Healthy work-life balance for employees should be the ultimate target of all employers who are interested in continuos productivity.
When workers have a higher sense of control and ownership over their own life, they develop stronger connections with management and are able to separate work and personal problems. Employees that are well-balanced tend to be more motivated and less stressed at work, which improves business production and minimizes friction between colleagues and management.
Businesses that develop a reputation for promoting work-life balance become very appealing to employees and attract a valuable pool of applicants for future job opportunities. Additionally, these businesses often have better staff retention rates, which results in less training time, increased loyalty, and a higher level of in-house knowledge.
Employees that have a good work-life balance perform better at work, and therefore fostering this balance benefits both people and the business. This is a practical advice for companies that wish to encourage their employees to maintain a good work-life balance.
Explained below are various ways through which employers can encourage healthy work-life balance for their employees
Access to Exercise
Exercise is one of the most critical strategies to relieve stress, and every adult should receive at least 30 minutes of it each day. Employees who eat healthfully and exercise regularly are less likely to get ill and miss work, which may eventually reduce your company’s production.
Many commercial properties have a gym, so encourage your workers to use it regularly if your building has this resource. If not, try giving a discount on gym memberships to your workers. Anytime a local organization is holding a charity run, you can display posters promoting the event around your workplace to raise awareness of the cause and urge your workers to participate.
Childcare Services
As a parent, your childcare responsibilities do not necessarily end when you leave for work in the morning. In several different sectors, a family-friendly work atmosphere has been shown to benefit both employers and workers.
Consider offering an onsite childcare facility staffed by a reputable staff and eliminates the guessing and hassles associated with other babysitting and daycare providers. If this isn’t possible, you may go ahead to grant your workers a discount on childcare services to relieve the stress associated with child care during the workday and minimize lost work.
If none of these alternatives is practical for your company, consider providing some flexibility for your workers to care for their children. This may include the option to take time off to pick up a sick child from school, the chance to see a child’s school play at lunch, or the flexibility for parents who drop off or pick up children from school to have a flexible start/end time.
Company Outings
Offering an occasional business trip is an excellent method to improve employee morale and allow employees to get to know one another in a non-stressful setting. This kind of trip may be as low-key or as lavish as your company’s culture, and finances allow.
For instance, you might arrange for a company-sponsored lunch to be delivered into the office or at a nearby group-friendly restaurant. Other enjoyable methods to get out of the office and connect in a non-traditional environment include happy hours, holiday parties, birthday celebrations, and park days. However, you do not have to leave the workplace to experience this sense of community. Certain small firms have found success with “breakfast club” programs, in which the employees take turns bringing in their favorite breakfast items (either handmade or purchased from a store) to share with their coworkers.
Here are some things you may do to show your appreciation for your senior workers… though, the most significant thing is that all of these perks may equally be tailored to benefit all of your workers, both directly and indirectly:
Provide adequate health insurance to all workers, even those who work part-time.
Inquire what they want to see improved with their health and life insurance coverage, and act accordingly. Take a proactive approach to employee health and wellbeing, and they will reciprocate. Wellness perks like gym memberships, nutritious foods, and even massage treatments benefit all workers, but they are especially beneficial for older employees who may not seek these measures during their leisure.
Preventive advantages compensate for the genuine human requirement for more significant health intervention after the age of 50. Consider adding these benefits to your existing health insurance coverage if it does not already cover colonoscopies or prostate examinations.
Self-care perks like personal care, legal services (with a focus on wills and estate preparation), and discount programs may also help older workers address their issues and improve their quality of life.
OTHER ARTICLES
Allow telecommuting workers
Aging elders should not be pushed into retirement to achieve their goals. Allowing seniors to work remotely enables them to live in the place of their choice, travel, and spend more time with their family, all while contributing to your company’s success.
Flexible hours
Additionally, providing a flexible schedule is the ideal complement to remote work. It will allow workers to attend to their personal issues such as medical appointments and others.
Retain workers on a part-time or contract basis or via phased retirement.
By embracing flexible employment arrangements, you may retain critical business knowledge and talents that contribute to the value of your team. Additionally, senior personnel may mentor less experienced colleagues, imparting proven information and passing on experience. One alternative is a phased retirement model, which enables workers to work part-time while still collecting a portion of their retirement income, thus extending their wages and benefits.
Promote employee education, training, and seminars.
