All bets are off if you are actually working on the weekend but if you're sitting at home binge-watching Netflix and trying to recall the names of those tiny humans who call you Mommy or Daddy, Deloitte wants you to put down the "PDA" and focus on the "life" in your "work-life" balance. (Side note: who the hell calls it a PDA? I have a BlackBerry and even I am judging that)
A reader sent along this interesting bit courtesy Deloitte's Powers That Be, who want their people to know they take the results of their talent survey seriously, guys:
Our results
Overall, this year's results indicate that our practice continues to exceed the Professional Services benchmarks. However, after several years of trending upwards, some of our results have leveled off and a few declined. I will be sharing more detailed results during our Q3 All-Hands webcast on April 4, but today I want to focus on two key areas you raised in the survey – work-life fit and future vision.
- Better work-life fit
- As professionals, we work in an environment of unpredictable client demands that can make work-life fit a challenge. While there are many programs and initiatives in place to help you navigate this challenging environment, it's clear that we need to do more to set the right tone so that you feel able to maintain a work-life balance.
- What you can expect: We are working with our P/P/Ds to make sure that "what we say" matches "what we do," including ways that we can meet individual needs around flexibility and help teams manage stress and pressure. We also want to ensure that your engagement team leaders get to know your interests and activities outside of work, so that they can help you find ways to balance personal priorities with client obligations – we are here to help.
Immediate action: It's easy to feel the need to respond to emails and calls as soon as you receive them, particularly when most of us use the same PDA in our work and personal lives. To try and alleviate this pressure, at least over the weekends, we are asking everyone to do their best to refrain from sending emails or making calls from Friday evening to Monday morning, except in cases of extreme urgency. We expect that this small step will help each of us keep our weekends focused on recharging our batteries and connecting with friends and family.
When we asked our tipster if this means he will commit himself to not answering emails on the weekend, he told us "yes, I have been ignoring the weekend emails for three years and have every intention of following these results/email to the letter. If it's important, figure out a way to put it at the bottom of my beer glass. Otherwise, I won't see it."
See, this is the kinda stuff Life at Deloitte should be pushing, not a bunch of curling.
