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Human Resource Manager Archetype The human resource (HR) manager balances work and home life. In today's society, many American's talk about how they are out of balance when it comes to work and family. Many workers today want to spend more time with family however feel pressured at work, they feel the need to do more with less help. Some workers blame greedy corporations for wanting to increase profit and thus reduce its workforce. For these employees, their defenses are built up to resist working extra hours and praise Dilbert for communicating their plight (good workers working for incompetent bosses). Other workers are motivated by the challenge of work and are enticed by the rewards that work brings (e.g., recognition and money). Employers love these hard working employees as long as the employee does not cross the line of being burnt out. Thus, there is an imbalance of the work-a-holic who gives 150% effort to his employer and the those whose motto is I do as little as possible to get by who give 75% effort. The balance is to do 110% at what ever you do. When you work, you give 110% to your employer. When at home, give 110% to your family or leisure activity. How many of us can do this? We usually stay connected to work by bringing a cell phone and/or laptop where ever we go. I remember before my wife and I had our first child, I would bring work home to do in front of the television and then went into work at 6 am and caught up with the news on the internet. So, I brought work home and brought home to work. I believed that I was being so productive at work. Yet, in reality, I was not that productive either at home or at work because I blended my home life and work life too much. We squeeze ourselves so thin between work and home that we never give 100% to either one. We feel stressed to do both and then we do not do either one really well. Workaholic There are many good qualities of a workaholic (this coming from the manager in me). These employees are very determined, dependable and motivated. Managers can count on them to meet their goals so they are usually seen as a star employee. These employees are great to have around when the going gets tough and a manager needs to count on someone to get through a tough project. This goes to far when it becomes an addiction. An addiction is a need to have a habit forming substance. So, can being addicted to work be a habit forming substance? Yes, the addiction is to a chemical reaction in the brain, in the form of either:
Some may wonder why is endorphin or adrenaline rush is a problem because these are fight or flight reflexes which is naturally occurring. When one is in trouble, he can count on an adrenaline rush to get him through the tough time. This can be a problem if one becomes addicted to the adrenaline rush. Being an adrenaline junkie creates situations where you constantly need stress. On one hand a person may say that he wants to de-stress his life, but on the other hand he needs stress to satisfy the need for the adrenaline rush. Thus, stressful situation tend to find these people. They may actually creates stressful situations, for example by procrastinating to the last minute. What is wrong with the endorphin fix for doing a good job? Isn's it o.k. to experience the happiness that comes from the endorphins? Being happy is a good thing. However, look a little deeper, is there a need to be recognized that is filled by the approval? If so, this addiction can be covering up a sense of low self-worth by needing approval to boost their self-worth via external measures instead of internal ways to solve the issues. So instead of using work to feel better, look inward at what you can do to feel better about yourself. Lastly, work-a-holism is actually one of my favorite blocks to love (along with television). A block to love is something that we use to avoid being really close to a significant other in our life. Remember I found a way to bring work home with me to do in front of the TV. These are things that we do to numb out our feelings. So, look at ways that you do to numb out. Is work one of them? 9-3er Most people are envious of others who work a 9 to 3 schedule each day. A friend of mine created his counseling practice so that he can be at home when he children come home from school. This is my plan as well when my children start going to school. So why can this be a negative characteristic? I call it the 9 to 3er because the average worker spends 2 hours a day on personal issues at work. Some of these issues can not be avoided like calling to schedule doctor appointments. Yet, some of it is that we feel so cheated by companies making us work longer hours that we resist the bosses demands to work longer hours. Therefore, we catch up with e-mails and interesting websites at work and chastise others who are working hard (and making us look bad). These activities that we do are resistance in our lives. We waste energy by trying to avoid work. I have brought home work to do over the weekend that would require 2 hours of my attention. Instead of getting it out of the way, I dreaded it the whole weekend until 6 pm on Sunday. So, instead of enjoying the weekend, I resisted work. Instead of working a 9 to 5 schedule each day at work, I did a 6 to 5 schedule and spent at least 1 to 2 hours reading the newspaper or playing games. This was really cheating my wife because I spent more time goofing off than being with her. How do you waste your energy at work? Where are your resistances to work? What could you have if you did your job at 110%? More money? A promotion? Happiness instead of resentment? What happened to the American work ethic -- working hard to get ahead in life? Today some people worry more about how we perceive someone is cheating us rather than working to get ahead. Just look at the popularity of Dilbert cartoons. There will always be a boss that wants you to work late. Yet, the challenge is to work out a win-win your boss to create what you want. I challenged my staff to tell me when a project manager brought them a project at 5:00 that had to be done that night. Because the project probably could have been scheduled earlier or could wait till the next morning. Yet, many took on the project and played the masochist role by working all night while swearing behind the project managers back on how unfair it was. Balance The balance in my mind is to follow the motto of doing a 110% at whatever your are doing, whether it is work, play or family. Yet, to do this, we need to drop our resistances. Most resistances focus around work. It is becoming more important to overcome this. Because in the old days, giving 90% at work may have given you 100% of the rewards (salary). Yet, in today's world, 90% may give you 50% of the rewards (or out of a job). Many companies are using GE as an example. At GE, the top 20% of their workforce (those who give 110%) get the rewards. While the bottom 10% of the workers are transitioned out of their jobs. With increased competition coming from India and China, U.S. companies do not carry employees who are not producing as they use to. We blame India and China for stealing our jobs, yet it is usually our resistance and blame that holds us back from being the star employees for our companies. |
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