Work-life balance advice from business leaders might not resonate with the rank and file, but it’s more feasible now to strike the balance you want, says career consultant Sze-Yen Chee.
SINGAPORE: When Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam expressed his view last month that work hours in Singapore “are a bit too long” to an audience of youth leaders, he was greeted with applause.
Naturally, overworked employees might not take kindly to the face value of comments like that. For them, work-life balance is very much an important priority. A 2023 survey by recruitment company Randstad found that better work-life balance elsewhere is the top reason that would make a Singapore professional resign.Work-life balance advice from business leaders might also not resonate with the rank and file. Surely C-suite executives sacrificed plenty to rise through the ranks.
If we were to score each of these elements on a scale, it’s obvious that not all elements are going to get equal attention and time. We all know of successful executives who are perpetually online outside working hours, or who have had to miss important milestones in their children’s lives. Correspondingly, executives with young families may choose not to accept stretch projects that would come with greater responsibilities and a heavier workload. They may also decline assignments that require a lot of travel in favour of staying closer to home.Commentary: Instead of four-day work weeks, maybe we should be talking about 10-month work yearsAs we plan our careers, we may have seasons of acceleration, and also seasons where we downshift from work.
The truth is that these choices need not be mutually exclusive, and that we should make time for the things that matter to us. We can prioritise work and still keep up with hobbies, though at a lesser intensity. For example, Mr Gupta is a keen bird watcher, but he does it twice a month.
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