Tolu recently got married and was looking forward to having her first child and raising her own family with her husband Femi, who works in one of the big commercial banks where the pressure is usually intense. They both work on the island part of Lagos but live on the mainland.
Tolu works for a
small private company for about 2years before she had the opportunity to join a
good multinational company. The pay was twice as good as that of her previous
job, the benefits and allowance was what anyone in her level of career would envy.
She tried to impress her new employer by working extra hours and taking more responsibility to prove herself. She had little or no time for her husband or her home as she often close late compounded with the bad Lagos traffic. She and Femi who is equally going through same stress had to eat fast food most times when they return home from work or simply make noodles or other quick meal. Femi was a understanding husband, but wished things were different with his wife. They hardly ever had time to talk as couples or even make love as they were planning to start having children. Their daily workload and closing late with the heavy Lagos traffic get them so exhausted and uninterested in anything other than have a clean bath, grab a bit of food and sleep. They are already looking forward to the next working day as they have to wake up as early as 5am in other to make it to work on or before 7am.
Their personal lives tend to suffer in order for them to advance their career. This unfortunately is the same case with majority of both public and private organisations in Nigeria.
After a year and half of trying to manage and balance their lives, Tolu eventually became pregnant and this changed her lifestyle and level of productivity at work. It became a greater struggle to keep up at work as her boss started to see her as unproductive. She also struggled to keep up the home as a wife and an expectant mother. Every day she worries about how life would be when the baby eventually comes. Who will care for her baby when she is not at home? Should she give up her career to become a mother and a wife?
‘Work life balance’? She said to herself, Is there really a work life balance for career women? How can she strike that balance in order to have a fulfilled life without compromising on either her career or her family.
Am sure we can all relate to Tolu’s story as it is the case with 90% employees in various organizations today and especially in Lagos. These unbalance work life has cost a lot of homes and families their happiness and fulfillment, with children been neglected to domestic staff and husbands to concubines.
Research tells
us that Work-Life Balance does
not mean an equal balance. Trying to schedule an equal number of hours for each
of your various work and personal activities is usually unrealistic. Life is too
unstable for prediction. Your best individual work-life balance will vary over
time, often on a daily basis. The right balance for you today will probably be
different for you tomorrow. The right balance for you when you are single will
be different when you get married, or when you start having children; when you
start a new career versus when you are nearing retirement.
#Lifeofacareerwoman# #Lifeofaworkingclasswoman #itsmondaycareertalk....
She tried to impress her new employer by working extra hours and taking more responsibility to prove herself. She had little or no time for her husband or her home as she often close late compounded with the bad Lagos traffic. She and Femi who is equally going through same stress had to eat fast food most times when they return home from work or simply make noodles or other quick meal. Femi was a understanding husband, but wished things were different with his wife. They hardly ever had time to talk as couples or even make love as they were planning to start having children. Their daily workload and closing late with the heavy Lagos traffic get them so exhausted and uninterested in anything other than have a clean bath, grab a bit of food and sleep. They are already looking forward to the next working day as they have to wake up as early as 5am in other to make it to work on or before 7am.
Their personal lives tend to suffer in order for them to advance their career. This unfortunately is the same case with majority of both public and private organisations in Nigeria.
After a year and half of trying to manage and balance their lives, Tolu eventually became pregnant and this changed her lifestyle and level of productivity at work. It became a greater struggle to keep up at work as her boss started to see her as unproductive. She also struggled to keep up the home as a wife and an expectant mother. Every day she worries about how life would be when the baby eventually comes. Who will care for her baby when she is not at home? Should she give up her career to become a mother and a wife?
‘Work life balance’? She said to herself, Is there really a work life balance for career women? How can she strike that balance in order to have a fulfilled life without compromising on either her career or her family.
Am sure we can all relate to Tolu’s story as it is the case with 90% employees in various organizations today and especially in Lagos. These unbalance work life has cost a lot of homes and families their happiness and fulfillment, with children been neglected to domestic staff and husbands to concubines.
Achievement and Enjoyment are two sides of a coin in
life. You can't have one without the other. Trying to live a one sided life is
why so many "Successful" people are not happy or fulfilled, or are
quietly suffering the same fate as Tolu.
So ladies and
gentlemen let us strive for a “near” balance without compromising so much,
especially in our personal lives.
Elizabeth
Aluko
Join me on twitter
@elizabethaluko1, Linkedin @Osariemen Elizabeth Aluko, Instagram @elizabethalukoblog.#Lifeofacareerwoman# #Lifeofaworkingclasswoman #itsmondaycareertalk....
I can sure relate to this, when I had my baby, going back to work was a mental torture for me just thinking about it. We sha adjusted, man must wak abi
ReplyDeleteLizzy are you saying women shouldn't work? That's life na.
ReplyDeleteYes oh! Our children are suffering and concubine have taken over our husbands.
ReplyDeleteNice one, we really need to strike a balance in our work life, cos we all just work everyday and others re enjoying our sweat. Ending up sad and unfulfilled.
ReplyDeleteThere is no work life balance anywhere. Esp with the kind of employers that we have these days, they even want you to work on weekend.
ReplyDeleteLizzy you have mouth now cos u re no longer in the bank. That the life we re facing, I leave for work like 5am when my kids re still sleeping and get home late to meet them sleeping as well. I hate it but what can I do? The job pays the bill my dear.
ReplyDelete