How can you help employees achieve work-life balance
‘Work-life balance’ is one of the buzzwords today. Lately, many startups and organizations are attracting young workers by claiming to provide work-life balance in a gift wrap. With the work pressure increasing day by day, Millennials are also looking for companies offering work-life balance along with competitive salaries.
“Simplify the way you manage your projects and teams. Switch to ProofHub.”
However, advertising work-life balance is much different from actually implementing it in your work culture. As an employer, you might have to institute employee-friendly policies to encourage them to pursue a balanced professional and personal life. If you are wondering how to go about it, below are some pointers that might help.
Ask your employees what they need
You would only be able to give a solution to a problem once you know what exactly the problem is. Plus, the definition of work-life balance will differ from one employee to another. If you genuinely want them to promote the concept of quality life, ask your employees what exactly do they need or expect from it.
Create a survey form and let them describe their point of view. Have different balance-related parameters such as productive hours, flexible scheduling, working parents so that you can identify what to improve and what to incorporate to create an environment loved by all the employees.
Say No to more work and Yes to efficient work
It’s not wise to think that working for longer hours would necessarily produce effective results. Why? Because working more and being productive is not the same thing. Every employee works differently. If A could complete a task in five hours, B might do it in three half hours. Although the level of preparation required and the number of faults might depend on A and B respectively.
To strengthen the fact, the working hours in Britain are longer than that of other European countries, yet has lower productivity levels. So don’t tell employees to work for longer hours instead encourage them to work efficiently. This way employees can prioritize their tasks, ensure better work quality, and become accountable for their work.
Keep an eye on employee burnout
There are days when the work gets to the head of employees which is followed by fatigue, lack of interest, fallacies in the projects, unplanned leaves due to health issues. These are the signs of a burnout which indicates that they need a balance in their respective lives.
As an employer, it’s your job to figure out if employees are heading towards a burnout or not. Observe their daily patterns if they are taking more time to complete a task than usual or if they are dropping hints to go on a vacation, visible physical exhaustion etc. Talk to them one-on-one and ask about the workload. Allow them to go home early once in a while or give them a lesser amount of work for a week or so.
Make way for flexible schedules
Flexible schedules are probably one of the best ways to help employees find balance in their work and personal life. That’s why the numbers of organizations embracing "FlexTime" to promote healthy work-life balance is increasing day by day. The idea is to give them the luxury of working on their terms and conditions without hampering their productivity.
If employees have to work for 40 hours a week. Allow them to work for 6 hours on Monday and 10 on Tuesday, until the time they are meeting their weekly hour target. It gives them ample amount of time to attend their child’s Annual Meet or quarterly Sports Meet.
Let ‘em bring home to work
If employees can’t go home on time, bring home to them. You read it right. Involving families in a workplace is a great way to not let them worry about their kids, spouse, pets, and other family members. Organize family or kid-friendly events every now and then to promote work-life balance.
Celebrate your next project’s success by inviting the families of team members over a lunch or a dinner. Last year LinkedIn took the initiative called Bring In Your Parents Day in order to celebrate the role of parents in employees’ life. Events like these foster the feeling of togetherness and appreciation for the value they bring in an organization.
My message to all the employers out there
In the current age of cut-throat competition, it might seem counterintuitive to push employees to achieve work-life balance. However, creating a culture of where employees can party hard as much as they are working hard could show a significant rise in the productivity, employee satisfaction, and the image of your company.
So, why not implement some of the tips and gift employees the much needed work-life balance in their life?
**********
About Author:
Sandeep Kashyap is the Founder of ProofHub — a leading project management and collaboration software. A passionate leader, Sandeep is always on the lookout for innovative ideas about filling the communication gap between groups, teams, and companies. He is also a featured writer on LinkedIn and a contributing author at YourStory. You can connect with him on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Also follow our company page @ProofHub to get the recent updates about our tool, published articles, motivational quotes & presentations.
Liked this article? Receive my latest posts in your inbox - SUBSCRIBE here!
**********
If you liked reading this post, you are surely going to love this as well-
Administration at KARO Trust
6 年Great read..
Creative Developer at SEBPO | WP Developer at Fiverr
6 年Nice post
Aside from higher productivity and efficiency, there would also be decreased turnover which would ultimately save the company training costs of new employees. There was a company that took it even a step farther when they initiated the 6 hour work shift.. People competed heavily to work for them so they were able to pick the best and brightest
ClaimsProfessional
6 年Need of the hour