How do you balance your personal life with your work life?

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Even though Meta, through several programs and benefits, invests in the wellness of their employees, for the sake of recruiting a sustainable workforce, they need to ensure their employees put in equal or greater efforts to promote a strong work-life balance and are capable of maintaining their passion for the work they perform. So, your interviewer is curious whether you have a thorough understanding of the level of dedication and hard work Meta requires of their employees. Before considering hiring you, they need to ensure you can rise to the challenge without getting burned out on the job.

According to many of the employee reviews on Glassdoor, Meta's employees struggle with their work-life balance due to the high-performance standard, work-related stress, and demanding schedules. But, the company also invests in their employees' work-life balance, including freeing up their employees' time and creating more efficiency in catering to their other needs, such as providing health, dental, and vision care on and near Meta campuses. "When it comes to our benefits and programs, we know it's not a one-size-fits-all situation. Our wellness reimbursement program gives more flexibility to reimburse expenses that support well-being. Eligible employees can be reimbursed up to a specific amount each calendar year for eligible expenses."

"I have found that one of the best ways to avoid burnout is to constantly celebrate. Take time to show gratitude and appreciation for your team, their support, and their wins. Also, strategically planning every project, whether it's planning a major work project or planning your week, morning, nights, weekends, meals, just plan and remove any stressors that are easily avoided. I call that last one being kind to yourself. Minimize stress and keep moving at a manageable pace. Exercise your body, and your mind, and find time for those things which enrich your spirit as well."

Anonymous Answer

"I strategically plan my projects from start to finish. I have a status report for all projects that I updated regularly. I plan big campaigns via a critical path schedule and divide them into steps. That way, I remain highly organized and avoid unnecessary stress."

Kevin's Feedback

Your response shows a clear understanding of prioritization and project management. Since this question explicitly asks how you avoid burnout (which is a critical topic for many major tech companies like Facebook), I suggest including a sentence or two about your self-care strategies (example below.)

"The first thing I do to prevent task exhaustion, which can lead to burnout, is through finding methods to break up my tasks. This doesn’t mean switching from one project to another, but rather switching up the individual tasks to an individual project. Therefore, I plan my projects from start to finish by utilizing a systems approach. Once I plan out how I’ll manage a project, I’ll break it up into micro and macro-tasks. I then strategize how I’ll approach each task based on my strong time management skills. Doing so effectively eliminates most of the stress associated with meeting project deadlines and allows me the flexibility to switch up any task when one of them feels more exhaustive. I have a status report for all my projects which I keep updated. A critical path schedule is what I used to plan large campaigns. I remain organized and avoid all unnecessary stress. When ever that isn’t enough, I’ll take a micro-break by going for a walk or listening to music that has a high success rate of getting me back on track. It’s rare when I feel like my work/life balance is off kilter. But on that rare occasion I’ll just plan a long weekend when it doesn’t interfere with the priorities of the rest of the team."

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Anonymous Answer

"As much as I become eager at my work, I have learned the lesson that it is important to keep an even pace in order to be consistently productive in the long run. So I manage my time thoroughly to ensure that I get regular sleep and exercise and engage in activities that light me up. This is a way for me to maintain the highest level of productivity and focus during the day."