Did you know most health concerns come from a disturbed work–life balance? Thus, balancing work and personal life is important to staying more productive while developing meaningful relationships and nurturing the ones we already have.
But, with the pandemic, the dynamic has shifted. Unfortunately, for some employees, it’s an unending cycle of burnout and stress these days.
Balancing work and family or personal life can be tough for many people, especially for employees who are remotely working. It can be hard to disconnect from office tasks leading to mental health problems.
Thus, many companies are sharing some work–life balance guidelines that are setting a wonderful example for organizations. Promoting employees thrive and encouraging an overall optimistic employee experience.
The Importance of Work–Life Balance for Employees and Employers
A healthy work–life balance is essential for your employees, but it is vital for your business to nurture as well.
Here are just a few methods it can help you and your company:
- Employees who are able to create a good balance between home and work are more efficient, productive, and motivated.
- Employees will be healthier, leading to lower absences.
- Giving some time away from work reduces stress and improves your team’s mental health and concentration power.
- Happy employees can be more creative, which results in better problem-solving skills.
There are apparent advantages to promoting a good work–life balance, but how can you sustain your teams for this?
Check out the key ways for HR -how to enhance work–life balance for employees.
1. A work environment that boosts work–life balance
The employees’ burnout, and the decline in productivity, created the work–life balance an integral part of today’s workforce. Activities like working after office hours which were an impressing factor for employers,, have gone out of popularity as that can lead to disengagement.
Correlating working late or overtime with raised productivity and concentration is not only bygone, but it’s also entirely untrue—employees’ productivity decreases by 19% if they work beyond the typical 8 to 9 hours per day. Thus, when employees cannot disconnect themselves from work at the end of the day causes stress that leads to flawed organizational cultures.
Organizations need to set boundaries for office communication after hours to enable employees to disconnect. Remind all the departments that emails can be kept as drafts and sent in the morning. This way, employees can unplug at the end of the day and the next morning highly motivated.
2. Managers need to implement macro-management
Leadership plays a crucial role in balancing a work–life. If managers don’t provide healthy boundaries between work and home, it’s probably that their employees don’t either.
For instance, managers should encourage employees to take a break after a long meeting, not call or message them after office time.
Meeting goals and deadlines are still highly achievable for employees, even without a manager pushing them. If an employee is not trusted, they are more likely to resent their work. By detaching from the idea that forced work is the only way to ensure the greatest results, organizations can simultaneously develop a sense of responsibility and accountability among their departments.
In fact, employees motivated to be autonomous are nearly always more effective because they have more command over their tasks. Employees will sense less pressure and stress to execute a certain way and put more emphasis and energy on their deliverables.
3. Create great opportunities
Well-being is the basis of healthy work–life balance and employee attention. Organizations can promote better well-being at work through preventive mental health training and mind-body workouts.
Mindfulness practices are effective exercises tailored to support and repair areas in our brain associated with happiness, stress, compassion, pain tolerance, and improved immunity. Mindfulness training can decrease employee stress and tension.
Employees can better confront their work when consciously aware throughout the day. Conduct mindfulness training and opportunities like yoga, stretch breaks, or guided meditation on-site or remotely. You can organize weekly or monthly yoga or meditation sessions or if your team is remote, deliver your team tutored meditation videos.
Sitting in front of a laptop all day is not definitive, and many are beginning to realize this. A one-hour lunch break is not sustainable in their 8-hour-long workday. Even though they are remotely working, employees might feel that they cannot leave their desks or take a 5-minute breather. For effective work–life balance techniques, HR must ensure that employees know they are elements of a company and enthusiastically encourages them to take a break.
Breaks can help employees develop healthier habits and permit them to recharge throughout the day. From taking time to grab a snack, check in on pets, or go for a short walk to stretch their legs. There is plenty of benefits for both employers and employees by implementing short breaks like augmented creativity and better mental well-being.
4. Support flexible work hours
According to the American Psychological Association, providing employees the flexibility to work is one of the finest decisions an organization can make. In fact, as per the APA survey, 34% of employees say that relaxed working hours would support their mental health.
Enhancing work–life balance for employees is not about obliging them to do any work after the official time ends. Many struggles to disconnect from their computers past 5 pm and focus on other important parts of their lives, like spending time with their kids, and spouses, visiting friends, and even spending quality time.
As human resources, work–life balance and techniques to help enforce it can greatly help employees improve parts of their lives. The most practical approach for HR to enhance work–life balance for employees is to allow them to have control over their routines and functions. Equipping flexibility working for employees to prepare their schedules gives them the independence they require to take care of themselves, as well as those near them who ought it, like family members.
5. Healthy communication
While it’s wise for organizations to ensure that employees have embraced a healthy work–life balance themselves, it can be hard to guess what some employees might require. Every human being is so distinct, and those disparities don’t just go away when a prospect becomes an employee.
HR professionals must encourage healthy communication and ask questions to employees about work–life balance. So if there is ever any need for employees all they must do is talk to their HR.
Genuine communication between employers and their teams is one of the most influential ways to boost organizational success. This makes employees feel valued, leading to a sense of trust.