A Balancing Act – Why Work-Life Balance is Key to your Health & Happiness

It’s sad to admit, but we currently live in a society that glorifies being busy and overworking as the ‘norm’ – this often leads to burn out, and in severe cases, exhaustion and stress-related illnesses.

We understand finding a balance between work and personal life in this fast-paced world can be challenging but remember that taking care of yourself is vital to achieving a good work-life balance, leading to a fulfilling and satisfying life.

Let’s look at the numbers:

33% of workers consider work-life balance to be the most crucial consideration when looking for a job! Now, even more staggeringly, did you know that 56% of employees are willing to accept a lower paying job in exchange for a better work-life balance.

Higher salaries can add more complexity and stress to our lives as we extend ourselves further and build lifestyles that are dependent on certain levels of income.

Post-pandemic, it’s evident how much more important a healthy work-life balance is. When COVID hit, many people were forced to work from home. Once restrictions were lifted and life returned to a more ‘normal’ way of living, many employers continued to let employees work from home.

What can you do to help your employees:

The ‘work from home’ culture has made it increasingly difficult to separate work from our personal lives, leading to the more common practice of answering emails after work hours, taking business calls while having dinner and keeping laptops on and open during the weekend – this needs to be discouraged as this is not best or ‘normal’ practice.

As a business owner or leader, it’s crucial to ensure that your employees are working to maintain good work-life balance. You may even discover that your most engaged employees are struggling to find a healthy balance. The onus is on you to ensure your employees are prioritising a healthy work-life balance, especially when considering that UK employees work the longest hours in Europe – an average of 42 hours per week!

There are a few simpler steps that can be taken at an organisational level to support your employees, such as making sure they take their annual leave. You can also ensure that your employees aren’t working long hours without a proper break in between and ensuring that deadlines are realistic and manageable. These can also include:

• Offer flexible and remote working
• Encourage managers to focus on productivity rather than hours worked
• Encourage breaks
• Regularly review workloads and deadlines
• Lead by example
• Give employees time to volunteer
• Reconsider time off and annual leave allowances
• Increase support for parents
• Ask for your employees’ views
• Acknowledge that every employee and their circumstances will be different

As a business, there is no sure-fire way for measuring if a company has been successful at achieving a balanced work-life routine. One thing is certain – maintaining boundaries ensures everyone will have better wellbeing and in turn be more productive.

Work-life balance is not a new concept. It simply means carving out appropriate time for your professional and personal life. But lately it’s become a trend, with small businesses and startups using it to attract young talent, which has led to defining exactly what it means for their employees. Often times, it comes down to how a growing company can achieve maximum productivity at a reasonable cost to their employees’ time and wellbeing.

More recently, companies have been finding that productivity comes in different forms for different employees, leading to a revolution in what a normal workday looks like. Let’s take a look at a few productivity trends and how some companies set the tone for balancing work and personal life:

• Set boundaries with your clients – setting expectations of when your businesses’ workday starts and ends helps to manage expectations, boost productivity and increase employee retention
• Restrict employee hours – high productivity doesn’t mean working full eight-hour days every day
• Allow flexibility for overtime – making it mandatory to take leave time is crucial to preventing employees from burning out
• Institute flexibility for working parents – allowing employees to work from home when needed, splitting shifts to spend time with their family or leaving on time
• Work remotely – consider investing in employee technology so your employees have everything they need to work remotely
• Conduct daily stand up meetings – consider measuring impact and results based on performance and not hours spent at their desk
• Lead by example – as a manager, if your company offers flexible working, the best thing to do to reinforce flexible working, is to do it yourself
• Work outside the office – studies show that workers can benefit from working out of the office from time to time. Getting away from your desk/cubicle is a helpful reset and great for a productivity boost
• Office half days – employee satisfaction and retention are often boosted with the roll out of flexible working hours, such as half day working
• Trust employees – if your employees need to work from home, leave early or even work from a space outside the office, this shouldn’t be discouraged, so long as the work is getting done (without compromising the quality and consistency of work produced of course)
• Encourage vacation time – vacation time should be treated as a means to increase productivity, not solely as an employee benefit
• Get physical – finding a way to do your job while incorporating a physical activity can do wonders for productivity and overall employee satisfaction levels. As an example, instead of meeting over a coffee or having a meeting online, try meet up for a walk instead so you can catch up while getting some exercise as well
• Ditch the desk – depending on the industry you operate in, you may be able to forego the office space completely, not only saving you on overheads each month, but also increasing employee happiness and wellbeing. The element of trust plays a factor in this as well

This list of productivity boosters will help to empower your employees to produce their best work and maintain a healthy balance between their work life and personal life.

Promoting a healthy work-life balance not only benefits the well-being of your employees, but also of the success and productivity of your business. This will help to attract and retain top talent all while creating a positive and thriving workplace culture.

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