The Missing Piece Of Jigsaw in Work-Life Balance is YOU!

Since the National Day Rally 2012 by Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong , the topic of work-life balance has once again stirred up the public interest in a broader scale. In fact, besides trying to achieve a more balanced lifestyle of the workforce in general, the Government is trying to resolve a long standing national issue, which is the declining birth-rate. In short, the Government is hoping that with a more work-life balanced culture, it will encourage more people to at least have more time to think about the offspring.

I personally view that work-life balance policy like flexible work arrangement, longer paid maternity or paternity leaves etc.. is just one piece of the overall picture (jigsaw). Ultimately, it is the individual employee (aka YOU) that need to balance it themselves i.e. not the Government, not the employer and not even the supervisor. Why do I say so? Because only you know what you need in your personal life and what is deemed BALANCED to you. In short, it doesn't means that working lesser hour in the office compound directly translated into work-life balance culture. With the ever increasing mobile and the "always connected" workforce, we are "working" (at least mentally) practically every waking moment. 

Thus, it is really up to the individual to really segregate the "Working hours" vs "Personal Life hours" to strike a balance for themselves. No one else can do the job better than the individual (YOU). Of course, it is still important for the Government to introduce these work-life balance to "officially" facilitate the necessary arrangement that the staff deemed fit in their context.

In short, do not rely solely on the Government to strike a work-life balance for YOU, YOU need to balance it yourself as you are the missing piece of this huge jigsaw puzzle.

Cheers!