Perhaps, in an earlier time, when the eight-hour day was conceived around industrial factory workers (mainly men) whose wives were home raising the children and tended to not work outside the home, the concept didn't occur to people. It simply wasn't an issue or a concern.

Once the well-educated Baby Boomers entered the work force in the 1970s and the concurrent feminist movement was reaching its peak, we started to hear a new slogan for the post-World War II generation: "having it all". It meant having a career, a personal life, a spouse and a family. But the phrased has historically been connected to women. 

Even as the struggle for equality turned its attention to equal work for equal pay and other issues, that earlier rallying cry has faded from the zeitgeist–maybe because we take it for granted that both women and men can indeed "have it all," whatever that means to each individual. 

This begs the question: what does work/life balance mean in the 21st century?

"You Can't Have it All, All at Once"

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a pioneer among professional women of the 20th century if ever there was one, said this to Katie Couric recently in an interview. The quote was reprinted in a recent article in The Atlantic written by one of Ginsberg's former law clerks, who proceeded to become a stay-at-home dad after completing his prestigious clerkship so that his wife could resume her medical training.

While going on to acknowledge that she had indeed been able to have it all (at times), Justice Ginsburg acknowledged that she definitely encountered some rough patches along the way. The essence of her parting advice to her clerk was to "be a good partner" and "take breaks."

The author goes on to explain at length his reasons for wanting to spend quality time with his young daughter, and cited some discouraging statistics pertaining to men, their children and their jobs. Nearly half of fathers questioned in a 2013 Pew research study (twice the rate of women who responded) described not being able to spend enough time with their kids. What's more, 60% of the men found their childcare hours "very meaningful," while just 33% said the same about their paid jobs.

The "Myth" of Work/Life Balance

In part because Americans are notorious workaholics compared to our colleagues in Europe and some other parts of the world, there's a lot of cynicism to be found on the blogosphere and in publications about creating a true work/life balance.

In one such recent opinion piece on CNN's website entitled "Work-life Balance is Dead," the author laments that, thanks to constant e-mail access, working with colleagues in different time zones, striving for success in general, and other reasons, it's become harder and harder for many of us to divide our waking hours into work and home life. Indeed, many of us work as many hours at home as we do in the office.

Having said that, the author proceeds to make at least one practical suggestion for companies to adopt that can improve their employees' work/life balance: implementing more flexible schedules. While hardly a novel idea, the author asserts that giving staffers more control over their schedules "...motivates them to work harder, produce higher-quality work, and develop greater loyalty for their company."

As a real-life example, he cites Pategonia, a California-based maker of outdoor and athletic sports clothing, which empowers its workforce by allowing employees to make their own work schedules; providing access to on-site daycare; and encouraging workers to take regular breaks during the workday for exercise.

Ironically, we often associate those types of perks with Silicon Valley tech companies and firms in other industries based on the West Coast. But really, all the CNN columnist did was find an organization that developed a practical solution from a relatively simple idea and made it work. He points out that Pategonia's profits have tripled in the past five years and that its employee turnover has dropped well below the industry average. That can happen in nearly any organization, in any part of the country.

Just think what might happen over the course of 2015 if we all came up with one new (or not-so-new) idea for improving our employees' work/life balance and tried to make it work. Maybe some of our people, ourselves included, could be happier – at work and at home. It's worth thinking about.