The importance of work-life balance.
Work plays an important role in all our lives. Our profits ensure that the lights remain on, that there is food on the table and that the pot for rainy days is full.
Another factor that
is contributing greatly to the difficulty of achieving a work-life balance is
the changing landscape of how and where employees are expected to work. As more and more companies embrace the
technological era and move on to globalization, work is no longer restricted to
the workplace. Employees can work from
almost anywhere with the use of laptops, tablets and smartphones; and teleworking is on the rise. Employees can access emails and work tasks
24/7, which means they can also be accessible to employers and clients. Although there are multiple benefits to this
flexible work pattern, you may be at risk of blurring the lines between work
and personal life. Remote work also
means that staff can now find that their typical work week is no longer restricted
to the traditional 40 hours a week.
Employers expect
more from their people, which makes them feel more pressure to achieve better
results. As a result, this leads to
more work hours and less time spent at home.
As a business leader, you have the responsibility to help your entire team
handle the demands of your work and your personal life. Even
their More committed employees
may be struggling to find balance.
The result of a poor
balance between work and personal life not only affects employees, but also
affects the companies for which they work.
The employee stress may increase to the level of exhaustion, resulting
in lower productivity at work, greater potential health problems related to
stress and absenteeism, and associated costs related to these are transferred
to the company. In addition to this,
employees may also experience poor personal and work relationships and lower
job satisfaction.
How important is work-life balance?
Maintaining a
healthy balance between work and personal life is not only important for health
and relationships, it can also improve your employees' productivity and,
ultimately, performance. In short, if
your people do not see work as a task, they will work harder, make fewer
mistakes and are more likely to become advocates for your brand.
There are several
ways in which companies can help to promote a balance in the working life of
their employees, both in the policies they implement and in ensuring that
managers actively encourage employees to take advantage of these policies. Offering employees flexible work options
helps employees design their work pattern to fit their personal commitments,
ultimately reducing the conflict between personal and work
responsibilities. Flexible work options
include allowing employees to work from home, adjusting their work hours to
meet personal commitments, using remote work, weeks of compressed work and
shared work. Managers should encourage
staff to use annual leave and help employees set limits by encouraging staff
not to respond to work-related emails and calls during non-business hours. Some organizations are also implementing
wellness programs, including workshops on stress reduction and time management,
while others are creating wellness centers in the workplace, helping connect
employees with medical, mental health counselors or gyms in the place.
The satisfaction of
an employee in his personal life and his ability to fulfill his personal
commitments greatly affects his success as a worker, which greatly benefits any
company. Helping employees achieve a
good work-life balance increases job satisfaction, increases their loyalty to
their employer and helps employers achieve professional longevity. A company that recognizes these benefits and
implements policies to promote a work-life balance will not only see an
increase in the productivity of its workforce, but will also see increased
staff retention and a reduction in costs associated with a high workforce.
rotation.
Work-life balance
Achieving a balance
between work and family life is the new ideal for employees, because an
unbalanced life causes stress and fatigue, loss of control and even strained
relationships. You may feel exhausted
and resentful, and there seems to be a lot to do, but so little time to attend
each task on your "to-do" list.
In this article we
provide tips and useful suggestions to maintain a balance between work and
personal life.
Why a good balance
between personal life is important
The
organizations must realise
that the concept of work-life balance is not simply a mission statement
in the corporate brochure. There may be
a need to redesign work processes to suit both personal and work demands. As an employee, you must understand the
impact that an unbalanced lifestyle could have on you and your career.
Restoring the
balance
If you try to do
more than one task at the same time, you can make mistakes and overload
yourself. Long periods of continuous
multitasking often lead to stress and can damage your physical and emotional
health over time.
Learn to prioritize
Instead of trying to
do everything at once and jump from one task to another, learn to prioritize
and work first on the most important tasks, distributing the rest of the
work in a manageable timeline. Start by
making full use of the license you have.
Take time helps you to recharged to be ready for additional challenges at
work.
