Over the past decade or so in developed countries, especially in Europe, we have begun to see an increasing importance placed on having a good work-life balance. The concept of a work-life balance is one where employees spit their time and energy between work and other aspects of their lives.
No longer is it seen as acceptable nor beneficial to both employers and employees to spend most of their day at work, leaving little to no time for a home life. The benefits are clear for both parties if such a balance is achieved in terms of work productivity and personal wellbeing. It is not just employees who are pushing for shorter work hours and increased flexibility, but employers are also aware of these benefits and are being proactive in implementing these policies and procedures in a way that benefits everyone.
We will look at 3 steps that help you achieve a better work-life balance:
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Keep a track of time and use it more efficiently
Begin by tracking how you spend your time for one week. What exactly are you spending your time doing and how much time are you spending on things that don’t matter and are unimportant? In order to free up more time, work tasks need to be streamlined and useless tasks must be removed.
Employers can help this by implementing policies and systems to reduce time wastage. For example, implementing meeting schedule software can save a lot of time that would have initially been dedicated to organising and booking meetings, requiring manpower. With such a system, meeting rooms can be booked at the touch of a button from anywhere with internet access.
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Forget multi-tasking – focus on one thing at a time
At work or at home you should only focus on only one thing at a time. No matter how well you think you multi-task you will not be able to do your best work if you are dividing your attention between multiple tasks. From an employers perspective the quality of work is of utmost importance so they will expect that while at work you are focused on tasks at hand, and while you are at home they should not expect you to attend to work.
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Make exercise a priority
It’s not a secret that regular exercise is extremely beneficial for a healthy body and mind, and employers know this. Healthy employees perform better and are less of a burden on a business in terms of sick days taken, so in order to do this, treat exercise with as much of a priority as you would a client. Having a healthy body and mind will improve work performance as well as benefiting your home life through more energy.
Early morning workouts can prepare you for the day ahead or after-work activities can help you unwind, so keep your plans flexible but schedule them for realistic times.
There are many other steps you can take to improve your work-life balance, and you don’t need to consider following them all, but if you or your employers can implement those that you feel are beneficial, then you should certainly consider it!
