Have you got your work-life balance wrong?
Surveys suggest that workers in the UK work some of the longest hours in Europe, rarely take a full lunch break, and even miss out on holidays so they don't miss out at work. What that means is that many of us have a work-life balance that's seriously askew. We put work before any other aspect of our lives, and that can have some pretty serious consequences. Spending too long at work, and too little on other things, can be bad for family relations, bad for our happiness and even bad for our health. Those with a poor work-life balance are more likely to suffer from stress, which can lead to a host of medical problems. The good news is that there are easy steps we can take to make our work-life balance better. The first is to recognise that it's seriously unbalanced in the first place. Here are the signs to look out for. Overtime, all the time?
Everyone works late from time to time. But if you work late all the time, it could be seriously affecting your work-life balance.
And it's not just about working late. Being first through the door each morning, and racing to get to your desk before the boss gets in, is not a sign of dedication. It's a sign of desperation.
Lunchtimes should be your chance to relax after a morning's work, stretch your legs and re-energise for the afternoon ahead. Spending your precious hour answering e-mails or catching up with reports is unhealthy, and a sign of the need for change.
Family affairs
Overtime is even more of a problem if it eats into the time you spend with your family and friends. Psychologists have discovered that one of the keys to happiness is having good social relationships. If you spend too long at work, those relationships will start to break down.
When you spend too long in the office, you're not getting the psychological boost of being around the people who love and respect you most. Nor are you doing what we all need to do, which is to spend plenty of quality time each day not worrying about work.
Weekend workers
But a good work-life balance is not just about being at home more often - it's about leaving work well and truly behind. So if you take a laptop home with you every weekend and spend hours in the study, your work-life balance could be seriously lopsided. Weekends should be a time away from work, not just a time away from the workplace.
Of course, we all take work home every now and then, and there's nothing wrong with that. But working from home every weekend, or most evenings, is bad for your work-life balance, and that's bad for your relationships and bad for you.
Semi-detached
Regularly working during your free time is one symptom of a work-life balance that is close to toppling over. Another is being semi-detached when you should be focusing solely on your kids, your friends, or just on yourself.
Do you think about work when you take the kids to the park? Do you find yourself checking e-mails on a mobile phone or Blackberry when you're queuing for the cinema? If so, you're not alone.
Most weekends and evenings should be entirely your own, to spend as you please. If you spend them thinking about work, they won't give you the energising break that you need.
Friends for life?
Do you see good friends less than you used to? Do you get invited out less, because your friends are convinced you'll say no?
Work shouldn't get in the way of a decent social life, or at least not very often. Nor should it interfere with your hobbies and interests, whether that's French independent cinema, wine tasting, or going to the match.
If you have drifted away from friends because of work, or given up doing things you used to enjoy, your work-life balance may be seriously askew.
Holiday allowance
Recent studies suggest that many of us are so worried about missing work that we don't even take our full annual holiday allowance. So when we really need a fortnight away, we only take a week. When we need a week, all we end up with is a long weekend.
We don't get many holidays in the UK (in fact, we have fewer national holidays - bank holidays - than most of our European neighbours) so not making the most of those we do have is a sure sign that work has taken over our lives.
And that's to the detriment of our health and happiness. The next article will show you what can be done about it.
