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Mastering the tightrope
Working couples are a growing reality in today’s corporate world. The infotech industry has, perhaps, the highest number of working couples than most other industries in the country. But it is also an industry that is paying considerable attention to employee-friendly HR policies (on paper at least, if not in practice).
What are the issues facing working couples today? The need for dual income and of course the urge for achievement in individuals force couples to work. But, in Indian and most Asian households, ties and responsibilities to the home and the hearth are extremely strong. One needs to take care of the needs of the young and the old in the family, attend family functions, celebrate festivals and cater to a whole load of other demands arising from our strong social bonds. A third dimension to the dilemma is added by the increasing proliferation of nuclear families. Most of these families confront situations where there is no one at home to help and poor support systems in the form of childcare, old age care, after school care etc.
But look around you and you will find many answers. Many couples in the infotech industry seem to have struck the work-home balance quite effectively. And more could if they removed the blinkers, looked around them and started taking stock of what they need to do.
Avoid the early morning blues
Perhaps the worst part of the day in households where both couples work is the early morning. Everything seems to go wrong just then. But there are remedies. Try these:
Get as much as you can organized the previous night everyone’s clothes, books, things to be taken to work/school (short of dressing up for school or work the previous night!)
Pre-assign workloads for everyone in the family from three-year-old upwards
Now the toughest of them all wake up half an hour earlier than the children for that short spell of early morning peace
Have you tried setting your clock five to ten minutes ahead for that psychological time advantage?
Keep regular hours
Work a little longer if you must try getting in to work a little early or stay in for half an hour after work. But make it a practice to stick to your timings so that people at work and at home are aware of your schedules. Discourage meetings that fall outside your working hours late evening meetings arise out of practice. Most important, keep your weekends sacrosanct. "No work and all play" should be your motto for the weekend. The same goes at home during weekdays observe a certain routine and time schedule, it helps not just the children but even the adults. For instance, ensure that everybody has breakfast and dinner together at a particular time.
You can work from home
A sick child or an elderly parent requiring care are prospects that working couples dread. A day spent away from work need not be a complete washout. In an industry like ours, you’d be surprised at the amount of work you can get done from home. You need to check your email, call a customer, talk to a teammate, participate in a teleconference all these are possible from home, these days!
Tend to home from work
Yes that’s a reality too. Employers are increasingly getting wise to the changing needs of employees. Many employers let you get personal paperwork done from office payment of bills, booking of tickets, dispatching a gift, arrangements for a party and banking requirements are taken care of by authorized persons/agents at some workplaces. Negotiate with your employer for some of these privileges.
Take frequent, short breaks
The couple as well as the family needs to get away by themselves once in a while. Often long holidays tend to be tricky to arrange. They take a lot of time to arrange and often get deferred for this very reason. Have you tried taking a long weekend off every two months? Even if you do not have any holidays, both of you will sure be able to swing a couple of days off every two months rather than a couple of weeks together. And no, arranging these short breaks need not be time consuming. Call a travel agent or log into a travel site and you are sure to find somebody who will make the arrangements for you. All you need to do is just foot the bill. Secondly, don’t forget the evening off for you and your spouse something many of us tend to forget and a surefire reason for lack of communication between working couples.
Experiment with support systems
Give independent services like childcare, babysitting, housecleaning and laundry a try. We tend to look down on a lot of these and are hesitant about giving them a shot. You’ll be pleasantly surprised to find that many of them suit you perfectly. For instance, try getting a teenage son or daughter of a friend to baby-sit your four-year-old. It will help the babysitter earn some pocket money and your child might enjoy the company while the two of you spend a well-earned evening together.
Make the most of technology
With cell phones, mobile computers, the Internet, fax machines and pagers, you can work and stay in touch from almost anywhere. Make the most of these and you’ll find it easier to balance the demands of work and home. You could emerge feeling superhuman.
Explore flexi-time work options
If you aren’t highly focused on a hot shot, high growth career path, make the most of flexi-time, part-time and work from home options. In fact, this probably works best for people running their own businesses. No, these are no longer the prerogative of women alone. Men are also increasingly opting to locate their businesses at home/opting to work from home and thus reap the benefits of flexible working hours and round-the-clock availability.
The options are many; we’ve just explored a few. As the saying goes, "Necessity is the mother of invention". It’s just a case of understanding the requirements of home and career, and working out methods that best suit you with a little help from your employer!
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