What is Work-Life Balance and Why is it Important?

Maintaining a healthy work-life balance is important, but isn’t always easy. In this post, we break down why making time for life outside of work is essential, the best ways to do it, how to talk to your supervisor about your needs around that and more.?

By Brandi Fowler

The pandemic completely shifted how many of us look at work-life balance.?

As companies transitioned from five days a week in the office to fully remote, employees had to change how they managed work with life outside of work.?

Now that more companies are moving to hybrid models, that balance is shifting again, which means another reset. Your mental health needs to balance work and life in ways beneficial to you. Leveling the two can help boost your productivity too.

According to the Mayo Clinic, if you spend most of your time working and don’t take time to balance your time outside of work, you can experience fatigue, lost time with friends and loved ones and detrimental health effects.?

Poor work-life balance can cause stress, which worsens your health, and can “put you at risk for substance misuse,” the Mayo Clinic reported.

On the flip side, you perform better when you have a healthy work-life balance.

“When you are honoring your values, you are very fulfilled,” life coach Janine Graziano said. “When you're honoring someone else's values, that's where the burnout happens, because you're trying to keep up with other people's needs and desires for you.”?

To find out how to better manage and improve your work-life balance, I chatted with author, keynote speaker, and CEO of PeopleNotTech, Duena Blomstrom, tech career coach Brett Ellis, and “Unapologetic Work Life Balance: A Corporate Warrior's Guide to Creating the Life You Love at Work and Home” author Graziano.

How to Maintain a Healthy Work-Life Balance: Set Boundaries and Expectations

Amid the Great Resignation/Great Reshuffle, employees are asking for, and receiving, what they want. Workers demanding better work-life balance benefits employers and employees.

“We're paid to do a job and the company results are important, but we're only as good as how we feel,” Graziano said. “So, when we win, everyone wins. If you feel refreshed, engaged, and empowered, you’re going to show up powerfully for the company and you feel good in the process.

“When you have people on payroll that are burned out, not showing up, or who don't have that mental, physical, and spiritual health, then everybody loses.”

Blomstrom, Ellis, and Graziano echoed the importance of setting boundaries to begin maintaining a work-life balance.?

“My philosophy on boundary setting has changed a lot over the years,” Ellis said. “Now, if I don't get paid, I'm not doing it. It is helpful for people to draw that line there.

“That sounds bad, but it is not. A lot of people get caught up thinking, ‘If I do more, I'll get rewarded for it.’ Or, ‘If I go above and beyond, I'll be promoted.’ And while that sometimes works, it is not guaranteed.

“So, I encourage people to do their best work, give 110 percent during the hours that you get paid for, and then log off. Shut it down. If you're not getting paid for it, you are just volunteering at your job, and I don't recommend that.”

The voice of reason has to come from you.?

“No one is going to tell you, ‘You should really stop or take a break,’” Graziano said. “So, boundaries are important.”

How to Determine If an Employer Values Work-Life Balance?

Ask specific questions to find out how a potential employer handles work-life balance.

“I would urge everyone looking at a new position to do their very best to suss out whether those employees have permission and support to do some of the human work,” Blomstrom said.

Blomstrom described "human work" as any task that improves employees’ emotional or physical well-being.

“Establish whether there is a culture of self-improvement [in the company] and a focus on the humanity of the people working or not,” Blomstrom said. “If the answer is ‘No’ and they haven’t put process, resources and support in place to empower teams and individuals to do the human work, and they are not rewarding it, then run for the hills.”

That includes asking about policies a company has in place to help employees maintain a healthy work-life balance, Graziano said.?

“A lot of companies are getting smarter about employee resource groups (ERGs) that are specific to this work-life balance element,” Graziano said. “So, try to find out what the company has for employee resource groups that can help people, rather than just for work performance and competency.”

When you ask work-life balance questions, “Dig deep,” Ellis said. “Ask them for an example the same way that they ask you to provide a story. Ask them to share an example of when their leadership made work-life balance a priority at the company or something that forces them to think a little bit further.?

“If you have kids, you might ask, ‘Am I able to go pick up my kids around three o'clock if I stay an extra hour at the end of the day?’” Ellis said. “Ask what you really want to know.”

How to Discuss Work-Life Balance With a Supervisor?

Know your needs before talking to your supervisor about work-life balance.

"Create a library of useful resources," Blomstrom said. "There are hundreds upon hundreds of articles on LinkedIn, Forbes, and everywhere else… having them [on] hand means that every conversation with a manager can start with a reference they can not contest."

After sharing the info, Blomstrom said to bring the conversation back to how making those changes can make a positive work-life difference.

Graziano said how you ask for that meeting matters too. It can determine how receptive your supervisor is to your feedback.

“The first part is permission,” Graziano said. “The second part is assertiveness and being really clear about what your needs are.”

“By asking, ‘Do you have a minute? I'd really like to talk to you about what I'm struggling with,’ versus busting in saying, ‘I have a need,’ opens the door to receptivity,” Graziano said.?

Graziano suggested using the SBI Model — Situation, Behavior, Impact — during the discussion.?

“The situation is this, here's the behavior that's going on for me, the company, or the culture, and here's the impact that it has on me,” Graziano said.

Doing Away With Inner Struggles Around PTO?

In addition to setting expectations and boundaries, remove guilt around using paid time off…and go on your vacation. Mental health benefits when you take time off from work, Fortune reported.

“There is something to be said about the pre-pandemic culture of work in that it is culturally different in various parts of the world,” Blomstrom said. “In Europe, we used to see more expectation of time off and less of the guilt around it and at times, in the U.S., the expectation of work overrides common sense (the lack of parental leave as compared to the Nordics is a good example).

“But I believe the playing field has now been equalized for everyone and the discourse is completely new and open. We no longer shun humanity out of the workplace, and we are no longer willing to ‘Do the robot’ and pretend we have no emotions or needs.”?

Consider managing your work-life balance as another part of your job. It is a process that takes effort, but when handled correctly, it pays off.

Top Takeaways

What is Work-Life Balance and Why is it Important?

• Good work-life balance helps the employee and the company
• Set expectations and communicate them to your employer
• Ask how an employer handles work-life balance during the hiring process
• Don't feel guilty when using vacation time