Take Back Your Time
Take Back Your Time is a non-profit here in Seattle that recently held a conference. They are pushing for paid family leave, mandatory vacation time and limits on mandatory overtime. I support their work and am unfortunately pessimistic about their success with these changes.
Families and Work Institute did a study that showed that one-third of all Americans are chronically overworked. Who knows how many Americans are "somewhat overworked"?
There is an ever-present push and pull between an organization's priorities and our priorities as individuals and families. If you read enough media stories on work-life balance, it's pretty easy to give up hope that we can lead happy and basically sane lives working for "the man". And entrepreneurism has its own legion of stories of 24/7 work hours.
That's why I'm always on the lookout for examples of organizations and examples of individuals who are finding pretty good alignment between their respective priorities. They are both out there! Many of my clients are these people, and some of their organizations are those organizations (check out this article for an example).
If you have a success story to share about your own work-life balance or an organization you think is particularly good at creating a culture that support people having a life, please speak up!
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