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Life-Work Imbalance/ Flexible Work Schedules

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Life-Work Imbalance/ Flexible Work Schedules
Barbara Hagan
DeVry University

Life-Work Imbalance/ Flexible Work Schedules Jessica a married woman with two small children starts her day off with a crying baby and winey demands from a three year old. She continues on with fulfilling their needs as she tries to get dressed for work and maybe spend a few minutes with her husband before he’s out the door and she’s left to get the boys ready for daycare. Everyone’s loaded and ready to go but Jessica forgot she needs to stop and get gas. Now running late she drops the kids off and is finally on her way to a long day in the office. Arriving only a few minutes late has her left with a bit of confidence but that suddenly fades as she catches sight of all the paperwork on her desk. The note on top reads “Must be done TODAY!” Jessica suddenly feels her heart sink and she sits in frustration. There’s no way this can all be done before the daycare closes at six and her husband works in the next town. He wouldn’t be able to pick up the boys either. She has already asked her boss for far too many favors and missed some days when the baby was sick. Her company doesn’t have any flexibility. If she doesn’t fulfill this task her job could be at stake (Hendrickson, 2014). Stories like Jessica’s are all too common and a flexible work schedule just might be the answer to these problems. If Jessica was able to complete work at home or on schedule a bit more flexible then she wouldn’t have to feel so much stress and battle with time. Life-work imbalance is an important issue and flexible work schedules should be considered if businesses want to keep their employees happy. Almost everyone at some point or another is going to run into situation where work will interfere with life or vise versa. Flexibility in the work place can make these situations much easier and less stressful.

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