Kimberly Manchester Massaroco
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It seems like no matter where I go to look for information on the current climate of work – online or in person – everyone is talking about the need for work-life balance. It also seems like many seek to have that balance tipped heavily in favor of life over work. The most extreme are making demands that employers make financial accommodations in the form of less work (24 – 32-hour work weeks) for the same amount of money (or even more!). I suppose that does make sense, in a broad view: How will one be able to afford to do all that one wants with all this extra free time if one does not have the extra money to pay for such a lifestyle? Something has to give and, in keeping with this surrealistic balance, it should be the employer. Oh, the entitlement!

Yes, this view strikes me as incorrect and grossly egocentric. I believe that to view work-life balance as the mythical scales of justice, which must constantly undergo minute adjustments to remain in balance, is incorrect – and terribly inefficient. Like counting blueberries in a batch of muffin tins to make sure there is an equal amount in each muffin, spending too much time paying attention to every little detail results in micromanagement of the little details while the major details are left untended. (And if you said those six words in a Robert DeNiro voice, we are going to get along just fine, regardless of whether we agree on this matter).

To me, work-life balance is less like a scale and more like a merry-go-round: a balance that does not tip from side-to-side, but moves in a circular motion around a balanced hub. If the hub is balanced– in my case, my physical and mental health – then all that attaches to it stays in place and moves with smooth, fluid motion. The carousel moves in a circle while the horses go up-and-down in rhythmic motion, the sleigh seats stay in place and the brass ring is there for anyone who cares to try and grab it. In short, my work-life balance is like a well-oiled machine; it can still work if the wheels need greasing or if my suspension is thrown slightly out of alignment – as so often happens in life. Unlike a scale that is out of balance, the small imbalances are far less noticeable on a merry-go-round. So long as all areas are properly maintained, those small and occasional imbalances can be corrected in the end. If, on the other hand, misalignments are left to fester, the calliope will crash to the ground (yes, I am also a fan of Manfred Mann).

Now I realize there are those who will argue that record pay should be the result of record profits. Does this mean that during the lean times all employees should take a pay cut to ensure nobody will get laid off? If we are going to look at work-life balance as something binary, like the scales of justice, this is the fair work model. However, I digress; my true point here is that it needs to be understood that company profits go not only to salaries. There needs to be money left over to go into research and development, investments in the industrial infrastructure, and other expenses that come out of gross profits. These examples are only a small portion of what companies do with their profits to enhance the company brand and keep it competitive enough to stay in business. Just as we do not look at gross income as a picture of a company’s fiscal health, we should not look at gross profits as the basis of what employees should be paid. Rather, it needs to be a combination of a base wage or salary and the employee’s worth to the company. While I agree that the matter of merit pay is far too often overlooked, that is a discussion for another time.

The issue of imbalance in work-life balance has come to a head due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has messed with our infallible sense of American invincibility and left us to question what it is we truly value in life. Let us work to find the root causes of why we feel so imbalanced before assuming facts not in evidence, and then jumping to conclusions that tip the scale so far so fast that those on the other side of it are launched from it like boulders from a sprung catapult.

KJM

02.06.2024