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Irma Becerra is president of Marymount University, a comprehensive doctoral-granting university known for its innovative curriculum.
For years, people have assumed that because I am a working parent and my kids turned out okay (they actually turned out wonderful!), I know the secrets of work-life balance. On numerous occasions, I have been invited to talk about work-life balance. My first reaction always is, “I need work-life balance myself!” So what have we learned after decades of trying to tease out the secrets for successful work-life balance?
My early years trying to ‘balance’
I started to work as an engineer in the power industry soon after college while continuing to earn my master’s part time in the evening. I was hired to code in Fortran the reliability of the power systems grid, the very technical job I intended to pursue then. My job required long hours in the computer room and the commitment to be on call one week every month. Computer problems would frequently require me to return to the office (a 45-minute commute) to restore the real-time system’s operations.
Seek flexible career paths
Clearly, remote computer access was not an option back then. Once I embarked on the motherhood track, I asked myself, how would I manage the logistical challenges that my job required? I decided to seek new career paths that allowed for flexibility. The particular logistical challenges of my job prompted me to return to the university to pursue a Ph.D. for the opportunity to have more flexibility once I became a mother.
In addition to my dismay over having to leave my home in the middle of the night with each crisis at the power company, I faced the expectation from my employer that I would likely not return to work following the birth of my son. This expectation would undoubtedly be problematic today, but that is the price we pay for being trailblazers.
Outsource where you can
My decision to pursue that Ph.D. was not an easy climb, particularly since my son was two and my daughter was six months by then. I sought support wherever I could find it, including family and friends. Part of my success also included learning how to outsource some of my responsibilities – like, for example, cooking, and this particular skill is what allowed me to continue to succeed in my career. My kids still laugh when they remember Mondays were Tex-Mex taco night, Tuesdays were pizza and Wednesdays were “all you can eat ribs.”
Succeeding in my new academic endeavor required perseverance and the ability to adjust my expectations. For example, getting straight “A’s” was no longer possible always. Also, I had to figure out how to work around my kid’s schedules. Four years later, I received my doctorate in electrical engineering and was ready to start a new career journey.
Go back to school
Academic preparation can allow you to seek new career paths. Armed with my new degree, I applied for my first academic job — and, surprise, I did not get it. All that work and my plan failed — but was it for the better? Even after conquering the degree, failing to get that job may have caused me to give up. Did I mention persistence? I pivoted to working for a NASA-funded technology commercialization center, unaware about the future benefits that job would bring via contacts that would prove invaluable in the future. This is an example of reframing a setback as an opportunity. I did continue to pursue my goal of a tenure-track professor position, which I ultimately was able to land. The road to success may not always be a straight path, and it’s essential to remain flexible and open to new possibilities.
Today, workers place a high value on work-life balance. Of the 4,000 people who responded to Flex Job’s 2022 Career Pulse Survey, 63 percent said they would choose better work-life balance over better pay. Based on my experience, work-life balance is crucial for professionals working hard to progress in their careers because flexibility allows the room needed to grow.
Craft a schedule that works for you
Tenuous boundaries between home and work are a harsh reality for most in today’s modern workforce. Work-life balance may mean different things at varying stages during your career journey. My academic job afforded me flexibility when corporate was not ready to offer it. I was able to adjust my job responsibilities, including demands for teaching and research. At the same time, I was able to craft a schedule that allowed me to enjoy my parenting responsibilities. Academic administration was not a priority for me until my kids were off to college.
I applied for a research fellowship at MIT — a long-held life dream — and joined as a Sloan Scholar and researcher working on problems related to big data. The experience would kick-start my academic administration journey, culminating in my presidency at Marymount University in July 2018.
Work-life balance: what is the secret sauce?
As leaders, we must commit to fostering a culture that recognizes and values the importance of work-life balance. In doing so, we can empower those within our organizations to achieve their full potential while leading fulfilling lives outside of work. By championing work-life balance, I do my part to create an environment where my faculty and staff thrive. Flexibility makes for happy and productive teams, and the overall well-being of an organization flourishes.
The university president job is a 24/7 commitment that affords me no work-life balance, so after all these years, is it a myth or a possibility? While my perspective is more tilted toward myth than possibility in my current position, crafting your journey to a successful and fulfilling career is definitely within reach.
No job is perfect, and we must work daily to find joy in our chosen professions. Finding joy requires focusing on how your career helps you fulfill your sense of purpose. Perhaps the old quote summarizes it best: “find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”
