This is a brief extension to the presentation I carried out on behalf of the collaborative effort on two national projects by the LET’s Talk and StudPro of the IEEE Young Professionals Sri Lanka.
It was a privilege to share my thoughts and insights with the young graduates of IEEE's projects on Work Life Balance in the Workplace session.
My emphasis on Work-life balance commenced with introducing the content by explaining how Working is going to be for new graduates transforming from full-time studying, then on why Life is important along with how the Balancing act works. Then, over to the prominence of a common factor I recognized as the most important was Self, which was laid out to provoke their thoughts. Finally, moving forward on Self Awareness and its relevance
Intro
Commenced with some stats borrowed from the LifeAndMyFinance website on Work Life Balance as there aren’t any such data available from a local viewpoint. Not current anyway. Data available claimed that 11% work 50 hours a week, whereas the stipulated work hours for a week in SL is 45 and in the US it is 40 hours. It was also detailed that 39% said it’s difficult to disconnect from work due to technology; this was very pertinent to the young crowd, as they are from the Electrical and Electronics faculties of all universities around the country.
I closed that section, asserting that since 2020 after COVID-19, work-related stress and anxiety have been all-time highs in the US, and WLB is also at an all-time low.
Work
The Work section focused on the transformation of their attention from full-time studying, where they are only responsible for themselves attaining exam marks and fulfilling assignments, to working responsibilities. At work, they are responsible for cooperating and collaborating in-house with peers, subordinates, and higher management. Then they are essentially and formally responsible for customers aspirations. Therefore, it is clear they need to be around with a further learning mindset and sharp communication abilities, as learning is a never-ending process.
Life
The Life side of the presentation explained why it is important to strike a parity between work and life. The clear need for prioritizing work assignments without procrastinating is to stay away from unwanted stress and anxieties so that there will not be future burnouts. Lay emphasis on controlling what’s within your capabilities and leaving the rest to be managed. Managing in organizations needs the support of others in your surroundings, and hence you need coaches and mentors to keep you well equipped, trained, and grounded for a cohesive output.
Balance
The Balance part was to instill the act of maintaining the above-mentioned harmony. The importance of being physically active with exercises and proper nutrition is paramount, and there should not be any compromise. The nuances of Multitasking, psychologically, are not possible for a human being but necessary to fulfill work assignments. I explained how to actively multitask so that it will not impede your mental health. Additionally, I explained why it is your right to say NO if it is impacting your mental health, but simultaneously, it is also important to nurture relationships in an office environment. Then I left them with a question, “What if you are still unhappy?” to ponder.
Common Factor
Is totally dedicated to ‘Self Awareness’. Self-awareness can easily make you understand who you are and what you are made of in an inward, true look at self-worth. Starting with simple questions about ‘Who are you’ and ‘What inspires you’ etcetera. I also took them on a slightly deeper journey to understand self-worth with the question, ‘What makes you angry'? Anger is a strong emotion that people can manifest in different ways. My effort here was to nudge their thought processes so that they would make an effort to delve into self-awareness positively. In another window, I drove them to a bit more introspective questions akin to their attitudes, beliefs, affiliations, emotions, and most poignantly, their values. It is also focused on helping them comprehend what defines them and their vulnerabilities by carrying out a self-SWOT analysis.
Finally, I left them with yet another question to ponder using graphics: What do you lead with? Your Heart or your Head?
Life-Work Balance
The final attention was committed to making them recapitulate their thought process to give priority to Life and then Work. This section was dedicated to remodeling the thought process to focus on their total well-being by paying separate attention to Physical, Mental, Social and Spiritual well-being. Posed prominence on why giving ‘Respect’ is critical in order to receive respect. And in all-purpose, to be a good, decent human by being nice, kind, caring, giving, being truthful, and being accountable when required.
The collective highlight was weighing Emotional Intelligence in the workplace. I made a simple illustration to outline Self along with self-awareness and self-management in one column and the parallel importance of managing others in the next column, underscoring Social Awareness and Relationship Management.
