How to promote Work-Life Balance at your organization

Work-life balance is a crucial element in the mental and physical health of your workforce. It also has a significant impact on an organization’s work culture and long-term growth.

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Employees who struggle with maintaining balance in their personal and professional lives suffer extreme burnout sooner or later. And 95% of HR experts blame burnout for good employees leaving.

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Mentally healthy and focused employees are more productive and focused. Companies can identify factors and practices that negatively affect employees’ mental and physical health. They can reduce health problems and burnout by taking necessary measures and increasing engagement.

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This blog post will walk you through the importance of work-life balance and convincing tips to help you achieve it.

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Why Is Work-Life Balance Important?

Besides improving your health and relationships, maintaining a good work-life balance helps increase employee productivity and overall performance. Don’t believe us, believe the stats:

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· More than 83% of businesses offering healthy work-life balance initiatives report increased productivity

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· Over 20% of employees with proper work-life balance work harder

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Believe it or not, your employees can work faster and harder, become brand advocates, and make fewer work mistakes if they work wholeheartedly, without considering it a chore.

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Attracting and retaining employees, especially young people, can be increasingly challenging for businesses.

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According to Gallup, the average cost to replace an employee varies from one-half to two times an employee’s yearly income — not to mention, it’s a conservative estimate!

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So, it’s best to keep employees (existing ones) happy. If you focus on various work-life balance opportunities, not only will they help attract new talent, but they also help increase retention rates.

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Without further ado, listed below are the reasons work-life balance should be a top priority for companies across industries and niches:

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Less Stress And Fewer Health Issues

Workplace stress not only damages morale or hits productivity, but it also kills people. It’s one of the top five leading causes of death in America. Additionally, over 40% of employees report their employment was increasingly stressful.

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Overworking and stress can disrupt your social life and jeopardize your mental and physical health. Unhealthy work-life balance often leads to several health-related issues ranging from flu, depression, and anxiety to major health problems such as heart disease and gastrointestinal issues.

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For example, working over 10 hours per day can increase heart attack risks by 67% more than people working 7 hours per day.

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However, you can substantially reduce work absence and health issues by encouraging work-life balance. It helps your company and employees become more productive and efficient during working hours, leading to more growth and happy business culture.

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Increased Engagement

Many employers worldwide believe that employee engagement only comes through incentives or pressure. Though it may work for a short period, it will cause resentment, anxiety, and stress in the long run, making it unsuitable for high morale or greater engagement.

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You can improve employee engagement by introducing a fair work-life balance initiative. After all, a happy and motivated employee is an engaged and loyal employee.

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Here are a few benefits that show employee engagement increases business profits:

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· Businesses with low employee engagement scores achieve 32.7% lower operating income than businesses with higher employee engagement scores

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· Highly engaged employees are likely to work late 2.5 times more than disengaged employees

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Moreover, better engagement leads to high workplace morale, effective communication, and accountability.

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Reduced Employee Burnout

Burnout is a worldwide concern caused by unmanageable frustration and stress. According to a Deloitte survey, more than 70% of employees said they experienced burnout at work at some point.

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Stress is part of life — it’s inevitable. But not employee burnouts! Companies can easily avoid it by making efforts and paving the way for work-life balance.

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Employee burnout happens when you can’t meet demands or get overwhelmed. This feeling leads to more stress, affecting various life aspects.

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Below are a few compelling ways to use work-life balance strategies to reduce employee burnout and stress:

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• Hold walking meetings
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• Monitor work schedules
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• Promote vacation culture
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• Offer remote or work-from-home choice
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• Provide assistance initiatives and workplace wellness
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• Create career paths and goals
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• Welcome constructive feedback
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• Maintain open communication
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More Mindful

Who wouldn’t want a team or staff focused on their work rather than constantly thinking about home or other stuff?

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Work-life balance helps you remain mindful — a skill to pay attention to your presence when your mind goes astray — all the time.

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Encouraging employees to balance their leisure time and work creates a healthy workplace where employees are fully present and attentive, leading to increased productivity, profits, and retention rates.

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Now that you know how vital work-life balance is, let’s discover how to achieve it.

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4 Easy And Effective Ways To Improve Work-Life Balance

Here are four easy ways to help you create improved work-life balance and drive better business goals and outcomes:

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1. Promote Time-Off

Annual leaves are a must. They can help you take a break, providing an exciting way to recharge and recuperate.

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Employees can substantially minimize stress and improve happiness by taking some time off, leading to reduced employee turnover and absences and increased productivity.

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Various studies prove that annual leaves catalyze higher productivity at work and less stress. According to the “American Sociological Association,” employees who take time off work and enjoy vacations tend to feel more fulfilled and less stressed.

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Here are a few ways to encourage employees to take time off:

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• Redefine vacations
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• Encourage taking paid time off (PTO) leaves
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• Restrict vacation rollover
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• Prevent vacation shamming
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• Promote taking shorter beaks
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2. Take Short Breaks

If you can’t take holidays or annual leaves, take short breaks during working hours. This is especially important to ensure employees’ well-being both mentally and physically.

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So, how do you implement shorter breaks during work hours?

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Consider establishing a game room in a workplace to help employees socialize and take short breaks. Additionally, you can encourage exercises or light workouts and walking meetings. Apps like Focus Bear can assist with this by giving your team (hard to ignore) break prompts.

Even a few minute’s break can:

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• Minimize stress and frustration
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• Increase concentration
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• Help you become more engaged
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• Help you enjoy your work
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• Improve efficiency and productivity
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3. Prioritize Health

Your health should be your top priority! No matter what, make sure to have good physical health, mental fitness, and emotional well-being. Poor health will affect your relationships, work, and other aspects of life.

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Employ habit stacking (habit chaining) to create easy and supportive daily actions. Books like Tiny Habits and Atomic Habits have some good tactics. The Focus Bear app can assist by showing habit prompts first thing in the morning. Doing habits like meditation and exercise first thing is a much better way to start the day rather than immediately diving into work emails.

To increase motivation, you can embed relevant Youtube videos (e.g. deep breathing visualisations or follow along yoga videos).

4. Don’t hassle workers after they clock off

A 7pm email from their manager can really throw off most people’s evening. It’s worth training managers to save it for the following day and encouraging employees to put their work devices on do not disturb mode in the evening. If they need help, a work life balance app like Focus Bear can assist by blocking access to work related apps in the evening and guiding employees through a helpful wind down routine.

Make Work-Life Balance Your Priority

Creating a good, healthy work-life balance is a fluid and ongoing process. You’ll learn and adapt constantly as circumstances and interests change.

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Focus Bear is designed to help solve work life balance issues. It’s available for personal or business subscriptions and has a 21 day free trial — enough time to lock in some new healthy habits.