Work-Life Balance: How is it still relevant in 2022?

Work-life balance is a concept of spending equal energy on work and personal life. The goal of work-life balance is to have a fulfilling life outside of work, which ultimately helps improve work performance while reducing stress. But is this idea still relevant today?

With cell phones and laptops next to us all day, “work hours” have become unclear. These days, you can always (and are expected to) be reached at all times of the day. Moreover, the fear of losing jobs during the pandemic has led employees to push themselves to work harder and longer.?

While this might seem great to companies, the long-term effects can be disastrous. How long can your employees overwork themselves before burning out? Here are some reasons why work-life balance is still important, especially during this work-from-home period:

1. Increased productivity

When the boundary between work and personal time is clear, employees feel more content in their positions at the workplace. Hours at work can be more productive when employees know they will have personal time off afterward.

2. Reduce sick and absent employees

Work-life balance means that employees have proper time to rest, exercise, and prepare healthy meals instead of ordering fast food from their smartphones. This leads to physically and mentally healthier employees. Therefore, companies can expect lesser absentees.

3. Create a good reputation

No company wants to be notorious for having a gloomy working environment. Companies with a reputation for encouraging work-life balance are attractive to current and prospective employees. For future job openings, companies can expect a valuable pool of candidates.

4. Greater employee loyalty

When a company respects work-life balance, employees will feel valued and that their personal and family life is important to the company. Therefore, employees have the desire to stick with the company through hard times and give their best performance during work hours.

5. Support working women

It is becoming more common that both parents in a family are working full-time. Unfortunately, working women are generally expected to take full care of children and manage the household much more than their male counterparts. By promoting work-life balance at your workplace, you are helping your female employees to ease their burden.

6. Nurture senior employees

Instead of pushing older employees to retire early, companies can keep their senior employees’ long-time experience and proven loyalty by encouraging work-life balance. This group of employees needs an adequate amount of rest; they might even need to use a little extra time to learn new technologies that your company just implemented.

“So, how can our company encourage work-life balance?”

While different organizations may need a different approach in the implementation, several ways might work for your company, such as maintaining structural consistency within the workplace, increasing management transparency, arranging team-building exercises, and allowing your employees to take time off for life events.

With these six reasons, we hope that companies realize the importance of work-life balance.? Learn more about the future of work in our flagship event that connects the future of work with youth leadership.