Twenty years ago, when Gen X first entered the workforce, employers began to hear from newer workers about their goal of achieving some form of work-life balance. What Gen X saw as a goal, Millennials now view as an expectation.

 

It turns out choice of career clearly impacts the likelihood that anyone will achieve some semblance of work-life balance. In research recently reported by The New York Times, the finance and consulting fields appear to be uniquely difficult ones for those who wish to balance their time at the office with their time at home. It’s much worse than law or academia. And it’s much, much worse than medicine.

 

Researchers looked at the average financial penalty for someone who took 18 months off from work and then returned to work and found the penalty varied dramatically by profession. On average, the person with a graduate degree earned 25% less than the person who opted to take no time off. For lawyers and Ph.D.’s, the difference was about 29%. For M.B.A.’s, the gap jumped to 41%.

 

What’s really amazing is how well doctors fare. In the case of the medical profession, the doctor who took time off on average earned just 16 percent less than the person who opted to take no time off. And according to a recent National Survey, 21 percent of doctors in their late 30s and early 40s worked less than 35 hours per week. This is compared to approximately 14% of M.B.A.’s and J.D.’s.

 

What seems to differentiate the medical profession from others is the existence of group practices, where doctors take turns being on call. Though law firms and consulting firms have thus far resisted the “group practice” model, it may be the wave of the future.