Balancing Work and Life

As Juanita Sharper and her mother turned pages in a photo album, vacation scenes flashed before their eyes. They laughed and told stories about visits to Bermuda, Florida and Italy, but Sharper felt something was missing.

"I realized I hadn't been taking much time for myself lately, and that I needed to get back to basics," said Sharper, a financial analyst for the School of Medicine. To better balance her life, she made a small, yet powerful change: turning her BlackBerry off at 6 p.m.

Now, instead of interrupting dinner or TV to answer e-mail from colleagues in Singapore who are 13 hours ahead, Sharper focuses more on relaxing after her work day. "But," she said, "I still check the BlackBerry just before I go to bed."

Sharper's experience is not unusual. As technology allows people to work anytime, anywhere, switching off the office is growing more difficult. That, coupled with the economic downturn, creates an atmosphere where healthy boundaries between work and personal lives can crumble.

According to a survey in 2010 conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management, 89 percent of Americans say work-life balance is a problem. A third of the 1,043 workers polled in the survey say the recession upended that balance and that family and personal time have been sacrificed.

Faculty and staff have access to a range of Duke benefits and resources intended to help balance work and family responsibilities, while helping them achieve personal and professional goals. Some of these benefits, such as paid parental leave, tuition reimbursement and guidelines for flexible work arrangements, were instituted after the Duke Women's Initiative report in 2003 highlighted work-life balance as an issue, regardless of gender. Other benefits, such as wellness programs and generous vacation time, have been in place for decades.

"Balanced lives help us all be as productive as possible, both on the job and off," said Kyle Cavanaugh, vice president for Human Resources. "Yet each employee has different needs and options that vary as personal and professional lives change. That's why we offer a host of policies to try and recognize the many aspects of leading a balanced life."

Institutional policies and programs alone do not guarantee balance between work and personal life.

Dr. Jeff Brantley, founder and director of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program at Duke Integrative Medicine, said individuals must choose their priorities. He believes that self-awareness alleviates tension inherent in balancing professional and personal priorities and suggested asking every day what is in balance in one's life, what is nourishing and what one can and cannot change.

"Most people don't stop to ask themselves, 'am I out of balance?' " Brantley said. "They just wait until they get a migraine."

Carol Retsch-Bogart, a counselor in Duke's Personal Assistance Service, has found another special ingredient that helps people discover -- and rediscover -- balance: enjoyment. "It is like a reset button," she said. "Enjoyment brings everything back to neutral and re-fills the reservoir of resiliency. It doesn't much matter where it comes from. The important thing is making time for it."