Professionals who work with UHNW clientele often undertake significant training in order to achieve positions at the top of their respective fields, which often come with impressive remuneration and an array of other advantages. However, service workers for the ultra-wealthy – including personal assistants, butlers, house managers and private chefs, to name but a few – often face significant work-life balance issues.
The unique demands of these roles often call for going beyond the extra mile for employers, and frequently involve long, irregular and antisocial hours. Working for the affluent comes with its own set of challenges, especially as affluent clients may expect the utmost in flexibility and discretion, as well as round-the-clock availability while maintaining the highest standards of professionalism and quality of service.
Not only can this be physically and mentally demanding for service workers, it can significantly disrupt a healthy work-life balance; everything from last-minute travel plans, unexpected schedule changes and other emergencies can disrupt an employee’s personal time, making it very difficult indeed for professionals to maintain consistent routines or plan for family and social commitments. The strain this puts on workers frequently leads to burnout, and it’s often cited as a factor in the current employment issues within the sector, with many professionals leaving the industry and fewer people choosing it as a viable long-term career path.
To understand some of the issues pertaining to work-life balance when working for affluent employers, we caught up with Yuri, a professional and highly experienced butler providing services in villas and homes for an impressive array of UHNW clients. With valuable insight into many of the most pressing issues relating to this side of the industry, Yuri was keen to point out that while he loves many aspects of his job – and clearly has enormous pride in his work – there’s a clear and urgent need for more conscientious management of human resources in the industry.
“Achieving anything close to a normal work-life balance is very difficult at this level, because the UHNW industry keeps reaching new heights of luxury. The houses and villas get bigger, services become more thorough and there are more demands than ever, yet staff numbers aren’t increasing.
Imagine – once upon a time, grand houses and castles had hundreds of staff. Today, there’s usually a maximum of fifteen professionals on site and more often fewer than ten, and yet standards have gotten higher.”
The blurred boundaries between personal and professional life are often a major source of stress. Many staff live on-site or travel extensively with their employers, leading to a sense of being “always on call”. What’s more, the emotional toll of constant readiness, combined with limited privacy and autonomy, often results in frustration and exhaustion. As Yuri puts it:
“Once you’re inside a villa, you’re essentially beholden to the needs of the guests. On one trip, I didn’t cross the gates of the villa I was working in for 82 days in a row, and that involved starting my day very early in the morning and not finishing until the guests were all asleep. Easier days tend to be in twelve hour shifts, but I’ve worked for more than 21 hours in a row on several occasions.”
The inevitable question arises: What can be done, realistically and pragmatically, to improve this kind of imbalance?
“In my opinion, household staff need help to do their job properly. If guests want to be served and cared for around the clock, whoever’s in charge needs to consider what is realistic, and what is actually possible for a person to do. A small staff needs time to eat and rest in order to maintain an impeccable level of service – there’s no getting away from this fact.”
Yuri points out that sometimes, strict and inflexible protocol gets in the way of practicality and good service, and ignores the expertise of the professional who may have a more straightforward solution to a particular issue.
He gives a convincing example of serving guests dinner at a table placed far from the kitchen – protocol dictates that a waiter should carry a maximum of two plates at a time, and yet to do so requires an enormous amount of walking back and forth, and risks food being served at the wrong temperature. In this case, a break in protocol comes with a very good reason, and will most likely result in a better standard of service.
“Protocol is protocol. However, in practice this is often not enough. Things cannot always be black and white when it comes to rules; there needs to be some flexibility and experienced staff need to be listened to. This, ultimately, is where a good manager can make a real difference.”
Maintaining work-life balance is a challenge for almost all professionals. It requires a careful negotiation of boundaries, support networks outside of one’s working life and employers who value and understand the importance of staff wellbeing. For those working with UHNW individuals, there are multiple additional factors to consider, given the culture of discretion and exclusivity within the realm of the ultra-wealthy. As such, achieving a sustainable balance between personal fulfillment, professional dedication and pride in one’s work remains an ongoing hurdle that’s challenging to overcome.
Yuri makes a valuable point about how personal wellbeing and job satisfaction have a direct impact on one’s ability to deliver the kind of standards expected in his role:
“If the team is happy, the guests will be more than happy. I’ve seen it countless times: when staff members have a dream in their eyes and when they’re treated well, they give you the best of their heart and their abilities.”
Yuri is clear when it comes to his feelings about his role, and has plenty of advice for newcomers to similar roles or those seeking to enter the industry.
“Working with the UHNW can change your life, because you really work for and with the best of the best. It’s a wonderful opportunity to learn how to offer the highest standards of your profession – but this requires the utmost in work ethics. After all, to do the job well, you need to feel happy and have pride in what you do, and to have no fear about seeing each task through to the end.”
In a world where seeking out and retaining top talent becomes increasingly important, flexibility, conscientious management and more support for UHNW service industry professionals is no longer an option – it’s essential. As Yuri summarizes with his characteristic grace and positivity:
“This industry is fascinating and every day brings new challenges and surprises. After all, we work within a lifestyle that so few people get to experience. I love my job and the challenges it brings, and I believe that a good job is a gift – it’s something precious and worthy of respect.”
