How to Improve Work-Life Balance for Your Employees

The ever-debating question of how to balance work and life. It’s a pretty loaded question, which relies on the individual and the organisation to find the balance that works for them.

Ultimately, it comes down to the business to be a People Company – an organisation that recognises that its people are the most valuable business asset, allowing the workforce to be successful and to make the business thrive.

Whilst some more traditional companies reject the idea of work-life balance, thinking that the entire business must work 9-5 every weekday, no matter what, the more modern organisations that live by ensuring a positive work-life balance are the ones with higher employee satisfaction, retention and wellbeing. But what is work-life balance, and why is it so important?

What is Work-Life Balance?

Work-life balance means different things to different people, so it can be hard to define what it actually means. The general idea is that work-life balance means giving employees the flexibility to find harmony between their professional working life and their personal life.

There are many misunderstandings of this practise, with one of the common misconceptions being that workload and hours become reduced. However, that is simply not true.

Work-life balance is about flexibility. Some individuals may work best starting their day earlier and finishing earlier, whilst others may prefer to start late and finish late. It’s such a varied practice that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to work-life balance. It requires ongoing communication and dedication from both the employer and the employee.

But why is it so important to consider this balance? Employees who report a good work-life balance are 21% more productive than those who don’t. It’s also been reported that low work-life balance can be harmful to employees' mental and physical health and job satisfaction levels.

It seems to be a no brainer, right? We’ll be making it even easier for you with the help of this blog post. Keep reading to find some actionable strategies that you can implement into your life, to help you improve your work-life balance...

Understanding the Signs of Poor Work-Life Balance

As an employer, it can be hard to judge if your team is feeling supported in both their home and work lives. There are, however, signs to look out for that may indicate an unhealthy work-life balance in your employees.

Some of the common indicators include employees experiencing burnout, reduced free time (frequent overtime), high stress levels and decreased activity.

You can imagine the obvious consequences that occur if the above signs get ignored for extended periods of time, with the most prominent being the employee having to take extended leave from work, which impacts greatly on both the business and the employee. It may even result in the employee leaving the company, meaning turnover levels increase.

Not only does this harm the individual who is suffering, but it can also negatively impact the wider team. If others are feeling the same or seeing that their colleague is not being supported whilst feeling like this, it can leave a sour taste in their mouths and lead to resentment, extreme stress levels and even insomnia.

Why is Work-Life Balance Important?

It’s crucial in today’s demanding world that work-life balance is practised and encouraged.

Reports have stated that there is a higher desire for this balance and that job hunters will actively apply for jobs that offer this balance. It not only benefits the current employees, but it also attracts future team members!

There are countless reasons why work-life balance is important, including increased productivity and a happier and less stressed workplace. However, one of the most important factors of work/life balance is that it helps staff feel valued and that their personal/family life is just as important as work. The value that work-life balance to workforces is simply invaluable, as a happier team means more productive working lives and lower turnover rates!

How to Promote a Good Work-Life Balance

Now we have a pretty good understanding of what work-life balance is, but now you might be thinking how to improve work-life balance for your employees.

Whilst employers alone can’t ensure a healthy work-life balance for their employees – employees must take some proactivity to change their attitudes to work and home life – there are lots of actions that CEOs and team leaders can begin implementing to kick-start the process. Below are some of these tangible strategies...

Flexible Work Arrangements

Flexible working arrangements can vary depending on the nature of the business and job role. Some of the most common flexible working practices that employers have implemented include letting employees start late and leave early due to personal commitments, upping annual leave allowances and adopting a hybrid working model.

What is hybrid working? This is where workers split their time working remotely (from home, most commonly) and in the business’ office.

Effective ways to begin implementing these flexible working arrangements include establishing good communication software, be it an instant messaging service like Teams or Slack, or even using WhatsApp on a work phone or laptop, instant messaging works much easier than emailing back and forth when your team are working from home.

Another important thing to consider is to write up a flexible working policy, so both the employer and employee understand the expectations and agreements of the flexible working pattern. However, it’s important to remember that a policy that works for one employee, may not work for others.

