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Work-Life Balance 

Work-life balance, something that we all have once or still struggle with. This balance we are looking for it’s not that easy to “find” and if “found” is not easy to maintain. Different authors like; Allan Kohll ( The Evolving Definition Of Work-Life Balance), Allison Pohle ( How to Improve Your Work-Life Balance ), Marisa Sanfilippo ( How to Improve Your Work-Life Balance Today ), and Dr. Liji Thomas ( Importance of a Work-Life Balance )all agree that work-life balance is an issue that has affected all of us. Not having a balance between work and life creates burnouts that affect the person’s mental and physical state. They have written articles for people to read in order to find a way to balance their work-life “time”. In these articles there are tips on how to do so, these tips are somehow related to their personal experience, but are not far off from each other. The articles are pretty recent which means that the research has been done not too long ago, that can relate to even the latest generations.

As the founder and president of TotalWellness, which is a national corporate health and wellness service provider, Allan Kohll is sharing the information that he’s gathered on Work-life balance with people interested or not on how to find the balance between life and work. Throughout his descriptive and informational article, he states that the workplace and the work hours play a big role in this “balance”. He believes that if employers give their employees flexible hours that would help them catch up with their “other” priorities in life other than work. And he also says that if employees were “placed” in a better work environment that would help increase their productivity, which would reduce the physical and mental struggle that the employees might be going through, which also helps balance their “life”. This comes to conclusion by his statement that says that “By creating a work environment that prioritizes work-life balance, employers can save money and maintain a healthier, more productive workforce.”

In addition Allison Pohle, a reporter working on a new digital magazine. Previously worked as a producer/director for NPR’s On Point, and as a reporter for Boston.com, agrees with what Allan Kohll, and states what she believes can help keep the work-life balance alive in the wall street journal. She emphasizes that “Achieving work-life balance may seem unattainable, but you can take steps to establish better boundaries and prevent burnout before it sets in.” In her descriptive article, she also gives us some examples of how we can establish a “healthy” work-life balance. Pohle agrees with Allan on how we need to manage our time and not focus only on work but also on other priorities in life other than work.

Moreover Marisa Sanfilippo, an award-winning marketing professional and contributing writer shares with us how work-life balance is important for us and also shares how managers of workplaces can help their employees maintain a good work-life balance. This is in an article found on the business news daily, in which she mentioned that “Accept that there is no ‘perfect’ work-life balance.” This means that you won’t always be able to have a balanced work-life. And she also states that “Balance is achieved over time, not each day”. This is something very important because this supports what Allison had to say which was that you shouldn’t fall into that hopelessness phase which would result in burnouts. This is noted by Allison in her article in which she reveals that “A prolonged sense of helplessness and lack of control due to burnout will manifest physically if ignored.” This is something really “dangerous” because this not only hinders the possibility for that person to find that balance in life, but this can also affect the people around that person. 

Likewise, Dr. Liji Thomas, a medical doctor specializing in obstetrics and gynecology who has since taken up medical writing to help others understand more of the wealth of medical knowledge available today, agrees with all the other writers ( Allan Kohll, Allison Pohle, Marisa Sanfilippo ). In her article, she noted that “This state, called work-life balance, can be defined as an individual’s ability to meet their work and family commitments, as well as other non-work responsibilities and activities.” This means that work-life balance can be met only if the person is committed to both works and out-of-work activities. In addition, I would say that she mostly agrees with Allan Kohll because she also mentions that “Different countries seem to have alternative work ethics, with the Netherlands having the lowest percentage of employees who work long hours.” This is because both Dr. Thomas and Allan talk about how ethics, specifically work ethics and the number of hours you work for have an effect on work-life balance and that’s because the environment and the amount of time you work for every day could take a toll on the persons mental health, which would hinder the “life” part of work-life balance.

Between the four articles written by Allan Kohll, Allison Pohle, Marisa Sanfilippo, and Dr. Liji Thomas, we can tell for sure that they would agree on almost everything that they have stated in their articles. They all agree that to be able to manage the work-life balance you need to manage both sides. Have to make sure to take responsibility and be committed to work and also in life and not shift most of it only on one of the “sides”. They also agree on the fact that the employer should be flexible and give the employee the time needed off work if the employee feels like he needs it in order for him to be able to balance his work-life.   

In conclusion, the authors believe that in order for us to reach that work-life balance, we need to make time for both work and other priorities outside work because this is the best way to maintain our physical and mental health. And also in order for people to find that balance the employer should provide the flexibility for the employees to take their mind off “work” and focus on “life” outside of it. The tone of the articles is very informative and assertive because they all are pretty confident about what they are speaking and are also informing us on how to maintain a “healthy” work-life balance.

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