We all work; we all have personal lives. What’s unique to each of us is how we manage those two worlds.
For a long time, striking the right work-life balance has been the working woman’s dream. A perfectly leveled divide between paid work and everything else. But in recent years, and especially in the wake of the pandemic, that term has begun to evolve, with critics arguing for less structured—and more realistic—phraseology to represent the ebb and flow of work and life. Enter in 2023: work-life effectiveness.
Leadership coach Louise Thompson loves the phrase “work-life effectiveness” because it captures the key point of what we’re all trying to achieve:
”We need to find our own way to be effective and that may differ from person to person,” she explains. “Some people prefer a boundary between work and home, some people prefer (or need) more fluidity and integration, and are able to be highly effective in this way. Ultimately, it’s figuring out what works best for you and the people around you.”
Read more: 4 Signs Your Work-Life Balance Isn’t Really Working For You
What is work-life effectiveness?
Work-life effectiveness is an approach to living that aligns your private life with your professional life. While there is balance between the two, it’s the trade-offs that make this approach more effective than trying to find a work-life balance.
Jessica Bantom, a diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) practitioner and workplace strategist, says work-life effectiveness is unique to you and your job.
If, for example, “your job is extremely deadline-driven, like in business development, your duties may require you to work extensive hours for periods at a time but that could be followed up by a mandatory 2–3 days off,” Bantom says.
Read more: What Is a Rotating Schedule & Who Is It Good For?
On the other hand, she notes, “if there are times that are predictably busy, like the end of the fiscal year for finance staff, maybe work-life effectiveness looks like preemptively announcing longer in-office hours so people can adjust their schedules in advance—and possibly having resources on hand to help people do that.”
Incorporating work-life effectiveness into your own situation can even look like brainstorming sessions at the office, Bantom explains. If you have a family emergency to attend to, for example, your team can come up with solutions to pick up the slack.
Read more: How to Reach Your Flow State & Stay There
How is work-life effectiveness different from work-life balance?
Work-life effectiveness shifts the focus from mere balance to a more holistic approach. It emphasizes the idea that it's not just about splitting time evenly between work and personal life, but about how efficiently and effectively one can manage both aspects to lead a fulfilling and productive life overall.
Being effective isn’t about how many hours you spend in the office, or how many emails you send, says Thompson. “It’s about how you use your time, and your talent, to deliver the best outcomes possible in a way that works for you and for the people around you—whether those people are your teammates and manager at work, or your family and friends at home.”
Read more: Our Comprehensive Guide to Finding a Career You Love
Once everyone realized that the equal distribution of work-life balance felt nearly impossible to achieve, Rhonda Williams, CEO and chief vision officer at Above the Grind, tells InHerSight, that we transitioned into work-life integration: the idea that we could seamlessly move from one state to the other with optimal flow and harmony.
But now we’re embracing work-life effectiveness which, Williams says “implies that you have achieved a level of understanding and acceptance of what works best for you. It’s not a state of balance, flawless integration, or perfect harmony. It is a way of ‘being’ in your life that works for you. It allows space for the variation that is life.”
Read more: Return to Office, Maybe? How to Reduce Stress & Maintain Flexibility Amid Changing Routines
Work-life effectiveness is very personal
Instead of making our work and personal lives fit, whether by a 50/50 time split or give-and-take flow, work-life effectiveness allows us to decide what division of work and life fits best in our personal worlds.
There are as many ways to approach this method as there are people. Bantom gives examples of what work-life effectiveness might mean to different people:
-
One person may consider it to mean blocking off a couple of hours to work uninterrupted and then schedule a 15-minute walk every afternoon.
-
Someone else might want to lead a midday mindfulness session for their teammates twice a week.
-
And another individual might switch their work schedule to start and end their days earlier during their child’s soccer season so they can coach the team—without feeling like they have to sneak out or work extra hours later in the evening to “make up for it.”
-
Someone else may want to adjust their schedule during an extended religious observance to attend services, once again, without feeling like they have to sneak out or work extra hours at either end of the day to prove that it’s not impacting their capacity to get their work done.
Read more: Hello, Flexibility: The 23 Best Jobs for Work-Life Balance
Why does assessing the effectiveness of work-life flow matter?
Work-life effectiveness matters to two major groups: employers and employees, aka you. You’re the primary concern.
