Is Your Company Culture Killing Your Marriage
For some people, work is their life. For others, work is just a necessarily evil, undertaken so they can pay their mortgage and put food on the table. In some cases, the culture of their workplace can have a serious impact on their home life, particularly their marriage.
A hundred years ago, things were different. Men went to work, often for 12-14 hours a day, rarely seeing their wives let alone their children – and that was just to make ends meet. Today, we have much more organized work places and the expectation for many is that mom and dad are there for breakfast, and again for the evening meal. Of course, in today’s world, both mom and dad probably work.
Workplace culture does strange things to people. If staying back a little later a couple of times a week is the norm, we all do it, no matter how much we dislike our job. Workplace culture goes beyond that. There are some work places where relationships between employees are quite relaxed. You may say too relaxed. This leads to a wide range of issues, almost all of them having a negative effect on marriages.
While both of those cultures – that is, extended work hours (generally unpaid) and employee relationships – are completely different, they do impact heavily on a marriage. For those affected, the time will come when you will need to make a decision. Which is more important, your family and marriage or your workplace?
Dealing with a workplace culture that is affecting your marriage can be difficult. Marriage counselors have this to be a common problem amongst couples and can very effectively help those affected deal with them. Your company’s culture should never impact upon your family life. If it does, and you can’t see a way clear, then talk to a marriage counselor – they can provide you both with tools that will enable you to break free of some of those cultural expectation.
