Making Those Work/Life Choices

I’m a huge fan of the HR Capitalist (a.k.a. Kris Dunn).  I don’t always agree with everything he has to say, but he always makes me think and sometimes challenges my belief system.  He’s started an interesting series of posts this week about the five biggest lies in HR.  The first post in the series takes on the concept that HR is responsible for work/life balance.  I couldn’t agree more with his truth:  “Employees are responsible for their own work/life balance…” 

No one else can balance your life for you.  We all have to make our own choices about how much time we can devote to our careers, and be realistic about what that means for our career progression.  I personally have made certain choices because I want to be at home to help my kids with their homework at night.  I’ve made those choices with full awareness of the limitations that places on my career advancement and I’m wholly responsible for those choices.

I do however believe that it is our responsibility in HR to help create an environment that allows employees to perform at their very best.  This may mean giving employees an avenue to create their own work/life balance so that the business gets the best results from the employee.  Let’s look at 2 scenarios:

John’s mom is ill and he needs to research putting her into an assisted living facility.  There are a couple of ways that John could handle this, and I’ve seen employees choose both avenues.

Option 1:  Come to work and spend most of the day on the phone trying to find a solution.  Because he can’t give this his full attention, it takes several days where his attention is not on work.  Even when he isn’t on the phone, he’s so emotionally distraught that he has difficulty focusing on his work tasks.  This is the type of thing you’ll see if you have an environment where being seen at your desk is more important than actual results.

Option 2:  John takes a personal day and goes to visit different facilities and finds a place he thinks can work.  He shows up the next day ready to focus on work because his personal issue is resolved. 

Which option is best for the company?  The option that allows the employee to focus where he needs to at that particular moment, so that work can be his sole focus when it needs to be.  While it’s not HR’s responsibility to balance this employee’s life for him, creating programs that allow the employee to choose how to handle the personal crisis is the best for the business. 

Of course it doesn’t matter what types of programs we have in place if we haven’t properly trained managers both how to administer the programs and why it’s in their best interest to do so.  By making the business case and showing that we get better results when people can devote their full attention to work, managers are more likely to allow the program to be used the way it was designed. 

It is not our job to babysit our employees because they are adults and should be treated as such.  But it is our job to create programs that allow employees to give their best to the business.

Darcy Dees, CCP works as the Compensation Manager for Rock Bottom Restaurants, Inc., headquartered in Louisville, CO.  She has worked with RBR for nearly 10 years helping to develop many of the compensation and performance management programs the company uses today.  She spends what little free time she has hiking and reading.
The opinions expressed here are the personal opinions of Darcy Dees. Content published here is not monitored or approved by Rock Bottom Restaurants, Inc. before it is posted and does not necessarily represent the views and opinions of Rock Bottom Restaurants, Inc.

Image:  Creative Commons Photo "Follow the red line" by ~ nebe ~

Comments

[Laura Schroeder]

Hear hear to: 'This is the type of thing you’ll see if you have an environment where being seen at your desk is more important than actual results.' And I agree it's not enough to tell employees they're responsible for their own work life balance, HR also has to meet them halfway so there's something they can actually do with that statement.

[Becky Regan]

I think this is a great post, as I'm a big fan of personal responsibility. It is a tough road to hoe between caring for your children and parents....and there's only so much of you to go around. I think it has to be a concerted effort on the part of the employer to allow people to take the time they need for family obligations. But I also think that they employee needs to respect their job and employer and still get the job done.