Question

Help responding to this post in 150 words or more

In my personal life, my view is that working after hours is often acceptable as long as you get creative about it. Getting creative about managing a balance and/or integration of our work and personal lives, however, is not necessarily trivial. As indicated in the case study, Ms. McGrath of Vynamic admitted that in her conscious effort to completely separate her personal life from work as per her company’s policy, she’d often find herself defaulting and checking her work devices after hours. In one instance, she even accidentally sent off an email after hours. This is because, for the most part in life, we are in a reaction mode rather than a creation mode. Our lives usually center around reacting to what is happening around us or what we have to deal with etc. Therefore, with more companies providing employees with laptops and cellphones, it is hard to completely separate our personal lives from work.

In my case, I usually create and paint a picture of what I want out of my day and what actions will make that happen. In a situation like this, as long as I am able to satisfy the requirements of this picture I have painted each day, then it doesn’t really matter if I on occasion perform some spillover work functions after hours. The sense of satisfaction from meeting my daily goals almost eliminates/cancels out any burnout effect. Consequently, while I do not have to consciously turnoff after hours work like the companies in the case study, I am not nearly as distracted by after hours work if I have not fully satisfied the criteria I have set aside for that day.

The opinion of one inc.com columnist perfectly sums this up, in her article about maintaining a work-life balance (Cheng-Tozun, 2018). In this article, she pointed out that creating a schedule will ensure that you are truly reserving time in your day to focus on priorities outside of work. Also coordinating with significant others and family will ensure that your schedule compliments his or hers. Lastly, remaining committed to some boundaries will ultimately ensure that we spend our days prioritizing what we value the most.

Answer 1

One of the most important things about today’s work life is that it has occupied all the time of the employees as most people take their work home and think of their work constantly which makes them stressed out. No company follows an eight-hour work as they force the employees with the daily targets which makes them extend their work beyond the workplace. I disagree with the after hour official work because people would still be thinking about their job. However, if people are allowed to engage in certain creative hobbies that would interest people, they would enjoy that and they would also move away from the regular thought process. This would help them unleash their creativity and would act as a great stress buster. Thus, companies should value the personal lives of their employees and help the employees enjoy personal time outside the workplace. This would allow them to return to work with a more refreshed mind in order to be creative at work.

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