Why Boards should care about worklife balance.

I mean really care, not give lip-service to the concept to sound politically correct - even though you can't believe you have to kowtow to the weak among us who "can't" cut 60-70 hour-weeks.  You know the people, they don't give a damn, they race home to every kid event and whine about missing dinner.  The people we have always loved are the "when I did that job, I worked 14 hour days".  And instead of saying, "why what took you so long", we puff up our chests and say "well I have a home office where I answer emails at 4:30 am".

Okay, so my point was to convince you that that is nonsense and that you should care about worklife balance but I can tell that most of us are relating to the first paragraph and are about to brag at how we missed our 15th anniversary because of a big project. (I missed many - and rarely arrived with a present when I did show.  I also missed volunteering at school and baking a few cookies.)

So why do I think it matters.  Because you lose perspective and what you gain is ego.  When ego outbalances love of the work, the challenge, the creativity, the teamwork, then you are underutilizing your resources. 

Productivity study after productivity study shows that good work, results and break-through thinking happen after a time of "digestion".  Meaning that you can only move so fast through a pile of issues before your process and thinking are stagnant and non-productive.  You can't walk away because there is too much but you don't have the brainpower to process how to get work done more efficiently. 

If you are saying, not me....I work out -- I don't drink smoke or dance....I can handle it.  I say that is ego talking and when ego talks, nobody listens.  They may cower but nobody listens.   And listening is one of the broken skills in healthcare, including management.

Whole people make better managers.  People who value life beyond their work, put their work in perspective and keep their own ego in balance.  They make leaders not cattle herders.  Studies suggest that after 8 hours productivity diminishes greatly.  Without adequate sleep, the brain doesn't retain what it learned the day before.  Without family and spirituality or a wholeness to life, jobs lose meaning. 

And when it comes to solving the intense workforce problems in healthcare, worklife balance should top the list.  Through my ezxperience, I have had no sense that unions in healthcare helped the care or the employee but I had to stop and think of the comment of the unions on tthe AHA's new workforce report.  Their comments reflected a deep suspicion on the part of nurses that they are treated as piece workers instead of professionals with little regard to life or need outside of  work.   Its time we thought of these workers as breadwinners who need a salary and schedule that they can count on if we ever want to attract more women to the profession.