Finding a Work-Life Balance
Finding a work-life balance is something most working adults search for throughout their careers. This month’s topic of interest explores the ability to prioritize your job demands with the demands of your personal life. Finding the right work-life balance is different for everyone because it considers personal circumstances, business circumstances, what needs to be prioritized, and what is valued.
When a company’s culture statement lists that they encourage work-life balance for their employees, it shows that they want their employees to feel empowered at work and in their personal lives. Below are a few examples of how a work-life balance can be exemplified:
1. Flexible hours to work around personal obligations. This might look like:
Providing the option to log on early in the morning or late at night to be off for a chunk during the day.
Work on the weekends to allow time during the week to accomplish something in your personal life.
2. Flexibility to work from home on scheduled days or as needed. Some pros of this include:
The ability to still work and be home for when your internet provider or the plumber needs to come by.
More time for the employee's day is automatically added just by cutting out the commute time.
The ability to take care of things around the house during breaks, such as laundry, tidying up, or prepping for dinner.
3. Normalizing a standard 40 hours of work expected during the scheduled timeframe. Implementing this may include:
Setting the expectation that this is the norm, to only be expected to work 40 hours of work a week.
Emphasizing that your employees do not need to have their phone on 24/7 to answer their supervisor's call or email.
Showing your employees that if they leave at the end of business hours every day, it will not be looked down upon that they are not staying later. This stems from leadership down. Leadership sets this tone and decides how it is communicated to the employees.
These are just some examples of what a healthy work-life balance can look like regarding work alone. It is essential to consider that everyone’s personal lives look a little different, so to truly achieve work-life balance, we must take an analytical lens to our personal life. What are we doing in our spare time compared to what we want and what we need to do?
A great exercise for this is creating your wants and needs list. In one column, list all your needs, like grocery shopping, children’s homework, exercise. In a column directly next to it, create your wants list, such as a Netflix series, guitar playing, cooking new cuisine, or training for a marathon. Based on the amount of “free” time you have away from your needs, which want can you create time for? Or can you be more efficient with your time with a need? For example, your daughter has a ballet class – maybe you can read a new cooking book while waiting for her!
Creativity and flexibility are the keys to creating a successful work-life balance. Most importantly, be truthful when you feel the balance has shifted and evaluate why you can then shift it back.