“Work-life balance is about people having a measure of control over when, where and how they work. It is achieved when an individual’s right to a fulfilled life inside and outside paid work is accepted and respected as the norm, to the mutual benefit of the individual, business and society”, NHS Employers – Work-life Balance

Having a passion for social media and having a home life is a balancing act for me. Sometimes it feels like I have no control over it.
Hubster has no interest in social media and no desire to tweet, post or Pinterest now or anytime in the future. That suits him perfectly and I love him for that.
However I am passionate and sometimes to the point of obsessiveness in being involved in the digital social media movement.
With 5 twitter accounts, 2 Facebook pages, 2 Pinterest accounts, LinkedIn, Foursquare, a dabbling on Storify and my new blog, I love it all and manage it well during work hours and in my free time. These include work, a trustee role and personal accounts.
They all give me the opportunity to think differently about how I use them to communicate information, events and resources in and outside of Manchester.
Social media is only a small part of my role as a Communications and Engagement Manager and there are always priorities that are seen as being much more important than social media. I think some of this is down to people’s lack of understanding about social media and the role it plays and can play in listening to patients, carers, staff and public voices.
So working on social media in my own time has not really registered as being part of my daily work routine because I enjoy doing it and I think it has been needed to establish our social media presence.
Now having been matched to the Greater Manchester Commissioning Support Unit I have realised that things need to change for me to be able to take on new challenges.
The mutual benefit for work and myself has been substantial and it has given me development opportunities for which I am grateful.
A work-life balance is needed and with all the NHS reforms taking place I don’t think this will happen anytime soon. There is no blame here just it is not seen as important in this current climate.
Having had initial discussions and meetings with colleagues from the CSU it makes me think that they are employers that may well value their staff.
I am looking forward to being part of a culture where I hope they will invest in the mental and physical wellbeing of their staff.
This will help me get my work-life balance back alongside actions I need to take myself.