Careers with good Work-life Balance

[Derek57]

This topic isn't per-se about MBA programs, but theres no career section on the board so I think it's most relevant here:



As a young to-be MBA student with little experience (2-years) I'm starting to look seriously at specifics regarding career prospects. One of my key concerns, outside of many of the opportunities that an MBA offers, is to maintain a good work-life balance - I do realize that this is a give-and-take, but I'm sure there are plenty of MBA grads who would give 25% of their salary for 25% less work.. What do you guys see as business careers that offer this? I know this won't always be easy to break down either in terms of function, or industry as simple generalizations... but what would you look for if you wanted to ensure a positive worklife balance?

I take the criteria for work-life balance to be (in order of importance):
- average weekly hours
I would think 40-50 on average is doable (and why shouldn't it be??), but seems surprisingly rare..
- vacation per year
- work flexibility
- opportunities for unpaid leave (sabbatical)
Do any business careers allow for this without you taking a big hit??


I know government has a good reputation (pretty consistent, but offers some other negatives), and I've also heard that the non-profit sector has more of a balanced culture, but I'm not sure how justified this reputation is. Otherwise I hear that 'industry' management jobs are pretty hit-and-miss - corporate finance, business development, internal corporate strategy..... What about Management Consulting outside of the big firms - are there successful boutique firms that offer their employees better hours? Is commercial banking generally decent? I think its better than IB, but that doesn't mean its sane .

Does geography play any role on this culture? In Vancouver (city with a laid-back reputation - think Portland/San Fransisco) Deloitte consulting just won some work-life balance employer award. I have no idea how that happened....?


My own personal dillema if anyone cares: I'm choosing between Toronto schools. The one school (Rotman-UofT) I believe is stronger, and has many things to attract me, but they are very consulting and finance focused - feeding a lot of people into MC and IB. The other school (Schulich-York) would be less preferable, but they are strong in non-profit, public management, and feeds more people into 'industry'. I havn't decided on what I'm going to do, but I think if gov't or non-profit are some of the only places that I'll be likely to find a work-life balance than I should start focusing as early as possible. My interests, as far as my experience goes are generally strategy, organizational operations, and business development.

[therealtomrose]

It sounds like the root of what you're saying is: I don't want to work more than 50 hrs per week, but I want to do consulting.

That is possible for sure. You'll need to look outside the players you have heard of. It is certainly impossible at McK, Bain, BCG. I have a friend at Accenture who works about 40hrs per week and doesn't travel. Once you get outside the top 10 consulting firms or so, the field REALLY opens up, so it's not possible to list names here. However, I can tell you that there ARE opportunities out there that are not insane. What you should really evaluate with these firms is the travel requirement. If you're traveling every week, you basically can not have a balanced lifestyle with a family. There are plenty of great firms that can staff locally on a regular basis, and you should seek one of those out.

Here is a great indicator you can use that really works: Any company that ever uses the phrase "Work-life balance" is virtually guaranteed to have terrible work-life balance. It's one of those certainties of life.

[shaz24]

In the end what really matters is how passionate you are about your job. I have friends who have cut back on their work load and work ~20 hours a week and still hate what they are doing. On the other hand, I know someone who has been spending 70-80 hours at work for the past 40 years and is not planning on retirement any time soon, as he enjoys what he does.