What’s the one thing that will keep you at your job?

Pay?  Easy commute?  Advancement?

How about that popular work-life balance?  One recent study found that work-life balance was the number one factor in retaining employees.  That study, for some reason, blew me away.  Any time I’ve left a job it’s because of something like a lousy boss or more pay or increased opportunities.  It wasn’t work-life balance, despite the fact that I was desperately worn out and worked too much. 

Does that make me abnormal?  Hey – anything’s possible!

To be fair, once I hit my 40s, I changed the way I worked.  So perhaps there comes a time when workers trade out pay and advancement for more flexibility.  In the study referenced above, five “key aspects of work-life balance” were mentioned.  See if you agree with these:

1) wellbeing

2) satisfaction

3) workload

4) security

5) relationships

When I saw this list, the one that stood out for me was #3:  workload.  I thought that should have been first.  I also believe that if you take someone with a strong well being (#1 on the list) and put them in a toxic environment, you’ll create an unhappy worker. 

What do you think?  What’s your idea of the top factors in creating a sane work-life balance for you?

Post from: Blisstree

Number One Factor in Retaining Staff

I’m always a little bit leery about people who claim an easy fix to the issues people face in the workplace today just by suggesting folks need to have a better attitude.

Take me, for example. 

I started out as the most positive person in my earlier years at work, to the point where I annoyed others.  I decided that unlike my parents, I would LOVE my job and be happy, happy, happy no matter what.  The problem?  My employers didn’t seem to think this was a good enough reason to treat me well.

In fact, in my early years I got a lot dumped on me because I had a good attitude.  I was the one that never complained so if there was more to be done, it got heaped upon my desk.  My response would always be “no problem!”

After a while, it got old.

So I was intrigued by this article that talks about work-life balance, attitude, and what I was doing wrong all the years I was in my other jobs.  Specifically, this quote from American psychologist Stephen Lundin caught my eye:

“There’s talk about this work-life balance, but I have another view: it’s just life.

Interesting, no?  More than a mere quote, however, Lundin has a four-step plan he says will transform a work environment from one of boring servitude to happiness in a bottle.  He says four components “mixed in the right proportions, result in a high quality of life at work.”

Those four components are:  “play, making someone’s day, being there, and choosing one’s attitude.”

My first reaction was that someone would need to find the type of environment where these four components could exist, but I think it’s more than that.  People need to carve out joyful moments and attitude despite the corporate nonesense that goes on around them.  However, as we all know, sometimes a job is simply too toxic to stick around in.

To that end, Lundin says, “managerial arrogance” is the number one reason a work environment will remain unhappy.  I can see the truth in that.  In order for a culture to truly change, it has to go from the top down as well as the bottom up.  In other words, the big wigs have to be committed to changing, too.

Lindin’s advice if your job is simply a toxic wasteland? 

“You do what you can do in the place where you influence, but if your life is suffering because of it, you start looking for ways to find a different place to play.  Because life is too short to suffer arrogance.”

Post from: Blisstree

Having Fun at Work? It’s All in the Attitude!