The transition to work from home has blurred the line between work and family. This can harm employee wellness, causing severe burnout. The amount of stress caused due to extending work hours can affect workplace relationships and change the way your employees behave. Your employees’ psychological state can also take successful once they are engaged with their jobs for extended hours without regular breaks. All work and no play can make life gloomy. Present situation of just about every employee who is functioning remotely is far alike. The social distancing norm is very important for the safety and security of every human being but it has somehow added the pain and has ruined the social life completely. It has started affecting even those that were previously conversant in remote working and thought of it as a perk. Although, practicing a healthy work-life balance while working remotely can also have a positive impact on their wellness and productivity. Employees will feel happier and more satisfied when they have time for both their professional and personal lives.
To ensure that employees are satisfied, here are few ways to maintain their work life balance:
- Make a Schedule
Just like when you are working from an office, you should create a consistent schedule. This schedule can follow one, two, or both schools of thought. One idea is to create a to-do list for daily and weekly goals. At the beginning of the week, draft your weekly to-do list. And at the end of the day put everything on your to-do list. Follow these religiously to get the most out of your day. A set schedule can assist you keep a reliable routine of labour hours and off-work hours and may also assist you control the amount of hours you’re working. If you find that you are regularly working outside your schedule, adjust your hours to better fit your work day. This way, you won’t have to work long hours each day. - Communication is very crucial
Sometimes your employees themselves may not be aware of work-life balance and its consequences. Try to educate them on the best practices to improve work-life balance. Help them create a proper schedule, keeping in mind their working hours. Ask them to take regular breaks throughout the day to improve productivity, and encourage your employees to create a dedicated workspace in their home to avoid distractions. When working remotely, it’s essential to keep yourself engaged, and by staying in contact with your fellow teammates, you can work more cohesively as a group. Having a fixed start and stop time is also a great way to practice work-life balance. - Appreciate and give recognition
Present situation is temporary, and employees will soon be together at their workplaces, working with the same enthusiasm that they earlier used to. Such situations require additional measures; as a result, employees are now loaded with more work than ever. It is thus essential for leaders to offer them recognition or find new ways to understand their efforts. Few simple words of recognition/appreciation can do wonders for employees and boost their morale and encourage them to perform even better. - Offer flexibility
Work flexibility is necessary for your remote employees, too. Employers should understand this to help employees strike a balance between their home and work responsibilities. Otherwise, your employees will feel stressed out. During these unprecedented times, it’s advisable to focus on the output rather than the process followed by your employees. If some personal work comes up, allow your employees to take some time away from their work. One should also avoid calling their employees for work related matters after work hours. The leader must balance the work pressure and rather give them the liberty to work on extended deadlines. Encourage them to take adequate breaks to avoid monotony and keep their minds constantly fresh. All these things will build a sense of trust, which may be a great motivation booster. - Conduct wellness sessions
Conducting wellness sessions for workers can have an enormous impact on work-life balance. Participating in wellness sessions helps them to require a while faraway from their routine work and adopt healthy habits. Tell your employees about the session well in advance to give them enough time to plan their work around it. Ensure that the sessions don’t clash together with your employees’ usual work, and make the program as inclusive as possible to extend participation. You can also organize four or five sessions to assist employees choose the one that’s more suitable to them. Design it in a way that will encourage them follow these habits even after the sessions.
Remote work often blurs the road between professional and private lives as employees can work anytime with 24/7 access to all or any the required tech tools. In the long run, this can be harmful as it causes severe burnout and reduced productivity. So, it’s highly necessary to promote a healthy work-life balance among your employees. We hope the following pointers gave you insight on the way to improve work-life balance among your remote workforce.
