t no matter how tacky the term, work/life balance is an essential ingredient for the mental, emotional, spiritual and physical health of everyone involved in today’s workplace.

I just hate the term. I believe that it should be just "life balance". Work should be just a part of life – and the balance between work time and o

Work/life balance is certainly the buzz word of the 21st century (so far at least). It began in the 90’s when the rate of workplace stress grew almost out of control and sick (stress) leave began to impact negatively on the bottom line. Pardon my cynicism but isn’t it amazing how the corporate world begins to notice the things that impact the bottom line the most? And so, from the world of HR came the wonderful tag of “work/life balance”.

The purpose of this tag is to describe the state of perfection you can reach once you have put your personal (life) needs into balance with your business (work) needs. Easy, isn’t it?

So does this mean that you spend equal portions of your time on each (given that sleep is optional in so many lives today, I’m not sure how to calculate the perfect balance based on time)? Or do you put equal amounts of effort into each (and how is effort measured anyway)? Or perhaps it’s a matter of determining the amount of satisfaction your customers get from the time you spend in each sector (how happy is your family, how happy is your boss)?

I’m not sure any of these measures will give you accurate information about how well balanced your life is. In the end it is such a personal issue that I don’t believe there is a one-size-fits-all formula. But I do believe that no matter how tacky the term, work/life balance is an essential ingredient for the mental, emotional, spiritual and physical health of everyone involved in today’s workplace.

I just hate the term. I believe that it should be just "life balance". Work should be just a part of life – and the balance between work time and ot

hat impact the bottom line the most? And so, from the world of HR came the wonderful tag of “work/life balance”.

The purpose of this tag is to describe the state of perfection you can reach once you have put your personal (life) needs into balance with your business (work) needs. Easy, isn’t it?

So does this mean that you spend equal portions of your time on each (given that sleep is optional in so many lives today, I’m not sure how to calculate the perfect balance based on time)? Or do you put equal amounts of effort into each (and how is effort measured anyway)? Or perhaps it’s a matter of determining the amount of satisfaction your customers get from the time you spend in each sector (how happy is your family, how happy is your boss)?

I’m not sure any of these measures will give you accurate information about how well balanced your life is. In the end it is such a personal issue that I don’t believe there is a one-size-fits-all formula. But I do believe that no matter how tacky the term, work/life balance is an essential ingredient for the mental, emotional, spiritual and physical health of everyone involved in today’s workplace.

I just hate the term. I believe that it should be just "life balance". Work should be just a part of life – and the balance between work time and o

you spend equal portions of your time on each (given that sleep is optional in so many lives today, I’m not sure how to calculate the perfect balance based on time)? Or do you put equal amounts of effort into each (and how is effort measured anyway)? Or perhaps it’s a matter of determining the amount of satisfaction your customers get from the time you spend in each sector (how happy is your family, how happy is your boss)?

I’m not sure any of these measures will give you accurate information about how well balanced your life is. In the end it is such a personal issue that I don’t believe there is a one-size-fits-all formula. But I do believe that no matter how tacky the term, work/life balance is an essential ingredient for the mental, emotional, spiritual and physical health of everyone involved in today’s workplace.

I just hate the term. I believe that it should be just "life balance". Work should be just a part of life – and the balance between work time and o

ers get from the time you spend in each sector (how happy is your family, how happy is your boss)?

I’m not sure any of these measures will give you accurate information about how well balanced your life is. In the end it is such a personal issue that I don’t believe there is a one-size-fits-all formula. But I do believe that no matter how tacky the term, work/life balance is an essential ingredient for the mental, emotional, spiritual and physical health of everyone involved in today’s workplace.

I just hate the term. I believe that it should be just "life balance". Work should be just a part of life – and the balance between work time and o

t no matter how tacky the term, work/life balance is an essential ingredient for the mental, emotional, spiritual and physical health of everyone involved in today’s workplace.

I just hate the term. I believe that it should be just "life balance". Work should be just a part of life – and the balance between work time and other time is entirely a personal choice. But I can’t see the benefit of separating the two parts of our lives by some arbitrary and totally artificial divide. In fact, if we behaved the same way at work as we do in all other areas of our lives, then our workplaces would be far happier and healthier places to co-exist.

Try applying some emotional intelligence to your working life, and treat your co-workers, bosses and customers with the respect, empathy and caring that every human being deserves. Do it for a week or two and see what a difference it makes to your work-place relationships. You'll be amazed!