Work-life balance is a crucial aspect for a healthy workplace, therefore maintaining it is great for your company’s overall well-being as it helps reduce stress and prevents burnout among employees.
Work-life balance is a term used to describe the balance that employees need between time allocated for work and other aspects of life. Aspects such as their personal life, professional life, and family life are equal without sacrificing either. Other aspects aside from professional life could be their personal interests, family and social activities.
6 Ways To Encourage Work-Life Balance In Your Company
Having a healthy meaningful well-rounded work life and personal life allows employees to balance both without interfering with each other. Employees whose life is balanced are more likely to be motivated which in turn increased productivity and employee retention hence a healthy work environment is essential for your business as well as the health and happiness of your employees.
These are some of the ways you can apply in the workplace to encourage work-life balance for your employees while ensuring that they’re performing and meeting company goals.
Flexible Working Hours
Flexible work schedules where employees are not restricted to the old-age standard hours is important for work-life balance as it fosters a better quality of life as well as mental and physical wellness which reduces unplanned and unwanted absenteeism among employees. It also allows employees to take care of their needs while achieving their work goals.
Wellness Programs
A healthy body equals a healthy mind hence a workplace made up of wellness benefits such as gym memberships, nutrition programs, free medical assessments is necessary for the well-being of employees. This in turn boosts productivity, reduces fatigue, stress and absenteeism. You could start by asking suggestions from your employees about their ideal wellness-friendly workplace and then execute accordingly.
Working Remotely
Working remotely allows employees to integrate life between work and their personal life and achieve balance in both. Remote culture allows employees to spend more time with their families and take care of their personal responsibilities while working.
Employee Development
Employee development where employees are exposed to knowledge, nurtured and guided to reach their full potential, allows them to broaden their knowledge span and sharpen their skills. Therefore, normalising learning and acquiring knowledge should be part of their work-life as it can be used for both their professional and personal growth.
Aim for the kind of learning that nourishes the mind; employee development could be done through training and workshops.
Family Support Services
Employees knowing that you care about their family’s well-being can help boost their morale. In addition, this can have a positive impact on their performance and productivity.
Family support goes beyond family responsibility leave, or maternity and paternity leave. You could incorporate features like in-house child care services for employees with children.
Company Social Activities
Scheduled company social gatherings can help boost employee morale and engagement. Social activities could be done in the form of birthday celebrations, family lunch, meeting up for drinks to allow employees to relax and recuperate and recharge while getting to know each other. They can be held at your office or outdoors, whatever works for you.
Final Thoughts On Work-Life Balance
It is imperative to note that work-life balance is not only beneficial to employees but also your company; hence should be taken seriously. Having comprehensive programs dedicated to promoting work-life balance as part of your company’s framework is a great start, followed by monitoring and evaluation of those programs on whether they’re serving their purpose.
Balanced employees are more likely to be happy, feel motivated and less stressed out at work, which in turn increases their productivity thus prioritising work-life balance among them should be part of your company strategy.
How is your company managing work-life balance? We would like to hear from you.