It’s been a while since I’ve written - ironically, it’s probably because my own work-life balance is out of whack. Not that I’m slacking, mind you - just been working very hard on other projects! I don’t think anyone would say that this concept, i.e. - the “work-life balance” is particularly new, but it’s certainly an idea that would have seemed quite foreign just 30 or 40 years ago. Back then, one expected to go to work for a company out of high school or college, work there until retirement, then settle comfortably (though not “wealthily”) into Boca Raton or some such warm-weather, middle class retirement paradise.

Now, we know that the average employee will likely bounce from job to job like a pinball. Perhaps workers’ shifting loyalty - from “company man” to “independent me-first thinking man” spawned the concept of work-life balance. And I don’t mean to suggest that there is anything wrong with a “me first” attitude; I mean, really, who SHOULD be first? The work-life concept has grown so popular, however, that even the giants of the job board world are picking up on it.

Yahoo! HotJobs actually has an ad that caught my eye the other day. While on Yahoo! (I may be the only person that uses the Yahoo! search engine as often as he uses Google), I saw the ad, which stated in bold letters: “Be a Better Work-life Balancer!” I think once you see that, you know the concept is here to stay. No longer will a qualified employee work long hours for meager pay without questioning it and, perhaps, specifically stating that question as “Is my work-life balance ‘in balance’?”

Tags: hotjobs, job boards, retirement, work life balance

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