Achieving Work-Life Balance
Thanks to the ever-increasing wireless connectivity, the boundary between work and personal life is constantly thinning. A new term "weisure" describes the increasing tendency to continue to work during leisure time (Patterson, 2009). Examples include reading work e-mail while spending time with the family and answering work-related cell phone calls during a leisure outing. This trend, according to Patterson, is partly due to the increasing enjoyment of work but also due to the difficulty faced in establishing clear boundaries between work and leisure time. This difficulty is magnified by the increase in the average number of hours in the workweek for many in the workforce and multiple roles. Many are parents, spouses, partners, employees, and caregivers to elderly parents and also engaged in continued education.
Whether you decide to enter the workforce directly upon graduation or attend graduate school, you will be faced with the challenge of juggling multiple roles and maintaining a balance. You will also be attempting to prove yourself as a new employee or as a new graduate student. The temptation to overwork will be great. However, it can have ethical implications, especially if you work in the psychology field. The stress you face may impair your effectiveness, leading to ethical ramifications (Barnett, Baker, Elman, & Schoener, 2007).
Using the Argosy University online library resources, research work-life balance. You may want to use some or all of the following search terms: work-life balance, job satisfaction, burnout, weisure, overworked, and self-care.
Select at least one authoritative article from the library and provide a summary. Focus on the effects of work-life imbalance and the
benefits of work-life balance.
Describe your own experience with attempting to achieve a work-life balance.
What have you done that has improved this balance?
What have you done that has worsened it?
How do you think your situation will change upon graduating from college?
Will you experience more or less difficulty in achieving this balance? Why?