Work Smarter by Working Less

Ahh, the Wall Street Journal: Gotta love it. Last month, the Work& Family column told us we can work smarter by working less. Not a bad idea, right? But read between the lines of the Boston Consulting Group survey that spawned this hardly new observation, and it’s really quite frightening.

It seems that BCG is worried its consultants don’t have enough of a life.  They’re working too hard, and keeping their b-berries on too long. So they made a new policy: 12 separate teams would have to ‘take a block of predictable time off every week.’ This  ‘groundbreaking four-year study’ is set to be published in the Harvard Business Review this month under "Making Time Off Predictable--and Required."

I’ll admit, I was expecting something noteworthy that we could apply here at Corporate Ink. From what I’ve seen in the past 15 months, the more the economy has suffered, the harder everyone is working. Too many of us work nights, and weekends, certainly in dribs-and-drabs. While it’s all rather compelling, even addicting, I have learned from my own experience that a true break is the rest we need.

So what did BCG come up with? They’d start with one night a week on their own, with no email or expectations of work. Which means, of course, that it was still fine – even expected – to work six nights a week.

It’s no surprise that these highly competitive folks feared losing something – an edge, a promotion, a bonus – if they didn’t stay plugged in. But why didn’t anyone – at the Journal, or BCG, or HBR – call out the lie here? Improving work life balance doesn’t mean working 6 nights a week, instead of seven. It means having a real life, with real dinner, 7 nights a week, ideally. And when you tell your employees you believe in work-life balance, mean it. And make it possible.

  - By Amy Bermar