You must have seen this line on any banners and posters or heard from your boss or any motivational speaker who has come to your job premises to uplift your morale. That’s just a myth. Yes, this is a promotional and marketing phrase, far from reality. Shocked? Yes, but that’s the truth. Work-Life Balance never works altogether because your boss owns you. Not getting? Let’s understand with an example.
Suppose you work for a digital marketing agency. Until 11 p.m., you answer emails, attend investors’ meetings late at night due to time zones, and attend calls from your boss even after job hours. And then, buddy, you aren’t free; you are under control. Even preparing presentations for today before office hours is a sign that your boss owns you completely.
How Work-Life Balance is a Lie – Your Boss Owns You?
The salary you receive after the month not only pays for your time but also for you. You got your salary after being available from 9 a.m. to more than 5 p.m. Be sure to comment; you must have worked for more than the time given, that is, 5 p.m., right? Be true in comments.
Followed by notifications, late-night calls, deadlines for weekends because your Boss is on a trip or has pending reports or projects, these are the signs that your Boss owns you. Your boss owns your time and family time, too. The company and your Boss use technology to blur the boundary between professional and personal life.
Your office, mean, and family time depend on the Boss’s mood and the Company’s pending work. After office hours, you do part-time hours with no compensation but with complete compromises.
How Remote Working became a Victim of Work-Life Balance lie?
When remote work came into existence, everyone thought it was a time of our freedom, but in reality, this was the real victim of the work-life balance lie, and a new way for bosses to own you. Then, companies use a quote: In remote working, you have the freedom to work from your space, home, and time, but what’s hidden is never told.
What was once termed as Flexibility was actually the full-time availability. You will be overburdened with tasks because you are at home, in your space, with no commutes, so you can always be available for the company. Your task will be shifted to midnight even if you have urgent work. Even if you plan to leave, you will be considered a traitor after your return and will be working 24*7 for days.
Why Work-Life Balance is a Lie?
The system was structured to keep you owned by your boss. The mentality that a bit of freedom can make people relaxed in their jobs infuriated the mindset that Employees must be tied hard. One more point was that someone said in the past that the more you work, the more precise you will be on that particular thing, and that was the boost for the Bosses and Companies to make you their 24*7 worker.
One thing that really is the worst is that instead of working on productivity, employees used to show off their mastery of self-exploitation as their prominent skills and how they used to balance everything, whereas, if we go in depth into their personal terms, their personal lives are destroyed with pending bills.
Not all bosses are like this, but most are. The problem is the structure because even if the Boss favors the employees’ freedom, the Company will force them to do so. If the company wants employees to be free, then the boss will be against their liberty, and this goes on and on.
Educate people to let them end this terminology of Work-Life Balance as a myth.
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