Achieving Work-Life Balance at Rock Creek

Posted by: Margaret Johnson, Co-Founder and President Aug 13, 2009 0 Comments

When my husband Scott and I started Rock Creek, we always had the goal of having an organization that respected work-life balance. It’s common knowledge that employees who work in a family-friendly environment and have benefits like flextime are happier employees, leading to higher-quality work and reducing staff turnover rates. We understand that employees who have the flexibility to be away from the office when they need to tend to work harder when they’re in the office. It’s not unusual for us to notice an employee working late into the night to finish a client project and then suggest that they take the next day off to catch up on their sleep and relax.

But work-life balance isn’t necessarily a skill that comes naturally; like most, it’s something I learned the hard way. In the earlier days of Rock Creek when our children were young, like many working moms, I basically had several full-time jobs: I worked at Rock Creek all day, came home and took care of the kids in the evening, and also served as the PTA president. After a year of that craziness I decided to make a few changes. Here are a few of the things I did. Perhaps they will help you in achieving your own work-life balance:

Streamlined the schedule: My kids used to have an activity after school every single day, and our family was not alone in this. I’ve heard of other families who are hiring drivers and personal chefs just to make sure their kids get to all of their activities and get to eat dinner! Now, we have each of our children select one or two activities that they’re really interested in, and then let them enjoy some downtime.

Made time for myself: In streamlining my kids’ schedule, I’ve made sure to carve out some time for myself every week. For example, now that I’m not driving them to after school activities five days a week, I can actually schedule time to take part in an exercise class that I love. I set aside time to cook and bake, and I also make time to have lunch with friends in order to keep my personal connections strong.

Brought the laptop and phone on vacation: A few years ago, our family went on a cruise vacation, and we left our laptops at home. Unfortunately, the cruise wasn’t as relaxing as it could have been—every time we got to a port, we rushed to the closest Internet café to hurriedly check email.

During our most recent vacation with our two teenagers, we had a total of 4 laptops and 4 cell phones…and it was much easier to relax. Being plugged in meant that we could spend a few minutes in the morning reading emails, crafting brief responses, and handling quick tasks, and then relax for the rest of the day because we knew things were under control. Having our computers and cell phones on our vacation gave us a lot of freedom and was actually a stress reliever!

Hired great people: The people who you hire to work in your organization can also have a direct impact on your ability to achieve work-life balance. I know from my own experience how work-life balance and real vacations have been made much easier because we have such an incredible team in place.

The thing to remember when it comes to work-life balance is that there’s no one perfect formula. Try different combinations of activities until you find the balance that works best in your own life.

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Margaret Johnson

Co-Founder and President

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