A business is only as strong as its employees. Unfortunately, even talented and dedicated employees may not perform to their full potential if they are stressed. Sometimes the hardest workers actually fail to deliver on their promise for a simple reason: they’re working too much and not enjoying life enough.
HR plays a critical role in ensuring that employees feel that their employer truly wants them to maintain a healthy work-life balance. The following are essential ways that you can help your company achieve this goal:
Encourage Managers to Model Work-Life Balance
Employees often take their cues from supervisors. If their manager is coming in early and staying late each day, they may do the same in order to make a good impression.
That’s why HR professionals should encourage managers to embody a healthy balance of work and leisure. When an employee’s supervisor models a healthy work-life balance, they’re more likely to feel comfortable striking the same balance in their own life.
Promote the Benefits
Merely telling managers to serve as models for a balanced lifestyle may not be enough to convince them this is a valuable tactic. It’s not uncommon for some managers to ignore an HR department’s recommendations if they don’t understand their importance.
You can avoid this problem by highlighting the ways why your company wants its employees to enjoy their time away from the office. For instance, surveys indicate that employees who successfully achieve a healthy work-life balance tend to be more loyal and productive. This can help a company to save money by reducing turnover, while also giving an organization a competitive edge thanks to an efficient and productive workforce.
Experiment
Sometimes adjusting your company’s policies is more effective than trying to convince employees that work-life balance is a core value. Experimenting with different approaches to scheduling can help you determine if a new policy is the ideal solution.
For example, some businesses have found that embracing a four-day work week yields massive rewards in the form of engagement and retention. Others have reaped the benefits of flexible scheduling. By allowing employees to work from home or to adjust their own hours on occasion, managers provide their employees with personal freedom to enjoy life outside of work. It’s easy to understand why this has a positive impact on overall work-life balance for employees throughout an organization.
Prioritize Wellness
Health and wellness are crucial components of a positive work-life balance. Thus, companies should identify how they can support employee wellness.
There are many potential ways to do so. Companies could consider offering benefits such as reduced-price membership to a nearby fitness center. In addition, they can provide designated quiet areas for stressed employees who simply need to take a break. Companies could also provide healthful food in the break room.
This is an instance in which surveying your employees is a smart idea. Surveys can help you to better understand what the company can do to support their health and wellness.
Host Events
Achieving work-life balance is easier when work itself is more enjoyable. In order to encourage friendship and develop teamwork among employees, HR professionals should encourage management and other high-ranking members of the company to organize events for employees. Outings and team-building exercises can help employees develop the social bonds that can make being at work a more pleasant experience in general.
Shift to a Paid-Time-Off Approach
Some companies separate various types of time off into categories, such as sick leave, vacation, personal days, etc. This approach is outdated and also slightly condescending. Employees may feel that the company is trying to tell them how to use their time off under this system.
A general paid-time-off approach, in which employees can use their time off however they see fit, is a smarter option. Employees may be more satisfied if they know that they have the freedom to do what they please with their time off.
After all, every employee is different. Some may be more vulnerable to minor illnesses than others. They’ll be happy to know they have the option to take more sick days than they might otherwise have under the old system. Other employees who are generally healthy, but who need breaks to avoid burnout, will be glad that the company trusts them enough to allow them to take time off when doing so is key to their well-being. Enacting these policies may involve coordinating with other members of the company. That said, it’s worth the effort to take these steps. A positive work-life balance results in happier, more engaged employees and a stronger overall performance. Again, when employees are productive and engaged, an organization is much more likely to succeed.