Our Chief People Officer, Michael S. Erisman reminds us that working parents must make peace with the fact that they won’t be able to do it all.
Check out his below interview with People Matters where he shares invaluable insights he’s learned as a single working parent. #workingparents #culture #careers
We want to know - whether you’re a parent or not, how do you manage work life balance?
I set clear and healthy boundaries for work, family and friends, and me time. I set my work schedule based on my preference and the day. I take one non-negotiable day off, aka no work. I protected that day with a ‘kung-fu’ grip lol! Each workday has a particular focus, e.g. community building, meetings/leads/follow-ups. I commit to 2 pro bono speaking engagements per quarter, and only say yes to opportunities that feel good. Take a vacation once per quarter. I adjust my schedule as needed. I continually learn more about myself and adjust work life schedule based on them.
I make sure that I start and end my workday at the times I have set for myself. I’ve learned not to answer emails after regular work hours or on weekends. One of my previous managers once told me “there’s no such thing as a marketing emergency”, which is so true. Everything can wait until the next day. The same goes for when I’m on vacation. Sometimes I’m tempted to check emails, but I’ll forward them off to my team to handle, or just wait until I return.
Work-Life balance is something I have to continually work at. I help manage a family business so it feels like the work never ends. I try to remind myself that things can wait until the next work day, don’t check emails at home, etc.
Man, this is a tough one! And I agree with @crista.hatfield - it’s an ongoing challenge. I feel that its never consistently 50/50, rather one week it may be 60/40 then the next 40/60. But that’s how I find my balance. I love my job, and I want to succeed! I find a lot of satisfaction with career and my team which leads me to be definitely willing to spend the extra time dedicated to my role, but I try to be cognizant that it’s not a developing pattern.
I am a single mom to three children- 4, 3, &2. Its definitely a struggle to keep the balance. I try to keep work at work so I can focus on my babies.
agreed - finding the balance can be hard, but being able to switch work off means more quality time outside of work, and more productive work time when you ARE at work.
Create boundaries for work to help keep work from creeping into your family time. Tell co-workers when you will not be available and give them a backup for emergencies.
I read the following advice somewhere last year and it has stayed with me (though the name of the original advisor has not, so I guess I’m stealing…). I try to remember this whenever I “drop the ball.”
We juggle a lot in life - family issues, work issues, friend issues, etc. We have to start by accepting that we simply cannot hold all the balls at once. But secondly, we also have to recognize that each section of our life has different types of balls. There are bouncy rubbery balls that hit the ground and roll. We can pick those right back up. They aren’t fragile. But there are fragile glass balls that we have to keep in the air or in our hands - if they drop to the ground, they will break.
So the question is not whether we prioritize family, or friends, or work - it’s about how we identify the most critical things in each area versus the “balls” we let drop. Not all of the important balls are in the family category, or the work category. And not all of the bouncy ones are in the work or friend category. You are going to drop balls. The key is to make sure you hang on to the most important ones., whichever category they are in.
This has helped me let go in so many ways. Missing a small event at school one time when I have an important work meeting = okay. Cancelling all my meetings for the day to stay home with a sick kiddo = okay. Taking time out on a Friday evening to spend with a friend having a bad time - okay.
As my girlfriend constantly reminds me - you can’t pour from an empty cup, and that one day, far from now, when we pass on, there will still be emails in our inbox. A bit morbid, but true and a fair reminder that there are more important things in life than being constantly devoted to work.
Setting hard time limits on how far past my normal end of day time I am willing to go, ignoring my phone on days off and vacation, and using the days off I am allotted in full are all ways I try to help maintain that balance. I still fail, almost daily. But am trying to be better 
One tip I’ve learned to adopt is the “hard stop”. As soon as my work day is over, I hard stop and I don’t pick up back up until the next day. My notifications are set from 7a-4p, and after that all work apps are silenced.
This ensures that there aren’t any work distractions when I am not on the clock.
We are on a hybrid schedule so sometimes it is hard for me to do that ‘hard stop’ at the end of the day when I’m working from home. So what I do is turn on quiet time hours on my inbox to reduce the pings on my phone!
For me it is about knowing that when I am with family and friends, that I leave the laptop off and don’t bring my work out. It’s just a matter of discipline.
This is a hard one for me working full time day shift with my husband working night shift plus I am on call with 3 kids. What I have found works best for my family is making the most of my and my husbands days off we plan things in advance for those days and then everything else is fit in during out regular days its a hard balance but it works for our family.
Work-life balance is very important! I make sure to not stay longer than I have to, so I can have time to relax and do the things I enjoy outside of work.
Setting boundaries. I let my team know when I am going to be “off the grid” otherwise I am fair game to ping if they need something.
I am a dog mom, but don’t have children. It was a hard thing to learn over the years, especially with technology at your fingertips making it possible to stay in constant contact with co-workers, no matter what time of day. Eventually I learned to leave work at work and be present when away from the office. I turn off notifications on my phone and focus on my family and myself. At the end of the day, that is what matters most.
One tip I’ve learned to adopt is the “hard stop”. As soon as my work day is over, I hard stop and I don’t pick up back up until the next day. My notifications are set from 7a-4p, and after that all work apps are silenced.
Create boundaries for work to help keep work from creeping into your family time
We are on a hybrid schedule so sometimes it is hard for me to do that ‘hard stop’ at the end of the day when I’m working from home.