Thriving, Not Just Surviving: Redefining Wellbeing at Work for Women.
Rethinking Work-Life Balance: An Unattainable Ideal?
Work-life balance is a buzzword that has dominated workplace conversations for decades. But where did it come from? While the exact origin is debated, the term emerged in the 1970s and gained traction in North America during the 1980s, fueled by the Women’s Liberation Movement. This movement pushed for flexible work schedules and maternity leave as more women entered the workforce.
Now, 40 years later, I have to ask: Where are we really?
The concept of work-life balance has evolved to include broader standards for wellbeing, yet it has also become a catchphrase we toss around in employee surveys or discussions when we feel overwhelmed, purposeless, or overworked. For me, the term has lost its meaning. It oversimplifies the deep, nuanced challenges women face, reducing the conversation to a superficial goal that rarely addresses the root of what’s needed to help women thrive—in and out of the workplace.
The truth is, work-life balance feels like chasing the unachievable. It creates a false sense of failure, as if we can perfectly harmonize work and home life. But life doesn’t work that way. Work is part of life, and life ebbs and flows like tides—sometimes chaotic, sometimes calm. Trying to strike a perfect balance is an illusion; even if we find it for a fleeting moment, it slips away before we can fully enjoy it.
Women’s Wellbeing in the Workplace: The Numbers Don’t Lie
Gallup recently released a report, More Than a Program: A Culture of Women’s Wellbeing at Work, based on research from February 2023 through October 2024. The findings reveal stark realities about how the relationship between work and life affects women’s careers and wellbeing:
One in six women (17%) report managing personal or family responsibilities at work daily or several times a day, compared to 11% of men.
Fifty-one percent of working women in the U.S. report feeling stressed a lot of the day yesterday (vs. 39% of men). Additionally, 42% of working women say their job has had a somewhat or extremely negative impact on their mental health over the last six months (vs. 37% of men). The consequential ripples of women's wellbeing affect organizations as declines in wellbeing are associated with lower engagement, higher burnout and increased participation in job-seeking behaviors.
Gallup’s solution? Organizations must support women in integrating personal and work responsibilities. This isn’t just a moral imperative—it’s a business strategy. Women make up nearly half the U.S. workforce, and if companies want to grow, they must evolve with the pressing demands of modern working women.
Yet, progress is slow. Only 26% of women strongly agree that their organization cares about their wellbeing.
From Assumptions to Action: Listening to Women
In my experience working for a large organization, programs designed to support employees often missed the mark. Why? Because they were built on assumptions, not on the voices of the employees themselves.
The process was reactive: identify a gap, fill it quickly, and move on to the next project. Teams of project managers, each in their silo, would work tirelessly to deliver solutions, but without fully understanding what employees truly needed. The result? Programs that often fell flat and a cycle of endless rollouts, tweaks, and rebrands.
What if we flipped the script?
Instead of assuming, we should be asking. Instead of rushing to launch, we should take the time to nurture strategies that employees—not executives—say they need. By integrating employee voices into program development and tying those programs to organizational culture, we can create solutions that resonate.
Building a Culture of Wellbeing
As Gallup states, “Building a culture of wellbeing starts with leaders demonstrating desired behaviors, fostering open communication about the importance of wellbeing, actively highlighting available resources, and making the employee experience a central focus of their organizational strategy.”
This requires bold, consistent action. It means creating programs women want, amplifying their voices, and embedding wellbeing into the very fabric of workplace culture. It’s not about achieving the elusive balance—it’s about acknowledging the reality of life’s demands and designing workplaces that help employees navigate them with grace, support, and dignity.
We can do better. And for the sake of women’s wellbeing, we must.
