Given August is usually the time most people relax and take time off work the Career Development Institute is this month focusing on work life balance and mental health issues.
All the resources mentioned, and many more, are also accessible with direct links from the CPD Resources area of the Members’ Area of the CDI website. Resources are arranged according to the National Occupational Standards: Career Development (NOS:CD).
Resources related to work-life balance are in NOS:CD05 and 09. Remember too that the CDI’s Code of Ethics requires that ‘Members have a duty of care to themselves, both in terms of their personal integrity, personal safety and their capacity to practise in order to provide an effective service to clients.’
Work-life balance and mental health
The Mental Health Foundation has a useful webpage on work-life balance, with links to their downloadable series of ‘How To …’ booklets on subjects such as managing stress, overcoming fear, and others on the positive use of exercise and mindfulness
Balance or control?
In ‘Is it even possible to have a work-life balance?’ Laurie Cohen suggests the important concept is whether you can maintain adequate control, and how boundaries can be broken through events in either the home or work domain.
Some of that control is in our own hands, but how are we using it? A University of Kent video Flexible working – the way of the future? reports research showing that increased autonomy and apparent control over hours leads, paradoxically, to an expansion of hours worked.
It’s also a question of ‘good work’
Blustein’s Psychology of Working theory develops from an understanding of the role of work in psychological health and well-being. But not just any work. Increasing attention has been paid recently to the need for decent and meaningful work (15 articles in an online journal). This month, the Taylor Review addresses that topic in the UK context in the review of modern working practices and what can be done to make work into ‘Good Work’. Meanwhile CDI member Peter Robinson looked at career guidance, health and well-being in Career Matters January 2017 (all past issues are in the Members Area of the CDI website)
