Tag: Work-Life Balance

How to Find Meaningful Work

Posted on by robbie

If you’re anything like the average American, you’ll spend over 90,000 hours — or about one-third of your lifetime — on the job. Given that astonishing amount of time, it makes sense to find a position that doesn’t leave you filled with dread, but with purpose. Whether you publicly announce your #CareerGoals or keep your dreams to yourself, we all want to feel like we’re making the world a better place.
Which begs the question: how do you find meaningful work? Or is the secret to simply find meaning in whatever work you do? Here’s what the experts say.

TRUST YOUR GUT

Before you accept a new job, do your due diligence, suggests career and executive coach Tammy Gooler Loeb. Seek out opinions and information that give you a realistic view of the work you’ll be doing and the atmosphere you’ll be doing it in. Keep an open mind and take some time to consider what you’ve learned. “There’s always an element of trusting one’s instincts,” says Loeb. Any red flags? “You may not want to take the risk, or do further research before going forward,” she says.

FOCUS ON MORE THAN YOUR STRENGTHS

Just because you’re good at math doesn’t mean you should become an accountant, says Loeb. Talent’s only one factor to consider when searching for a job that inspires you. “People are more engaged and motivated when their values, preferences and interests are aligned with their work and the culture of the workplace,” she explains. Of course, you want to see that your efforts have impact, but just as important, says Loeb, is that you’re getting positive feedback on the value of your contributions.

LOOK BEYOND YOUR OWN ROLE

Focus less on salary and title, and more on the mandate and mission of your organization. For instance, “a custodian in a hospital isn’t hands-on with patients, but their role is still helping sick people get better through ensuring the cleanliness of the facility,” notes Lisa Sansom, a leadership and organizational development coach and consultant. Identifying — and connecting with — a purpose that’s bigger than you will help you “get through the tough days, difficult clients or whatever setbacks you may encounter,” Sansom says. “It also allows you to retain your optimism and hope, and be more resilient.”  

Meaningful Work 2
Forming bonds with coworkers can help mitigate stress and increase happiness in the workplace.

FOSTER FRIENDSHIPS AT WORK

You get to choose your friends, but when it comes to coworkers, you usually don’t have much say on who you share an office with. That makes it crucial to actually like the people you’re surrounded by each day. “Social support has been widely demonstrated as one of the greatest buffers of stress and strongest predictors of happiness,” says Michael Woodward, PhD, an executive coach and the author of The YOU Plan. “The reality is that most people spend most of their waking hours working, so the stronger and more positive those workplace bonds, the better off you are.”

DO GOOD OUTSIDE THE OFFICE

Some workplaces offer paid time to do volunteer work, either coordinated as a team or individually. Many also fundraise for worthy causes. Take these opportunities whenever you can. “Volunteering is excellent for your mental well-being,” says Sansom, “but what’s really meaningful are real-life experiences that are done at the volunteer location with others.”

PRIORITIZE YOUR PERSONAL LIFE

How you live your life outside the office can impact what happens inside of it. When you’re stressed, your brain and body switch into defensive mode; your instinct is to get distance from any problems and retreat into yourself. On the other hand, “when you’re in a positive mind-set, you’re more open to new ideas and possibilities,” says Sansom. Make cultivating your time outside of the workplace a priority. Pursue hobbies, hone talents, spend time with friends. “When you’re content in your personal life, you’re more open to new opportunities and seeing the bigger picture at work,” Sansom says.

REFINE YOUR DEFINITION OF MEANING

Not all jobs have the same type of meaning. “‘Meaning’ with a capital M is your purpose, the ‘What do I contribute to the world to make it a better place?’ sort of meaning,” Sansom explains. “Small-m meaning is, ‘How do I make a silver lining out of this situation?’” While capital-M meaning jobs are ones where you typically feel you’re contributing to something larger than yourself, a position you hate is by no means worthless. Rather, it falls into the lowercase-m category. You do the best you can, learn something about yourself — “Hey, I’m more resilient than I thought!” — and move on …
Hopefully to a capital-M position that means the world to you.

The Latest Upgrade in Workplace Benefits, a Surprising Group Takes on Fake News and More

Posted on by robbie

 
Employers Are Finally Starting to Deal With Death and Dying, Bloomberg
Now that many businesses have established (or even expanded) childcare leave policies, some are giving their employees the space to cope with life’s sorrows as well. Forward-thinking companies like Facebook now offer extended paid time off for workers caring for relatives with long-term illnesses or grieving the loss of a loved one. As one advocate said, “This expands the concept of what it is whole people need.”
Librarians Take Up Arms Against Fake News, The Seattle Times
As hyper-biased and made-up news proliferates, young people are even more vulnerable than adults to misinformation. To help students sort through the noise, librarians and other educators launched “digital life” courses that train kids to think critically and fact-check the articles they read.
Wall Street Diversifies Itself, The Atlantic
While most executive roles in the financial industry are still held by white men, there’s a subset of investment trading that attracts more diverse leaders. Without the “100-year history of what the people in charge look like,” women and people of color found success in the new frontier of exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, which emerged in the early ’90s. Insiders anticipate the rest of Wall Street will follow suit, as increased diversity has proven to improve returns.
MORE: How Digital Tools Are Helping in the Fight for Gender Equality

