Coaching Information

Integrating Life and Work


Organizations are finally creating cultures that support a work and life balance for their employees. After years of demanding high productivity and increasing on the job hours and expectations and not achieving the hoped-for better results, companies are finally embracing polices and procedures that support employees in integrating their life and work experience. The results are bringing higher productivity, better employee overall job performance, and fewer employee absences, resulting in greater profitability.

When companies first consider such programs, their biggest concern is how programs supporting life and work balance will help their bottom line vs. simply costing more money that they don't want to spend. As more companies develop creative methods for integration of life and work, they see that the bottom line can't be impacted upon positively without recognizing employees' needs for balance. Employees are, after all, only human.

At first, companies we've presented these concepts to have resisted and felt that it was all simply added expense for them. In addition, they've seen the need for balance as an "employee" issue and not a company issue. In my experience coaching and consulting with companies around the world, I think that avoiding responsibility for integration of life and work is what is actually COSTING companies money, and if they'd invest some money in programs that support balance, they'd increase their bottom line through improved morale and productivity.

Here are the reasons that organizations are adopting life/work balance policies:

Employee hiring and retention: it is more difficult to recruit and replace employees if there isn't a balance in their job, as they leave faster when they feel imbalance and the cost of constant retraining is money that could be better spent elsewhere.

Absenteeism decrease: when there is flextime, flexible schedules, childcare, etc. offered, it is well documented that absenteeism and tardiness go way down.

Stress is decreased: on the job tension often comes from the feeling of being out of balance, and stress creates illness, poor morale, and low productivity. People are not robots that can be switched on and off at will. All work and no play certainly does make Jack a dull boy, and companies now realize this.

Attitude and morale: employees who have a integration in life/work show higher job satisfaction, greater productivity, feel more loyalty, and file fewer law suits.

Organizations will be successful when they realize that without high quality workers who are loyal and who feel integration between family and work, they won't have a dedicated workforce, and they will actually lose money. People are worth keeping and developing and are the most valuable asset that any company has, and yet it is the one asset that is generally overlooked.

People make a business? not machines, not books of accounts. In our world, nothing is free and people do have to earn a living, but they do also have to live a meaningful and productive life. When there is a fair balance between the two, this results in a happy and constructive human being who is able to give 100% because one aspect of their life is not demanding more than the other and there is no unhealthy imbalance. Companies who acknowledge this and incorporate strategies to allow for this, reap the rewards described above. Result? Everyone gets what they want and need. Everyone is happy.

Written by Terri Levine, MCC, PCC, MS, CCC-SLP, the CEO of Coaching Instruction.com, popular Master Certified personal and business Coach, sought after Public Speaker, and Author of bestsellers, "Stop Managing, Start Coaching", "Work Yourself Happy", "Coaching for an Extraordinary Life" and "Create Your Ideal Body". She can be contacted via the web site http://www.TerriLevine.com or by telephone: 215-699-4949.


MORE RESOURCES:

Bleacher Report

Resignation Raises Issue of Minorities in Coaching
New York Times, United States - Nov 30, 2008
By PETE THAMEL Mississippi State Coach Sylvester Croom resigned on Saturday, ending his tenure as the only African-American head football coach in ...
MSU COACHING SEARCH:Will they stay ... Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal
Shumpert Unfazed By Coaching Change DawgsBite.com
With Croom gone, Miss. St. focuses on what's next SportingNews.com
Biloxi Sun Herald - Greenwood Commonwealth
all 1,014 news articles


Coaching arms race unconstrained by logic
Seattle Post Intelligencer - Nov 30, 2008
By ART THIEL IT'S A LITTLE surprising that Fresno State's Pat Hill wants the University of Washington football coaching job. By the time they reach their ...


New Marketing Coaching and Consulting Firm for Physicians ...
MarketWatch - 13 hours ago
... of their Concierge Practice Profits LLC that will offer specialized marketing coaching and consulting services to this growing population of physicians. ...


Coaching-Search Guessing Game Continues at Washington
Kitsap Sun,  United States - 52 minutes ago
The biggest is Mora, the Seattle Seahawks secondary coach and head coach in waiting. "It's killing us," cornerback Quinton Richardson said. ...
Willingham's final game at UW arrives International Herald Tribune
Tedford says no contact from UW HeraldNet
all 14 news articles


Los Angeles Times

Clemson's coaching appointment needs to consider past and future
Greenville News, SC - 22 hours ago
Clemson interim coach Dabo Swinney referred to it as, "A beautiful day, gloomy, cloudy, sorta rainy, great for football." Like most everything else he's ...
Coaching candidates whom Clemson should not consider RealFootball365.com
Dabo Swinney gets Clemson coaching job SportingNews.com
Phil's next stop ... Clemson? Tiger Sports Digest
Bleacher Report - Anderson Independent Mail
all 624 news articles


Bleacher Report

Coaching Seat Only Gets Hotter For Weis After 38-3 Loss To USC
AHN - 11 hours ago
The team is 6-6 this year and coach Charlie Weis might be looking for a job next year. Other factors weight into Weis and his unstable job situation. ...
Charlie Weis, Totally Honest, Tells Recruits He'll Be Coaching the ... FanHouse
If not for his attitude, Weis might not be on hot seat FOXSports.com
Notre Dame’s reality show South Bend Tribune (subscription)
NBC Chicago - Detroit Free Press
all 656 news articles


WLFI.com

Hope announces coaching staff changes
WLFI.com, IN - 9 hours ago
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - Purdue head football coach-to-be Danny Hope today announced the addition of two assistants and the promotion of a third to his ...


ISU football coach makes changes on coaching staff
International Herald Tribune, France - 16 hours ago
AP AMES, Iowa: Iowa State football coach Gene Chizik is making big changes to his coaching staff after the Cyclones' dismal 2-10 season. ...


Men’s Roundup UConn Rolls; Calhoun Ties for Eighth in Coaching Wins
New York Times, United States - Nov 29, 2008
2 Connecticut routed visiting Bryant, 88-58, giving Coach Jim Calhoun his 780th career victory. The Quad returns to a new season of college basketball ...
Another milestone for UConn coach Waterbury Republican American
Five Starters Each in Double Figures UConn Huskies
Huskies continue to coast TheDay
Norwich Bulletin - Danbury News Times
all 201 news articles


Alcorn State fires entire assistant coaching staff
Jackson Clarion Ledger, MS - 4 hours ago
By Kareem Copeland • kareemcopeland@clarionledger.com • December 1, 2008 Alcorn State football coach Ernest Jones confirmed today that his nine assistant ...

Coaching - Google News

home | site map
© 2006