Beyond Insurance

Work/life balance … Your tightrope to a rewarding care

Who doesn’t desire greater productivity, less stress and better interpersonal relationships?

By Scott Addis

Do you maintain an appropriate balance between your personal and business lives? Or are the demands of your work infringing on the quantity and quality of time you spend with family, friends, community and hobbies?

Your answers to the quiz below will tell you the degree to which you should be concerned about your work/life balance.

Work/Life Balance Quiz
1. I work 60 or more hours per week.
2. I have little personal down time.
3. When I get home from work, I am exhausted.
4. I seem to have precious little time to enhance personal relationships.
5. “Fun” is no longer a word in my vocabulary.

If you answered “Yes” to two or more of these statements, you owe it to yourself to learn more about work/life balance.

The term “work/life balance” first appeared in the 1970s. The expression means maintaining equilibrium among all the priorities in your life. It is interesting to note that the state of work/life balance differs from person to person. However, if there is little or no balance over an extended period of time, the vast majority of people experience stress and, eventually, burnout.

Persistent stress results in fatigue, frequent illness, eating disorders, upset stomach, headaches, forgetfulness, sleep deprivation, and irritability with colleagues, family and friends. Research indicates that the workplace has become the single greatest source of stress. Let’s look at a handful of scenarios that create stress in the workplace. Does any of these statements describe you?

• I have little impact on or control over decision making.
• My expectations of my work performance do not meet those of my superiors.
• There seems to be little opportunity for growth, development or promotion.
• My workload is very heavy, requiring long hours and infrequent breaks.
• My role is not clearly defined.
• The level of communication within my firm does not meet my level of satisfaction.
• I am involved in routine tasks that offer little or no professional stimulation.
• My work environment is unpleasant.

Today’s intensely competitive business climate has created corporate cultures that demand more and more from agency principals, sales managers, producers, account managers, claim consultants, loss control specialists and customer service representatives. To get ahead, a 60- to 70-hour work week appears to be the new standard. Work overload has been exacerbated by computer technologies that were intended to make our lives easier. Technology has allowed our clients to view the insurance and risk management profession as a 24/7 business, making the achievement of work/life balance very challenging.

History

In the early 1920s, the average work week was 50 hours, including a full Saturday work day. Soon thereafter, pressures were put on businesses to cut Saturday work to a half day or give employees the whole day off. The ability to have two days of rest was unprecedented. By 1927, half of all employers had adopted this new practice.

Beginning in the late 1920s, advertisers began to persuade Americans that happiness would not come from leisure, but rather from the purchase of commodities—the mentality of “consumerism.” Social scientists believe that this point in history radically changed the way Americans view life and work. A shift from scarcity to consumption was adopted—a state of being that has grown stronger over the years.

In the 1980s, the computer revolution increased the demand for employee output. It also brought new complaints of work/life balance-related stress. Cases of stress and depression jumped dramatically during this period. As an example, from 1980 to 1999, the number of workers compensation claims for “mental stress” rose from 1,844 to 15,688 cases in the state of California alone. There was also a significant increase in workplace violence and absenteeism.

Burnout

Burnout is the last act of the stress cycle. Stress turns into burnout when one suffers a loss of physical and emotional resources too great to be replaced. When our coping efforts fail to produce results, we are prone to crash and burn out. Burnout triggers include overwhelming workload, lack of support and reward, loss of control and interpersonal conflict.

Burnout develops from a condition of endless, chronic stress, in which emotional resources are stripped away until there is nothing left to counter the drain. It is the gradual depletion of an individual’s pride, purpose and passion. The result is a three-way, mind-body shutdown as evidenced by:

• Emotional exhaustion
• Physical fatigue
• Cognitive weariness

The financial services industry is a major player in burnout. Pressure to perform in our industry requires significant time, energy and commitment. Burnout conditions continue to rise at an alarming rate in the field of insurance and risk management.

