Work/life balance: The past as prelude to the future

Many complain of the two-edged sword modern communications technology has turned out to be. At the same time that it gives us greater control over our work and helps us be more productive, it enables our work to reach out and grab us during our off-site and off-the-clock hours. It seems to both empower and overwhelm us. At bottom, then, what sort of force is it, really, in our lives?

In a recent WSJ column, Jared Sandberg puts an interesting and productive spin on this debate. He provides examples of some of the issues touched on above, then relates an observation of a woman who uses this technology to work from her home in the country:

She sees farmers working long hours in the same way her great-grandparents did; they milked cows at 5 a.m. And fixed tools after supper.

This woman has come to see that the new life she arranged for herself isn’t so much a balance as a blend of its constituent elements; much as it largely was before the industrial revolution began to cause us to specialize and compartmentalize not just our work, but our lives as well.

Interesting idea. Want to see it taken to a fascinatingly logical conclusion? Check out this link from BusinessWeek Online describing a telecommuter housing project under development in New Mexico. Designed to combine a pleasing mixture of climate, cost, and communications, the project has reasonably priced homes wired for all the most current communications technology, in neighborhoods interspersed with business centers containing, among other collaboration facilities best shared, world-class teleconference capabilities. And, speaking of the world and collaboration, the development will be at an average distance of less than a 10 minute drive - and no more than one traffic light - from the Albuquerque Airport.

It may indeed be that this technology is overwhelming the work/life balance, or that it is enabling it. Or, it may be returning us to a time when an ever-modulating blend between the elements of and demands upon our lives was the norm. Whatever the case, it is giving managers more choices about how to organize the very physical - not to mention the procedural, and even psychological - structures of their organizations. There’s no resisting it; there is only keeping your eye and mind open to the possibilities it offers both you and your staff.