Work-Life Balance a Farce?

According to Jack Welch's comment, on July 14th there is no such thing as a work-life balance, only choices. I couldn't agree more with his statement. As a young twenty-something who's married but childless, I watch my co-workers (both men and women) make daily choices about their work/life priorities. For some, that's meant leaving the workforce entirely and raising their children themselves, for others that's meant putting their kids in day care and budgeting time during the weeknights and weekends to spend with their children. Each of these situations requires sacrifices that few people inside and business attempt to discuss.

Jack Welch's comment, though controversial, hit the nail on the head. Fortune 500 companies around the world pride themselves on creating family-friendly programs for employees, but participation in these programs often comes at a cost - slower progression up the corporate ladder. Participation in these programs alone though isn't the only way to reduce the pace of your ascent, having children can handicap you in some professions such as finance and consulting. Younger, childless workers, who are eager to gain experience and quick to lend a hand, are often rewarded with increasing levels of responsibility that enable them to climb the ladder faster. These responsibilities are generally taken from more senior staff members who are unable to work late-nights or weekends due to family obligations.

How Do We Fix This?
The continuation of our society depends on us passing on our genetic material via the birth of children. For better or for worse, our responsibilities do not end there. These newborns need to be provided for, nurtured and taught how to provide for themselves. Sure parents provide and nurture their children and teach them a lot of life lessons, but the only way they can do this is if they can earn money and spend time at home. Here's where we reach the impasse.

Life is Full of Trade-offs: Is it a Balance or a Choice?
Economics teaches us so much about decision-making that it's a tragedy it's not taught in schools. Each decision we make in life has an opportunity cost associated with it. That doesn't change when you decide where to live, who to work for, who to marry or when/if to have children. These decisions close some doors and open others... there are sacrifices that must be made and opportunities to be had. What the work-life balance discussion doesn't explain to us are the different inputs, pros and cons if you will, of these decisions. In the case of work, does having children mean reducing your opportunities for advancement? In some cases yes, unless you're willing to forgo spending the time you want with your kids. It's a choice... not a balance.

Changing the Way the Game is Played
The only real way to address this issue is to focus on how we define performance. Is it the number of hours you spend in a chair? Is it the number of times you're in front of your boss? Is it the results you achieve? Most management leaders respond that business in particular is a "people" industry. Advancement in this industry is focused not on what you accomplish but who you know. In order to meet new people, you need to be able to attend meetings, events, social outings, weekend proposal gatherings etc. By building your network this way, you ensure that you're at the top of people's minds when a new opportunity becomes available. New opportunities allow you to showcase your talents and be perceived as a high-performer. High-performers are rewarded with promotions and even greater responsibilities.

This mechanism for achieving success alienates parents. Comments on other articles with this subject wish to include childless individuals who want to dedicate their time to something other than work. It is my belief that individuals with interests outside of work, i.e. volunteerism, religion, fitness hobbies meet people and network in much the same way as within job networking so these activities provide with similar benefits and help you achieve success either at your current job or with another.

So Where Does This Get Us?
It gets us to a choice. You choose to have children. You choose to work. You choose how you define success. Work-life balance comes when you understand the consequences of your choices and you balance them. Will you make CEO, have 3 kids and be a single-mom? Probably not, unless you've got some great parents or an awesome day care that's willing to watch over them for several hours a day and weekends. It's a sacrifice.

Let's begin to open the dialogue about what both women and men sacrifice to meet their idea of success. This is an individual choice - each person needs to define success for themselves, their families and work to achieve it. For some that may be a c-suite office, for others that may mean 18 kids. We need to respect that each person makes a choice. Each person makes sacrifices. Is a c-suite office outside the purview of parents? Certainly not, but people only get there by making difficult choices. From both an employer and employee perspective, we need to understand the impact choices have on career progression. We need to begin to have open and honest discussions about what it takes to get to the top. Until we learn how career progression is impacted by choices, work-life balance really will be a farce.