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Finding the
balance is hard,
we make it easier.
Tools for understanding household & relationship imbalances, & how to fix them
An Invisible Imbalance
Women in the UK, on average, do 2 hours more unpaid work per day than men. They also earn 83 pence for each £1 that men earn. And by the time a couple’s first child is 10 years old, on average the mother will be earning around 50% of what she did before she had children, while the father’s income will be unaffected.
At the root of these three facts, is an invisible imbalance – physical and mental workload that disproportionately falls to women. Work that can be invisible to the person that isn’t doing it – but we’re changing that.
Practical tools to help you find your balance
ThirdShift provides free tools, information and solutions to help households to create equality at home.
ThirdShift is provided by Equality Starts at Home, a UK registered charity. Our goal is to create generational change by disrupting how families work and stay connected so that every person has the freedom to find their purpose.
Step 1: Making the invisible visible
The first step on any journey is to find where you are on the map. So before you can start creating balance long term, use the free ThirdShift Quiz to see what your current workload looks like.
Start Finding Your Balance
1. Take The Free Household Balance Quiz
The Household Balance Quiz is a free tool to understand your workload.
In just 3 minutes, find out how much work you’re doing, where you spend your time, and the economic value of your housework.
Use your results to open up communication with your partner based on evidence instead of opinion.
2. Go Multi-Player To Explore Housework Preferences
Household balance is a two-player equation, so the tools to help you achieve it should be too. Try our first multi-player quiz to start collaborating with your partner to find the quick-wins for better balance in your home.
Start by completing your preferences & then invite your partner to have their say. Once they do, you’ll unlock your full results & actions.
3. Are You Parenting Equally?
Our newest tool digs deeper into the all-encompassing role of parenting. It’s the first tool to start measuring your mental load and emotional labour.
Get more insight into how you and your partner manage the parenting workload – as well as the reward you each get from the experience. Try it now, so you and your partner can start appreciating how you share the parenting.
Step 2: Ready to start creating balance?
The answer is multi-player!
The next step towards creating balance in your home is to find the quick-fixes.
Find out where to start with your housework preferences in this multi-player quiz. It’s designed so that you and your partner can work together to achieve a better balance.
Sharing the load
Why Housework Matters
The New York Times recently reported analysis by Oxfam showing that the unpaid work done by women globally, if paid at minimum wage, would be worth $10.9 trillion last year. That makes women’s unpaid work the fourth largest economy in the world! This is work that isn’t recognised by our society, but also isn’t valued enough at a household level. Responsibility for this work is also a major driver of mental load.
Unfortunately discussions about housework and if you’re doing too much can quickly turn into a fight. The ThirdShift Quiz helps you to change this conversation. In 3 minutes, it shows you who is doing the work, what it’s worth, and gives you the information you need to have more constructive conversations about how you share the load in your home.
Mental Load & Motherhood
86% of working mothers say they are responsible for handling all family and household responsibilities. And that – the job of being the CEO, people manager and admin assistant for the household – is the Mental Load. It’s the mental work of having to constantly remember, organise, account for, plan and manage your life and the lives of your household.
At ThirdShift we’re creating tools to help you and your partner open up communication about how things work in your home, and to show you opportunities to improve your balance. If you want to reduce your mental load and find a better balance in your life and household, subscribe to be the first to get access to new tools as soon as they’re available.
Step 3: Are you parenting equally?
Parenting is not like other work. It involves significant mental load and emotional labour – which can be invisible. But you can measure it with the parenting quiz – so you and your partner can make more deliberate decisions about how you share the load.
The Work-Life Balance Myth
We all want balance.
But it’s unrealistic to try and keep everything in balance all the time. And frankly, it can be just an added pressure that none of us need. That’s why at ThirdShift we take a long term view on balance – what some have described as “tilting”.
A 2009 study that looked at what happy women are doing differently found that people who were happiest in life did not try and keep work and life in perfect balance all the time. Instead, they would “tilt”.
A Different Kind of Balance
Tilting is being aware of the shifting pressures in life and prioritising based on what was most important at a given point in time. Sometimes you have a big project deadline at work and you need to put more of your time and energy into getting it across the line. Other times, you might be preparing your child to start school or moving house, and need to dedicate more of your efforts to things at home.
The balance comes from feeling able and supported in tilting in the right direction when the need arises. In order to do this, you need a partner who can counter-balance. They help pick up the slack to empower you to be where you’re most needed.
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Ready to get started with ThirdShift?
Find out how you can save time, reduce your workload & free yourself from the mental load with ThirdShift. Take the ThirdShift Quiz to get started understanding your household work now.