortunately, it is a rat race trying to raise family and live a decent lifestyle.

In my opinion, to help work/ life balance one must be offered 2 weeks break for every 10 weeks of work- that would equate little over 10 weeks (should be paid) per year of leave plus sick leave of say 20 days , not 10.

Do early knock off hours every Friday, say by 12pm.

Anything would help.

Gusman · 61-69, M

@scorpiolovedeep 10 weeks off a year would improve the work-life balance. I doubt any business would go for that.
Self employed might be able to handle it.
Where I work we get 4 weeks paid holidays, 10 days paid sick leave, plus personal days. Not sure how many of those a year.
We finish at Midday on on Fridays.

scorpiolovedeep · 51-55, M

I know it is a big ask but 7/8 weeks on top of 20 sick leaves is a good bargain.

@Gusman

Gibbon · 70-79, M

I had a smart ass answer until I read your full post. In short it's difficult to even discuss balance without the employers cooperation.

Gusman · 61-69, M

@Gibbon I think we can manage our work-life balance with very little input form the employer.
Making our free time as positive as can be has the added effect of raising our spirits, making it easier to deal with the fact that we still have to go to work for a large part of the week.

Gibbon · 70-79, M

@Gusman I can't disagree but I also experienced long hours and often asked myself why are you doing this. Now retired I put all that behind me. I just wish I wasn't put in the position of being alone. The best part of my life was taken from me too soon.

V00doo

Oh my.
The supervisor shouldnt be contacting anyone out of their designated hours. It shouldnt be up to the employee to tell them.

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