Hello everyone,

I think that work-life balance is one of the top challenges for all Americans in the workplace, but especially within the military. The trends don’t lie: Americans tend to work much more than Europeans, but less than East Asian workers. But are we more productive on an hourly basis? Probably not. The expectations from most bosses is that you will get the job done, no matter what, especially in the military. At least anecdotally, those that are most dependable and visibly put in longer hours, tend to get promoted over people who prioritize their families. Leaders see loyal, dedicated teammates demonstrated in such behavior. I think most of us are complicit in this arms race of who can work more. This kind of behavior demands a support team at home and those with stay-at-home spouses and no children have an advantage there.

So how do we change this culture without risking our careers?  I think the solution is to be more productive at work and do not create unrealistic expectations of what can be done. Do less, but do it better. Yes, you should have access to your work email at home, but you don’t need to be tethered to your cell phone. Set it aside and take part in family dinner and putting the children to sleep. If something must be done (e.g. reviewing awards) do it after everyone goes to sleep or go to work early. That in itself is a compromise. Ideally, you don’t do anything at home, but that probably won’t change in the near term.

As leaders we are part of the solution.  Here are some leader behaviors that can help everyone:

Set the conditions for work life balance by kicking everyone out by COB, consider leaving immediately after;

Monitor how much people are working at home by simply asking them how they are honestly holding up, adjust the training plan if necessary (use the 8-step training model and build realistic training plans);

Avoid behavior and activities that make you unproductive at work (if work is more fun than being at home that is a problem);

Work with adjacent units to share the workload and training requirements; consider making TLPs and MDMP a timed event like the Marines do with their six-hour Rapid Response Planning Process (R2P2) which relies heavily on unit SOPs and doesn’t demand unnecessary details;

Stop reinventing the wheel and do the basics really well. We spend too much time figuring stuff out all over again. Big Army creates this problem by moving leaders every two to three years in order to create a deep bench of trained officers;

Do not send email or call your subordinates at night or on the weekends unless it is SIR-related. This creates unrealistic expectations and steals their off-time. France even made a rule forbidding employers from doing this;

Get a hobby other than work. It’s a forcing function for you to give yourself time. If you can do it with your family, even better;

Always keep in mind: at the end of your career you don’t want to be divorced and have resentful children because you weren’t present enough in their lives. That extra promotion and 2.5% of base pay isn’t worth your family.

Thanks