You must have heard the term “work-life balance” at some point.
Especially during COVID-19, people were forced to stay home and work instead of heading into the office every Monday to Friday.
Staying at home gave people more time and flexibility to attend to their family needs or run errands, all without compromising the quality of their work.
People began to enjoy this “work-life balance” from working at home.
However, that may soon be a faded thing of the past.
It appears some high-ranking individuals think that the concept of work-life balance is “baloney”.
Here is what the DBS CEO said about the trending concept.
DBS CEO Does Not Believe In Work-Life Balance
If you mention the three letters “DBS” to anyone, banking services probably come to mind. After all, DBS is the most well-known and widely used bank in Singapore.
Others might think that bankers have a tough life, working long hours and slogging over piles of papers.
That might not be too far off from the truth since DBS CEO Piyush Gupta says that he thinks work-life balance is “baloney”.
But before you go bonkers trying to cancel him, he also said this.
Mr Gupta says he feels pessimistic about the concept not because he “[wants] people to work all the time” but because he finds it impossible to separate work from life.
To him, “work is a part of life”.
Does anyone call “baloney” on that statement?
In an interview with CNA, Mr Gupta discusses how he wanted to become a diplomat but became a banker by accident. Since then, he has been in banking almost all his life.
To elaborate on his point that work cannot be divorced from life, Mr Gupta elaborates that most people spend eight to ten hours each day working with friends and colleagues in the office.
The workplace is also tied to one’s income and growth.
Given all the intertwining factors, it is practically impossible to divorce work from life.
Therefore, the notion of something being personal and not personal is not viable.
Mr Gupta further shared that he wanted people to operate under the notion of being a family, having strong bonds with each other to get extraordinary work outcomes.
What do you think about this? Are you convinced that work-life balance is not possible or is Mr Gupta’s view an isolated one?