INTEGRATING WORK AND FAMILY

 INTEGRATING WORK AND FAMILY: IS IT POSSIBLE?

Introduction

             Successful career and happy family are the desires of every person. It is a dream of every individual. Friedman (2008) argued that integrating work and family is a smart step that brings fulfilment in everybody.

           However a great career and happy relationship requires extensive work and tiresome exercise. That is why, it is normal to see many individuals win in one dimension that is work and lose in the other side of home/family. This is because both roles undergo tension in fulfilling them (Friedman, 2008).

           Thus, in order to perform up to the expectation at workplaces, most successful people do steal their time with their loved ones (Friedman, 2008); and this is the core of this paper. What can the workers do to integrate work and family for a fulfilled life?

           Fulfilled life is a multifaceted issue, however to many people; it means a life that is full of happiness and contentment. This includes fulfilling the goals that one has set in his/her life. Alexander and Dobson (2009) argued that individuals who have set clear cut goals in life and fulfil them are much happier and leave a permanent foot prints in their fields and life.

        To many important life goals can be a happy family, spouse, great salary, successful business and personal development (ibid). In summary two goals, that is Family/spouse and great job, stands as the highest among people’s goals.

Work family integration for a fulfilled life

       Creating a better balance between work and family is like creating a balance between stress and recovery, it is an effort worthy pursuing as it makes families, workers and corporation that employ them experience success (Loehr and Shwarz, 2001)

         Alexander and Dobson (2009) gave an advice on what one should do to make a balance between work and family by commenting that people of all professions should learn to work smarter and not harder. This can be done by having a time schedule in hand(Having effective time management that have a work break down structure).This can be done by skipping all the meetings at work places that leaves decisions up in the air, by exercising regularly at least eight hours each week(even if it is just walking) as this can help to allow sore muscles to replace a battered psyche, doing everything faster without wasting time, leaving the work at the office without going with them at home as home is a place to have time with your loved ones; managing a boss through communicating to him/her and at times be less dependent on his/her approval, take time to have a break as breaks relieves tension and increase efficiency and contribute to good health and taking a siesta.

Conclusion

       As integrating work and family is a smart step that brings fulfilment in one’s life, there seems to be a lot of challenges that conflict the fulfilment of these goals, such as advancing oneself in a career and high demand and pressure for sustainable superb performance at work places. Nevertheless working smarter in fulfilling both roles is the key.

References

Alexander R and Dobson M.S (2009).Real world time Management (2^nd Ed) New York, Amacom.

Friedman S (2008). Be a better leader, have a richer life. Harvard Business Review, April, 2008.

Loehr J and Schwartz T (2001).The making of corporate athlete. Harvard Business Review, January, 2001.