New York SBDC Research Network

From:  Impact Over the past several weeks, I've been really thinking about  balancing work and life . As one of IMPACT's Marketing Strategists, I'm often juggling 100 different things for clients any given week -- and as a mom of three under the age of 10, I'm juggling  a million  personal objectives and tasks on top of that. Balancing work and life, with or without kids, is probably the most challenging thing to figure out for anyone. Whether you are in marketing, a CEO, or heading off to college for the first time, we all deal with it daily, and honestly, I still don't know how the heck I do it.   But, the point of any blog from IMPACT is to provide value and help. Despite knowing I will spend the rest of my career fine-tuning my work/life balance, I'll let you know what works for me and for others I have spoken to over the last several weeks, and hopefully you'll be inspired to find your perfect work/life balance too. 

From LinkedIn "I'll be online later," you say, grabbing your laptop as you head out the door. "Please don't," say a growing number of CEOs who are radically rethinking the modern workday. Prompted by Millennials who value work-life balance, an increasingly global workforce spanning time zones, and devices that allow us to connect anywhere, anytime, these CEOs recognize the value of redesigning business to accommodate life, and not the other way around... In a world that is always on, when does work stop? In one corner is the argument for flexible hours, the darling of the tech set. When executed well, this approach allows staff to work when they work best while navigating life events that don’t naturally fall before 9 a.m. or 6 p.m. However, probe a bit further and many employees admit that flexible hours often mean "always working," with little or no ability to shut off. In the other corner is the 9-to-5 (or 6...or 7...) model, which can...

In 2014, employed people worked an average of 7.8 hours on the days they worked. More hours were worked, on average, on weekdays than on weekend days—8.1 hours compared with 5.7 hours. On the days they worked, employed men worked 52 minutes more than employed women. This difference partly reflects women's greater likelihood of working part time. However, even among full-time workers (those usually working 35 hours or more per week), men worked longer than women—8.4 hours compared with 7.8 hours. More from the Bureau of Labor Statistics .

FATHER AND SON PIZZERIA is a 900-square-foot, eight-table restaurant in Guttenberg, N.J., across the Hudson River from Manhattan. Opened in 1971, it was bought in 2007 by Carlos Vega, now 45, from its aging founder. Mr. Vega soon doubled sales by expanding the menu, improving service and selling the restaurant’s “gravy,” or red sauce, over the counter in 12-ounce Mason jars. THE CHALLENGE Mr. Vega left a corporate job producing print publications for the financial industry to take over the pizzeria. He felt constrained by his business’s size and location: a small restaurant without a parking lot on the six-block main street of a blue-collar town. Even with his improvements, the business was bringing in only about $10,000 a week. It was profitable, but only because he was working long hours, typically seven days a week, to hold down labor costs. Mr. Vega knew he couldn’t continue like this. More from the New York Times .

From MoneyWatch : Conventional wisdom suggests that as we spend more time on the Internet, we also spend less time on face-to-face interaction and other traditional kinds of socializing. But a new paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research suggests that these online hours come less at the expense of family and friends than they do from another source: people's jobs. The study, by Scott Wallsten of the Technology Policy Institute, a research organization that focuses on innovation, found that Internet users carve 27 percent of the time they spend online out of productive work hours. By comparison, people spend 15 percent of their time on the web instead of watching television, while 12 percent comes from sleep.

From CBS News MoneyWatch : Want the secret to never being stressed out, always knowing where your car keys are, meeting every deadline at work and never receiving a message from your child's teacher saying, "Are you aware that it's been three weeks since your precious snowflake turned in her French homework?" Me too. Unfortunately, much like losing weight, there is no magic pill you can take that allows you to achieve a zen state at work and home. When I start to get overwhelmed, I ask myself the following question: Is this important? So much of what we do isn't important, or it seems important in the moment but doesn't have true impact. Because it's sometimes difficult to distinguish the important from the unimportant, here are some clarifying questions...

From SBA : The 2012-2013 flu season arrived earlier than usual. As the nation braces for increased flu activity, now is the time to prepare yourself, your business, and your employees. Not only is prevention important for physical health, it may impact your bottom line if your staff are out sick. Here are some tips to help you avoid illness and maintain business continuity.Flu 1. Identify a Workplace Coordinator [Note: many of the suggestions would also be useful in case of a disaster.]

In 2010, 4.2 million more people worked at home than a decade before, according to a report released by the U.S. Census Bureau. Home-Based Workers in the United States: 2010 contains findings from the Survey of Income and Program Participation and the American Community Survey. The combined analysis provides timely and comprehensive statistics on home-based workers in the United States. According to the Survey of Income and Program Participation, the number of people who worked at home at least one day per week increased from 9.5 million in 1999 to 13.4 million in 2010, increasing from 7.0 percent to 9.5 percent of all workers. The largest increase occurred between 2005 and 2010, when the share grew from 7.8 percent to 9.5 percent of all workers, an increase of more than 2 million. The Survey of Income and Program Participation has provided timely information on home-based workers since the mid-1990s and differentiates by those who work exclusively from home (home workers), those ...

Yesterday, the New York Times began a series that will focus on six individual small businesses in the New York City area, and how each of them is dealing with the current economic situation. Here's their introduction: "A butcher’s longtime customers stop paying their bills. A building contractor has half as many jobs as he did a year ago. A restaurant owner considers sharing space to stay afloat. Steadily, inexorably, the fallout from Wall Street’s layoffs and the credit crisis is trickling down to small businesses across the region. Over the coming months, The New York Times will track six of those businesses to see how they are weathering the economic storm. " Give it a read. Recognize what these people are saying? By the way, in the past month, emails have been sent out from the Association of SBDCs, soliciting client stories on behalf of journalists from the Times , Business Week , and The Wall Street Journal on issues currently being faced by small business owne...

Roger blogged about Canada earlier this week. Since Canada Day is next Tuesday, I'll continue the theme. Recently, Health Canada published Reducing Work-Life Conflict: What Works? What Doesn’t? While Canadian in focus, it discusses issues that transcend borders. From its summary: "More and more workers are finding it difficult to balance the roles of employee, parent, spouse, and eldercare giver. Trying to balance paid work, family responsibilities, and personal needs takes a toll on employers, families, and workers. And it shows up as higher absenteeism, reduced employee commitment, declining job satisfaction, lower workplace morale, and reduced satisfaction with family life . . . the report examines what employers, employees and their families can do to reduce work-life conflict." It's lengthy (325 pages), but if you're facing this conflict (and have the time), I recommend giving it a read.