If you got 1 coin every time you hear or see the slogan “work-life balance”, it is very possible that Forbes editors would just add your name to the list of the richest people in your country. Work-life balance is discussed everywhere and it was loud about it even before the pandemic forced us to think about what is important to us in life and at work. And yet companies that observe trends and look to the future of the labor market know that work-life balance is a thing of the past. The era of work-life fit is coming.
Work-life fit – what does it mean?
It quickly turned out that the so far popular idea of work-life balance does not really reflect the real needs of today’s employees. Because how to determine what is the balance between work and private life, if today work hardly ever means being in the office from 9 am to 5 pm, and the time “after hours” is not only rest, but also home and family duties? Nowadays, you can work from anywhere in the world; remotely, as a freelancer, but also on a full-time basis. Work-life fit, i.e. adjusting work to private life , is a response to the needs of the modern labor market.
Why? Work-life fit allows you to organize your work and life so that you can achieve your professional goals and develop your hobbies, climb the next career ladder, and at the same time deepen family ties. Regardless of the traditional boundaries of time and place. The point is not to seek a balance between private life and work at all costs – but to adapt work to life, according to individual needs at a given moment. After all, life priorities often change with age – today you may care about stable work at certain hours, and in 5 years’ time, what you will be looking for is flexibility and implementation of individual projects.
How to achieve work-life-fit?
Instead of looking for a balance between work and private life, it’s time to focus on what is most important to you in both of these spheres. What are your career goals? What things would you like to achieve privately? To tailor work to you and your needs, start by assessing how, when and where you work most effectively. Remote work is something for you? Or maybe you prefer a structured office or hybrid mode? Are you a parent and you dream of adding family between work-life and balance – so as to deepen family ties without giving up your career or hobby?
Work-life fit is a solution that will allow you to reconcile all these issues: you can adjust work to life, according to what you currently care about. This, in turn, guarantees development in key areas for you. So think about how, where and how much you want to work. And then ask yourself the last, most important question: which company will allow you to implement the idea of work-life fit?
An innovative approach to work – it’s already happening!
For now, work-life fit is mainly discussed abroad: psychologists from the APA Center for Organizational Excellence , or job transformation strategists such as Cali Williams , talk about the benefits of adjusting work to lifestyle. The idea of flexible adaptation of work to lifestyle was implemented, among others, by the creators of the Buffer social media management platform. In Poland, most enterprises still promote the work-life balance approach.
And yet there are those who go a step further and not only enable the implementation of the work-life fit principle, but even encourage it. At Talent Place, we have always valued remote working long before everyone switched to this mode due to the pandemic. We talked about flexible adaptation of work to lifestyle from the very beginning of the company’s existence. At Talent Place, we promote the idea of work-life fit and apply it at home. Why? Because we know this solution just works. If work is in harmony with private life, employees are more involved in projects and motivated. It is confirmed by everyone who joins us – they quickly become part of our culture and derive satisfaction from their work. By the way, realizing his passions, devoting time to family or surfing in Hawaii.
We also understand that needs often change over time. Therefore, at Talent Place there is a possibility of a smooth transition in terms of the type of contract and working time . Such changes may not happen overnight, but we try to react as quickly as possible and we do everything to adjust the commissioned projects to people’s time capabilities.
Join Talent Place and see how work-life fit looks in practice!
Change your job to one that will suit your needs. We have been successfully practicing this approach for another year and we encourage you to try it! You can work remotely, stationary from a Krakow office, under an employment contract or b2b, full-time or on a project basis. The decision is yours. And if you have questions about work-life fit at Talent Place, ask what you want!
Are you interested in the recruitment process? Find out more about crowdstaffing and implement it in your company.
