The balancing act

By Melissa Westphal

BusinessRockford.com

The sound of children’s music and toddlers laughing wafts upstairs to the Millennium Staffing office inside the Swinton home.

Michael Swinton chats with clients and types e-mails while Victoria Swinton reviews letters, shapes and numbers at Mommy Daycare and Learning Center downstairs.

The Swintons balance life and work by combining the two in their house. Michael was reminded last week of that balance when he was able to spend extra time at 10-year-old daughter Zhanea’s school.

“When they told her to let her dad go back to work, I said, ‘No, Dad gets to stay as long as he wants,’” Michael says. “Then she said, ‘That’s why I love my dad.’ Just for that moment ... . It’s to the point where I made the right decision and wish I had done this years ago.”

Flexibility, communication and organization are cornerstones of a healthy work-life balance. Workplace experts say one of the keys is managing success with personal time and enjoyment.

Take the initiative
Jim Bird has studied work-life balance issues since college. His interest in the subject started as a college research project, and today, the 61-year-old runs Atlanta-based WorkLifeBalance.com, which offers work-life balance education and training.

His objective? To find out how to be successful in business and “enjoy the journey.”
The concept of work-life balance was around before the term was coined. But the term crept into the language 15 to 20 years ago, mostly because companies were implementing balance programs and policies as more women returned to the work force.

Work-life balance became a nongender issue a decade ago, when men started stepping forward to emphasize that life away from work was important for them, too.

“What happens first is, people start talking about it. Then senior management starts giving it lip service, but nothing happens,” Bird says. “Then the frustration sets in on an executive level. They’re saying, ‘Listen, it’s hard enough to run a business, much less tell people how to run their lives. It’s not our job.’ They don’t want to recognize work-life balance as a critical business issue. But it’s critical for management to address those issues to get the most out of your people.”

Bird uses a ladder analogy: The rungs of the business ladder are recruit, motivate, retain, improve customer service, increase productivity and increase profitability.

To support that ladder, you need two legs. The left leg is where most companies start and stop. It’s what the company can do for the individual, such as vacation time, flex days, part-time work and employee-assistance programs.

The right leg is what the individual can do for herself or himself.

“That leg of the ladder is absolutely essential. It’s work-life balance at its core. A one-legged ladder won’t stand up.”

Be accessible, flexible
Flexibility is key, says Karen Sumberg, assistant vice president of communications and projects for Center for Work-Life Policy in New York City. The center began in 1993 as the National Parenting Association and changed its name and focus in 2001.

A 2005 survey by the center shows that women and men leave work for different reasons. For women, the top reason is spending more time with their family (44 percent); for men, it’s changing careers (29 percent).

The same survey showed that four of 10 professional women took a “voluntary timeout” from work, compared with 24 percent of men.

Of the women surveyed, 93 percent wanted to return to their careers, but only 74 percent managed to do so.

“With upcoming talent shortages, companies are seeing this important talent pool, people they’ve trained who have experience,” Sumberg says. “It’s hard for women to come back to companies on the terms they want to come back on. If they’ve been gone for two years, they’ll have a gap in their resume, and part of coming back is learning to sell yourself again.”

The center views corporations “as machines of change. The last couple of years, companies have added flex-time policies, and there’s more of awareness of on-ramping. Companies are putting their money where their mouths are.”

For Kasey Ford, flexibility is important in all areas of her life.

The 37-year-old from Stillman Valley has been an administrative assistant at Hamilton Sundstrand in Rockford for about three years. It’s a recent return to the work force — she was divorced five years ago — and balance means making sure she still can spend enough time with her sons, ages 4½ and 6½.

She credits her children’s day-care provider for providing stability during hectic times.

“I have learned how patience is important,” Ford says. “I just focus on my kids, and that gives me the strength to do what I need to do.”

Ford keeps the children on a daily routine. And she’s going back to school to earn her bachelor’s degree in management and leadership, so she and her children have study time together.

“Everybody in life needs to be flexible.”

Supporting each other
The Swintons started their careers and family in Boston and moved to the Rockford area about four years ago. They live in Belvidere, where Victoria runs the day care (mommydaycarelc.com; 815-986-6785) and Michael manages the staffing business.

The couple credit each other and their spirituality for making the family — Zhanea, 10; Isaiah, 6; Nehemyah, 4; and Micah, 3 — work.

“He’s a big support, I’m a big support,” Victoria, 37, says. “We sit down on Saturdays or Sunday and go over the schedule for the coming week. We stay as organized as possible. That’s the only way we’re going to get things done.”

“For the most part, it’s our ability to communicate,” Michael, 41, says. “That comes a lot from Victoria. It’s not pushed. It’s truly genuine. I’m truly blessed to have her.”

The Swintons are adding to their business agenda with plans to open a slot-car racing/racing merchandise venture at CherryVale Mall this summer. Michael says the decision to own businesses proved liberating. “The decision to make the change from corporate America to being home has been tremendous.”

Victoria also made it a priority to offer nontraditional day-care hours for parents with irregular schedules. Her mother, Deloris Williams, lives with them and is a full-time assistant for the day care.