How Digital Tools Are Helping In the Fight for Gender Equality

Posted on by robbie

Courtney Martin set her iPhone down where she could see it. She had to keep an eye out for a possible text from her husband, who was with their daughter at the bed and breakfast where the family of three was staying while in Camden, Maine.
Martin, an author, speaker and activist, was in town for PopTech 2014, a social impact conference that drew 600 creatives together around the theme of rebellion. As a new mother, Martin arrived at the Camden Opera House with a different perspective than the one she had on stage a few years earlier for her popular TED talk, which focused on feminism and drew on the way her own mother inspired her path to where she is today.
MORE: Why America Needs Rebels to Tackle Its Challenges 
During that talk, Martin said that we need a range of people and solutions to advance the work of the mothers and grandmothers who have worked so hard to make life better for their children and grandchildren.
In an interview with NationSwell about the solutions that excite her most, the editor emerita of Feministing.com started by pointing to the way the web has created a cost for sexism.
“We’ve really figured out how to get people galvanized, in a sense shaming sexist actors into changing,” she says. The innovation in digital tools, such as online petitions and apps like Hollaback! (which has partnered with New York City to allow victims of sexual harassment to upload their experiences in real time versus dealing with the process of filing a formal complaint) is providing new and more effective ways to battle anything that falls short of equal treatment.
But now, Martin says that the question is how to keep that engagement going beyond the click of a button. “We need some kind of larger strategic goal and plan and way to work together collectively.”
Organizations taking us in the right direction include UltraViolet, a community that launches campaigns for equality — from petitioning congressional representatives to reauthorize and expand the Violence Against Women Act to organizing a rally that was part of what led Facebook to name the first woman to its board of directors.
Martin also points to Make It Work, a community committed to the idea that Americans should not have to choose between earning a good living and spending quality time with their family. Instead of preaching to the feminist choir, the organization works to make these topics accessible to everyone, like through their Make It Work quiz on what television show characters we channel “when work and life get crazy.”
DON’T MISS: Two Leaders in Labor Rethink Social Safety Nets in a Freelance Economy
Martin explains that, despite the way she and her husband have been able to pursue freelance careers that allow them to spend more time with their daughter (who has been on 38 flights and counting), balancing it all can still be a challenge.
“I still have this deep conflict between doing what I love and being with who I love and how do I make it all work?” she says. “It’s ridiculous we’re so far behind on those issues and yet it’s been so difficult over the last decade to make a change.”
Fortunately, the window of opportunity to make major change in areas like maternity leave policy opens wider as elections approach. And with that timing in mind, there are organizations hard at work.
One such group is SPARK (an acronym that stands for sexualization, protest, action, resistance, knowledge), which empowers girls to be their own activists. Breaking the “protect our girls” mold, the organization elevates the voices of young women to discuss their own experiences. Martin, whose first book was Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters: How the Quest for Perfection is Harming Young Women, points to SPARK as a solution that inspires her, emphasizing the value of teenage girls expressing how they relate to their own body versus women trying to advocate on their behalf.
Martin, who embodies the rebellion theme printed on stickers and tote bags in the room where she sat, says that she is also thrilled by a cultural shift in what defines a feminist. “For a long time the narrative has been let’s get men involved so they can help women,” she says. “But now we see they have a self interest in the liberation of men and women because were all constricted by these roles.”
Starting with her own husband, Martin points to men who have inspired her by adopting this issue as their own: Jay Smooth, who has put his voice to use not only through his hip hop radio show but also against misogyny; Michael Kimmel, a leader in masculinity studies who is also the founder and spokesperson for the National Organization for Men Against Sexism; and Jimmie Briggs, who started an organization called Man Up, which aims to involve young male advocates to advance gender equality.
Eleven months into motherhood, Martin says her daughter has only made her more passionate — radicalized even — around the issue of work-life balance. “I look at Maya and I just think I want the most equal, fascinating, safe world for her possible and I will do anything to make that happen,” she says.
As she pursues that world, Martin will support the solutions that are out there, while also putting into practice points she made at PopTech that took off in the Twittersphere, including showing up as her whole self and trusting her own outrage.

If You’re a Caregiver, Having a Flexible Work Schedule Can Make All the Difference

Posted on by robbie

It’s next to impossible to find a parent who believes that there are enough hours in the day.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 69.9 percent of American mothers with children under 18 work outside the home or telecommute, and according to the Pew Research Institute, 15 percent of adults in their 40s and 50s are financially supporting both an elderly parent and a child. These numbers indicate that many people are forced to juggle the inevitable tug-of-war between work and family demands.
A new study by researchers from several universities and institutions, “Changing Work and Work-Family Conflict,” sought to determine whether flexible work schedules can help ease this crunch.
The researchers randomly assigned information technology employees of an unnamed Fortune 500 company to two groups. The first group had a standard work schedule, whereas members of the second were allowed to set their own schedules — including the number of hours in a day in which they worked in an office and the number of hours that they worked from home. Researchers trained employee supervisors to demonstrate an understanding for the demands of the workers’ personal lives, and the supervisors led several meetings about the new, flexible schedules.
Those in the modified-schedule group reported modest but statistically significant decreases in work-family conflicts and improvements in having enough time for their life outside of work. The benefits were the strongest among workers who were members of “the sandwich generation,” those caring for both kids and elderly parents.
Researchers found that the employees in both groups worked a similar number of hours — no one was slacking at home or letting work completely overtake family life since the boundary between work and home had been erased. But the employees in the flexible-work group on average did increase the number of hours they spent working at home from 10.2 hours a week to 19.6 hours a week.
The authors conclude, “We provide the first experimental evidence that workplace interventions can reduce work-family conflict among employees and change work resources, specifically increasing employees’ control over the time and timing of their work and the support they receive from supervisors for their family and personal lives.”
Since there’s no way to add extra hours to the day, employers looking to keep their workers happy and less stressed should open their minds to flexible schedules.
MORE: How Jobs Give Low-Income Mothers More Than A Financial Boost