"Work-Life Balance: A Working Father's Perspective."

Introduction: 

The term “work life balance” has become synonymous with “mommy overload.” And why not?  Record numbers of women are in pursuit of full time careers and they are still carrying the bulk of the domestic load at home.[1]  Women have also been the great advocates for work-life balance.  Decades of lobbying from working mothers has resulted in parental leave, flex time options, working from home and other government and workplace policy change designed to alleviate the task of balancing work and family.

 Growing and emerging research, however, would tell a different story:  more men than women are saying that work life and family life are interfering with each other.[2]  Men on average still spend more time at work than women,[3]  but the workplace has done little to recognize the changing needs of men at home. In short, men are about 40 years behind women when it comes to work life balance and many are stuck between paradigms.

 This document is not designed to fuel a gender war. Work life balance is neither a working mothers’ nor a working fathers’ issue. It’s not even uniquely a nuclear family issue.  Single people with disabilities need better work life balance. Same sex couples with aging parents need better work life balance. Indeed, if the Millennial generation is to be listened to, they expect better work life balance. 

 Given the wide scope and potential ramifications of this problem, it is short sighted to continually view the challenges of work life balance through the narrow lens of working mothers.  To do so, in fact, might be detrimental to the cause. It is my own personal conviction that women will continue to come up against the glass ceiling until more men feel comfortable saying, “Sure, I’ll drastically cut back my hours so my wife can climb the corporate ladder.”   This is the oft overlooked part of the feminist movement which was so accurately foreseen by Gloria Steinem when she said, “Women will not be taken seriously outside the home until men are taken seriously in it.”

 The purpose of this project is simple: bring the voices and perspectives of working fathers to the table.  Some employers will resist the evidence that adopting work life balance friendly policies can save industry $15 billion annually[4].  Others will embrace the changes and surely come out ahead of the competition. The vast majority, at least in the short term, will inadvertently overlook or undervalue the changing needs of working fathers, to the detriment of their employees and their bottom line. As such, I applaud Vancity Credit Union and Clearly Contacts for having the foresight to recognize the importance of this issue in the workplace and our communities, and the business savvy to turn a potential HR issue into a competitive advantage.  Without their participation and leadership, this work would not have been possible.http://www.bettermensolutions.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1217