Author Rachel Hollis believes the work-life balance is total crap. She says that the media caught on to the phrase and overused it to the point that we believe it’s an achievable goal – when it’s not. I don’t really agree or disagree with Hollis. However, I do believe that “work-life balance” means different things to different people. Work itself can also mean different things to different people (e.g. household chores).
Like everything else, it can be dangerous to overgeneralize. But since we do need to generalize to a certain extent, let’s explore what work-life balance means to different generations…
Being raised by parents who lived through the Great Depression, Baby Boomers have generally put their jobs above other aspects of their lives. For this generation, work-life balance wasn’t necessarily a goal. They often missed out on family events and/or school functions. They worked as hard as they could to obtain financial security, likely stemming from fear of the extreme challenges experienced by their parents and grandparents.
The children of Baby Boomers generally fall into two categories: Gen X and Millennials. Gen X was the first generation to term “work-life balance.” They are far more likely to put value on stable employment (but not necessarily with a single employer). Their idea of work-life balance is leaving the office early a couple of times a week to make a baseball game or recital. It doesn’t take too much flexibility to make them happy, so long as employers recognize their contribution.
Millennials tend to expect to switch companies and/or careers, often seeking employers who align with their personal beliefs and goals. They will consider a lower salary, if it wields them more flexibility. They don’t necessarily seek work-life balance, because they have coined a new phrase: “work-life integration”. As the first generation of digital natives who experienced the workforce with technology at their fingertips, they are used to being “always on”. They have no problem checking emails while on vacation or past 9:00 pm. The line between their work lives and personal lives is often blurred.
While Millennials now make up most of today’s workforce, the Baby Boomer generation is still the largest shareholder of business ownership and C-suite executives. Baby Boomers, staying true to their work ethic, are working beyond retirement age. The generation who lived at the office is making decisions for a generation that believes they can take the office with them while they live.
When we consider that many people reach middle-higher management around the same time they begin to settle down, their personal demands shift along with their work demands. Both require more.
Additionally, there are substantial economic differences between when the Boomer generation rose to management and now, when Gen Z is rising in the ranks. Is what you are asking of your employees realistic given today’s hardships?
We’ll explore those hardships in an upcoming post. In the meantime, I encourage you to reflect on your own company and what generations are in which levels of management. Are your priorities aligned or do you have different definitions of what it means to balance work life and personal life? These are important conversations to have.