Story Tools
Welcome to the Work/Life Minute, where every month I’ll bring you the insight and inspiration to cultivate work/life balance; profile individuals and businesses who are eco-friendly, socially responsible and revere human capital; and post media and events which demonstrate a commitment to meaningful, purpose-driven work.
What Is Work/Life Experience?
Whether in the corporate world or the daily grind of entrepreneurship, we are human beings enduring typical life experiences. In this 24/7 global marketplace the line between work and life has been forever blurred and there is no turning back.
As we are charged with overcoming chaos that comes our way, there’s been an increasing interest in the exploration of work/life balance. This includes practical application of progressive human resource policies, but also affects the way we interact as individuals.
In corporate America, there is an underlying concern that a sustainable company demonstrating concern for its workforce might lose its competitive edge. But, increasingly, that attitude is changing and, both nationally and here on Long Island, leaders are emerging to tackle work/life issues.
Human Capital vs. the Human Experience: My Own Story
The need for work/life integration came, for me, as a direct result of my own professional experiences of overextending myself without a thought. As a reporter for the Marketplace Morning Report, heard nationally on NPR, while continuing my work at News 12 Long Island, I worked long weeks and too many hours to count.
Despite this draining pace, I didn’t learn my lesson about the importance of work/life balance until the tragic events of September 11, 2001 hit home for me professionally and personally.
Reporting on the horrors of that day at News 12, we all watched with grief and panic as thousands of people were trapped and, ultimately, lost their lives at the World Trade Center. The sorrow was a personal one, too, as one of our photographers, Glen Pettit, disappeared after heading into Tower Two. We later learned he had been killed. Even though each of us was reeling from this tragedy, we had to power through and report the news. Thankfully, our company, Cablevision, quickly recognized the need to care for us as people so that we could continue our work as employees. Food and counseling services were provided for the staff in the long days that followed the tragedy.
As news reporters we are often seen as being detached in the face of such chaos, but most of us can attest that was far from reality in the aftermath of 9/11. Our work/life experience became one, which would forever change the way I approached a story.
What emerged was a more conscious attitude in how I worked and lived, along with a conundrum: How was I, along with the rest of the world, supposed to cope with grief while executing workday duties without spiraling into the abyss? Prayer? Meditation? Exercise? Sure, they were helpful. But it wasn’t until I started volunteering during the days after that I could feel my humanity again and meet the demands of work in a more effective way. I was asked by a friend to help out at Pier 94 along the Hudson River, which had become the disaster’s triage center.
Suddenly, I became a reporter by day and a volunteer by night. At Pier 94, I worked with the children of 9/11 victims. While their parents waited on line to fill out insurance papers, submit DNA evidence and have a warm meal, I did arts and crafts with the children and would just listen. I’d get to the pier at night, on weekends, whenever I could.
Week after week, work and life became one. Every time I spoke with someone at work or out in the field, I would listen to stories of changed lives and pain. More and more, my own pain was quelled.
While my epiphany grew out of extreme circumstances, stress of all kinds—whether large or small—affects our ability to function at work and at home. The statistics are proving this. In June 2006, a poll by market research company Ipsos-Reid that surveyed CEOs, 66 percent reported that “stress burnout or other physical and mental health issues” are negatively impacting workforce productivity. It’s not the first of the studies to state that something needs to change in the way we approach the work/life experience. Most of us don’t need statistics to tell us so. Just think about the times work makes you miss dinner with the family, the next time you ditch your weekly yoga class, the next time you work through the weekend.
Plenty of us will be in the same boat.
