Uncovering the Secrets to a Work-Life Balance
When employees have abundant time for family, friends, health, hobbies, and other activities and responsibilities, work-life balance isn’t an issue. It’s when work dominates to the near or total exclusion of non-work that work-life balance becomes a concern.
But while work-life balance may have been a practical and doable idea at one time, it’s not clear that that’s still the case. The issue now may be more one of technology-life balance, considering more and more people are connected to work twenty-four hours a day. Maybe that’s why so many blog posts and articles describe work-life balance as a myth. For all the talk of balance, work usually ends up taking priority.
Thankfully, some companies have taken steps to help their employees achieve a better balance. Some provide flexible work schedules or allow employees to work from home a few days a week. Some encourage employees to take full advantage of paid leave days. Some offer free meals and an assortment of on-site services, such as a gym, laundry, dry cleaners, and day care. Some even allow employees to bring their dogs to work. Still, wonderful as these on-site perks are, let’s face it: They’re designed to keep people focused on the work side of the work-life balance so that they’re not distracted by the life side.
Interestingly, experiments such as those in Sweden to switch employee work-hours from eight hours a day to six with no cut in pay have resulted in employees working more efficiently, accomplishing in six hours what they used to accomplish in eight. But this kind of arrangement is unlikely to take hold in large companies or in organizations that face tough competition or that fear, quite reasonably, that less is not more.
Many of these work-life–balancing perks are out of reach for most companies. But hopefully, before the ratio tilts to 100 percent work and 0 percent life, more companies will consider initiatives to help employees maintain something closer to an even balance.
Even if a fifty-fifty split isn’t achievable, the benefits of a reasonable balance in terms of retaining staff, improving morale, reducing absenteeism, improving productivity, and reducing stress are immense.
