A healthy work-life balance drives engagement, productivity, and retention.
Rewind to just a couple years ago, and the way we defined – and approached – balancing our work lives with our personal lives looked very different than it does today.
For many people, remote and hybrid work have completely changed our work habits, schedules, where and when we get work done, as well as the boundaries we have between work and home.
While some employees used to groan about commutes, they signalled a beginning and end to the workday – something many remote and hybrid workers now struggle to recognize. And while some knowledge workers already had access to work-issued technology like a smartphone, the pandemic exacerbated our technology use. For many, video calls were the only means of communication and socialization for a moment in time.
With our constant access to work – and workplace technology – having a good work-life balance is more critical than ever. As such, we’ve taken a closer look at what goes into a good work-life balance, why it matters so much, plus actionable tips to balance work and life in our always-on world.
What is a good work-life balance?
Why does a healthy work-life balance matter?
Ways to balance work and life
For your employees:
1. Help employees manage their workload
Workload is a powerful buffer to workforce safety, resilience, and well-being. Research from Qualtrics’s 2020 Global Workforce Resilience Report revealed that employees who were at capacity in terms of workload felt the best about their safety, resilience, and well-being.
Conversely, those employees with workloads far below their capacity expressed negative views of the same factors.
2. Prioritize your employees’ physical health
Employees’ physical health plays a major role in their overall well-being, as well as their engagement and attitudes towards work. When employees practice unhealthy habits – such as not getting enough sleep or eating diets low in necessary nutrients – not only do they not feel their best, but they also can’t perform their best at work.
Wellness programs, such as on-site (or virtual) yoga classes, fitness challenges, nutrition coaching, sleep coaching, and more, can help promote healthy habits and a better work-life balance.
3. Provide mental health resources
As mentioned above, stress and burnout are two of the biggest threats to employee well-being. To help employees cope with stress and find a better balance, organizations can offer mental health resources – such as counselling – through an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) or other stress management resources. These could include (on-site or virtual) stress management classes, courses in meditation or yoga, or chair massages.
4. Support employees with making social connections
Employees who have supportive connections in the workplace are more likely to feel connected to their jobs and more engaged with their work. For those employees who lack social connection, organizations can help by facilitating like-minded connections in a healthy setting.
Whether it’s through book clubs, running (or walking) clubs, on-site fitness classes, or virtual fitness challenges, employees feel more engaged (and happier!) when they can connect with their colleagues outside of work, as well.
5. Encourage restorative time
One of the more common misconceptions about burnout from work is that work alone is the problem. When what we do outside of work is just as important to preventing burnout.
Talk to your employees about how to engage in restorative activities that are meaningful to them outside of work. The key here is to choose activities that aren’t work-related – and better yet, don’t involve looking at a screen. No one activity is better than the other; encourage employees to pick one or rotate through their favourites – it’s completely up to them.
6. Support occupational well-being
Work-life balance and productivity go hand in hand. Employers benefit from supporting healthy habits that boost work performance.
For example, companies can encourage employees to take regular breaks throughout the day, go for a walk when they are feeling stressed, and provide healthy, energy-boosting snacks in lunch and break rooms.
Some organizations are going a step further to reimagine the workweek and have adopted working four days a week instead of the traditional Monday through Friday 9 to 5.
7. Create boundaries between personal and workplace technology
When you’re working from home, keep your phone out of your office/workspace to prevent the blurring of home life into work hours. Likewise, create boundaries with your personal phone and work.
For the bold, try removing work-related apps, such as email and Slack, from your personal phone. Or try moving the apps to a folder so they’re less visible when you’re using your phone when you’re not engaged in work. And turn off work-related notifications after hours, weekends, and when taking time off.
8. Take time off from work
For many people, taking meaningful time off was difficult during COVID because they couldn’t travel for a vacation. And while a staycation can be restorative, the temptation to check work tech might still be there.
In this instance, always encourage employees to fully step away from work – and work tech – while they’re on vacation. Doing so helps them recharge and return to work with renewed energy.
9. Be mindful of the example you’re setting
Practice what you preach, especially if you're a leader setting an example for your team. Instead of sending an email after work hours or on a weekend, use technology to your advantage and schedule emails and Slack messages to send during work hours only. That way, the recipient won’t feel pressured to respond or even passively check in when they’re not working.
10. Tune in to your employees’ needs for balancing work and life
Striking a healthy work-life balance takes listening to your people and taking action on their needs. For example, a recent study by the Future Forum revealed that flexibility is now one of the top factors influencing attraction and retention at organizations. Indeed, nearly all (93%) knowledge workers want a flexible schedule, while 76% want flexibility in where they work.
Knowing what employees’ expectations are can help organizations understand their needs and preferences – including how and where they want to work, as well as what matters most to them – and then take action on those expectations.
Signs of poor work life balance
