Enough already! What is Work-Life Balance, Really?!

Have you noticed how overused, and yet, ill-defined the term “work-life balance” is? That’s not to say that there isn’t a definition for “work-life balance.” In fact, there are plenty of definitions for it.

The problem with work-life balance isn’t how it is defined, albeit, I don’t particularly like most of the definitions out there. Below are some of the definitions that almost get there but just don’t quite get right:

• Work-life balance is the state of equilibrium where a person equally prioritizes the demands of one’s career and the demands of one’s personal life.
• Work-life balance involves the minimization of work-related stress and the establishment of a stable and sustainable way to work while maintaining health and general well-being.
• Work-life balance is?a harmonious blend of occupational, familial, social, and leisure pursuits.

One can easily enough extract and derive a meaning across the plethora of definitions out there to collate a definition that works for them. However, that’s not the real problem. At least not for me. My problem lies, I believe a bit deeper, in how ill-defined work-life balance is in work environments or organizations.

Upholding Work-Life Balance in the Workplace

How does a work environment or organization define work-life balance in practice? I mean, organizations have to define their business and departmental goals and objectives regularly to set KPIs to deliver and measure growth and profitability. In my 20 years of professional work, I have yet to see any organization where I have worked as a full-time employee or as a consultant in a fractional Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) capacity give equal attention and rigor to clearly defining the goals and objectives of work-life balance.

With worries of an economic slowdown everywhere, productivity levels are a significant concern to company executives and management. Companies are now looking at productivity scales as a metric for excellence but this seems counterproductive when work-life balance isn’t appropriately factored in.

In the wake of the global pandemic, companies and employers need to recognize:

• Employee burnout is real?— Social distancing and remote work have caused severe burnout. Global workforces and time zones have made it harder for some employees to take breaks from home. Employers need to recognize employees need to step away from the workplace for their mental health.
• Job dissatisfaction?—?Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace report?found that job dissatisfaction is at a staggering all-time high and that unhappy and disengaged employees cost the global economy nearly $8 trillion in lost productivity.
• Deepening disconnect between employees and managers?—?Gallup?figures show only 21% of 15,001 US employees feel their organization cares for their overall wellbeing — as opposed to half of the employees during the peak of the pandemic.
• Hustle culture may be disappearing?— The decision to step away from “hustle culture” can cause tension between employees and company executives, and can also cause a rift between colleagues who may have to pick up the slack.
• Businesses aren’t families?— Stop claiming your business or work environment is like a family. It isn’t. Families don’t let their children go when they hit financial difficulties. Families also don’t threaten their children of being fired when they don’t do their chores. Families don’t also work their children to the point of burnout or mental breakdown. (If you want to claim your business is like a family, back it up! If not, you only breed discontent and criticism.)

A healthy work-life balance drives engagement, productivity, and retention. Organizations that want to thrive in the present and future need to take care of their employees.

Generational Differences and How to Address Them

There are potential generational differences between the?Boomers?and?Gen-X?executives that have embraced the ‘rise and grind’ mentality to ascend the corporate ladder, versus younger generations that tend to prioritize a better?work-life balance. Recent surveys also found that among the top concerns of the?Gen-Z?and?Millennial?generations is finances, with pay being the top reason employees in the demographic left their roles in the last two years.

Aside from providing employees remote-work flexibility and on-site perks at the office, workplace environments need to value employees’ moments of pushback. Making employees comfortable enough to voice their concerns before they get to the stage of “quietly” changing their pace at work to avoid burnout. Each generation’s approach works differently but in the end, all would benefit from a better work-life balance environment.

If we were to rewind to just a couple of years ago, the way we defined — and approached — balancing our work lives with our personal lives looked very different than it might 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 set between work and home.

While some of us may have complained about commutes, they signaled a beginning and end to the workday — something many remote and hybrid workers now struggle to recognize. And while some employees already had access to work-issued technology like a smartphone, the pandemic increased our technology reliance and use.

It’s Time to Make Work-Life Balance a Priority

While there’s no magic formula for balancing work and life, nor one sure-fire amount of time you should allot to one versus the other, work-life balance means you’re equally fulfilled by the duality of your personal life and your professional life. With our constant access to work — and workplace technology — creating a good work-life balance is more critical than ever. It also means one facet doesn’t dominate the other, and that when it comes time to switch gears, you feel energized by what’s in store for you that day.

Of course, achieving this balance is not achieved without being intelligent and intentional about it. The key to achieving work-life balance relies on not just what you do while you’re working (i.e., doing meaningful work, finding purpose in your work, feeling like what you do matters, and that you make a positive contribution), but what you do outside of work, as well.

And again, work-life balance will look different to everyone. Helping employees achieve a work-life balance takes attentive listening to your people, as well as a flexible and iterative approach to find what works best.

Since the start of the pandemic, employee well-being has suffered. Especially for those working from home for the first time, remote and hybrid work meant working more — and not knowing how or when to switch off.

What Employers Should Do

Promoting a healthy work-life means looking at the big picture — workload, health, well-being, socializing, restoration, and more — and taking a holistic approach to integrating all of those facets into a careful balance that sustains, nourishes, and motivates your employees to be their best selves in and outside of the workplace.

Not sure where to get started? Here are 7 ways to help your employees establish a better work-life balance:

1.?Manage employee workload?— Workload is a powerful buffer to workforce safety, resilience, and well-being. Research reveals that employees who are at capacity in terms of workload feel the best about their safety, resilience, and well-being.

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, they can’t perform their best at work.

3.?Encourage restorative time?— Burnout isn’t from work alone. Talk to your employees about how to engage in restorative activities that are meaningful to them outside of work.

4.?Support occupational well-being?— Work-life balance and productivity go hand in hand. Employers benefit from supporting healthy habits that boost work performance.

5.?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.

6.?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.

7.?Be the example?— 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.

There are of course many other ways to help your employees with work-life balance. However, equally important is creating a work-life plan that you can track like other organizational goals and objectives. Think of it as a work-life balance set of KPIs or scorecards.

Now Make it Happen!

Work-life balance is an important aspect of a healthy work environment. Maintaining work-life balance helps reduce stress and helps prevent burnout in the workplace. Chronic stress is one of the most common health issues in the workplace. It can lead to physical consequences such as hypertension, digestive troubles, chronic aches and pains, and heart problems. Chronic stress can also negatively impact mental health because it’s linked to a higher risk of depression, anxiety, and insomnia.

Too much stress over a long period leads to workplace burnout. Employees who work lots of overtime hours are at a high risk of burnout. Burnout can cause fatigue, mood swings, irritability, and a decrease in work performance. This isn’t good news for employers because according to Harvard Business Review, the psychological and physical problems of burned-out employees cost an estimated $125 billion to $190 billion a year in healthcare spending in the United States alone.

About the Author

Bray Brockbank is CMO and VP of Strategy for Brandegy, a specialized brand and digital marketing agency for technology companies. Bray has led marketing efforts for a variety of B2B and B2C SaaS startups and tech enterprises. He has also served as a fractional CMO for several SaaS technology companies.