Work-Life Balance Whiners Part 3
I’m back with part 3 of whiners today. I have listed some of the definitions that the FDS International study attempted to define as work-life balance to individuals. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to discount any of these issues nor am I trying to tell you what your balanced life should look like. I’m simply making a point from a comparative perspective.
Today I’m continuing a discussion about the study by FDS International titled What Workers Want: A Worldwide Study of Attitudes to Work and Work-Life Balance, and the sensational headlines derived from that study that suggest that American workers rate very high when it comes to whining about their jobs.
Although we’ve learned that it isn’t the top predictor of overall job satisfaction in the U.S., work-life balance is solidly correlated with inner fulfillment, pride, and a sense of accomplishment. We also know from reports and direct experience from corporations, executives, mangers, executive recruiters, career professionals, and workers themselves that work-life balance is becoming an increasingly important consideration in job and career decisions. Finally, I believe that one of the most important lifestyle issues of today is that of work-life balance, and that it will continue to be for many years to come.
Towards that end, the FDS International study attempted to define what the term “work-life balance” means to individuals. Again, I’ve pulled out the data for U.S workers. I’ve also included global percentages because they give clues to the report’s possible agenda.
What’s interesting to me is that things like “standard of working life” and “good cooperation between employer and employee” don’t rank higher in the survey. I believe that what’s being represented here is that, although many companies do offer benefits and perks to assist their employees, many aren’t waiting around expecting their employers to be responsive or offer final solutions to their work-life balance.
I’m not trying to discount any of these issues, nor trying to tell you what your balanced life should look like. I’m simply trying to make a point from a comparative perspective.
This is where the math gets fuzzy – that is, it’s an attempt to introduce concepts behind statistical data and statistical operations, rather than getting the right arithmetic answers to these problems.
To achieve an “Overall Whininess Rank” (the U.S. ranked 4th out of 23 countries in the survey), the authors compared the percentage of workers who felt that they were unhappy with their pay (38%) and measured that against workers’ actual income relative to the cost of living (a global purchasing power index, of which the U.S. ranks highest in the world, of course). This gave Americans a “Pay Whine Rank” of #1 in the world. They then compared the number of workers feeling that work impinged on private life (31%) with the average hours worked per week (39.6) to come up with an “Hours Whine Rank” of 11th in the world.
These two numbers were then simply combined and compared to other countries to give the U.S. its rank.
Again, I don’t hear any whining where I’m sitting – I see and hear people trying to lead lives and lifestyles in support of their beliefs and values.
Hi David,
I don’t want to stir up too much trouble with a controversial remark but here it comes.
I worked in the advertising department of a Fortune 500 company for seven years.
I can only recall a handful of employees within that department who displayed a work ethic that made me proud to know them.
The rest were SUPER WHINY.
I remember sitting in corporate meetings – the kind where you know they’re being held because serious change is needed. And I remember our leaders asking us to help them think of solutions for being more productive, working together, getting more accomplished.
The majority of people who raised their hands on those days seemed to misunderstand the question.
Instead of helping to come up with ways that would make work life easier on everyone, those people with hands in the air had the “what can you do for me” mentality.
“We want flex hours. We want more time with our families. We want more money.”
It’s a small way to think – to sit there with your palm outstretched, thinking that The Company is indebted to you simply because you show up and sit at your desk on a regular basis.
I believe that in order to get, you have to give. Always.
The people whom I most respected at my jobs did not wait for the company to hand them answers, or hand them anything. They worked hard, and they found ways to manage their home lives and work lives that worked for them. They moved up the ladder because they knew how to take responsibility for themselves.
I was in awe of those people and proud to collaborate with/know them on a semi-personal level.
I guess what I’m saying is that I DO think the majority of Americans ARE terrible whiners. Too much passive acceptance. Not enough guts to look around and say, “Why are we doing this the way we are? This makes no sense – let’s try something else.”
But with all the passive whiners sitting there, it does give the people who are ready to move forward with their plans, a wide open slot of opportunity.
Seems to me the next obvious question to anyone reading this is: which team are you on? The Whiners and Takers, or the Movers and Shakers?
I’ll take the latter, thanks. Great post – it certainly stirred something in me!
Dina
Dina,
No trouble at all!
There certainly is a “what you should be doing for me” mentality in society today. It can be prevalent in corporations, in networking groups, in our communities – it can exist just about everywhere we look.
People simply think that they’re deserving of, or entitled to, something – usually their happiness – and that someone else is responsible for providing that to them. When they don’t get what they want, they look for ways to blame someone else for what they don’t have. That’s where the whining comes in.
I am personally very fortunate in that I meet and speak with people every day who aren’t looking outside themselves for the answers. I interact with folks who are giving their personal best in trying to build and grow something solid around their values.