Kids Kill Careers (Or So They Say)
Posted on 24. Apr, 2007 by Brian Reid in General
I know this isn’t on the subject of SAHDs (or even, particularly, fathers), but given that work-family balance is my other great area of interest, I really wanted to post on new research that shows families will screw up your career. On some level, this is a no-kidding finding … it’s harder to be a workaholic if you have significant interests outside of work, be they kids or participation in community theater or multiple hockey leagues or volunteering commitments.
Of course, this depending on making the single, increasingly flawed assumption that fewer hours at work is worse than more hours at work. While I’m sure that there are plenty of widget-based jobs where hours-worked is a good measure of productivity, a large and growing number of jobs rely on “burst” productivity — great leaps in a short period of time. And assessing these kind of workers in an hourly model does them (and their families) a great disservice.
Of course, hours-worked remains the gold standard by which all employees are judged, but — and this is a pet peeve of mine — we’d all be better off if we started looking at better ways to measure quality and output, rather than just counting the minutes. Because, as the research shows, the moment you start counting minutes, you start punishing those who think that they should invest some of those minutes outside of work.
Bob Farley
24. Apr, 2007
Hi Rebel Dad:
Your posts always make me think, which is another way that I lose productivity in the modern world: thinking about blog posts.
Everything impacts everything. Whether it’s writing or drawing or playing music, if you have a child running around, you will lose time in pursuing your career.
But losing time in the pursuit of your personal goals is not unique to child-rearing. If you have to make money to pay the electric or rent, etc., you will also lose time in pursuing your career.
Most “jobs” measure worth in bottom lines, which is not just hour worked, but widget produced. That’s the industrial worker mentality. It’s what most people are best at understanding.
By the time quality becomes a measure of total productivity, the worker is part of a different set of parameters, usually somewhere on the ladder to management.
The only sure way not to have outside interests kill a career is to be your own boss.
David B. Bohl
24. Apr, 2007
Rebel Dad,
I read the study you referenced. When it states that “people whose family commitments impact on their work life are given fewer career-advancing opportunities and have poorer relationships with their superiors,” the authors are showing a total misunderstanding of the very term “work-family balance.”
What they are describing here is work-family conflict. Work-family conflict, by its very nature, asserts that the interests of the persons family and that of his employer are mutually exclusive. Simply stated, if one values his or her family, one cannot be devoting himself or herself to work.
In companies where this is the assumption, a family-work conflict also tends to exist. That is, demands on an employee tend to be so great that there is a feeling of constant pressure by the employee that spills over into his family life, making it increasingly difficult for him or her to engage in and make quality time for his or her family.
This, fortunately, is becoming an increasingly antiquated way of thinking. There are companies out there that understand the term work-family balance. These companies understand that people can fully participate in their workplaces and families - that work-family balance is about working and living.
The companies out there that embody philosophies that support their employees in their desires to lead well-balanced fulfilled lives - that have paid attention to what is most important to the needs of their workforce; that have designed situations and opportunities to enable individuals to create more time for family, community, and themselves. These corporations will benefit immensely from these cultures.
Kelly M. Bray
25. Apr, 2007
I don’t just have a career. I have a life. My work history is just a facet of this. Raising and loving my children is an integral part of my life. It is something I knew I wanted to do, even before I knew what I wanted to do for work. I am self employed as a contractor sothe that my work and family life are in sync. It is all about balance. I will not be lying on my death bed and say “I wish I spent more time at my career”