| "While all aspects of our life are important, without a | | | | sheet of music. The global businesses of today |
| balance you become addicted and like all addictions | | | | require more people interacting for more time across |
| you lose". ~ Catherine Pulsifer. | | | | more countries. |
| Working for a global company can create havoc on | | | | Cell phones, Blackberrys and email, with their ability to |
| any attempt to balance work and family. Many | | | | keep us connected across time zones 24/7, add to |
| executives think and talk a lot about the time we | | | | the mix. Before takeoff on a recent flight in Mumbai, |
| spend away from our families - both because we are | | | | a person behind me was on the phone with an |
| flying around the world and because we work as long | | | | American colleague trying to diagnose a problem |
| as it is office hours somewhere. | | | | after a server went down. |
| One of our senior executives in India recently told | | | | Before switching off the phone, he spoke to yet |
| me he misses family time almost every evening | | | | another colleague, probably in India, to check out |
| because of long conference calls from the US. | | | | possible fixes. The instant the flight landed a couple |
| Another exec whose family is in the UK spends too | | | | of hours later, he was back on the phone working |
| much time flying back and forth between the US, UK | | | | through the fixes. As I disembarked, the |
| and India; he's not doing justice to either job or | | | | conversation was still going on, leaving me curious |
| family. So he's reluctantly decided to stay put in India | | | | whether he solved the problem or not. |
| for the next three weeks - away from family - to | | | | We need to recalibrate our time and travel. Cost and |
| bring some order back to his life. | | | | ecological considerations are encouraging companies |
| In my own case, living in Chennai and working out of | | | | like ours to reduce travel and adopt |
| Mumbai, I have been in the same city for more than | | | | video-conferencing instead. In addition, companies are |
| a week only twice over the last 18 months. Before | | | | recognizing they need to set boundaries around |
| that, while living in the US, my calls to India would | | | | working hours, personal time and holidays. |
| start at 7 o'clock in the morning (during my daily | | | | We need to encourage corporate cultures that |
| walk) and go on till around 10 o'clock. Then I'd make | | | | separate work and home, and hold family time |
| calls to the UK for several hours. I would reach office | | | | sacrosanct. We also need to be "modularize" work so |
| after lunch and then put in a full day - working late - | | | | that local teams, working in close physical proximity, |
| to handle the US business. | | | | take on specific projects and tasks in "packages" |
| In the early days of world trade, goods would be | | | | that make geographic sense. Interface standards, |
| produced in the local countries, at earthly hours, and | | | | across work packages, will minimize the need for |
| would be transported by ship to faraway | | | | extensive communication and interaction. |
| destinations. Globalization today is more taxing. | | | | As a world, we are still learning how to deal with |
| Businesses are more complex. As the services | | | | globalization at an individual and family level. We need |
| component of global trade increases, so does the | | | | to strike the right balance, in terms of distribution of |
| need for more communication and interaction. | | | | work and output, between globalization and |
| Moreover, as sales, production and delivery become | | | | localization. Do share your own experiences and |
| more team-based and knowledge-based, more | | | | perspectives with regards to globalization and family |
| people are needed to interact and play to the same | | | | life. |