Study Reveals Importance Of Integrating Life And Work

Thursday, March 1, 2001

Study Reveals Importance Of Integrating Life And Work (NAPS)—America has long embraced the notion that the complete separation of work and home lives is key to achieving balance, but research recently released by Pitney Bowes Inc. reveals that work/life integration is the far more common and productive reality for today’s time-crunched households. Nearly half (47 percent) of the employed respondents reported that communication for work has spread beyond regular business hours and nearly a third (32 per- cent) reported conducting household business communications while at work. The study revealed that mes- saging tools, such as cellular phones, personaldigital assistants (PDAs) and e-mail, are key to integrating personal, professional and mobile lives because they allow individuals to bridge skills BALANCING SKILLS are important when work and personal lives overlap. e Create Message-Free Zones: Turn off your cellular phone or pager to avoid interruptions during personal time and set aside a specific time or day to conduct household work and management techniques learned in the workplace into the home. Messaging strategies are transforming 21“ century households into organized corporate avoid conducting “work” during your personaltime. agement techniques at home. Create a centralized calendar that updates everyone’s schedules and structures and are helping workers mirror successful work man- Given the numberof circum- stances in which work and per- sonal lives inevitably overlap, it is important for on-the-go families to adopt skills to help them consciously balance their personal, such as paying bills or schedul- ing appointments so that you Synchronize Schedules: locations. This can be as simple as maintaining a wall calendar or previewing the next day’s activities at dinner. Swap Skills: Use the same skills you use on the job at home, professional and mobile lives. Pit- and teach those skills to your fam- stones to achieving an integrated work/life balance: Selective Access: Direct homeresponsibilities. ney Bowes’ study reveals the following strategies as stepping- communications to the tool that works best for you. If you prefer being reached via cellular phone, tell friends and co-workers to reach you that way, avoiding receiving the duplicate messages on multiple tools and limiting your obligation to check multiple tools for important messages. ily. If you use a PDA at work to track meetings, use it to also track Share the Work: Since no one person can tackle all house- hold obligations alone, assign particular household obligations such as bill paying or grocery shopping to designated family members, allowing you to outsource the “remembering” to other family members. For more information about the study, visit www.pitneybowes.com.

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