Getting work-life balance: Nigel Marsh
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After being squeezed through a global recession, many Canadians have watched their workloads rise. Hours are longer, responsibilities are greater, and anyone who values their job will accept it.
If this sounds like you, try listening to Nigel Marsh’s Ted Talk on work-life balance. He warns us that we have to be responsible for setting and enforcing the boundaries that we want in our lives, because companies are inherently designed to get as much out of us as possible.
At Work & Family Foundation Canada, we like to give corporations a bit more credit – with a little guidance they are capable of becoming family-responsible, enabling their employees to live complete lives. The best companies have already headed this way and are finding that their bottom line benefits just as much as their employees’ satisfaction.
Still, if you don’t find yourself working for one of these enlightened companies, you might enjoy hearing Nigel Marsh.
Wonderful, impactful and well thought talk about work-life balance. I wonder how generalizable can this idea be. For example, would an immigrant worker in a factory trying to make ends meet be able to have the opportunity to engage in some work-life balance? Or is work-life balance something for the elite, highly educated and mobile worker? There must be certain conditions, I think, that will facilitate the transformation of the self from a “miserable existence” to a meaningful existence. If so, are there limits to work-life balance? I don’t know if these issues have been debated and it would certainly be an interesting avenue of study to pursue.