Helping workers to strike a better balance between their work life and personal life improves their performance and sense of belonging, ultimately resulting in fewer absences due to burnout and work-related stress. The maintenance of a healthy work-life balance improves your staff’s professional wellbeing, a key factor for retention and loyalty. People who manage to achieve this balance experience less stress, appear happier, and are more focused, allowing them to be more productive in the workplace.
In this article, we offer ideas to help you and your staff achieve a better balance in order to avoid overwork and its damaging knock-on effects on your health, your employees’ health, and the overall performance of your business.
Set an example
According to a study on vacation loss conducted by Expedia, Canadians forego 31 million vacation days each year. This is a phenomenon that particularly affects millennials.
“Nothing is so contagious as example” (François de La Rochefoucauld). Management leads the way for everyone else. That said, it is ultimately up to each individual to take control of their balance. It is a well-known fact that actions speak louder than words. As such, it would be unwise to underestimate the positive influence of taking the annual leave and vacation days you are entitled to, disconnecting from your job outside working hours, taking care of your physical and mental health, establishing healthy time management, and living according to the principles that you preach to your staff. Only by leading by example can those in more senior positions hope to help cultivate a culture that promotes a good work-life balance and prevent burnout.
Minimize communications and meetings outside office hours
Frequent intrusions into our private life are a source of stress, as they impact the health and morale of workers. No matter what level you are at or the position you hold, it is paramount to draw a clear line between your private life and your professional life. This line is incredibly easy to cross, however, particularly when working from home. In fact, to protect the health of workers, it is now illegal in some European countries to send messages or emails outside regular working hours. Quebec has also tabled similar legislation that would require all employers to establish an out-of-office disconnection policy applicable to all their employees.
Measure performance and efficiency in different terms
With the widespread advent of remote work and the introduction of flexible working hours, performance evaluations and subsequent rewards can no longer simply revolve around such measures as punctuality and physical presence. Prudent managers know that what matters most of all is the quality of the work produced, its relevance, and achieving results, with the work schedule being largely unimportant by comparison. As such, more forward-thinking companies are changing the way they measure performance by starting to view it as a lever for strategic development, a competitive advantage, and a tool for engagement.
Remote work
Surveys on the productivity of employees who work remotely do not all offer the same conclusions. Results differ according to type of work, region, employee characteristics, economic sector and when the study itself was carried out. A great many of those surveyed for these purposes were employees forced to adapt to working from home during the pandemic, who weren't necessarily adequately prepared for it at that time. They were left to struggle with family concerns and distractions at home, makeshift workstations, and a brand-new approach to discipline within their life. However, since then, many have grown very comfortable with this lifestyle and state that they prefer it to having to commute to a workplace.
According to a survey published in April 2021 by Statistics Canada, the vast majority of new remote workers report productivity levels at home as being at least as high as at their usual workplace. Specifically, 90% of new remote workers claimed to be at least as productive, i.e. completing at least as much work per hour, at home as they were at their normal place of work. What’s more, 32% stated that they actually did more work per hour. The trends are very similar, regardless of the kinds of respondents surveyed.
For the few respondents who claimed to be less efficient (10%), the main reasons given had to do with the following issues:
- not enough interaction with coworkers
- an unsuitable workspace
- family obligations, namely taking care of children or other family members
- poor Internet connection
- lack of access to the information and tools required to perform their duties
The same study suggests a strong preference for working from home being held by the vast majority of new remote workers, over 80%.
Various studies have also confirmed this preference for remote work, perhaps most significantly two recent surveys sponsored by the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC): one conducted on over 700 small businesses and the other on 2,000 Canadian workers.
Employers and employees alike mentioned benefits such as flexible working hours, improved efficiency, and a drop in absenteeism. These positive results seem to more than make up for some of the disadvantages raised by respondents, such as communication difficulties and screen fatigue.
Working from home often improves employees’ quality of life and allows them to better reconcile their work and family commitments. It seems to have become a permanent fixture of the labour market. What’s more, over half of the workers surveyed by the BDC insisted that access to remote working would be a determining factor for them when applying for or accepting a job.
Flexible working hours
Remote work often goes hand in hand with flexible working hours, which is another element that allows workers to better reconcile their personal and professional lives. In a survey conducted by Angus Reid, the majority of employees said that the recent shift to working from home has had positive effects on their work-life balance, as well as their general wellbeing.
Adaptability is also an important defining factor in employees’ wellbeing. In fact, 77% of Canadian workers say that flexibility in their working hours and location has an impact on their decision of whether or not to stay in a job.
This can be achieved in a variety of different ways, depending on the needs of the department, for example by establishing a compulsory window of core working hours during the day, or by concentrating the workload into the first four days of the week so that staff can finish earlier on Fridays.
A culture of balance and wellbeing
It is well known that job satisfaction is closely linked to staff productivity. If we want to create a company culture that fosters happiness, competitive salaries are simply not enough: social and emotional factors must also be taken into account. Taking a preventive approach can go a long way to minimizing work stoppages, sick days, professional burnout and stress-related resignations, as well as avoiding having team dynamics constantly disrupted and changed. To prioritize your employees’ happiness in the workplace, help them to feel they belong and manage their stress and improve their quality of lifeat work, consider implementing one or more of the following useful ideas:
- yoga, tai chi or meditation classes in the office
- memberships to a gym or fitness centre
- a games room or relaxation room
- communal activities sponsored by the company
- an electronic platform dedicated to wellbeing at work
- a daycare service at the workplace
By encouraging your staff to strike a healthy work-life balance, and providing them with the tools they need to achieve that, you can increase the probability of boosting their commitment, motivation and loyalty to the company. What’s more, it has been shown that professional burnout affects productivity, not to mention increasing the risk of absenteeism. Forward-thinking companies now clearly recognize the crucial importance of maintaining their workers’ wellbeing by creating conditions that ultimately prove beneficial for everyone involved.
