Most, if not all, employers have found themselves in a nerve-racking situation where they offer a job to a person, offering an even higher salary than expected, and the employee turns it down. Sometimes it even gets worse than this because in certain instances the prospective employee does not even inform the employer that the job offered is being turned down and why.

[attach id=721795 size="medium" align="right"]Finding the appropriate work-life balance may prove to be very elusive.[/attach]

This is very bewildering to the extent that some employers are now considering being very cagey about their company as they fear that being too honest with a prospective employee can actually be self-damaging.

Very often the reason for the job being turned down is not necessarily a better salary offer by another employer, or even by the current employer of the job applicant. One of the reasons (and I stress it is just one of the reasons) could be the job applicant’s perception of what job offers the better work-life balance.

We have grown accustomed to the term work-life balance in relation to the need of balancing one’s job responsibilities with one’s personal responsibility. It then started being extended to the need to balance working time with leisure time.

With younger people it has started to take a totally different meaning. Given the very tight labour market in Malta (that is a shortage of labour across most sectors of the economy), young people have started to consider a good work-life balance and the opportunity for flexible working almost as important as salary.

The snag is that it is difficult for an employer to have a one-size-fits-all proposition in relation to work-life balance and flexibility. Each person tends to interpret that in one’s own way, depending on several factors. As such understanding work-life balance in practical terms is becoming increasingly difficult. The meaning of having a life outside work is different for each person.

The idea that a job is a means to a lifestyle has now become rooted in our culture

At Misco we have experienced job applicants who would not like a job that is too far away from where they live (and we know that wherever one goes in Malta distances are short) because of the time they spend stuck in traffic. Others would refuse a job in certain localities because of difficulties encountered to find a parking space.

We have had job applicants who insist on a nine-to-five job because they need to start their workout at their favourite gym at half past five. Others would call stressful a job that sometimes takes up a part of their weekend. Others still, would refuse to work on a shift roster because it may prevent them from going out with their friends on a Friday evening.

We then need to explain all this to employers, who  very understandably get  very frustrated.

The idea that a job is a means to a lifestyle has now become rooted in our culture. And it  is expected to remain so until there remains a shortage of  people. Once there is a blip in the economy, attitudes may be expected to change. 

In the meantime employers have to continue searching for those elements that may prove to be attractive for prospective employees and also for their present employees. Finding the appropriate work-life balance may prove to be very elusive.