“I’m thinking about things I would like, thinking about parents because I care a lot about people and their situations,” Victoria says. “I see where there’s a need, and I wanted to be different.

“The key is having the support of my husband and my mom. When you get into something like this, you have to have the support of everyone involved.”

Balancing success, enjoyment
There’s one major challenge to finding the right work-life balance: What fits you doesn’t fit others.

“There’s no way a company manager is going to create something for everyone, no matter what the policy or procedure,” Bird says. “Unless individuals have the mind-set that they have to take responsibility and accountability for it.”

Work-life balance issues consistently top surveys of employee workplace attitudes, Bird says. It’s why people quit their jobs and turn down promotions.

A 2007-08 survey of MBA students by the Aspen Institute Center for Business Education in New York shows that the most important factor in students’ decisions about where to work is how well a company treats its employees. Top factors in job selection are the nature of the job, compensation and whether the position allows for a reasonable work-life balance.

Work-life balance concerns increased with baby boomers and will continue to increase with younger generations, Bird says.

“The trend is very much upward because before the boomers, workers mostly had the attitude of ‘I’ll do whatever I’m told.’ Then boomers started saying, ‘Hey, I want a life.’ The younger generations are going in with those expectations. They’ll work hard, but they’ll work much harder for you if you respect their personal lives.”

A key to work-life balance is balancing achievement and enjoyment.

“Successful people grasp the achievement side,” Bird says. “We assume that the enjoyment will come with the achievement — making a lot of money, getting married and having children. But enjoyment doesn’t come more automatically than achievement does. That’s the big thing people miss. They know how to achieve, but enjoyment is not a given.”

Bird tells people to keep the goal of “I want to achieve something today, and I want to enjoy something today.”

“If you’re a person who not only achieves, but in achievement you reflect the joy of your accomplishment, that’s a phenomenally professional characteristic. People will want you around to work for them, and they’ll want to work for you.”

‘It’s good to give back’
Julius Rankins balances a full-time job with volunteering and a hobby of working out. He works full time as the general manager of ice facilities for the Rockford Park District. The 10½-year Park District veteran also oversees the Forest City Queen and Trolley Car 36 operations.

Rankins, 38, makes it a priority to volunteer and recently served on the United Way’s Volunteer of the Year Committee, which became a pretty time-consuming process because the committee saw so many good applications.

“That’s a good problem to have,” he says. “We had a lot of strong candidates, and you had to take a really thorough look through the information.”

He makes volunteering a priority, fitting in projects that mesh with his full-time job. Rankins uses a Palm Pilot to stay organized because it helps keep him on task.

“In some cases, I can relate to the community agencies that may be applying for certain grants. I’ve been in those shoes before. I look forward to keeping abreast of what’s going on in the community for one, and I have a good knowledge of certain programs so I can give back some expertise and speak for people, give them a voice.

“It’s good to give back for sound causes and sound programs. It’s very critical to be supportive of others.”

Rankins says balancing work and life means setting goals, being flexible and accessible, planning and staying organized. He says the Park District is especially mindful of employees’ personal time, encouraging them to de-stress and use vacation days.

“I have enough support staff on my team, so it’s my personal choice to have not taken vacation time. You need to take a step back and balance. I have that trust that I know people around me can do their jobs and hold down the fort while I’m gone.”

Contact staff writer Melissa Westphal at 815-987-1341 or mwestpha@rrstar.com.

Think on these things
Jim Bird, CEO and founder of WorkLifeBalance.com, offers these mantras when it comes to a healthy relationship between work and family:

1. Most work-life balance is self-imposed. It doesn’t come from your boss, your parents or your spouse. You’re free to choose, to say “yes” or “no” to the extra hours and the extra family obligations. Yes, company officials might fire you for saying “no,” but they’re more likely to get rid of you if you’re a stressed and difficult person to work with.

2. Stop feeling compelled to do a half-dozen other things at the end of the day. You don’t have to send or reply to those e-mails at night or on the weekends. Just because your boss sends you an e-mail at 11 p.m. doesn’t mean he or she expects you to respond; it’s just a convenient time for him or her. If it’s a real emergency, that person will call you, too. If you want to work weekends and evenings because it fits your schedule, then do it.

3. Some things are just too valuable not to do. Think about that in your own life. Too often, we get caught in the “as soon as” trap: As soon as I get that promotion or get married or have kids, I’ll get around to doing those things I like to do. Maybe it’s having dinner a couple of nights a week uninterrupted with your spouse and children. Maybe you love fishing, and it’s doing that once a month. It makes you more comfortable with yourself and, in turn, more balanced.

4. The river never stops flowing. Things changed as we headed into the 1980s. Before that, most people would leave work and didn’t have anything left to do. When you’re at work, it can seem like you’re standing in the middle of a river and the water is rising. The demands are just unrelenting. If you’re not mindful of that over time, that river will keep pushing and just wear you down, making you less effective as a leader or individual contributor. You have to make up your mind and just step up on an island and get out of the flow, even if it’s for five or 30 minutes.