September 28, 2021
Let’s Get a Handle on It
Whether our clients are youth, producers, community leaders, entrepreneurs, parents or retirees – we, as extension professionals, are in the human development profession. A positive side of being in human development is that we are always in demand.
But, sometimes a downside of being in human development is -also- that we are always in demand, which has led to our culture of busy-ness. We take pride in how much we are in demand and busy. A nasty side effect of this is that we often work way too many hours. We forgo our earned time off. We feel overworked, and, when left unchecked, it leads to work life balance issues and can even lead to physical and emotional health issues.
As our exit interviews with our departing colleagues show, it also often leads to poor programmatic effectiveness, burn out and retention issues.
Let’s get a handle on it.
As a system, we cannot afford this at so many different levels. All of us – administrators, board members, PDC members, supervisors, specialists, agents, program assistants, office professionals and even volunteers – have a duty to the people of Kansas, K-State Research and Extension, our colleagues and each other to get this problem in check. But, how?
We need to do a deep dive and look at each of our work hours. One mentor in my life offered me sage advice. As extension professionals, we will have periods where long hours are necessary. For example, prepping, holding and closing down our fair commitments often require very long hours from our local unit colleagues and volunteers. Nevertheless, this mentor suggested, if you find that your average hours worked per week are above 50 for the year, you probably need to prioritize your work better. If your average hours worked are between 40 to 50, your effort is probably on target, and, if your work is below 40 and you are a full-time worker, you need to step it up a bit. I doubt too many of us are in this category.
How do we begin to get control of our work life balance?
First, maybe you should think about your calendar year and determine the days you have available to do your work. There are 365 days in a year. Campus and regional employees and agents get 22 days annual leave per year, 8 to 9 holidays, and 1 discretionary day. Subtract those days from the year. They are your days. They are part of your salary. Use them. While you are subtracting those annual leave days from the total, go ahead and subtract the usual number of sick days.
Next, because extension professionals are human development professionals, you need to invest in professional development. Anywhere from 5-10% of your time, depending on your professional development goals for the year, needs to be accounted for. Subtract those days from the year, too.
Finally, you need to take into consideration all of the mandatory staff and other meetings/assignments you have to do. Subtract that time from the schedule.
How much time is left? That should be the amount of time that you have for the “tyranny of the urgent” (unplanned) and the proactive (planned) aspects of your job. Is it 30, 50, 70, or some other percent of your work week?
The time we have left in our year is the time we have to dedicate to the proactive projects and programs we need and want to accomplish. How much time is needed for each, including preparation, implementation and post project work? List all of the projects and time commitments in priority order.
Now, total the average weekly time commitment needed to do EVERYTHING in the work time available and still take your time off.
Is it an average of 35 hours per week? If so, then you should probably increase the proactive portion of your assignment list.
Is it going to take an average of more than 50 hours per week to get your everything accomplished? If so, you probably need to pare down the list. But, how?
Instead of saying that you will take less vacation time or work more hours per week to get it done (remember, this does not help our work life balance, busy-ness and retention problems), you do have some degree of freedom to adjust the time needed for professional development, the proactive projects and programs, and the unplanned items on the list. If you planned for 10% professional development, perhaps a number not to go below 5% would suffice this year.
For the proactive portion of your assignment list, do those lower priority items need to be done this year? If not, hold off on them, or, if there is someone in our organization (a volunteer, a colleague in your unit or department, a colleague in another unit or department) or even another organization that is better situated than you (note: better situated than you NOT better than you) to address them, why not network with them to see if they can address those projects and programs?
Asking yourself the “Who is better situated than me to address this?” question is also very important with those tyranny of the urgent issues that pop up. In the end, we and the person in need just want their issue addressed. If there is someone in our or another organization that is BETTER SITUATED to address the issue of concern, network with the client and the person with the urgent need. The person in need will appreciate your effort and the problem-solving effort of the person you delegated the issue to.
After getting your work commitments to a manageable level, communicate your plan with your direct supervisor, colleagues, boards and PDC members. Do they see room for improvement? Adjust as needed when given good advice.
To those of you who are supervisors, colleagues, board and PDC members: take this matter seriously. We need to get a handle on our work life balance, busy-ness and retention issues.
I know we want to take the lead in every opportunity that comes our way, but we cannot do so with effectiveness. Help your colleagues and staff to prioritize their work. We all need to be onboard in order to address this problem. Let’s get a handle on it!