Finding the balance between work and home: Seminar in Sandwich

According to national studies, the majority of America’s employees believe they don’t have enough time with their children, their spouses or for themselves. Yet each year, Americans spend more time working.
Whether they’re in San Francisco or Sandwich, finding the work-life balance is a challenge.
“People can think it’s pie in the sky, but often if someone is in my office to discuss something, in some way it relates to something happening outside of the office,” said Marie Buckner, Human Resources director for the town of Sandwich. “In general, it’s all connected. You can try to ignore it, but in reality home life and work life are connected.”
To combat that feeling of being pulled and stretched between their responsibilities in the workplace and at home, there will be a seminar in Sandwich next week to talk about ways people can be productive in the office and happy at home.

Home-work harmony is key
According to its founder, Lisa Bates, The Family WORKS Seminar focuses on universal issues that affect the everyday life of working families. The seminars offer practical advice, tips and techniques to help families live better, Bates said, with the return on the investment being an informed, happier, more productive workforce.
“I’ve been in enough homes to see the pain,” said Bates, who has worked in school and home settings the last 16 years as a teacher and life coach. “Families are overwhelmed.”
The seminar — sponsored by the town, Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank, Late July Organic Snacks, Sandwich Public Library and Sandwich Community Partnership — is open to employees of the town of Sandwich and Cape Cod Five, as well as the public.
“When I told people I wanted to organize these seminars on the Cape, they told me it would never work,” said Bates. “But instead of working with one large corporation, we are able to do this Cape-style and bring a cross-section of people together. There are a lot of small businesses here, people who work from their homes, who wouldn’t have access to this traditionally. We wanted as many people as possible to benefit from it.”
Despite statistics that show the majority of Americans don’t have a healthy work-life balance, Bates said there are real steps people can take to create more harmony between home and office.
“In a way, this is a non-traditional time-management class. Just look at how technology has affected families, the cell phones during dinner, the e-mail at work. There are a lot of interruptions. But a lot of this is about setting boundaries,” said Bates.
“In my work with families, I meet hard-working, intelligent people who are overwhelmed by the demands of today’s society,” Bates said. “Time pressures, disorganization, stress and fear of making mistakes are top of the list of problems that families endure.”
One parent Bates worked with had a habit of coming into the house after a long day’s work talking on his cell phone. His little girls stood anxiously awaiting their father’s arrival only to have him walk through the door but in essence still be at the office.
“After observing them, I suggested that he stay in the car and finish his call, or drive around the block before he was done. He had no idea what his kids felt like when he came in the house without greeting them.”
With a degree in counseling psychology, Bates said her work with individual children often leads to working with the family. “You can’t just work with the child. Whatever you set up will fall apart if it’s not a family effort.”
Likewise, trying to create a balance so employees feel appreciated, are productive and are more fulfilled in their work life inevitably leads to working on the home-life part of the equation.
“This is about living better,” Bates said. “If we keep going the way we’re going, it’s only going to get worse. People need to be treated as assets, not expenditures.”
Citing statistics from a university study, Bates said, “When there are more work-life benefits, there is greater commitment, less work-family conflict and less intention to leave.”
Buckner said the numbers prove that “when there’s less stress, there’s more productivity.” Aside from pure statistics, though, the human resource director said that encouraging people to talk about things that are important in their work life and home life is a good thing.
“Whenever an employee learns something or comes away with a new perspective, we all win.”