Work Life Balance
The idea of 'work-life' balance is very topical. A healthy work life balance is something to be strived for. Yet the concept does seem to separate work from living. We work the majority of our week - shouldn't we be going for work-life integration?
Our After Sunday Panel have tackled this issue:
The notion of a healthy work-life balance seems to imply a separation of working and living. What can a Christian perspective bring to the popular belief that this should be aspired to?
In response to this month's question, our panel are seeking to redefine our understanding of work and life. David Clough suggests that "we need to reject the idea that we work to live, or divide our existence between work and life: work in many different forms is part of our life, and part of our calling as Christians." He argues that work is not simply an activity to provide for our basic material needs but also to "respond to the call of God to be co-creators, joining with God to witness to and build for the coming reign of God."
Bill Allen sees the concept of work-life balance as a "mechanistic approach to the priorities of life" in which life is made up of several segments. He goes on to say that with this way of life, faith becomes simply one of the segments and is "capable of being diminished" as other segments take priority. He suggests we "see faith as the hub of a wheel of which the priorities of life are the spokes. Faith at the centre maintains the balance tension even when one of the priorities demands extra time and attention." In this way, life is not segmented, rather life rotates around a central hub of faith which keeps all aspects of life in balance and supported by faith and by God.
Ann Loades concurs with this view, suggesting that we should "be looking for glimpses of the presence of God in everything we do - becoming attentive to what the great Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner called the divine depths of ordinary life".
Our panel do, though, recognise the positive influence of paid work in our lives; Ann Loades notes that "it can be a rich source of interest, friendship, and provide fruitful avenues for learning and personal development". She goes onto highlight the fact that people who do not work can feel "excluded".
Jennifer Baraclough notes that over time, defining work as that which provides for our economic survival has led to this distinction between work and life; "In a world much more geared to leisure, to personal (and often immediate) satisfaction / gratification, and where money can become the only measure of the value of any transaction, it's harder to maintain the older tradition expressed to me when I started this job: ‘Work is love made visible'." She goes onto say that she has been fortunate to experience life and work as a whole and has come across many "who have found the opportunities to fulfil their deepest urges in the most productive ways". Jennifer Baraclough sets out the vision of her workplace where there is sympathetic understanding to conflicts between roles and responsibilities. She highlights the importance of carrying the "values of the workplace into the home - companionship, respect, enjoyment, encouragement to learn and develop". Following on from this, Jennifer suggests by contrast that to have a segregation of work and the rest of life is sometimes a positive thing - "some of our staff find a refuge at work from some of the difficulties of home - there is order, clarity and straightforwardness here rather than huge emotional demands, insoluble personal problems and the sense of permanent failure".
Peter Shaw also acknowledges that work often brings fulfilment and vitality and should be nurtured along with other "spheres" of life. He believes that our Christian calling is to be "diligent in the business of life". This will "be seeking to have an impact in lots of different ways. We will want to make a difference to all the communities in which we live and work which may mean going the extra mile." Work forms only part of this calling and with the other spheres, we should look at "how can we grow and nurture those sources of energy as Christians so we can make a difference in a far greater way than we might have initially expected".
David Clough suggests that not only do we have to recognise the importance of paid work as God intended us to do (citing 2 Thess 3: 6-9) but also "need to recognize responsibilities before God to others as wives and husbands, parents and children, sisters and brothers, friends, neighbours and fellow citizens. Many of the tasks these responsibilities bring are beyond the confines of paid work. If paid employment gets out of our control, it can make us irresponsible in fulfilling the other roles which are also part of our vocation". These other roles are as much part of life as paid employment. In addition to these other very active and often stressful roles, Ann Loades proposes that we "must insist on enough space for what looks like 'doing nothing', stillness, silence, the recovery of energy, time to re-charge the 'batteries' etc. - the 'sacramentality' of our own lives in these moments of the divine recreative moments - seeing that things are good."
In summary, life is "to be faced and lived as it is" (Dr Bill Allen), and "we can do no more than look for constant values and try to apply those, whether at home or at work: to keep our expectations of ourselves and others consistent; to live truthfully wherever we are and trust that others will do the same" (Jennifer Baraclough).