Are You Fitting, Balancing or Integrating?
Are You Fitting, Balancing or Integrating?
By: Dr. Eric Melnyczenko, Assistant Superintendent of Personnel and Culture, Crete Monee CUSD 201U, Will County, IL
We have all heard of the concept of work-life balance. It has been a guiding principle as we help our staff maneuver between work and life, but as educational structures evolve and societal expectations shift, work-life balance just doesn’t fit anymore. If work-life balance isn’t it, then what is? Well, we have new standards that emerge, such as work-life fit and work-life integration. But, what is the difference between the three? Which one should your organization be mindful of when creating and delivering messaging around your district? Let’s delve into the differences between these three models and how they apply to our world of education.
WORK-LIFE BALANCE: THE TRADITIONAL APPROACH
In education, work-life balance requires an individual to allocate time and energy efficiently between professional and personal responsibilities. Those professional responsibilities for our staff may involve managing classroom responsibilities, lesson planning and grading. Meanwhile, they are also making time for family, personal interests and self-care. However, the traditional approach of work-life balance poses challenges because our jobs as educators can vary from one day to the next. And, on top of that, the work is demanding.
Thus, we are posed with major challenges with work-life balance. For starters, let’s talk about time constraints. There are demands on an educator’s time like no other from grading to submitting lesson plans to meetings to extracurricular responsibilities to conducting evaluations (yes, administrators are included in this as well). The time demands of the various roles in education make it challenging to maintain a balanced lifestyle. Next up, we have the emotional labor involved in our positions. Classroom management, addressing individual students’ needs and creating a safe and positive learning environment is emotionally draining. But, we all can agree that if these things do not exist, then a classroom is not highly functioning nor successful. That emotional drain affects a person’s well-being. Finally, with the traditional calendar that most educational institutions follow, the variability and fluctuations in workload require additional time and effort.
Because of its rigid nature, work-life balance is no longer a feasible goal for educators. Trying to create this balance oftentimes means compromising one over the other. That is where and why we need to explore alternatives to this approach, like work-life fit and work-life integration, especially in our nuanced field of work.
WORK-LIFE FIT: FLEXIBILITY AND ADAPTABILITY IN EDUCATION
While we may acknowledge that the perfect equilibrium between work and life is not realistic, organizations often tout work-life fit as the next alternative. However, the notion of work-life fit can be dubious when not presented in the correct manner. When presented from the perspective of an autocratic organization, work-life fit oftentimes places the focus on the organization versus the individual, i.e. the organization is rigid so your life needs to fit into how the organization is run. However, when presented from an employee-first perspective, work-life fit can emphasize flexibility and adaptability, allowing educators to tailor their work to accommodate the demands of the classroom and their lives at home.
Unfortunately, many ways of providing this flexibility are either untenable or undesired by a school district. For example, flexible scheduling would allow teachers to work alternative hours, compressed workweeks or to telecommute. While many school districts and leaders would like to accommodate such requests, two very large items come into play that prevent this from happening: our in-person students and collective bargaining agreements.
Having teachers telecommute while students are in a classroom places undue burdens on schools as the supervision of students gets called into question. While students may be able to do their work in a classroom while their teacher is in a virtual environment, a supervisor for safety and legal issues would need to be in the classroom. Where would the additional person come from: another position or taking away from another area of need? Telecommuting may be an option during professional development time while students are not in session. Teachers would be able to attend various training sessions from their desired location instead of their school. But, the overall state of telecommuting does not appear to be a viable option.
Then, the issue of alternative hours or compressed workweeks presents other hardships for schools. We have set student attendance hours that typically come with some directive from a regional or state office of education. Job sharing may provide a solution here, but with teacher pay already low as it is in some areas, could two people afford half of a teacher’s salary? There may be one-off instances where job sharing could provide either alternative hours or a compressed workweek, but as a whole, this would require two licensed teachers for one position. How would this impact the nationwide teacher shortage?
WORK-LIFE INTEGRATION: BLURRING BOUNDARIES IN EDUCATION
While work-life balance and fit present difficulties in education, we need a third option. This is where work life integration comes into play. Work-life integration views work and personal life as interconnected and interdependent facets of a unified whole. In education, think about teacher autonomy. We want teachers to be themselves for our students, and with work-life integration, we can leverage that synergy between a teacher and an individual as we recognize fulfillment in one area can enhance satisfaction and performance in the other.
Sounds great, right? So, how do we integrate work and life in education? Let’s revisit the teacher autonomy piece above. In our world of increased accountability, we still need to allow for opportunities for personal interests in our curricula. I remember as a middle school math teacher I incorporated the stock market and financial literacy into my eighth grade math classes. What I had to figure out was how to tie this to standards and show that what I was teaching was relevant to the grade level. I did just that, and my students loved learning about the stock market, etc. I truly enjoyed this experience and felt happy about what I was doing (not to say when I taught fractions I wasn’t). But, if educators feel supported in incorporating themselves into what they are teaching, they tend to be more effective in the classroom, which leads to improved student outcomes.
Another way to foster work-life integration is to encourage educators to involve their families in school events. Bring the kids and spouse to the football game! Have the kids help decorate for the upcoming talent show. Whatever the event is, having the family help out with school events can foster a sense of community and shared purpose.
Let’s talk about a wellness program next. When schools prioritize educator well-being, they recognize that healthy and supported educators are better equipped to support their students. Happy teacher, happy students, right? School districts need to prioritize efforts to minimize teacher burnout and churn that leads to educators leaving the profession. Such things like mindfulness programs, wellness resources or flexible leave policies can help educators focus on being their best selves for students and their families at home. By modeling healthy behavior, it adds to the positive role models we want our teachers to be for our students.
CONCLUSION: EMBRACING WORK-LIFE INTEGRATION IN EDUCATION
As educators navigate the complexities of their professional roles and personal lives, embracing a holistic approach to work and life is essential for sustainable well-being and fulfillment. However, the traditional models of work-life fit and balance are no longer viable options. Work-life fit tends to focus more on the organization than the person. Work-life balance supports a healthy divide between the professional and personal lives. This is where work-life integration provides a superior model to living as it seeks a way for the professional and personal aspects of our lives to coexist peacefully. By promoting flexibility, adaptability and synergy between professional responsibilities and personal pursuits, schools can cultivate a culture of support and empowerment that benefits educators, students and communities alike.