Yes, I’ve read the articles and seen the stats that say the recession is over.  But that is never my measure.  My measure is what I can see with my own eyes, hear with my own ears and feel in my gut.  And I do believe we are coming out of the recession.  But I also think our sense of imbalance in our work/life will not be improving anytime soon.

In Boston, we’ve been lucky.  The restaurants have always been pretty full, there aren’t lots of empty store fronts, commerce has continued, just at a  slower pace.  While the housing market suffered there weren’t too many solid signs I could point to that we were in a recession, except one.  If you wanted to work on your house – no problem, contractors were readily available.  And they still are – or rather say they are.

I’ve got some painting and minor carpentry going on in my home and while all my usual contractors said they were available, no problem, in reality they are and they’re not.  They all have multiple jobs going on, but are afraid to hire additional workers.  So the work that would have taken a couple of weeks last fall is taking much longer this fall.  And while the workers are happy to have more to do, there is also stress.  Owners are grumpy because it’s taking longer than it did last time, bosses are juggling unhappy customers and workers who want them to hire more crew men, and workers are working longer and harder many working weekends as well.  Which then makes their families grumpy.

On a macro level it’s great.  We’re coming out of it.  People are spending money again on things that get pushed off when times are tough.  But on a micro level it’s going to be a while before everyone’s feeling better.

While I want my house finished…yesterday, I’m also trying to remember what I’m doing with this site, trying to change the way work works.  So last week one of my painters left early for his usually scheduled weekend downtime in New Hampshire and my carpenter took his family apple picking.  I would have loved to have had them finish their work at my house.  So walking the talk is  hard, but it’s also easy.  New baseboards and fresh paint are not that important in the scheme of life.  They can be done on rainy, cold days.  Beautiful warm fall days are for golf and apple picking sometimes…and that is how it should be.

I’ve written here before about how I don’t know how anyone can go through some of what life throws our way without a supportive workplace.  I’ve been there with my Dad and with my little one.  In both cases we had great health care plans to fall back on and my husband and I had workplaces who got it.

I’m very excited for health care reform simply because I live in Massachusetts where we passed reform years ago.  But I’m also just like you – wondering how it will affect me & my coverage and my workplace.  As I work with many HR folks and I know this is a hot topic.  I also know companies like to pay attention to their bottom lines, even if it they are rolling in it.  I’m wondering what will happen during the upcoming changes in the health care system.  And to that end I’m moderating a series of webinars on this topic.  The first one comes this Wednesday.  Please sign up if you are interested.  If you have questions on the topic, please feel free to submit them here, by emailing me at webinar at careerlifeconnection dot com or on twitter to @leanneclc.

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6 Months On Are Human Resources Departments Ready for Reform?

Date: Wednesday, September 22

Time: 11:00am Eastern

Reserve your webinar seat now, space is limited

It’s been six months since healthcare reform passed the legislature.  At the time and since there have been lots of questions about how the new law will affect employee benefits, employers’ bottom lines, and employee recruiting/retention.  Join Michal Kisilevitz of the Corporate Executive Board’s Corporate Leadership Council who will provide insight into how companies are doing preparing for the Jan. 2011 start, what is still foremost in their minds, and what information their C-Suite is looking to them for.  This webinar will be moderated by Leanne Chase of CareerLifeConnection.com and feature:

·     Poll data from CEB member companies

·     What does/does not happen starting Jan. 2011

·     Frequently asked questions from HR about Reform

·     Where to get the answers & help if your HR Dept. is not prepared

Register Now

Michal Kisilevitz is the Managing Director of the Corporate Leadership Council Benefits (CLC Benefits) and the Corporate Leadership Council Compensation (CLC Compensation) at the Corporate Executive Board.  In this role she maintains overall leadership responsibility for the strategy, business operations, product development, and client service delivery for both programs.  Michal also manages the executive education and executive advisory services for all Corporate Leadership Council programs.

Prior to joining the Corporate Executive Board in 2004 Michal was an Associate Principal at McKinsey and Company and a leader in its Global Organization Practice.  While at McKinsey she served institutions in a variety of industries, including financial services, health care, consumer packaged goods, industrial, and telecommunications, and on a variety of strategic and organizational topics.  In particular she worked with clients on talent issues, performance management, and change management programs.

Michal received her MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

The Corporate Executive Board enables superior business outcomes by delivering authoritative data and tools, best practice research, and peer insight to the leaders of the world’s great enterprises.

With more than 300,000 corporate best practices, 1,500 benchmarking datasets, and 11,500 analytical tools, all powered by the world’s preeminent executive network, the Corporate Executive Board serves senior-most executives across the Human Resources, Legal, Finance, Information Technology, and Sales and Marketing functions, their management teams, and their professional staffs within the world’s top corporations, financial services institutions, government agencies, and not-for-profit organizations.

Founded in 1983, the Corporate Executive Board is headquartered in Washington, D.C. Our 1,700 staff, located around the world, directly serves over 200,000 business leaders, in more than 4,800 of the world’s best companies.

