The Balancing Act: Juggling your career while maintaining the lifestyle you want

Written by Allison Rutherford the Executive Director of the HR Tech Group – an association of human resources professionals who work in the technology sector.

Allison was the 2007 recipient of the Award of Excellence, for the top HR professional in the BC Human Resources Management Association. For 15 years she was the Director of Human Resources for an international tech company. She has 3 young children: two girls, age 9 and 8, and a 4 year-old boy who keeps her running!

If they haven’t already realized it, companies are about to wake-up and face a huge shortage of talent – more retirees, and less workers entering the workforce means that companies are going to need to find a way to retain talent. Retaining women in the workforce will be key – and success will only come if companies recognize women’s needs to achieve a work/life harmony.

There are very few female colleagues I know who don’t wrestle with the work/life balancing act. In fact, women often adopt the “it’s greener on the other side of the fence” attitude. Either harboring guilt that they’re working full time and don’t have enough time for their kids; or having career and/or financial disappointment if they’ve decided to stay home full time with the kids. There is constant turmoil in their life. They feel they are either letting their family down, or not performing to the expectations of the job.

I am fortunate. I am one of those people who knows she’s found the balance and is at peace with it. You can too. The key to finding peace, is to change your attitude so you focus on the best things about your own situation, and let it go when you feel you’re not doing your best.

After university, I worked in progressively senior positions, full time. I was the Director of Human Resources for Scientific-Atlanta, having responsibilities for hundreds of employees in both Vancouver and Atlanta locations. The job was exciting and I felt confident that my contributions were actually making a difference. Once I started my family however, I realized something had to change. I needed to identify time in my life for my family, but maintain my career.

I re-invented myself – decided to start consulting work that would allow me the time to be there for my kids before and after school. Although initially it appeared to be a gamble financially (no guarantee on consulting projects coming in, working less hours, etc), it has worked better than I could have imagined.

When my children were babies, I worked from home as much as possible. Having a home office meant using my time efficiently by returning calls and emails when the baby was napping (twice a day). Trading babysitting one-day a week with another part-time mother also came in handy – it was free, and I got a dedicated work day where I could go out to meetings. Eventually I also hired a one-day-a-week nanny, who came into my home, helped with the cleaning when baby slept, and allowed me to get a second day to go out to meetings if required. I admit on days when I didn’t have help, nursing baby while reading emails happened occasionally, but then we’d go to the park together. As my children got older, I could count on pre-school mornings to get work done, and sometimes a favourite show or video to squeeze in an extra hour or two of uninterruped work. This balance worked fabulously for me.

Currently I run an association of 90 companies, whose HR professionals are individual members. We put on quarterly events, run regular mini-surveys on employment practices, and publish the leading tech salary survey annually. We’ve created a model where by if you’re in human resources working for a tech company, you see the need and benefit of joining our group. I now work 4 days/week, but these hours vary based on soccer practices, pre-school drop-offs and pick-ups, piano lessons, and playdates. It’s amazing how much I can accomplish by getting up early one morning and getting through my email; or taking an hour or two on the weekend when my husband is on dad duty; or deciding to get a task done after bed-time stories are over.

I meet several colleagues in my industry who are doing the same thing. One HR Director I know works 4 days a week (one of them at home) – she negotiated this with her company upon her return to work. Five members of my Steering Committee have either just started or just returned from a maternity leave – all of them stayed engaged with our association while on leave – calling in for a monthly meeting or attending a quarterly event. By making this a priority, they feel plugged into their working world, and have kept up their network.

Why is it important for companies to help employees balance work and lifestyle?
Happiness is key. People who are happy at work, get more done and do it better. I’ve seen it first hand at a large corporation. Employees who believed things were good reaped the benefits – promotions to those who were upbeat, new exciting projects to those who were positive with a can-do attitude, company sponsored MBAs for those who demonstrated promise. Conversely, those who were negative did not accelerate their career – and were often the ones disappointed with their performance appraisal results, and received lower salary increases.

What can companies do? Invest time and effort in creating modified work schedules for women who request it. Introduce flex time, where core hours in the office are 9:30 – 2:30, and it’s up to employees to manage their day – either starting earlier or leaving later in the day. Can you offer longer working days so that every other Friday is off? Establish a telecommuting policy with guidelines for an employee to set up and work from a home office. Change “sick leave” to “personal leave” for any family-related issue an employee encounters.

If you believe that you have balance in your life, good things will come to you. So you might think you didn’t do as great a job as you would have liked at a work assignment, you have to let that go. So your kids were disappointed you missed the field trip – let it go, and realize how great you feel that you are able to pick them up after school on a regular basis. It’s a balancing act. So make it happen for yourself – adopt a positive attitude and be thankful that you are savoring important moments with your children, while contributing to your own satisfying career.