Work-life Balance

The term Work-life balance is defined to describe a person’s needs between the time allocated for work or job and other aspects of life. The other aspects of life other than work-life consist of personal interests, family and social/leisure activities.

The term – “Work-life Balance is of recent origin using in 1970 and late 1980s in the United States and the United Kingdom. Work-life balance is also known as work-life integration, which means creating workspaces that promote health, happiness, and freedom of an employee.

The importance of work-life balance is even more relevant today due to an increase in the work expectations and challenges from the jobs of the corporate especially in the information technology or IT sector. The unrealistic work targets or goals and single-minded ambition regarding the work are triggering an unhealthy work-life balance in employees especially those holding higher designations such as a CEOs, CFOs, and Directors etc.

In a recent study from Ernst & Young has reported that 1 in 3 global employees are unable to maintain or keep work and life in balance. According to 2010 National Health Interview Survey Occupational Health Supplement or NHISOHS, about 16% of workers in the United States are reported to having difficulty in balancing work and family.

Globally, Japan is renowned for its position as the nation with an extreme end of poor work-life balance often referred to as “Karoshi” a term that means “death by overwork”. Therefore, it is important for this generation of millennial employees to achieve a healthy work-life balance that is more crucial than taking a fat paycheck and a collaborative work environment to inspire loyalty.

How to achieve work-life balance – Some tips to take note

Maintaining or achieving work-life balance is crucial for in terms of not only career growth but also a person or employee’s overall health prospects. The following tips would help in achieving a more balanced life.

Leave your office work behind

No matter how dedicated are you to your job or profession it is always better to leave your office work behind after the normal working hours. It is better to spend time not working after you had accomplished great things in your work. An always-on-the-job attitude can be harmful in the end, as people around you will get tired of coming in second to your work causing damage to your relationship that result in breaking off your human relationships with your family and friends.

Having a Social Life

Immerse in social life or plan a family activity in the form of weekend parties or outings to unwind from your work pressures of the office or workstations. Giving yourself a reason to look forward to with the odd days off or for a family get together at the weekend or on holidays would help you in freeing up from work-related stress.

Managing workload

Research has shown that multitasking is not as good as it is usually publicized. Multitasking may mentally drain you resulting in the slowing down of your productivity. It is better to delegate some of the tasks to other members of the office staff or professionals who are capable of successfully completing the work or tasks on time.

Avoid working long hours

As employees or working professionals, it is more important to make a good time schedule and stick to it. Block out all of your work and non-work commitments ensuring plenty of downtimes and non-work time. Treating non-work commitments as seriously as treating working commitments will help you in balancing your work life pressures.

Get active in other occupations

Joining a gym or starting a new hobby or sport is a good way of releasing stress with the hormones released due to physical activities helping you in staying positive. Doing physical exercise in either a gym or sporting locations helps in fighting work-based stress.

Advantages of Work-Life Balance

The five advantages of improved work-life balance for both employees and organizations include-

·   A healthy work-life balance helps increased productivity due to the less stressed workforce.

·        Improvements in employee health and well being

·       Organizations would be able to boost their competitiveness.

·  A healthy work-life balance will reduce staff turnover and minimizes recruitment costs

·        Lower absenteeism is the advantage gained by organizations.

These advantages of work-life balance would help you in gaining control over your overall life activities.