WorkLife Balance; Integration?
by Adam Chan

Work and Life are likened to be water and oil that will never blend. For the longest time, the Singapore corporate citizens are yearning to achieve balance between Work and Life.


Taking stock, did they achieve the most wanted vision of WorkLife Balance? One may wonder…. It is likely we have mix feelings about it.

Gradually but surely, it is increasingly difficult to claim achievements to WorkLife Balances. The harder one tries, the less he achieves. What actually goes into the notion of WorkLife Balance is probably worth exploring as most people are feeling the point of diminishing return when this issue has been discussed.

WorkLife Balance may start off as the most embraced vision but it seems to fade into the background with things reverting to the past. Whatever the vision is, leadership plays a critical role in turning it to reality. To turn it into reality, this should be a vision that is so attractive for everyone to want to get there. The critical mass i.e. the staff plays an active role in living out the vision otherwise it remains as a vision statement. So what is WorkLife Balance to most people? Does building recreational facilities within company premises means WorkLife Balance?

After a mouthful on WorkLife Balance, what is WorkLife Integration from the same context? The next sections will discuss it in details.

What Singaporeans want?
Extracting from an article in Asiaone Business on worklife balance, this is the summary of a survey conducted by Robert Walters.

In fact, the thing they want most is a flexible work/life balance. A recent survey conducted by global recruitment firm Robert Walters found that 35 per cent of respondents said a flexible work/life balance is the main reason to consider a company 'a great employer'.

Mark Ellwood, managing director of Robert Walters Singapore, said that the survey is further proof that employees increasingly regard quality of life as their chief objective. 'People are prepared to work hard but the trade-off is two-fold,' he said. 'They want to enjoy the work they do but they don't want to feel enslaved to their work. Employers need to be wise to this, because with competition for top talent at its most intense, they run the risk of losing out if they don't meet this increasingly important requirement.

For further reading, go to:

http://www.asiaone.com/Business/News/Office/Story/A1Story20070609-12754.html

It is crystal clear that Singaporeans are no longer enslaved to their job. Job seekers want to enjoy their work while being rewarded for the work done. We should probably give thanks to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) for creating adequate jobs for job seekers to choose from. Having more options may have illuminated this emerging paradigm of work enjoyment over work slavery. Not forgetting other statutory boards like then EDB now sPRING, aSTAR, STB, etc. Surely, these statuary boards have both directly and indirectly stimulated the job creation capability of Singapore; as a result, job seekers are flooded with choices.

Paradigms towards WorkLife Balance
The notion of work enjoyment seems to send a mix signal to the employers. In what way workers can enjoy their work? A notion that supports what the workers want from their jobs could very well be WorkLife Balance, loosely defines as striking a balance between Work and Life.

Exactly what do we think WorkLife Balance is? What ever we think it is, we behave and act in ways that are consistent with the thought (paradigm) we hold. In Singapore, what is the most common WorkLife paradigm? Below is an extract from Zdnetasia, the article articulates the underlying paradigms hold dearly by some job seekers which reflects what Singaporeans have in their minds of WorkLife Balance. Below is a question from a job seeker contemplating of switching job.

Question: I have been a logistics manager for the last nine years, and have a Management degree. As logistics has limited vertical scope, I am planning to switch to either business development or consulting.

My first option is to pursue ERP, but the concerns are:

1. It will make me restart my career,

2. I will be "a visiting husband and father"--my understanding is that during initial phase as an ERP consultant, I will have to travel both with my family and alone. If one has a child who is schooling, then it's difficult to move family as per a project.

3.I am not an engineer.

My second option is to pursue an executive MBA course. This would give me the edge of starting better as far as placements would take me, at better positions and my current experience. But it's costly. Still, if I take a look at the investment returns, it is very good.  I am confused because ERP is growing and everyone is talking about it? Can you help me to choose the best in terms of current and future monetary and non-monetary perspective?

Career advice from the country manager of JobStreet Singapore:
You will need to examine your mindset, work-life balance, skills and prospects when you are considering a career change. Let's examine each of the above in relation to your question:

Mindset: You have concluded that logistics has limited vertical scope. In reality, as we progress along our career path, the pinnacle gets sharper and opportunities at the top become less abundant. You will face the same challenge in any other career that you plan to pursue.  The way that many people overcome this is to ensure to be the best in the field. Our experience shows that the best always prevails--they never fall out of the game.