Work-Life Balance Vs. Work-Life Integration—Which Holds More Benefits?
Most people don’t want work to be their entire life; they want time and energy to devote to their job and to their personal life-like their family, hobbies, and personal responsibilities. There are two ways to achieve that scenario-work-life balance or work-life integration.
Work-life balance is about creating clear boundaries between the work and the life
work-life integration is about blending both personal and professional responsibilities
- employees choose when to tackle their responsibilities at the times that work best for them
- If you are in the balance, you are free to tackle personal tasks during work hours and vice versa.
Benefits of Work-Life Integration
Flexibility
- Work-life integration allows employees to coordinate their schedules and responsibilities in a more productive way
- Integrating work and life is not a choice
- People who embrace the integration model may be better equipped to succeed in today’s increasingly remote and hybrid work environment
Work-life balance or work-life integration-decide what works best for you
The purpose of choosing one or the other is to find a sense of harmony [between your work and your life].
- Whatever option you choose, remember that the purpose is to help you lower stress, become more efficient, and increase your personal well-being.”
Which Holds More Benefits?
Neither one of these perspectives holds more benefit across the board because people are different
- The model that will hold the most benefits will vary from person to person
- Generally, people fall into one of two categories: segmentors or integrators
- Segmentors fear that, without strong time and space boundaries, one side will take over the other…eliminating the balance they seek
- Integrators prefer fluid or porous boundaries between work and home
Benefits of Work-Life Balance
It allows you to devote your full attention to your work or your life at any given time.
- When you’re at work, you’re really at work; you’re not thinking about the things that you need to get done around the house or trying to squeeze in a trip to the grocery store in between meetings-which can help you be more effective and productive.
- And when you’re done with work you can spend time with your loved ones.