According to our 2008 Report due out late February not all project management professionals are happy with their lot (no surprises there!). Here’s part of the article from the latest Project Management Tipoffs Newsletter from Arras People – you can subscribe to Tipoffs here:
So what is work / life balance?
One definition is “control over when, where and how people work to achieve an optimal quality of life”. This is interesting as it doesn’t state who has the control; looking at our respondents we appear to have people who take that opportunity to create an acceptable work life balance and also those who do not feel in that position to do so, thus becoming victims? Maybe these people feel that striving to achieve an acceptable work life balance will brand them as “uncommitted and unmotivated” and thus be impacting their future opportunities within their organisations. “Main bread winners may see it as a kiss of death to their careers”. On the other hand, maybe they are martyrs to the cause and in reality don’t want to take the opportunity to make things change because it is not in their nature?
Younger Professionals are Happier as are Contractors and Women
The main areas of worklife which impact our respondants lives include;
- Time spent away from home – both in terms of the daily commute and the time spent away from home overnight. The greater amount of time this is the more unhappy we become – understandably!
- Flexibility – the ability to work when and where its needed – do we need to be in the office to write a report when it could be done at home
- Hours of Work – a bigger concern for female respondants with the feel that the hours of work in this profession are “excessive”
- Workload – Workload is an interesting issue especially when we are talking about a population of Project Professionals who by the very nature of their roles should be providing scheduling and control! Whilst we can all appreciate that programmes and project have peaks of activities, do they not also have troughs where the balance can be corrected? Or is the situation really worse than that, where we have a demand line that far outstrips the supply capability in terms of regular working hours? If so, how long is this sustainable for and what recompense should be made available?
- Money – surprising that this is one of the lowest motivators? Not really – we speak to people every day about their jobs – yes money is one of the motivators, we need to feel valued and compensated for the role we perform but actually the nature of the job, the challenge it gives us are far more important.
So what are the happy people doing?
What about these people who “took that opportunity to create an acceptable work life balance”; positive management of their workload was the key followed by flexible working – with more women and younger professionals citing this – that maybe suggests that females are more aligned to flexible working and a new breed of professional in the under 34 age group who are embracing this concept? And if all else fails? Change jobs – working for an organisation nearer to home or that actually embraces work life balance solutions.
Comments from happy people:
“All non site or client site work is based at home which I find comfortable”
“Freelance working lets me retain control over my work/life balance”
“I have learned over the years that the work life balance is very important in order that I can be effective in all areas of my life.”
Comments from the unhappy people include;
“I need to travel to find work and that means absence from home”
“My demanding role; with many nights away from home each month; is placing great stresses on my personal life”
“Commuting does not leave any time for life during the week and am too tired at weekends”
“I spend too much time travelling to and from work; at least 20 hours a week.”
What are you thoughts?