Let’s discuss the business case for work-life effectiveness first. Employees who experience positive work-life effectiveness are more engaged at work, which promotes productivity and retention, and reduces absenteeism. Those are all things employers like to see. Unfortunately, less than 1 in 4 workers (23 percent) are engaged at work, according to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace 2023 report.
As company leaders understand the impact of successful work-life effectiveness on their staff, it may lead to more corporate policies that help employees achieve that state. An organization can promote work-life effectiveness by eliminating or reducing unnecessary meetings and work-related travel, promoting flexible work arrangements, and accommodating dependent care, not just childcare.
Read more: Why We Should All Resolve to Ditch Hustle Culture
Then there’s the mental health aspect, which affects you as an employee. As human beings, we need to feel that there is value in our role in life, both at home and in our careers. Feeling valued is actually a need all people have, as it provides a sense of emotional safety.
“Work-life effectiveness represents a new way of thinking, which makes room for new, creative dialogue and solutions,” says Bantom. “And with that comes greater freedom.”
When people discover they have some agency over what will make them most effective, they are usually able to achieve a level of work-life effectiveness that works for them.
Read more: What It Means to Reach Burnout: Your Work, Your Time & Your Health
What are some ways you can assess your work-life effectiveness?
There are steps you can take to assess your work-life effectiveness and things you can do to create a more effective way of being in your life, Williams says. These include:
-
Elevate your self-awareness. Self-awareness allows us to assess, reflect, and understand who we are and what we are feeling. When we can acknowledge that certain things we’re doing are not helping us reach our goal, it places us in an empowering position to act.
-
Decide. If things are not going in the right direction, decide on a new direction. This step is critical. Determine a new direction before you act. Otherwise, you can act and still not be aligned with what you are seeking.
-
Take action. This requires a level of confidence and commitment to your new direction. A goal without a plan is simply a wish. Write down three steps you can take—starting today—to begin creating a shift toward improved work-life effectiveness.
-
Be accountable. Set your focus, set boundaries, and hold yourself accountable. People will never respect or support boundaries that you do not effectively express.
-
Evaluate. Schedule a self-check in on the calendar. How are things going? Are adjustments needed? No plan starts off perfectly, so expect to adjust. It’s part of the process.
-
Live the talk. Those around you must see you living your values and creating the space for others to do the same. If not, they may become disillusioned by your hypocrisy.
Read more: How to Support Employees Who Are Working from Home with Children
Thompson uses a “coaching tool called the Wheel of Life with my female clients. It helps you identify the areas of your whole life—i.e. work, home, family, health, finances etc.—and assess how in balance they feel. This is an eye-opening exercise for many, as it throws into sharp relief where things might be out of whack. So then we can take steps to rectify that.
In terms of effectiveness, go back to your key goal and outcome (whether at work or home). Is your work style conducive to meeting these goals and achieving these outcomes? Be honest with yourself and don’t be afraid to make changes to meet your needs.”
Read more: Ways Women Work: How Emotional Labor Weighs On Women & 10 Ways to Ease the Burden
Are there any cons to using the work-life effectiveness lens?
Any look at the flow of work and life, whether balance, integration, or effectiveness, typically focuses on the office versus the family.
Bantom wrote a LinkedIn post about this, saying that the default family concept can be harmful for a number of reasons. These include:
1. “It equates life outside of work with ‘family,’ which alienates people without families.
2. It typically neglects care that some people provide for their family of origin—e.g., parents, siblings, etc.
3. It places limits on what life beyond work actually is—even people with families have other aspects of their lives to tend to.
4. It implies that only family-related duties and activities are legitimate in the discussion of making work flexible.”
That means managers, HR departments and company leaders need to be sensitive about this default and allow for parents and non-parents alike to have the same unquestioned flexibility at work in order to achieve work-life effectiveness.
Read more: 20 Quotes on Achieving Work-Life Balance from Successful Women
On the other hand, Thompson says she likes the work-life effectiveness lens, because “effectiveness takes us away from the old-fashioned view of hours spent in the office as a measure of good work. It’s about what we achieve and why that matters; and that’s the only thing you should be thinking about.”
Ultimately, though, “seeking the optimal state that will work best for us will be an ongoing journey,” says Williams. “As we continue to change, our terminology will evolve. Work-life effectiveness will not be the last term to describe the journey. What’s most important is developing a deep mental fortitude to create a personal and professional life that serves you at the highest level. This is our best opportunity to serve others.”
