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19 Oct 2016
by James Malia

How to encourage a healthy work-life balance for employees

All too regularly we hear people talking about being married to their work unable to actually switch off from work, and form strict boundaries between home and work life.

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There are a number of symptoms of an unhealthy work-life balance, including:

  • Feeling tired when you get home, from the physical and emotional drain of your workload
  • Feeling like you are constantly checking your work email in the evenings and at weekends
  • Increased stress and illness
  • Needing regular fixes of sugar, caffeine or nicotine to get you through the day 

The perfect work-life balance is individual to each of us but it’s something we all aspire to. According to Workplace Trends, work-life balance is the top priority for three-quarters (75%) of employees so it’s no wonder that many employers, and your competitors, are using their work-life balance policies to recruit the best talent.

Other benefits of having work-life policies in place in your organisation include:

  • Reduced absenteeism
  • Improved productivity
  • Increased commitment from employees
  • Improved staff retention 

Not having a work-life balance can lead to increased stress and illness, resulting in increased employee absence and reduced productivity and work-quality.

In the UK the top three causes of stress in people’s lives are money worries (22%), the nature of their job, for example, pressure or working hours (22%), and family and relationship issues (20%) (CIPD, 2016)

It’s time for employers to start thinking of work-life balance in terms of creating employee wellbeing, and that means creating employee engagement in your benefits programme by offering your employees choice. ATD refer to HR professionals and their critical role in creating productive and meaningful workplaces ensuring the wellbeing of employees and improving employee engagement through choice.

Creating engagement through choice can help your organisation address these challenges. Three main ways include-

 1) Offer flexible benefits

The best way to help your employees achieve a better work-life balance is to give them flexible benefits that meet their needs. Your employee benefits package should be as individual as your organisation and give your employees a choice.

By having the flexibility to choose employee benefits that are most appropriate to their individual lifestyle employees will be in a better position to meet their personal and family obligations while performing to the best of their ability at work.

Segmenting your employees and assessing the personal circumstances of each segment through interviews and surveys to find out what your employees really need as part of their employee benefits package can help towards this.  

Popular flexible employee benefits include benefits that promote a healthier lifestyle such as gym memberships or a cycle to work scheme, cashback cards and discount schemes, and family focused benefits such as purchasing additional annual leave.

2) Have flexible working policies

The use of flexible working has a big impact on employees’ attitudes to work–life balance, with 65% of flexible workers satisfied or very satisfied with their work–life balance compared with 47% of employees who don’t work flexibly according to a survey from CIPD.

The same survey also found that the most common forms of flexible working include part-time working (62%), flexi-time (34%) and working from home on a regular basis (24%). But there are other forms of flexible working offered by employers this can include Results Only Working Environments (ROWE), compressed hours, career breaks, mobile working and job-sharing.

We all work best at different times of the day, and flexible working policies enable people to work at the times that best suit them and so improve productivity. For example, early birds can be more productive first thing in the morning.

Flexible work patterns allow employees to take advantage of lunchtime classes and other wellbeing initiatives that their employer is running. It can also mean that your employees can avoid stressful commutes on crowded trains or getting stuck in traffic jams, and if it’s not rush hour they might even be more likely to cycle into work – a win for environmental CSR too!

3) Give your employees flexibility

Not every organisation can give their employees flexible working times and locations as an employee benefit, but you can give your employees flexibility. Giving your employees flexibility is enabling them to work different times or from home if there is an emergency, such as a sick child.

Knowing that they have the option to work from home, or come in late or leave early and make the time up later, takes a huge weight off your employees. They won’t worry about having to take leave or a reduced salary, and your managers won’t have to worry about missing important deadlines. Giving your employees some flexibility can have a significant positive improvement on the wellbeing of employees.

What else can you do?

In addition to creating engagement through choice, there are other areas you need to consider in order to improve your employees’ work-life balance:

1) Manage workloads

Managers need to proactively help employees manage their workload so that they don’t become overwhelmed. This can include helping set their priorities, exercising discipline and limiting time on certain tasks and teaching them that is OK to say no or renegotiate deadlines if they have too much on.

2) Have tech-free times

Technology is great for facilitating flexible working but it has its downsides, the most common of which is feeling like you’re constantly on call and you need to answer emails straightaway. Set policies and precedents that enable your employees to switch off their smartphones and laptops and not worry about needing to answer work-related emails and calls until the next working day.

3) Create engagement opportunities

Planning events outside of your normal working hours and working location gives your organisation an opportunity for your employees to bring together their work and private lives. Organising employee and family events, such as an annual family fun day, is a way of saying thank you to your employees’ family for their support.

While team-building events can sound cheesy, they can also build stronger, more cohesive teams and foster a team spirit. Knowing that they have colleagues who they can depend upon means that your employees are less likely to feel stressed and overwhelmed.

4) Tell them about it

HR professionals need to not just implement employee benefit schemes and reward and recognition programmes, but also ensure there is an on-going plan of communication. This helps ensure employees pick employee benefits that help them improve their work-life balance.

Comprehensive communication plans need careful planning to meet the demanding needs of today’s diverse and multi-general workforce; thinking about key factors including…

  • How to profile your audience and target messaging that is most likely to appeal
  • Which tools to use
  • What should be included in your annual communication plan
  • How to evaluate the success of any initiatives 

If businesses don’t take steps to help employees improve their work-life balance and develop engaged employees, then both the employee and business could suffer. Employees today won’t wait years for their employer to get their act together, life is too short and as a result they are prepared to move on swiftly to find that all important work-life balance.

James Malia is director of employee benefits at P&MM Motivation, part of the Sodexo family. 3469-1483615636_jamesmaliaSodexo.jpg

This article was provided by P&MM Employee Benefits, part of the Sodexo family.

 

In partnership with Pluxee UK

Pluxee UK, is a leading employee benefits and engagement partner that opens up a world of opportunities to help people enjoy more of what really matters in their lives.

Contact us today