Go out for lunch
Lunchtime is the
perfect opportunity to take a break from work, however, many people end up
working during lunchtime. When you do
that, you also miss the opportunity to
socialize and relax. The more you feel pressured and burdened by
work, the more you must get away from your desk and enjoy the company of your
friends and colleagues. This may be
difficult to do at first, but you should soon feel the benefits.
Leave work on time
There may be days
when you have to work late or be asked to work overtime, but try not to get
into the habit of staying late for the simple reason of doing so. Do not feel that you do not take you
seriously if you leave work on time.
Try and prioritize your tasks so you do not have to rush to
finish them before you leave.
As an employee, you
must understand the impact that an unbalanced lifestyle could have on you and
your career.
Maintain that
balance
It may not be easy
to strike a balance between work and personal life these days, as people are
constantly pushed to work faster to cope with an increasing workload. Do not be discouraged though; There are small steps you can take to keep
your life on the right path. A growing
number of employers are
recognizing that an unbalanced
lifestyle can ultimately affect the level of job satisfaction, productivity and
work performance of its employees, and that is not a good outcome for anyone.
5 reasons why maintaining a balance between work and personal life is so important
Tips to improve work-life balance.
Promote free time:
Holidays are not a
luxury, they are a necessity. A break
from work will give you the opportunity to disconnect and enjoy, it is also a
great opportunity to recover and recharge.
This is essential to help your people improve productivity and focus
when they return to the office.
Numerous studies
show that vacations increase the productivity of the company and reduce
stress. The American Sociological Association
compiled a report, which suggests that a greater number of vacations leads to a
decrease in people's psychological distress.
An effective way to
encourage your people to take time off is to implement a "use it or lose
it" system, by which any day not used will not be transferred at the end
of the year nor will it be reimbursed financially.
Implement short
breaks throughout the day:
If taking time off
is not an option for people, then it is important to encourage small breaks
during the day. The human body was not
designed to look at a bright screen for hours and hours. It is not good for our
health, nor for our mental well-being.
To combat this, you
might consider installing a game room where people can socialize
and stop think .
Consider encourage light exercise throughout the day and enter meetings
to walk out of the office. You can even
go out as a team to have a coffee. Some
leading companies will get meditation practitioners to help calm and eliminate
the stress of their people.
All these social
investment techniques will have a positive impact on the work performance,
productivity and happiness of their teams.
Ask for guidance
from employees:
If you're struggling
to find innovative ways to improve the work-life balance of your employees, why
do not you ask them?
If you notice that
your people are struggling to find balance, find out what changes they think
might improve your situation. By
collaborating with your team, you will get a better view of how you think and
you can work together on strategies more effectively in the future.
To help facilitate
these discussions, consider having regularly scheduled meetings or
implementing Programs of Real-time feedback to provide you with information based on
data. In this way, you can accurately
assess how your people feel at a given time and make adjustments to ensure they
have the right balance.
Practice what you
preach:
Finally, it is
important to set an example. If you
tell your people to leave at six and do not work during the weekend, but you
are sending them emails during these periods, you will send a very varied
message. It also exerts additional
pressure on its people to reflect their work hours. Lead by example and witness how your work practices
will spread throughout the company.
There is a law in France called "Right to disconnect". Ensures
that there are limits on the amount of work done outside office hours. Why not consider implementing something
similar in your workplace?
It is important to
respect the balance and privacy of your team when you are not in the
office. This means you should avoid
contact with them outside of office hours to allow them to be turned off
completely and recharge from the daily stresses of work.
Most of us spend a
massive percentage of our time at work.
We let him take charge and feed in all aspects of our lives. With this in mind, it is essential to find
the right balance and implement it in your workplace. This will allow you and your people to
disconnect from work and also give your personal life the same measures of
attention.
By loosening the
reins when it comes to the balance between the personal and working life of its
people, will achieve great progress towards the construction of a committed and
productive team.