The rapid growth of social media and new technology has the potential to rapidly obsolete everyone’s knowledge base. By funding training and seminars, you may assist workers in mastering new technology. There are many methods to assist your workers’ further education, whether at a local institution or even online.
To help you start fostering a culture of balance in the workplace, here are some other ways to encourage work-life balance among your employees.
Maintain Consistency in Structure
It is critical to maintain a feeling of consistency and order across your business’s structure since workers usually feel less anxious when they know what to anticipate daily. Don’t be hesitant to change things up sometimes, but a consistent and dependable work environment may help workers cope with stress at home.
Enhance Transparency and Establish a Trusting Environment
Ascertain that everyone understands who is who and who does what. Provide your workers with a single source of truth about the management structure, the roles, and the duties of all employees across the organization. An organization chart is a simple method to increase your company’s openness.
Provide Opportunities for Community Engagement
Another excellent approach to link work and non-work time is to provide relevant and helpful community involvement activities. Consider giving your workers eight hours of paid volunteer time each year as an incentive to become engaged in vital community issues.
Establish a Dedicated “Quiet Space”
Every employee has a terrible day now and again, and it’s great to have a place where workers may retreat for a minute. Create a designated quiet area in your office for workers to use when they need a mental break.
This area should be clutter-free and devoid of any company-related items. Rather than that, surround it with lush plants and flowers, plush seats, light reading material, and maybe some gentle music. Establish the precedent that this is not an employee lounge where conversation, laughing, venting, or meetings are permitted. This should be a tranquil place conducive to quiet contemplation that honors isolation and tranquility.
Allow Schedule Flexibility
Not every firm is well-suited for a virtual workforce; thus, do not jeopardize your company’s efficiency if you need workers to report to work in person. It is quite another thing to allow workers to work remotely when they are really necessary due to an emergency that needs them to make up time later.
For instance, if an employee’s kid is ill, consider allowing her to work from home that day or allowing her to come into the office over the weekend to make up for missed hours. This manner, your employee will not be concerned about missing work or losing pay while on leave, and your company’s deadlines will still be fulfilled.
Participate in Team-Building Activities
While some of these activities may seem too corny for your workplace, they actually create a much-needed feeling of teamwork. If your workers believe they can rely on one another for assistance, they will feel as if they have someone to turn to in times of stress or overload.
Vacations Should Be Encouraged
Many businesses continue to adhere to the traditional two weeks of vacation each year, although research and surveys have shown that 14 days off per 365 days in the year is insufficient to establish work-life balance. Employees at small businesses and developing start-ups often face the most pressure to work every day without consideration for personal leisure or self-care.
To encourage workers to take vacations for their own benefit, one strategy is to adopt a “use it or lose it” vacation policy, under which employees’ allocated vacation time expires at the end of the year if it is not utilized.
Encourage Daily Short Breaks
On a lesser scale, regular breaks throughout the day are critical for employees’ mental and physical wellbeing. The body of man was not designed by God to sit motionless and look at a computer for eight hours at a time, and doing so may result in a number of health problems. Employees who take breaks at work are also more effective at their professions because they are more focused, less burnt out, and more productive over time.
Allow Unpaid Time Off for Life Events
While some life events warrant paid time off, other life cycle requirements are more complex. Be mindful of your workers’ emergency family needs and aspirations for self-improvement.
For instance, you may provide unpaid leave for situations that do not qualify under the Family and Medical Leave Act, such as assisting in the care of a parent who is sick or extending maternity leave for a few more months after the birth of a child. Additionally, you may want to give unpaid leave to excellent workers who desire to attend graduate school or are considering relocating for a spouse’s career.
Consult with Employees for Guidance
Who better to advise on what your office’s workers really need than the employees themselves! If you have a feeling that your workers are suffering with work-life balance, inquire about possible improvements to the workplace. You may be impressed by what you hear and, as a result, you might decide to collaborate on some mutually beneficial ideas.
To assist these conversations, which are often difficult to start, consider scheduling regular meetings, either as a group or one-on-one, to address balancing problems. These meetings may be conducted quarterly, semi-annually, or yearly, depending on the size of your staff and its unique requirements.
Serve as a Good Example of Balance
Nobody wants to accept life advise from a hypocrite, so be consistent in your words and deeds. When managers reply to emails while on vacation, it sends a message to workers that they, too, are expected to do so. Respect your workers’ work-life balance and privacy by avoiding contact with them outside of regular work hours unless an extreme emergency exists.