Work life balance

[Tabby]

Please tell me how you manage work life balance- particularly with kids. Do you feel like you are missing out on spending time with them? Would a 9-5 be better vs shift work or is the time off sufficient to make it work ?

[peteshonkwiler]

Work in the winter.
Take off In the summer.

[RDTroja]

Work in the winter.
Take off In the summer.

I used to have that same balance. My new balance is when the income exceeds the committed outflow, life can proceed.

[scotoma]

What particular job do you have? Does your wife work? Does her job have benefits? Where do you live? How old are the kids? This is the first 5 of 20 questions.

[Marlin]

Does your wife work?

I suppose she could have a wife but the odds are husband.

[GLW]

Please tell me how you manage work life balance- particularly with kids. Do you feel like you are missing out on spending time with them? Would a 9-5 be better vs shift work or is the time off sufficient to make it work ?

time off is time off - how you manage and spend it is all on you,....

9 - 5,.....


doctors work  9 - 5, dentists work 9 - 5, bankers, school admin offices, lots and lots of service providers, etc.,....

so, if you work 9 - 5 and you frequently need time off for all those things vis a vis yourself and your kids, then how can you expect the other person who does not need that time to not score better than you on the reliability aspect of your periodic evaluations?!?!?!

as long as you are good with that, and appreciate a job where you can take that much time off, and do it all without gritting your teeth when co-worker X gets a better eval in some aspects important to the workplace, then work the 9 - 5,....

with shift work, if you manage things well, you can personally attend most all of those other 9 - 5'ers outside the workplace with no one at the workplace being any the wiser, or even having it matter to them as it's not their business because it does not impact their business,....


been there, done that,....

[peteshonkwiler]

I suppose she could have a wife but the odds are husband.

Oh my goodness! First step to PolySci.

[Tabby]

Thank you for the responses everybody! How does it work if you need to take time off? (Vacation, etc)

[Tabby]

I suppose she could have a wife but the odds are husband.

This is correct. 😊

[hamsamich]

Swings - not good for having kids, good for younger people or if you like to go out at night.
Mids - good if you can sleep at work.  some plants schedule a good bit of work on mids.
Days - good if you have decent management/supervision and can stand them.  good for family.
Rotating shiftwork - good if your body can tolerate it.  Good if you are flexible and like flexibility.

[Tabby]

Swings - not good for having kids, good for younger people or if you like to go out at night.
Mids - good if you can sleep at work.  some plants schedule a good bit of work on mids.
Days - good if you have decent management/supervision and can stand them.  good for family.
Rotating shiftwork - good if your body can tolerate it.  Good if you are flexible and like flexibility.

I have two kids. 6 months and 3 years old.

[GLW]

....Rotating shiftwork - good if your body can tolerate it.  Good if you are flexible and like flexibility.

almost my personal favorite,...12 noon to midnite is my penultimate favorite,....

I have two kids. 6 months and 3 years old.

if it's a union job there is a rule book and it's all in there, as with all things there are up sides to the union shop and there are down sides,...

if you can get to have ALL your time off as PTO that's a good thing, well, at least I like PTO versus vacation, sick, personal, etc.,....

need off for Ramadan?!?!?, take PTO, need time off for the dentist?!?!?, take PTO, etc., etc.,...

PTO is very democratic and very secular and I like it for that,...

[Tabby]

almost my personal favorite,...12 noon to midnite is my penultimate favorite,....

if it's a union job there is a rule book and it's all in there, as with all things there are up sides to the union shop and there are down sides,...

if you can get to have ALL your time off as PTO that's a good thing, well, at least I like PTO versus vacation, sick, personal, etc.,....

need off for Ramadan?!?!?, take PTO, need time off for the dentist?!?!?, take PTO, etc., etc.,...

PTO is very democratic and very secular and I like it for that,...

Non union, I also prefer pto. Just curious, when I used to work at a power plant ops always tried to take vacation to line up with their 7 days off to have a good chunk of time off.  Not sure if there was a rule about it, or if it was just personal preference. It was a union plant.
Thank you for taking the time to share information and answer my questions.

[Tabby]

On that note.. I am waiting for the interview to be scheduled. What questions would you ask interviewer  ? Perhaps this is better suited for a new topic but doesn't hurt to ask.

[fiveeleven]

Mids - good if you can sleep at work.  some plants schedule a good bit of work on  mids.   

Dang - sleep at work ? Was never an option any mids I ever worked !!

[hamsamich]

Yes Five, not at a commercial nuclear plant, no.  hint hint