Work – Life Balance / 4-day Work Week?

I know from personal experience that some Vancouver firms are successful in providing a good and fair work/life balance for all of their employees, which is appreciated and applauded.

The ‘work/life’ balance philosophy has been implemented to ‘counter-balance’ often very long work hours, and high overtime ratios to meet or beat client time lines, in order to get projects submitted before the competition.

Examples of the Work/Life Balance benefits I am referring to are as follows:

• Family Days – Typically ‘1’ day
• Personal Days – Usually ‘3’ days
• Added Vacation Days – Start with ‘3’ Weeks
• Extended Number of Sick Days – Usually ‘10-14’ days
• Flex Hours & Days – 4 day work week (?)
• Telecommunications – ‘Off-Site’ work or ‘Virtual’ Assistant

These ‘added benefits’ that some larger firms offer are generous as they are typically ‘paid’ leave. Should a staff member require more time off, it can usually be taken as ‘unpaid’ leave, depending on the circumstances, or perhaps used as ‘vacation’ days, if time remains for that individual.

It has been suggested that a 4-day week for both work and schools would support; a better work/life balance, less absenteeism, improved morale, save our precious ‘energy’, as well as put less burden on our roads, thus reducing our ‘traffic congestion’, etc.

Case in point is Our Lady of Mt. Pleasant Catholic School in Camrose, Alberta, which has begun the 4-day school week, after receiving overwhelming support from students and parents. It is my belief that all schools across Canada could be operating on this schedule in the not too distant future. Which begs the question, ‘how will this affect our own work week in firms here in BC, and how will ‘working parents’ cope’?

Frankly, I would not be surprised to see many schools closing down completely, and children being either home schooled by a parent or guardian, or via the ‘virtual classroom’. The Real Estate does not appear to be available to accommodate the building of many more schools to meet demands, and the government of Canada seems to deem it necessary to slash the education budgets, and therefore, the number of qualified teachers available to help our young minds learn. This is just my humble opinion.

Considering that the 4-day work week would require 10-11 hour days at the office, necessitate a much earlier start time, and obviously result in delayed arrival at ‘home’, I wonder how much ‘quality family time’ would actually be remaining to truly enjoy this ‘benefit’.

What do you think of your own work/life balance practices in your firm, and how do you interpret the move to a 4-day school and work week Please leave your comments below.