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JOB YOU LOVE, and you will never have to work a day in your life
CHOOSE A
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T
he start of the New Year is a good opportunity to refl ect upon,
amongst other things, our work life. Or, to be more specifi c, our
work-life balance. The perception of businesspeople spending every weekday hour tied to their desk, and the weekend umbilically-connected to a phone is shifting – and for many people, the “9 to 5” has lost its appeal. Unreliable trains, rising fares and unsociable working hours make commuting untenable, especially once children are involved.
In 2017/18, 57% of all sick days
were due to work-related stress, anxiety or depression with 44% of these caused by workload pressure alone. Tech overload can be blamed for this burnout (research shows that the average person checks their phone every six minutes) so what is this dependence on digital devices doing to our work-life balance – and is it too late to claw back the blurry line between work and home life? We are, it seems, always connected, whether at home, at work, at the gym, in the school playground – even 30,000 feet up in the air. It’s a world that our children fi nd hard to comprehend as anything other than completely normal. But we all know that too much tech is bad for us, and maybe our love affair with technology is already beginning to turn sour? Taking a “digital detox” is becoming as popular as Dry January; one US hotel chain has even taken to locking away their guests’ phones (at their request) in return for free snacks, treats and discounts. And a whole new subgenre of self-help books has emerged to coach people on how to dial down their reliance on digital technology.
Down time
24/7 access to email in particular, once thought to boost productivity, can actually be a distraction to people at work and some bosses are now encouraging staff to limit their use of digital devices. Some employers are banning the use of mobile phones at work while others are introducing hour- long, tech-free periods, where everyone turns off non-essential technology such as email and instant messaging. This not only stimulates face-to-face conversations but allows employees to focus more fully on their work. Limiting digital distractions in the offi ce and banning email access after offi ce hours has also been found to help workers sleep better and de-stress, in turn boosting their productivity. An alternative idea is to introduce a
four-day work week, again with the hope of promoting better mental and physical health by motivating employees to get more work done in a shorter time-frame, thereby improving productivity. Organisations including Microsoft and burger chain Shake Shack have already experimented with the four-day workweek as part of an effort to help their employees achieve a better work-life balance.
The UK works some of the longest hours in Europe and benefi t from the fewest national holidays and some believe that the more time we have off work, to recover
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and recuperate, the better we will perform, enjoy our work more and inevitably take less sick leave. Then again, someone on a four-day week may miss out on an important networking chance on their “day off” – maybe an event or lunch that could lead to an important work opportunity in the future.
Going it alone
QUIT THE RAT RACE – AND SET UP ON YOUR OWN
Another solution is to jump ship altogether, quit the rat race – and set up on your own. Running your own business can be richly rewarding and the appeal of being one’s own boss is easy to see; job satisfaction, fi nancial independence, a better work- life balance and fl exible working – and of course, for working parents – being home for bedtime stories beats the daily commute. Ditching the “9 to 5” in pursuit of a healthier work-life balance sounds appealing to many of us, but the path to achieving that rewarding lifestyle is not always straightforward. Taking the plunge takes courage – and the dream career can often take a while on the slow burn before coming to fruition.
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