Senior Communications Specialist for Insperity Recruiting Services, specializing in employment branding and recruitment marketing.
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The workforce is constantly evolving, but the changes it has undergone in the past few years have impacted employees, employers and how work gets done more than anything we’ve seen in decades. Just over two years ago, the world was in the midst of a pandemic, forcing anyone who could to work remotely—a trend that has continued for many, or transitioned to a hybrid schedule. A year ago, we learned of the Great Resignation, during which 47 million people voluntarily quit their jobs. Now, as we head into 2023, a number of TikTok-inspired trends beginning with #quiet are all the rage.
Buried deep within all of the statistics and hashtags, there’s an underlying theme: Employees are tired of the daily grind. They want to reprioritize how work fits into their personal lives, and though progress has been made, we haven’t reached the finish line yet. Let’s look at how work-life balance has evolved over the years, and how it will continue to do so as employees and employers realize the importance of work-life integration in today’s workplace.
The 'Good Old Days'
Anyone who was gainfully employed a few years prior to the pandemic likely experienced a very different work culture from the one most of us know today. Schedules were far more regimented. Mornings started with a lengthy commute to the office, because that was where work was done. Meetings were held in conference rooms, ideas were shared over cubicle walls and socializing was done at the watercooler. There were occasional team lunches and after-work happy hours, followed by a commute back home. As technology advanced, work and home life blurred as employees were able to continue working when they returned home in the evenings and managers were all too eager to ask them to do so.
Worlds Collide
Over the last several years, remote work has become increasingly common. But during the pandemic, it became the new norm for everyone whose role would allow it. With this new norm came further blurring of the lines separating work and home life, and those who had never heard the term “work-life balance” suddenly became keenly aware of it. As employees learned to live and work in the same place, the seeds were planted for the Great Resignation and quiet quitting trend, shining light on many employees’ dissatisfaction with how they were expected to prioritize work duties and their personal lives.
A Bright Future
As we emerge from the pandemic, employees are refusing to return to the way things used to be, and smart employers recognize this. This has nothing to do with where work takes place, but rather how it takes place. Rather than trying to balance work and personal lives while determining a delicate balance of each and ensuring one doesn’t outweigh the other, the modern workforce must allow for integrating work and personal lives together. This may include breaks within the workday to take kids to school or participate in their activities, get in a midday workout or indulge in a hobby. With the absence of a daily commute, work schedules can start earlier or finish later, then remain fluid throughout the day as they are interspersed with personal activities. To accommodate this integration, employers must evaluate employees’ success by their work output and ability to meet specified deadlines rather than the number of hours worked.
For most, work is far more than just a job and a paycheck. It’s a part of who we are and a reflection of our personalities. It determines who we interact with and how we impact their lives, which in turn impacts our own lives. Employees have carefully considered these factors over the past two years and concluded that separating and weighing work’s and life’s priorities take time, and life is too short. They no longer want to balance their personal lives with their work lives. Instead, they want one life that blends their work and personal responsibilities and activities, the combination of which will vary on an individual basis. For this reason, employees will continue to prioritize work-life integration over work-life balance in the modern workforce. Similarly, employers will find that offering this integration becomes increasingly important in order to remain competitive and boost talent attraction and retention.
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