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HR Download - Work Life Balance
Are you caught between your work and passion? (View Comments)
Unnati Narang
Posted On Thursday, November 26, 2009 at 12:53:35 PM
Work-life balance strategies followed by various organisations across the globe have always sought to make room for greater freedom for employees. This freedom to run their own clocks can be through flexi-time, extra time off or simply through integration of ‘life’ and work by involving the employees’ family or kids. Yet, the core of work-life balance does not lie in this time-weighted freedom.
Pratyush Pundir, Director, Sales at OnStage Retail Ventures explains, “Today’s organisations require a creative edge. If people don’t come to work with a fresh mind every morning, they will not feel passionate about driving results. Being in the music industry, many of our employees enjoy music as a hobby. To encourage work life balance, we allow them to follow their passion and build upon it. After work, you will always find me with my guitar. We recognize the fact that we work with people and must appreciate their unique personalities and passions. In fact, we have extended our support to one of my colleagues, who has recently started a music school.”
Given that time and resources are limited, how far can an employee pursue his passion such that it does not interfere with his work? For today’s entrepreneurial workforce, the thin line between passion and profession can become blurry very quickly. M. S. Venkatesh, HR Head, Educomp clarifies, “We encourage pursuit of hobbies after office hours or on weekends. However, an employee is not encouraged to start an enterprise, calling it an extension of a hobby, if it is in competition with our business or solicits customers from our employees and uses organisational resources. Our company is entrepreneurial in terms of focusing people’s energies on job roles that they are fit for and in terms of encouraging participation within the work domains. But if somebody’s passion is share trading, he/she should not be indulging in it during work hours. Work-life balance is more about ensuring employees get enough rest on weekends, they don’t have to work late and they can work from home or enjoy extended weekends during national and festive holidays!”
Making two ends meet
Nowadays, with plenty of growth opportunity in both personal and professional arenas, it is up to an individual how he chooses to balance the two. For instance, Arjun Kaul, Senior Instructional Designer at Kaplan India is also a prolific musician. Yet, as he explains, “I work with Kaplan India for creating eLearing courseware. At the same time, being a musician, I compose and record my own music in my home studio. I have been working in various offices for over 6 years without giving up on my music-related activities. This has been possible because I make sure that my office doesn’t suffer because of musical commitments and vice versa. I maintain a well structured rehearsal regimen that is spread out over the entire week. For instance, I would do at least four hours of recording every week. So if on one day, I have no time to record due to office work, then I can make up for it on another day. I set out hours in a day where I just work on music and nothing else. Whenever I have an outstation show, I apply for leave at least two weeks in advance. Music keeps me cool and gives me peace and a great deal of confidence. I look forward to the future with music as my “guiding star”. Similarly, having a job has helped me become more tolerant of other people, more wise in the way businesses are run and more efficient in utilising time and other resources. My job in particular has greatly improved my writing and comprehension skills. This has in turn greatly contributed to the quality of my music and artistic content, reinforcing my passion.”
The unconventional solutions
If you cannot put your heart in it, it is best to take yourself out of it. The rule applies to people who get into a job for stability, salary and a good life but never find their soul in it. In such cases, it is best to pay heed to one’s entrepreneurial calling. This is what Iqbal K Mohamed realised early in his life, even before he took up a conventional job. An advertising photographer, Iqbal along with his wife Anuradha founded the Light & Life Academy, a non-profit Educational Trust to train photographers. Iqbal, Director, Academics at LLA, explains, “Taking up your hobby as a profession is the best way to strike work life balance simply because you are able to put in hundred percent of your energy and effort and you enjoy the process. When I was a student, I used to enjoy sketching and painting. During my college years, I was gifted a camera and it was then that I realised that photography appealed to me more than anything else. I went to Brooks Institute of Photography, California, USA. These days photography is more than just a hobby. Students graduating from our courses usually become full time professional photographers or freelance photographers. We are currently running a photography exhibition where their fantastic works are on display.”
The core of work-life balance lies in allowing your workforce sufficient leeway to be where their heart is, to follow their greatest passion. Apparently an irony, spending time on developing one’s personal passions can, in fact, lead to greater efficiency at work too.
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