On job applicants who want work-life balance

It was along the dusty halls of the once-hot Social Media platform Facebook where I came across the gem I'm about to examine today. It was in a group titled, very ironically, "NO ONE WANTS TO WORK", and the share was that of a LinkedIn post by a dude named Scott Kuru, CEO of Freedom Property Investors.

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As to be expected in such a group, the responses were both savage and scathing. And while I identify more with the common working man in the street than the stereotypical champagne-sipping CEO, here's the shocker: I actually agree with Scott Kuru that people who talk about "work-life balance" during a job interview aren't "being super committed to the companies [sic] goals". (The real question though, is why should they be?)

I also agree that the employee's work-life balance is not, and should not be the company's problem.

Work-life Balance is your own problem

Saying "I'm looking for work-life balance" puts the onus (intentionally or otherwise) on the employer to facilitate that. It's not their problem.

Know what else isn't my employer's problem? My lifestyle choices. My career. I am of the firm opinion that none of this should ever fall under the purview of any employer.

Proceed no
further, buddy.

Not only do I not make my work-life balance my employer's problem, I'm exceptionally aggressive about establishing those boundaries.

The life of the typical software developer has rarely been a traditional nine-to-five gig. A large part of software development is the creative process, and problem-solving ideas don't always obligingly arrive during that time period. Thus, software developers can expect to find themselves working at some pretty odd hours when inspiration strikes. Also, sometimes, due to deadlines looming, crunch time is necessary. Things like that happen. However, whether I choose to coast for the rest of the workday or spend an entire weekend hammering out a software feature, that decision has always been mine and mine alone. If I work on a weekend or public holiday, it's because I have deemed it necessary. I will put in the extra work when I damn well please, and not because my employer expects me to. No employer has ever had to tell me to put in extra work. In fact, the moment any employer even implies that they are entitled to my contractually-stipulated personal time, is the moment I lose respect for them as professionals.

Employers, my work-life balance is none of your beeswax. Your job is to set my KPIs and pay me on time. The only things you need to concern yourself with is whether or not I am meeting those KPIs, and deciding if I offer enough value for the money you are paying me. If you wish to address my work-life balance (indeed, anything at all regarding my personal life) you are going to have to earn that privilege.

We have a professional relationship, not a personal one, so stay in your goddamn lane.

Not employing those who want work-life balance

This isn't exactly new, you know. None of this is new. Employers have been quietly putting such candidates in the no-hire list since, well, forever. Employees wanting work-life balance isn't new, either. They've been quietly setting those boundaries for as long as I remember.

Key word: quietly.

Not declaring it openly at an interview, like some kind of noob. Not making a whole public LinkedIn post about it, like you're some child who just discovered that the earth is round and expects a cookie for it.

Quietly, please.

Why don't companies want to hire people who make work-life balance a priority? It's more that they don't want the kind of people who would blurt that out during an interview. The same way we know that everyone defecates, but the dinner table is not the time and place to discuss it.

There are some companies that really do not want such workers, though. And the reasoning is simple. Every employer knows that it's always better to hire clever but lazy people over hardworking people with mediocre intellect. However, it's always easier to hire hardworking people because any idiot can work hard, but not everyone can be clever. There are plenty of people who think they're clever, but that's not quite the same thing.

Whatever else one might want to say about Scott Kuru, he's certainly not afraid to make an unpopular opinion known. Now that takes cojones. Either that, or an ego the size of Melbourne.

So, yeah. Companies, don't hire applicants who don't have the sense to be discreet about work-life balance. And applicants, don't apply for companies where the CEO talks this much shit on Social Media (I'm looking at you, Elon Musk). Let evolution take care of the rest.

Take charge of your life!

Work-life balance looks different to everyone. Never let anyone dictate to you what your balance should be, or worse, allow your employer to be in charge of it.

It's interesting that this happened in Australia of all countries. From the time I spent there (admittedly that was back in 2001), it felt like this really laid-back place. The way the Australian dollar has weakened in recent years has only served to strengthen that impression.

Go balance yourselves!
T___T