I realized today I was coming unbalanced.  It could be the fact that I’m sleeping on an air mattress in the middle of my living room as our newest home is not quite ready for primetime.  It could be the fact that I’m coming off my little one’s summer vacation which meant more work for me, just not the career kind so I’m still getting my sea legs back.  It could be that my day now includes a hard stop in the afternoon for school pick up, so I’m trying to cram a 9-6 work load into a 9-3 time slot.

I’m not exactly sure why but as I got off the phone today I had a panicked moment.  I could not remember if I gave the person on the other end my cell or my home phone number.  I needed to go out.  I needed to be sure to get that return call, too. And I wasn’t sure what to do.  Then because I was so distracted thinking about whether I had done the first project right or not, the one I had prematurely moved on to suffered.  It was the old “haste makes waste” conundrum.  And in this day and age where many workers have more responsibility but fewer resources and colleagues to help out, I’m pretty sure I’m not alone.

I’m happy to say I did the right thing.  While my mind was going a mile a minute on house, work, and parenting projects simultaneously my mouth managed to blurt out the number I needed it to.  But I hate that feeling.  That wondering of “did I just do that right?”  And I’ve decided I need to slow down and be present.

I’ve learned this lesson before, but it seems I am quite the work in progress.  There is no need not to finish the important phone call and listen to that conversation fully, before diving into the next thing.  It’s part of why we are unbalanced.  We tend to feel that we need to keep moving, keep going, get it done.  And once “it” is done…we start something else with nary a break.

I recently went to see “Eat, Pray. Love” and in it some Europeans were telling the main character how Americans feel they need permission to pause and enjoy life.  They feel they must always be doing something…doing nothing is not acceptable in our culture.  I think they are right.  And I think that’s why I felt unbalanced today.  So I’m giving myself permission to be present until the end of one task, then pause and be still for a bit, before diving into the next one.

I think this approach could go a long way to bringing more balance into work and life.

Last night I was catching up on some TV viewing and watched the “Last Woman Standing” episode of The Closer.  In the episode the lead character (Brenda) is up for Chief of Police of Los Angeles.  Why is she up for Chief of Police?  Because she’s good at her job and because she’s a she.  In previous episodes we learned that Brenda never really was considering applying for that job, that she wasn’t sure she wanted the job, that she likes her current role and last night I learned that she doesn’t really want the job.

So simple conundrum, right? Just pass on the opportunity.  No worries.  Others certainly want it.

Except that she’s a she.  And she would be the first female police chief.  Breaking barriers for others, being a role model and all that.   What I found most interesting watching last night was the generation gap that I saw portrayed.  Brenda’s mentor in this process is a boomer – who would love to become chief but she’s never been asked.  However, she has been asked to strong arm Brenda to apply and help her through the process.    Brenda is Generation X.  And while she understands that it would be momentous for her to become Chief.  She’s also not sure she wants to or that she will like the job.  In fact she’s pretty sure it’s a mis-match.

But so far she’s forging ahead and meeting with the Mayor.  Everyone behind her is cheering her on…but she just doesn’t feel so cheery.

Anyone relate?  Yeah, me too.

We are women, so we need to open the doors for more women like those who came before us, right?  Umm I’m not so sure anymore.   Should anyone take a job because of social expectations even if it’s not one they want?  HR people talk about employee engagement a lot these days.  I’m pretty sure liking the job is a big part in successful employee engagement which leads to higher productivity and employee retention.

But back to the generational divide. I think many Boomers would say:

1) Yes – break those barriers, you go girl

2) Of course – it’s a promotion – more responsibility, more money, more power, more, more, more  – that is the American Way

And I, a Gen Xer think:

1) If you want to break barriers you absolutely should be allowed to do so, if not…don’t.

2) Money & power do not equal happiness and you only need so much of both.  Sometimes less is more.  Oh, and I’d rather like my job than be at the top and hate it.

These are some of the reasons I believe the world of work is changing.

Perhaps I’m generalizing a bit too much.  But I don’t think so.  You?

School started Wednesday for the first time ever for my family and I’ve become that parent. You know the one, the one in the Staples ad skipping through the store while the children walk sullenly behind:

Yeah, that parent.

And it’s all because I like to work. Professionally, that is. Goodness knows I’ve been working quite hard the last month.

• Bought a new home
• Renovated it (read- managed contractors, not actually hammered/nailed anything)
• Boxed up belongings…moved them a mile…unboxed same
• Was childcare – as my nanny has gone down to part-time and took an ill-timed (for me) but well deserved (for her) vacation

Explaining why I haven’t blogged since August 19th and haven’t blogged consistently in a very long time. While I have been working on helping to plan a party for an upcoming conference and am getting ready to moderate a really interesting webinar. I have not had enough time for work to be fulfilling.  And I feel like I haven’t talked to anyone except contractors, little ones and teachers in ages.

Hooray for the first day of school. I needed that!