What do you do if your employees are struggling to maintain work-life balance?

Flexibility in the workplace is very important with the blurring lines between personal and professional lives. Flexible hours or remote work options enable your employees to enjoy better work-life balance. They can attend to family responsibilities, personal errands, or other obligations without sacrificing their work commitments. This reduces stress and burnout, leading to higher job satisfaction and productivity. Allowing employees to work when they are most productive leads to a significant boost in productivity. Having the freedom to choose their work hours or environment, schedules can be tailored to align with their peak performance times. This results in higher-quality work and increased engagement.

I agree with this, if the staff are valued members of the workforce then helping them when they are struggling will add to personal loyalty and when you agree to check-ins at various dates you are making it clear it's not a forever situation.

Taking breaks in not just required for the mental refreshment but also has direct impact on improved physical and mental health. Continued gluing to screen or working on a project is straining both mentally and physically and leaders to mood swings that impact our professional and personal lives as well. Taking breaks allows us to gather perspective and look at the task at hand with another angle. Work hard, give in your best but don't give in yourself. Do not lose yourself and your hobbies and passions in trying achieve something for another individual or organisation. Taking breaks helps maintain the check.

I don't even think you should stop at encouraging breaks! You should also MODEL breaks as well. If you see your people aren't taking breaks, show them that it's okay to. Invite them to take a break with you. Sometimes, words are cheap, but our actions and us showing our employees that breaks are not just encouraged but allowed because the boss/manager is taking them, that helps create the behavior change far more than words can.

It's very powerful for management to establish boundaries within the workplace. Employees see that their time is valued and respected if the standard operating procedure is no emails or work calls before or after a certain time. The same can be said of respecting an employee's vacation time - they should not be expected to respond to work-related communications. A culture like this yields more productive and invested employees.

This is a valuable addition to help your employee feel valued. When you create agreements around this instead of expectations you will both have structure to work with.

I want to chime in here by saying that it's okay if your work hours and your employees don't align. I see things like "don't send emails after hours" and in some fields that's not practical, so what I recommend doing instead, if you HAVE TO send an email to someone after hours or when they're on vacation, put in the subject line "NOT URGENT" or "CHECK WHEN YOU'RE BACK IN THE OFFICE." Sometimes simply communicating, "Hey, I might send an email after hours for you, but I have zero expectation that you'll respond immediately and I'll do my best to constantly communicate that expectation as well." Sometimes a simple acknowledgement that you're operating outside of work hours is enough.

If your employees are struggling to maintain work-life balance, providing support is crucial. Provide flexible scheduling, remote work opportunities, or compressed workweeks to help employees balance their personal and professional lives. Schedule regular one-on-one meetings to discuss workload, stress levels, and offer support where needed. This helps to identify issues early and provide tailored assistance. Foster a workplace culture that prioritizes employee well-being, where seeking help and discussing work-life balance concerns is normalized and supported.

Providing support can take so many different forms, but I want to highlight that it doesn't have to mean that the leader or manager has to blur their own boundaries. Providing support can simply mean making known the employee services and wellness programs that are available to them, helping them shift their hours or identify places where they might need their own boundaries. It might mean your 1-on-1 meetings and making sure those meetings are truly identifying and supporting an employee through their stressors instead of going through the motions at a high level. But providing support can also be providing empathy and compassion, taking perspective, active listening, etc. Creating psychological safety works wonders for that!

As a Certified High Performance Life Coach, I've seen firsthand the positive effects of promoting health within an organization. Encouraging physical activity and providing healthy food options not only boosts energy but also fosters a culture of well-being. This holistic approach to employee care can lead to improved productivity and a stronger sense of community in the workplace. A healthy body can lead to a more focused and balanced mind.

Help them avoid working 24/7. Here are 3 simple practices to pull that off: 1) Scheduling guilt-free play first Put non-work things (gym time, social activities, etc.) in your calendar first at the start of a week. You’ll have something to look forward to outside of work. 2) Having a shutdown routine Put a shutdown routine on your calendar. Start with a final email review. Then, update your to-do list with any notes from the day. Lastly, review the day ahead on your calendar. 3) Creating a capture system Some of your best ideas come to you when you're not working. Have a system to capture any of these during non-work hours. Don’t dive into them there and then – simply record them as a note in your phone or on a notepad.

There is no one size fits all , as a line manager you have a critical role , this splits into three areas you need to look into and support your employees and it should be done regularly even though f employee doesn’t complain , you’re a line manager so act like one not only in giving tasks but also in taking care of your teams well being: # 1Employees role & tasks : is employee overloaded or tasks are proportionate to their role . #2 Employee capabilities: is there any area leading to this , how can it be developed. #3 Time off : Are they taking regular time off , if not encourage them to do so to re-energize . Last but not least follow up and keep an eye on them , it’s your responsibility as a line manager.

Start by fostering an open dialogue. Encourage them to share their challenges without fear of judgment. Assess workloads and see if there are ways to redistribute tasks or set more realistic deadlines. Promote a culture that values time off and respects personal boundaries—lead by example by not sending emails after hours. Offer flexible working arrangements, like remote work or flexible hours, to help them manage their time better. Provide resources such as wellness programs or access to counseling. By showing empathy and support, you can help your team achieve a healthier balance and maintain productivity.

Get involved by understanding workloads, create an open space and safe environment of engaging. Forster and promote a culture of work life balance, i.e flexible hrs, people to switch off, take time for family, promote healthy lifestyle, eating well, physical exercises where possible, have right EAP in place. Enforce intervention programs i.e, mental wellness, financial education programs, etc. Have work space , facilities that are welcoming. As leader walk the talk, don't send emails at night and sending work over the weekend. Assess work, restructure and redistributed where possible. Most importantly take time to celebrate wins or achievements.

Listen to your employees. Do not listen to prove them wrong. Do not listen to be right. Do not listen to jump in and try to fix. Listen to understand, if one person is struggling often others can be and if one member is open to communication you can foster an environment of trust and growth, this then leads to a culture of trust and usually greater productivity.