30 Reasons Employees Hate Their Managers: What Your People May Be Thinking and What You Can Do About It

Chapter 28. I’ve got no time for myself or my family

Thirty-eight percent of employees say they don’t have a good balance between their work and personal lives.

I once consulted to a fast-paced, highly profitable retail firm that outsourced the manufacturing of its clothing to Hong Kong, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, and other distant locales with low labor costs. The hard-working, predominately female staff was sophisticated, competitive, and upwardly mobile. They worked hard, vying for promotions and pay increases. They operated in a high-pressure environment with frequently changing deadlines, constant worry about costs, and daily pushback from both clients and manufacturers.

The staff experienced a great deal of stress trying to balance work and family ...