Arguably, one of the most effective methods of implementing flexible working arrangements is providing feedback. Say, if you agree to let your team finish an hour earlier on Wednesdays, but through trial and error, you realise that this isn’t sustainable for your business, feedback to your team about why it can’t be a long-term change and offer another solution to combat this. Likewise, if an employee asks to work from home 3 times a week but finds that they get more work done being in the office than at home, they must feed this back to the employer – feedback is a two-way streak that is simply invaluable!

Setting Boundaries Between Work and Personal Time

One of the most common factors that leads to bad work-life balance is the lack of boundaries between management and workers. There have been countless cases of managers emailing team members outside of work hours and not respecting the work-life boundaries that were initially agreed upon, leaving teams anxious after work.

Of course, this can also happen the other way around, with managers receiving work from employees hours after they were due to log off.

Concerned colleagues should speak up if they notice a co-worker doing extensive overtime, offering a hand of support if needed. However, it comes down to respecting boundaries.

Encouraging Time Off

Workers are naturally hesitant to take time off, keen to save holiday allowances for long upcoming holidays or in case of emergencies. Often, employees don’t end up using all of their holidays and then regret not taking more time off.

Stepping back and taking time off does wonders for the mind and the body. Various researchers have found that 32% of individuals who had been away recently felt that they had good energy levels, compared to 22% of people who hadn’t had a break in the last year. Taking time off means that you’re much less likely to reach burnout and require stress leave from work.

One of the most effective ways to encourage your team to use their annual leave is to not allow the entitlement to carry over into the next year. ‘Use it or lose it’ is a common name for this policy, essentially forcing workers to take their days off to help them recharge their batteries effectively throughout the year.

On the flip side, could you afford to give your staff more time off? Employees may be saving their allowance as they feel that it’s too small to use effectively.

Supporting Employee Wellness

Wellness is something that everyone should practise, and it’s important to remember that wellness looks different to everyone. For one, wellness may be taking a long walk, whilst, for another, it may be relaxing on the sofa with a book. This valued idea must be practised to ensure that you’re the best version of yourself!

Employers can support employee wellness in many ways, such as offering teams free/discounted gym memberships, offering mental health days off work or contributing towards private health insurance. Whatever the initiative is, showing employees that you’re making a conscious effort to consider wellness and mental health will encourage the open conversation about how they’re really doing.

However, if you’re really struggling and feel that you can’t talk to colleagues, friends or family about your work-related stress, there are helplines who will aid you.

Leveraging Technology Wisely

Technology has certainly made life much easier, but the constant feeling of needing to be connected is unnatural and can create immense anxiety for workers.

Providing your workforce with technology to help them work remotely is fantastic, but it’s important to emphasise that it’s to help support work-life balance, not hinder it.

Circling back to our previous point about setting boundaries between work and personal time, emphasising this point is vital when giving teams remote working utilities. Sometimes something as simple as telling them not to answer their phone past a certain time is enough to reassure workers that it’s okay to step away from the work technology after they’ve finished!

Open Communication and Feedback

Regular check-ins and open dialogue about work-life balance, is what ultimately leads to the success of flexible working, businesses and employees.

Not only this, but managers acting on the feedback given to them by their teams is so important, as employees may have feedback issues, but if they don’t get acted upon swiftly, it can cause more harm than good.

Getting Started: Tips for Employers

The above points are fantastic ways to start the process of creating work-life balance within your teams, and we’d highly encourage the beginning of these open and honest conversations about how individuals are feeling about their work-life balance.

There are loads of online tools, apps and resources that can help you here; from calendar organisers and workload trackers. However, if you’re looking for a wider solution, we have a fantastic selection of keynote speakers and workshop hosts on this topic who not only share their real-life stories of burnout and work overload, but also how they now implement various strategies going forward.

Find out more about our work-life balance speakers HERE, or get in touch with our friendly and impartial team by phone at +44 (0)20 7607 7070, or email info@speakerscorner.co.uk