What is my ideal work life?
You are the boss of your work life, and it's important to be able to sense how your work affects you.
You decide the direction of your working life
You probably worked hard in high school to get high enough grades to get into your preferred degree programme. At university, you most likely worked hard at a relevant student job alongside your studies. You may have been used to working over 50 hours a week overall, and now you’ve landed your first job. Should you continue to put in the long hours, work even more to jump-start your career, or should you go in the opposite direction? Reduce your hours and make more time for friends and hobbies?
You’re the only one who can set the direction of your work life, so it’s crucial that you think about how much and what type of work you want to do. Do you thrive on working from home or are you most effective in a large office environment with ringing phones and the constant humming of voices? What type of work do you thrive on?
Video: What is your ide of a good working life?
A whole new world
According to Sanne Mattebjerg, you probably don’t realise what you’re in for when you replace your student ID with a key card for a company.
“For most of your life, someone has made a plan for you in terms of the education system. Nursery, kindergarten, primary school, secondary education. The choices you’ve made have probably primarily been between a pre-set range of options. Should I take maths A or B, should I study in home or abroad? Now you are in the middle of the tyranny of freedom of choice and have to choose from a sumptuous buffet where everything looks insanely exciting.”
But now you have to juggle hobbies, expectations from a manager, your own career expectations and much more. Because it’s difficult, if not impossible, to pursue your career as hard as you can while still having time for paddle tennis twice a week, being an attentive friend or partner, and not wanting to work more than 30 hours a week. It’s important to remember that working life is long. Very long. Therefore, there are opportunities for everything if you don’t try to do everything at once. Along the way, however, you’ll have to take a stand.
There is a movement going on throughout the job market. There are many possibilites for working part-time at home, flexing in and out, working more or less hours a week or other changes for particularly families with small children, so that they don´t crash and burn under the work load.
Thought experiment and advice from IDA´s career counsellors
- Make a top ten of the most important elements in your life. What do you love to do, what makes you happy, what does a balanced life look like for you?
- Which items on the list are not met and what would it take for you to realise those items?
- What gives and what takes energy in your work life?
- Expect your work needs and desires to change over time. And then act on them.
- Take the temperature of your wellbeing on an ongoing basis.
- Set expectations with your manager about when you’re available and when you’re not. Get it written into your contract.
- You are in demand in the labour market. Change jobs if you need to in order to improve your wellbeing.
- Reach out and talk to colleagues, friends and IDA’s counsellors. The key to wellbeing and a good work life is to speak up about your needs.
In summary
Take a stand for a better work life
According to a study by Ballisager, it’s not the number of hours that determines whether you thrive at work or not. In fact, the people surveyed who work either over 41 or under 25 hours are the group that thrives the most.
The reason: They have actively taken a stand to do something different from the norm and have thus taken control of their work situation. This points to the fact that employees are happy with the active choices they have made. You could imagine similar effects on other parameters in your working life. For example, if you’ve realised that you can’t cope with working in a large shared office and you agree with your manager that you can work from home one day a week. It might give you some peace of mind to know that you can stay at home on Wednesdays. So, a good piece of advice is to take the lead and be clear about your needs.
“It can be overwhelming to stand up for your needs. It’s really hard to do. But I can see a trend that more and more people dare to do so. We are looking at an increasingly inclusive labour market, with a greater focus on the individual and on diversity. This applies to gender, ethnicity, diagnoses and, in general, the shape of work life. We shouldn’t all be the same and fit into a box,” says Sanne Mattebjerg.
Video: What career choices and paths are there?
Utilise your skills and be honest
IDA members are skilled at identifying problems and finding solutions. Therefore, it makes perfect sense to use your professional skills to solve problems in your own work situation. And there is no right or wrong. It’s fine to choose career over family life and vice versa.
´It’s perfectly fine to work 60 hours a week if you enjoy it. Otherwise, don’t,´ says Sanne Mattebjerg.
According to the career counsellor, there are signs that the cohorts entering the labour market now can help talk about the difficult things in the labour market. “There is a completely different openness among recent graduates, which is a good thing in terms of being able to make a mark on their working life and thus well-being in general. On top of that, there are also signs that recent graduates are much more likely to question how our society is organised, including what a working life should look like. People stand up for themselves more and say things out loud instead of just saying yes and following orders,” says Sanne Mattebjerg.
