Is work/life balance really important for high growth?

Working hard for something we don’t care about is called stress: working hard for something we love is called passion

Simon Sinek

I have ALWAYS been a really strong believer in work/life balance being necessary for modern companies. I think there is no point hustling hard 24/7 because whilst it may be a short term gain, it’s not sustainable and will end up being a long term pain (see what I did there?).

That being said - I also think a lot has changed since the pandemic. The companies you see really excelling at the moment often don’t focus on work/life balance as a guiding principle.

To be clear - I will never oppose work/life balance as a concept, life is too short to be 100% about work. But I do think it's a needed mentality shift across the board to focus on other guiding principles if high growth is what you’re after.

So on that note, here’s what I’m going to talk about:

• Why it’s extremely important for attracting talent
• If not work/life balance, what other factors should be prioritised internally?
• What Barclays do to engage the team

Why it’s extremely important for attracting talent

Now don’t get me wrong, it is still absolutely one of the most important factors that people are attracted to when moving jobs. In fact according to Aviva, 41% of employees said that the work/life balance was what attracted them to the role there.

The reason for this could be tenfold but for me comes down to two key areas:

• The pandemic shifted our views on life. With work being deprioritised for many it allowed people to spend quality time with their loved ones, be that over zoom or in person. Working from home allowed people additional time back in their lives instead of travelling (hence partly why workouts kicked off so much). Even several years on from this, it’s still an idealised and desirable working state by many.
• Secondly, it shows basic integrity and EQ from the new team. Clearly displaying an understanding that work is a small part of life, not life itself, automatically reassures the candidate that you’re good eggs.

Another call out which has the potential to be fairly challenging for the UK is the new changes to employment law. If you’re not showing to be abiding by the ‘right to switch off’ and day 1 rights for flexible working, it could be a major red flag for the candidate (and could land you in hot water also).

What else should be prioritised?

Whilst I stand by everything I’ve said above, new studies (linked below) actually indicate that for business performance, work/life balance isn’t really that impactful. So here’s what is coming up as alternative focuses that somewhat tie into work/life balance without being explicitly about it…

Good management

• Micromanagers are a disaster for most companies. Generally people want autonomy with a side of mentorship as managers. A big indicator of this is that 30% of all layoffs in 2023 were middle managers. There seems less of a need now to have this additional layer of leadership that tends to fall into the more ‘hands on’ style.
• Giving employees the space and support they need to do their work independently is a huge driver in performance.

Competitive wages

• What keeps teams engaged at work is having a bit of salary transparency around what the next step is. Having a guide and rough timeline to work towards helps to drive teams towards business progress.
• As a woman in business also, benchmarking is reassuring so that you know for sure there is no gender pay gap at play - that’s a pretty sure sign that you’ll be holding onto the best female talent there is. If this is an issue for your company, perhaps one to consider!

Motivating the team

• It probably comes as no surprise to say: the less lonely people feel at work the better their performance will be. With loneliness on the rise, it may be a good time for people teams to roll out a survey using the below as a loneliness measure:

Based on the results of this you can work on targeted approaches to improve communication and connection, which in turn leads to better performance. It’s more of a science than you may think!

?? Company Spotlight ??

Typically Banks aren’t known for having the best working cultures. But Barclays are really pioneering the importance of having a sense of belonging at work.

I love the idea that they aren’t hiding away from the fact that they are a bank and work/life balance isn’t necessarily something they focus on specifically. But their ‘This is me’ campaign is really special.

Since starting it in 2013 they have expanded the initiative to over 400 other organisations, and chair the charity steering meetings still.

Whilst this is inadvertently a ploy to motivate team members, I think this sense of working for empathetic leaders that genuinely care, makes a difference.

They’ve also recently happened to make their biggest profits of the past 10 years… a coincidence? I think not…

Ok maybe a stretch, but you get the point. Team culture matters.

What we’re reading

• What’s important to middle market growth
• Difference between bossed and unbossed culture
• Reducing loneliness at work
• Barclays This Is Me campaign