Work-Life Balance

had recently read some postings done in a forum complaining abt their work. hmm.. what exactly is work-life balance?

shd it be WORK-life (in)balance or work-life (trying-damn-hard) balance? seems that the former is preferred by employers. true true, the government has been preaching that we shd be working hard & partying hard. uh.. how true can it be when poor suffering folks are expected to work OT so that bosses would think that they are hardworking, or they are being penalised for taking leave to take care of their folks/children.

think that we still have a looooooong way to go before we can achieve the right balance. izzit a problem with our culture or just that we have pretty screw-up HR policies? probably a mixture of both. companies/bosses shd recognise that even though hard work is much valued, a right dosage of rest accompanied by good ol' quality time with loved ones would translate to double efficiency at work. however, that would translate differently to individuals. what defines the rgt amount of rest & relax. i've known of people who has absolutely no private life. their life just revolves around work, work & MORE WORK. yup, they even showed up in office on sundays, and they have no qualms on messaging you after office hours. to these people, it seems perfectly fine to be on the ball 24/7.

on the other extreme, some people have a strict dun-contact-me-after-office-hours policy. a clear line is drawn between work & rest. heheheh.. clashes of 2 titans if these 2 kinda people shd meet. :P

having a broad HR policy may work in encouraging work-life balance, but let's be practical & realistic. it's up to the individuals as to how it should be achieved. fairytale policies will just fall flat on the face if it's not practised & believed by the people carrying it out.