Episode: 44-Work-life-balance-or-work-life-blend

Tease: Do you balance your personal and professional lives, or are they more of a blend? Find out why work-life balance may no longer be the best way to think about this challenge—coming up next.

Ep 44 show:

Hello, and welcome… you’re in The Perna Syndicate! If you’re striving for a better work-life balance in the new age of remote work, maybe there’s a better way to approach the problem. Instead of balancing these often-competing responsibilities, what about blending them?

‘Balance’ implies that our professional and personal lives are somehow separate and distinct. But they’re not anymore, are they? 

COVID-19 has accelerated this shift from work-life balance to work-life blend. Before, during, and after the 9-to-5 workday, those of us working from home are finding ourselves switching back and forth between family, home, and work responsibilities. Some are working earlier to get stuff done before the kids are up; others work late into the evening because that is their best window for productive work. 

Our 24/7 connectivity means that work and life happen simultaneously and can’t be separated from one another. As we discussed earlier this week, a significant number of Millennials and Gen-Zers see their work as an integral part of their personal identity. They’re already blending, not balancing, their personal and professional lives. And it’s helping them pivot quickly in an ever-changing employment landscape.

The shift toward work-life blend is just one more reason that purpose-driven, meaningful work is so important to younger workers—and, if we’re honest, to those of us in older generations as well. 

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