Work-Life Balance

How essential is Work-Life balance? Well, If you go by what your employer has to say, its the most important thing you need to take care of as an employee. But, Do we really try to have a balance; or may I say, does your work give you time to even think about creating a balance?

I guess not. You go to work and toil hard for atleast 9 hours (depending on the amount of work you have). Then You come back home thinking that it was a hectic day in office but a satisfying one as You accomplashied something. You talk about your day with your family, listen to them. Some people watch movies, some listen to music, every one of us does something or the other to freshen up our mind and soul.

But for many professionals, the recreation is very short-lived. You suddenly get a call on your mobile, the name says OFFICE, and you know, Your heart starts beating faster than Schumacker's Ferrari. You don't want to pick the phone up, but You know the better of it; You hold your breath and pick the phone up and open up the Pandora's box.

"There's an issue and needs to be resolved at the earliest, every one needs to log in". Your most dreaded nightmare has become a reality; You dont want to, but have to log in. There's a big meeting set up, people doing nothing but talking on how to resolve; with some seniors personnels asking how much more time; You get a feeling that You actually caused the issue and each word uttered by the seniors pricks you like a needle. You want to scream at them that you are a human being and need some time, you did not cause the issue - but you can't. You want to log off - but you can't. So, You have to find a resolution ASAP or else they are gonna kill you with their words.

Finally, You, along with your team members, find the resolution; the issue is resolved. You haven't eaten anything after the snacks you had at 4:00 PM in the evening. You want to eat something but you dont have the strength to get it, you want someone to get it for you. You turn around from your laptop to see if someone can do the favour. All you see is darkness - You can't blame them, its 2:00AM , everyone has gone to sleep. You convince your body to assist you in getting the food; You promise your body, however false the promise might be, that you will get it some rest after it assists you in getting the dinner. No sooner your body gets convincedthan your client asks you to keep monitoring and see if the resolution is working. You want scream again; but no, You don't; You are a professional and this is something expected of you.

At last you do get some sleep at 6:00 AM in the morning; at 8:00 someone tries to wake you up; You want to, but your eyes don't co-operate. That someone understands and lets you sleep.

Is this what we call Work-Life balance? The answer is NO. Its not. So how can we manage the work life balance? The companies we work for keep reminding us about the importance of the term - They should get to the ground realities before stressing on WORK-LIFE Balance.

P.S - This is the story of many people in general and at least two (whom I won't name) in particular.