From Balance, to Fit
It was early in my career when I was managing a group of commercial bankers in New York City that I recognized a trend that only a handful of pioneers were starting to address — helping employees strategically manage their work and life made good business sense.
Even though few companies at the time, including my own, understood or shared that belief, I knew that developing corporate work+life strategies was going to become increasingly important. And, it was a passion I wanted to focus on more than banking. But I knew that for organizational leaders to embrace the strategic importance of work+life, they would have to view me as a credible and business-savvy advisor. To do that, I left the bank and became a full-time student at Columbia Business School.
Because the work+life field was in its infancy, there were few jobs available. However, I was fortunate enough to be hired as a summer intern and then as a full-time Senior Research Associate after graduation by Families and Work Institute, one of the leading work+life research and consulting organizations. Working with the groundbreaking leaders at FWI, I developed numerous corporate work+life strategies for some of the most forward-thinking Fortune 500 companies, and I coordinated national research studies on a variety of work+life topics.
A Missing Piece
After following one of FWI’s founders to Bright Horizons Family Solutions to start a corporate consulting practice, I began to see another trend - or the unavoidable reality–that developing and implementing corporate work+life strategies from the top-down was only half of the equation. There was a critically important missing piece — the employee.
While we could help organizations create an environment that supported work+life, only the employee knew which solution would work best for his or her unique set of realities. Yet, few employees felt empowered to create their own solution and if they did, they had absolutely no idea how. Bottom-line: without making the individual an equal partner in the process, nothing was going to change.
No Such Thing as Balance
I also made another realization — there is no such thing as “balance.” Over the years, I found that term caused individuals more feelings of dissatisfaction and pressure than of well-being. No one ever felt they achieved balance. Why? For the same reason organizations couldn’t provide work+life solutions for each one of their employees — each individual has a unique set of work and personal realities. No two sets are alike. The term “balance” didn’t adequately convey the variety of work+life possibilities from which individuals could choose. Bottom-line: it’s “fit,” not balance.
With these two new and critical findings to guide me, I began to research a process to help individuals partner with their employers to create, negotiate and implement a mutually-beneficial “fit.” But when I couldn’t find a process that was comprehensive, yet also easy to follow, I developed one myself. The result was Work+Life: Finding the Fit That’s Right for You, published to positive national reviews by Riverhead/Penguin Group in hardcover in April, 2004 and in paperback in 2005.
I also founded Work+Life Fit, Inc. to offer services and resources that help individuals strategically manage the way work “fits” into their life and organizations create strong work+life fit partnerships with their employees. Clients include individuals from all types of industries and jobs, as well as organizations ranging from Fortune 500 companies, to middle market and small companies, universities, business schools and professional organizations.
For more than ten years, I’ve helped hundreds of organizations and thousands of employees create strong work+life fit partnerships. But there is more work to do. The 24/7 demands of globalization and technology, and the challenges of changing demographics are demanding new solutions. Therefore, employee-initiated and employer-supported work+life fit partnerships will be an increasingly critical factor in the success of every organization regardless of size, and every individual, regardless of age, and gender.