Work life balance
The work is important part of our life not only because it is a source of income, but also it is often a source of the fulfilment and development. However, more and more people are having difficulties achieving balance between private and professional life. What is the reason? What is it leading to?
The greatest impact on erasing the border between work and private life has a rapid growth of modern technologies and social media. Everyone can send or receive an mail in any place and in any time and due laptop computer being so common, you can take work with you even for holidays. Relationships in social media are facilitating the combination of private and professional matters. Moreover, expectations of employers are higher, thus being under pressure, employees spend an increased number of hours on the accomplishment of their tasks. Nobody should forget that the balance between private and professional life is extremely important, and a good boss should be supportive for his or her workers in that matter.
A person who achieves such balance will not only feel a positive effect on their health and relationships, but also raise the effectiveness and the productivity at work. Furthermore, that person will be loyal to the brand which helps to create. Companies that support their employees receive better reputation and they are able to hire and keep many specialists. According to Oxford Economic, the cost of replacing an employee amounts to £30 000, but their training needs to take about 28 weeks. This is a reason why it is better to care about the well-being of people who were already employed. Encouraging employees to achieve work-life balance brings also other benefits, such as:
1. Better health
Stress and overwork affect negatively physical mental condition. Too much time spent at work can have bad influence on health leading not only to a greater vulnerability to infections, but also to major diseases, such as: strokes, breathing difficulties, strokes, and others. Results of UCL examinations conducted on the group of over 10 thousand people show that white-collars employees, who work at least 3 hours more than they should, have increased risk of heart diseases by 60%. A better medical condition is a smaller risk of employees’ absence and consequently it leads to efficiency improvement.
2. Smaller risk of the "professional burnout"
Constant stress, pressure and lack of time for rest are major factors that lead to professional burnout. Employees feel that it is impossible for them to meet the requirements and therefore, it affects negatively a lot of aspects of their life-including execution of tasks. Thus, even the best specialist can fail with the easiest tasks.
3. Better efficiency
People who achieved work-life balance can focus much more easily and perform their tasks in a state of concentration. This leads not only to a shortened time of individual processes, but also to the growth of their quality.
These are only some of the benefits that are possible to achieve. How can we achieve them? How can the employer help out? How do the employees manage separating their professional and private time? Despite it may seem difficult, it is quite simple.
First of all, the employer should listen to employees. Ideas received directly from employees can be far more valuable than meetings of the entire management board. It is worth giving some thought to the organization of discussions or regular meetings. It will let the employee know current opinions of the team and will facilitate implementation of solutions that help them achieve the balance between the private and professional life. The knowledge of current atmosphere within the team will considerably facilitate taking appropriate steps.
Moreover, encouraging employees to rest is extremely important, both in the form of leave or short breaks during a day. A day off allows them to regenerate for a moment and gather all their strength to follow-up on their work. Therefore, it picks up the level of efficiency and focus. It results from research and in fact it is visible after the employee comes back to work. Some companies apply the principle “use or lose,” which means that unused leave will vanish and will not be paid. In this way they attempt to motivate their employees to take days off and rest. Furthermore, in order to encourage the team to have breaks during the day, it is worth creating the place, where they will be able to rest, have additional coffee break or do some physical exercises. A moment to breathe during the work day increases the efficiency and reduces stress level.
It is important to give a good example. Bosses who encourage workers to keep work-life balance and send many e-mails after hours or during weekends in the same time, are setting a bad example. It makes people feel confused and more difficult to achieve their goal. The employees won’t know how to react: respond or ignore and rest? Respecting the privacy and leisure time is an important step in achieving the balance.
Whether or not you are an employer or an employee, you should do your best to achieve work-life balance. Results will be visible immediately – a happy person is efficient, committed and focused.
(Own study based on: https://thehappinessindex.com/employee-engagement/importance-of-work-life-balance/)