The COVID-19 pandemic unraveled layers of dysfunction in society, and one of those layers is our perception of the ideal work-life balance.
Work-life balance means managing a healthy personal life alongside working life. Incorporating going to the gym, engaging in social activities, eating healthy, and spending time with family are ways of balancing work stressors.
Before the pandemic, it seemed pretty straightforward to incorporate such luxuries into your life. Yet, many people continued to struggle juggling multiple roles alongside the healthy lifestyle recommendations. And it felt almost shameful to admit things like not having time for the gym or not making healthy meals every night. Work-life balance is necessary for a happy and long life, but it’s unsustainable with the current economic demands. Furthermore, employers in lucrative industries market work-life balance as a perk.
My mother worked up to three jobs when I was a child. She didn’t have weekends off. We also didn’t have a car, so her commutes by public transit across the city were long, and she worked minimum wage, which was less than $10/hour. She didn’t have time to come to my school concerts, play with me after school, or check over my homework. She barely had time to sleep! Yet, she was expected to balance life with work. I dare you to make it make sense. Work-life balance was a fantasy in her eyes, yet sold to us as a necessity to survive.
Western society requires one to work at least 40 hours to survive. I currently work a 9–5, Monday to Friday job, and it’s considered a privilege to have Saturday and Sunday off. My total commute time per day was two hours, and I’m lucky enough to live within the city. I know individuals with a one-way commute time of two hours. I’m also privileged to work in a lucrative industry.
Yet, despite all these privileges, I found it challenging to schedule socializing with friends, visiting family, eating healthy, frequently exercising, getting enough sleep, engaging in recreational activities, starting a business, and maintaining a romantic relationship. I had enough time to cycle between at most three of these things, which indicates I wasn’t very consistent. A part of me was happy at the end of my relationship because it opened up space in my schedule. That’s pretty messed up. My schedule was packed and unmanageable. I barely noticed my declining mental and physical health.
I realized my life was unsustainable, and it felt unfair to sacrifice my other life commitments because work was inflexible.
If our society is so inflexible because the demands are so high, how is it a “balance” when you can only remove elements from one side of the scale (your personal life)? How can this dynamic be sustainable?
Furthermore, work-life balance is a marketing strategy used to disguise the dysfunction we’ve accepted. It’s sold to people in lucrative industries as an incentive, even though we know it’s a necessity. Large corporations then invest in their spaces by adding luxury items, which then convinces great talent that these corporations care about their well-being. When, in fact, it’s a strategy to keep individuals in the office rather than engaging in independent activities. These strategies buy in great talent to demanding industries and then coerces individuals to believe “This is as good as it gets.”
Your life isn’t balanced with luxury items at the office. It might bring you joy, but it’s not a work-life balance. Individuals need time away from the office to engage in activities independently. Although I love the sound of having a gym at my job, I would rather have a gym membership to a local gym in my area. Creating proper boundaries between work and life is required to achieve balance.
I don’t know what’s to come when the COVID-19 pandemic comes to an end. A part of me is scared to go back to the way things were, and another part of me feels like things will be different. Whatever the case may be, I think many people have established a true work-life balance during quarantine. Employers will have difficulty reinforcing old policies, and if they’re not careful, employee turnover rates will skyrocket.
I think we’ve entered a decade where employees now have the high-ground. Work-life balance is an unsustainable marketing strategy catered to the privileged, and COVID-19 has created a path to redefine it.
