Do you work to live or live to work?

It’s 8 a.m. Monday morning. Noses are pressed against the MRT doors. Arms are confined within

minute spaces. There is way too much body contact and a palpable scent of perfumes, soaps, and
sweat in the air.

With hardly any room to breathe, small beads of perspiration begin to roll down your back. Oh dear, is that an itch you feel?!

You finally arrive at your place of work with 30 seconds to spare (a new record!) and turn on your workstation and every associated gadgetry known to the human race. The phone begins to ring – and thus your 8-hour +++ work day begins.

The day has been a long one, you are hungry and exhausted and it’s almost 7.45 p.m. before you wearily leave the office. Catching the familiar ‘sardine can’ back home you suddenly realise that the wife has asked you to do the baby food shopping today!

Silently cursing your overworked brain cells and your pathetic work-life balancing skills, you take a deep breath and prepare for the long vigil ahead at the crowded supermarket.

Does the scenario above sound all too familiar to you? According to a workplace survey conducted last year, 69% (yes, sixty-nine per cent) of Singapore professionals stay glued to work after office hours. This damning statistic naturally gives rise to the question: Why? Are employers locking the office doors beyond 6 ‘o’clock?

The Prime Minister recently breathed new life into an old campaign to improve work-life balance via his National Day Rally speech. He highlighted that more ‘needed to be done to help employers promote flexible work arrangements and improve the local work culture’.

While this is surely commendable and a step in the right direction, the country’s marriage and fertility rates (now a
major national issue) surely are not dependent on our employers are they? Do we lay the blame squarely on our employer for the present falling marriage and fertility rates and cry foul: “My boss say I cannot have baby what….”

It is clearly evident that the onus is on us individually to review our priorities in life and transform the current realm of work-life balance talk into reality. If we genuinely want work-life balance, then the desire to make it happen must first come from us. Here are 5 vital areas necessary in order to develop that “X-factor”:

*Do you really want it? Some professionals are more than happy to dedicate their entire life (and by extension, that of their family) to the cause of their employer. While it is imperative to have a passion for one’s work, it is essential to put one’s family first. After all, isn’t family the reason why we often work the way we do in the first instance? So ask yourself again: how badly do I want work-life balance?

*The smart use of technology – a must! The iPad, iPhone, Blackberry, Cloud servers and infrastructure, and Google’s “Hangouts” applications are some avenues through which good work can be done on a daily basis without the need for an individual to be physically present in the office at all hours of the day – and for some, night. Of course, clear expectations must be set with your boss as technology can open the doors to calls and e-mails outside of regular office-hours or whilst (heaven forbid!) on annual leave.

*Bond with that caring colleague! Having high social capital at work can prove to be a tremendous form of support for work-life balance. The simple adage of “neighbour helping neighbour” will often times go a long way in helping everyone at the office stay sane in an otherwise insane business landscape.

The fears of taking maternity leave or other flexi-work arrangements will suddenly seem a distant memory when such an environment exists.

*Are you working for the boss that genuinely believes in work-life balance? One top performer at work reportedly turned down no less than 7 job offers because the boss truly believed in the importance of work-life balance for his employees.

Unique flexi-work arrangements, time-off rewards for good attitude and excellent performance, reasonable KPIs, and a genuine caring spirit from the boss are some of the ways you can determine if you are in the right place – or if you need to move on.

*When the going gets tough... Of course the journey towards successfully achieving work-life balance runs along a two-way street. Are you willing to carry your fair share and perhaps that little bit extra during tough times when your boss needs you to?

A sense of loyalty, responsibility and commitment at work speaks volumes about your professionalism and sense of appreciation for what the company has done for you.

So there you have it. Work-life balance need not be an elusive dream nor should we only start working on it tomorrow. The ultimate responsibility lies not with the Government or our employers. Like a true X-factor winner, it is up to us individually to make the dream a reality.