Strategies to achieve work/life balance

You must make room in your life to take care of your physical and mental well-being. It is essential that you attempt to balance all priorities of your life. Here are 10 suggested strategies to achieve work/life balance:

1. Self-awareness. The first and most important step toward achieving an appropriate work/life balance is to understand the interaction of mind, body and spirit. Being self-aware will allow you to monitor stress levels, see danger signs and take personal responsibility for your physical and mental well-being. As your self-awareness grows, you will gain a sense of confidence in achieving work/life balance.

2. Support from family and friends. In the quest for balance between work and life, there is perhaps no more important factor than your relationships with family and friends. Getting the family aspect of your life right will be a major step toward achieving and maintaining a good work/life balance. Support and encouragement from friends is also essential. As you implement strategies to improve work/life balance, begin by turning to family and friends.

3. Nutrition and exercise. Physical stamina is not a luxury in today’s fast-paced business climate. It is a required element for high performance. Your mind and body cannot operate at full potential if you have poor nutritional habits.

Exercise is also an important way to work off stress. Exercise is essential to being healthy. Choose an activity you enjoy. Possibly one of your hobbies can be combined with an exercise program.

4. Hobbies. You may be so busy with work that you no longer have time for hobbies. Having a hobby is essential to work/life balance. It lets you escape from the rigors of work to focus on something you enjoy. Time you spend completely absorbed in an activity unrelated to your business will do wonders for your productivity. It will also give your mind and body a well-deserved rest from work.

5. Recovery strategies. Professional athletes build recovery cycles into their intensive training programs. They understand that their mind and body need time to recuperate from strenuous activity. Work is no different. Your work/life balance plan should incorporate recovery breaks into your daily or weekly routine. These can be anything from a five-minute walk at lunchtime to dinner and a movie with family or friends to a weekend golf game.

6. Sleep. Sleep deprivation is a major issue for people under stress. If you make it a habit to skimp on sleep, you may not even remember how it feels to wake up fully rested. Sleep is an essential ingredient in work/life balance. Make sleep a priority for a week and see how it affects your performance.

7. Stuff. For many people, it is the “stuff” in their lives that causes stress. Stuff runs the spectrum from unfinished projects to personality clashes with co-workers to a messy office. Too much stuff depletes energy and causes stress and anxiety. Stop and recognize all the stuff in your life. You will gain immediate confidence and clarity as you begin to remove the stuff from your life.

8. Learn how to say “no.” High achievers get ahead by taking on projects and handling them efficiently and effectively. Not surprisingly, the same high achievers are usually the go-to people in the office. Management’s logic is simple: If a high achiever is so good at projects, let him or her handle more and more problems and issues. If you are a high achiever, you must learn to say “No.” Do not let someone else’s problem or responsibility become yours.

9. Time management. You have heard the term “time management” countless times. You may not have a time management issue. Rather, you have become so conditioned to multi-tasking that you have forgotten to do just one thing at a time. Your ability to focus on one issue at a time will reduce anxiety and stress.

10. Rearranging priorities. Work/life balance means having equilibrium in all priorities of your life. Please consider a simple exercise. List the priorities of your life from 1 to 5. Your priorities may include personal interests, family time, hobbies and exercise. Now, determine the percentage of time you currently spend on each of these priorities. It is likely that you experience frustration because your priorities are out of order. Rearranging your priorities and designing a plan to measure progress is an important component of your work/life balance plan.

Work/life balance is essential for a rewarding career. You owe it to yourself to make sure that you achieve and maintain an appropriate balance.

The author
Scott Addis is president and CEO of The Addis Group and Addis Intellectual Capital, LLC, a coaching and consulting company whose purpose is to transform the process that insurance agents, brokers, and carriers use when working with their clients. Scott is a recognized industry leader who has been awarded the Inc. magazine “Entrepreneur of the Year” award as well as being named one of the “25 Most Innovative Agents in America.” Contact Scott at saddis@beyondinsurance.com or call (610) 945-1019 or go to www.beyondinsurance.com.