Work-life integration: Balancing personal and professional wellbeing

Healthy work-life balance can be varied depending on person to person. It does not necessarily equate to splitting your time between work and personal life. One can require longer or shorter hours to maintain a healthy personal wellbeing. This balance can determine your employee’s engagement with their tasks, productivity in the workplace, and wellbeing.

Employers must focus on improving the work-life balance of their employees to ensure a steady increase in their team performance and trajectory. This blog is aimed at discussing achieving harmony between work and personal lives. There will be practical strategies provided on how leaders and managers can promote healthy work-life balance among their employees to reduce overall stress.

Understanding the essence of work-life balance

Before jumping into the tips and strategies, let us define work-life balance. A healthy work-life balance means allocating time and energy to fulfil both professional and personal obligations while prioritizing one’s wellbeing. One can take time out of their day to enjoy their hobbies and spend time with loved ones while meeting deadlines. This would result in lesser anxiety and stress levels, with improved overall job satisfaction and productivity.

As mentioned earlier, work-life balance is versatile and can differ from person to person. This is because each individual is unique and has their requirements. Some may be interested in investing longer hours in self-care and hobbies, while others may be inclined to work or accomplish career-related goals during these hours. Furthermore, some may require more flexibility in work timings and prefer remote work to accommodate personal obligations while some tend to work more efficiently in traditional settings. Hence, keeping these differences in mind, leaders and managers should collaborate with each employee to work around these differences.

Practical strategies for work-life integration

Although it is popularly understood why work-life balance is vital to maintain, many organizations overlook this requirement, causing their employees to overwork and burnout. This brings a steady decline in employee job satisfaction and retention. This can be detrimental to the planned trajectory of the organization. Therefore, it is important to implement practical strategies for work-life integration as soon as possible. Here are some strategies listed below:

Goal setting: Encourage employees to plan out their work. Planning out work for the upcoming days by setting clear deadlines and goals can go a long way. Prioritizing tasks depending on urgency can facilitate planning. Engaging in this kind of planning will help visualize your workload and ensure you can meet deadlines without neglecting personal obligations.

Time allocation: Setting aside time for personal requirements whether it be family obligations or hobbies can ensure engagement in self-care. During this time, avoid thinking or working on tasks. By doing so, one may continue to feel stressed and will not reap the benefits of this time. Blocking out this time to improve wellbeing allows one to be more focused and return to tasks with fresh perspectives.

Offer location flexibility: As an employer, offering flexibility can dramatically increase the productivity of employees. Oftentimes, employees require unique environments to accommodate their personal needs. Individuals may feel more comfortable working in environments with specific conditions and amenities. Hence, offering flexibility by allowing employees to work remotely to their preference can enhance productivity. 

Alternative work schedules: More people have been moving away from the traditional work hours to accommodate their schedules. Offering alternative work schedule options like compressed workweeks and flexible hours will boost employee job satisfaction and efficiency. With these alternatives, employees can meet family and friend obligations such as attending events while completing tasks on time.

Regular breaks: Taking regular intervals between work sessions can be refreshing and rejuvenating for employees. Encourage employees to take frequent breaks to unwind, walk, stretch, hydrate, and snack, when required. This will ensure physical and mental needs are met as staring at a screen for long is not a healthy practice.

Promote mental health: As an employer, conduct sessions and open discussions on mental health practices. Provide examples of incorporating self-care routines that promote mental wellbeing. Using mental wellbeing apps like Manahverse, an AI-powered app curated to cater to all things mental health, can do the same. The Manahverse app provides features like mood boards, journaling, and affirmations creating small habits that contribute to overall wellness.

Benefits of work-life integration

There are various benefits of promoting healthy work-life integration among your employees. Their mental and physical needs tend to be met, making them more satisfied with their jobs unlocking their full potential. Let us take a look at the list of benefits of healthy work-life integration:

Positive impact on performance: Since they can allocate time to their needs such as spending time with family and working on hobbies, they can spend undivided attention on their work. A healthier work-life balance improves mental wellbeing which in turn boosts task performance. They are more likely to meet deadlines and deliver high-quality work.

Reduced stress and burnout: With more breaks to unwind and relax, they no longer accumulate sleep debt and deprive themselves of basic needs. This aids in regulating stress and prevents burnout from occurring. Additionally, this can prevent more serious mental disorders in the future.

Improved job satisfaction: Employees who feel valued by their company tend to be more satisfied with their jobs. As they experience an increase in support from employers, they return the favour with more loyalty and commitment.

The ACTS program offered by Manah Wellness is aimed at improving your employee’s mental wellbeing. This program assesses and provides material and resources according to the employee’s needs. We have experts who are ready to attend sessions with them and provide them with the guidance they require. Sign up today!

Conclusion

Encouraging employees to have a harmonious balance between their work and personal life brings both short and long-term benefits. People in leadership positions should promote healthy work-life balance by the above-mentioned simple strategies that will immediately boost wellbeing and attract top talent to the organization. Hence, to have steady growth in team performance, it is necessary to implement these strategies.