We quit using the term "work/life balance" many years ago. It simply doesn't fit the world most of us live in.
Instead, we started using "work/life flexibility". This term fit what we were hearing in our interviews and seeing in our survey results. People consistently tell us they want to be able have some control over where, when and how they work.
But even this doesn't really describe what's going on. What we are increasingly seeing and hearing is the traditional demarcation between work and home is going away. Replacing it is a new normal where work, home and life are much more seamlessly blended.
The Harvard Business Review article Work-Life Balance Isn't the Point covers this shift. Key quote:
... work and personal life should be allies and that participation in multiple roles, such as parent, partner, friend, employee, can actually enhance physical and psychological well-being — especially when all of the roles are high quality and managed together.
We clearly see the blending of work and life in our research on coworking spaces and their members. Some spaces, like the creative industry focused Neuehouse, even stress their role of providing spaces that blend social and work activities.
The picture below, from Neuehouse's website, illustrates this.
Alex Hillman, of the coworking space Indie Hall, has long said coworking facilities are in the happiness business - which is another way saying blending work and life. His slideshare presentation How We Measure Success of Our Coworking Space contains much information supporting this point of view.
We're in the process of finishing up research project on this topic and we'll be releasing our results in May at the GCUC coworking conference.
But it's clear from our preliminary analysis of the results that work/life blending is common among coworking members.
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