10 tips to help your employees improve their work-life balance.
All too often, employees wear the badge of burnout—they’re overworked, have a terrible work-life balance, and can’t remember what it feels like not to work on a weekend.
A lot of the time, it’s not self-inflicted, either. And while you can’t control how many hours of sleep your employees get or how much physical activity they do, you can encourage healthy habits and behaviors—a step towards a better and more sustainable work-life balance.
Change starts from the top and trickles down. It’s the cascade of a waterfall—initiating change at every level beneath it. When you implement change from the top, you can see behavior change flow through your organization, impacting every employee along the path.
With that in mind, this blog post will explain how to improve work-life balance for employees, with tips such as focusing on outcomes vs. hours worked and redefining what the word “urgent” means. Continue reading to find out how you can help your employees achieve a better work-life balance.
What can be done to improve work-life balance?
Offer flexible/remote working
Although more employers are steering towards a back-to-office approach in 2024 (Resume Builder), flexible/remote/hybrid working is an excellent option for better work-life balance.
It’s not for everyone—some employees find it challenging to separate work from home—but for others, especially those with young children or pets, it can help them drastically improve their work-life balance.
Leave the office “on time”
It’s easier said than done—but lead by example and leave the office on time. It’s not uncommon for employees to feel guilt for leaving work before upper management—even if they leave on time.
Remove this stigma by encouraging employees to leave at the end of the work day. Lead by example and be the first out of the door or offline on the Slack channel on occasion.
Focus more on outcomes vs. “hours worked”
9-5, 40 hours a week. Weekends off. Have you ever wondered why you work 8 hours a day, five days a week?
It was popularized back in 1926, under the leadership of Henry Ford for the Ford Motor Company. But while it may have worked back then, times have changed.
The 40-hour work week was designed for assembly line workers and those in manufacturing. There was a simple formula of hours worked = number of units produced.
But these days, most companies aren’t creating automobiles. They’re building new products, writing all day, marketing, learning, and performing cognitively demanding tasks. We’re not designed to work all day.
Consider changing your approach from hours worked to outcomes.
Increase support for caregivers
According to Glassdoor, two in five workers are parents with a child under 18 at home, and one in nine employees has a young child under the age of 5.
If you want to keep great talent, you need to look after them and increase support for caregivers.
If you don’t have access to a company nursery, consider financial support for childcare costs and improved maternity and paternity policies. Encourage your workers to take the time off and let them know you’ll be right where you left them.
Provide subsidized physical fitness
Studies show that regular physical activity helps reduce stress, improve sleep and mood, reduce tiredness, and even improve mental alertness. So why wouldn’t you encourage your workers to exercise more?
One way to do this is to subsidize the cost of Fitness Classes and gym memberships. You can even provide fitness classes at work, whether yoga, gentle fitness, or strength training to get your workers active.
Encourage regular breaks at work
Your employees are not designed to work for 8 hours straight. Encourage regular breaks, and that doesn’t include lunch. They should have numerous breaks throughout the day!
A popular productivity method is known as the Pomodoro technique. The most common way to do this is to work for 25 minutes, take a 5-minute break, and repeat. After four cycles, take a slightly longer break and start from the beginning.
The breaks are supported by research—micro-breaks of 10 minutes help reduce accumulated strain. Data also shows that recovering from highly depleting and intense work may require longer than 10 minutes.
Another popular approach is known as deep work. Instead of working for 25 minutes, you work for a longer period, usually 45 minutes to 2 hours uninterrupted. That means no emails, no meetings, text messages, or any other distractions. After completing a deep work session, take a 15-minute break to recharge (or however long is needed).
If you want to encourage regular breaks while simultaneously improving productivity, educate your employees on the above time-blocking methods. For more on deep work, check out the book Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World.
Adjust your holiday policy
One of the best ways to encourage a better work-life balance for employees is by encouraging them to take more time off work.
Adjust your holiday policy as needed and actually motivate them to use it!
The time off work helps employees disconnect and recharge for work, improving work-life balance.
Avoid emailing outside of work hours
If it can wait until Monday, then put it to one side. And if you really want to send that email, schedule it for Monday morning.
Work emails outside of work hours can cause additional stress for employees. It also makes it more difficult for employees to switch off and recharge outside of work hours.
Lead by example on this one, and your employees will quickly follow.
Add more “perks”
Whether your employees are parents or not, you should add more perks to promote a better work-life balance.
That can include pet sitting, dry cleaning, subsidized or free healthy meals at work, financial education, help with taxes, and more. Find ways to help your employees lead a better work-life balance.
Reconsider what the word “urgent” means
According to the Oxford Dictionary, the word urgent refers to something “that needs to be dealt with or happens immediately.”
That website update, email, finishing that blog post, or updating that spreadsheet can likely wait a day or two.
Redefine what urgent means at work.
Ask your employees what they need to succeed
This article has provided you with tips on how to improve work-life balance for employees.
But to make the most impact, ask your employees what they need to achieve the best work-life balance. Every employee is different, and it’s your job to cater to each employee as best as possible.
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Author: Lindsay Johnson, CEO and Founder of FitPros
FitPros is a turn-key wellness provider empowering people to take charge of their personal health.
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