7 Tips For Improving Work-Life Balance

Prior to September 25th, 1926, it was the norm for the working class individuals to endure work for six days a week for extensive hours a day. On September 25th, 1926, arguably one of the most influential business owners of all time, Henry Ford, responsible for the creation of the Ford motor company, instituted a five-day, forty-hour work week for his factory employees. Henry Ford was very considerate of his workers and believed that they needed time for their families. This would become the first known display ever in North America to become what we now know as work-life balance. Simply put, work-life balance is defined by three crucial and interconnected components which are time balance, which refers to the equal time being given to both work and non-work activities. The second component is involvement balance, which refers to equal levels of psychological involvement in both work and family roles. The last component of work- life balance includes satisfaction balance, which refers to the equal levels of satisfaction in both work and family roles alike. By considering each of these interconnected components, it would be possible for one individual to achieve a healthy work-life balance between their employment and their outside of work life.
In today’s working class society, it is the norm to work eight-hour days, five days a week (with some individuals working overtime, weekends, second or third jobs etc.) to maintain their monthly expenses which are forever increasing due to ongoing inflation. This leads to a difficulties in balancing work and private life having people spend substantial amounts of hours in their workplace. There have been numerous studies that show that workers are experiencing a dissatisfaction with the amount of time they spend with their family than the amount of time spent at their workplace. These same workers have reported that their family life has become more adapted to their employment demands than their work arrangements are to their family lives. It seems like an easy fix to solve this dilemma would be either to quit your job or career or as business owners to cut hours. So the main question still stands as to why have these things not happened yet?
Simply put, it is not that easy. Although some suggestions have been brought forth to help combat this seemingly vicious cycle.

1. To improve a healthy work-life balance, it is suggested that employers need to focus on strategies like providing flexibility around work, increasing employees’ sense of control and creating a more supportive work environment. Employers should make a point to improve human resources development within their organization and promote a greater well-being by enabling their workers to make important decisions regarding how to respond to company and organizational demands. With many mental health taxing careers and jobs such as social work or therapists, they have implemented many interesting features to improve work-life balance within their organizations. Some agencies have granted employees with what can be considered “wellness” time off which grants employees with two hours to spend throughout each working week that an employee can book time off for no reason at all, but simply for ones overall wellbeing. These hours could be split up however the employee would like, whether it is an extra hour for lunch, to have an extra hour to sleep in before work starts or to be dismissed from work an hour earlier than scheduled. With certain sectors of the workplace incorporating features like this, the question arises of why has no other major corporations or fields of work implemented such strategies despite their large turnover rates?
When it comes to individuals working in factories or retail during peak hours of the year, it becomes a great question as to why they cannot offer such amenities to their workplace? Ultimately, it boils down to their employer to implement such luxuries into their workplace. There is an obvious disadvantage to employers providing these type of amenities for their employees which include money being the largest barrier. It becomes a moral decision of the employer to provide their employee with these features because they would have to decide between providing their employees with more money or keeping that money for the business itself, where the obvious choice in most businesses would rather keep the money for themselves. This would potentially lead to a poor work-life balance for employees if other factors are missing such as a great compensation with either wages and bonuses and a healthy work environment.
Furthermore, There have been multiple efforts to ensure that work-life balance is maintained throughout a workplace.

2. Some strategies that employers can do to address work- life conflict is to equip supportive managers at all levels wi
th the skills they need (e.g. communication, conflict management, time management and organizational skills) as well as the tools they need to manage people which include appropriate policies or training on how to implement alternative work arrangements. In order to make a work environment more supportive, the following steps would be ideal to take by the employers; working with employees in order to identify the types of support that is needed and which types of support could be feasible for the employer to implement. It is important to note that not all policies could be practical and feasible. There are generally three categories that are considered to be at the centre of an employees work life balance which are working time arrangements, leave entitlements for those individuals with specific care responsibilities and child care.

3. In order to create a more supportive working environment that promotes a healthy work-life balance it becomes crucial to have information for employees about the various policies that are available and offer how these policies could be accessed. Not only this, it should be keen that these employees utilizing these amenities and features must be made to feel like their careers or employment will not be jeopardized if they choose to take advantage of any of these supportive policies.
There are also very important approaches that can be done by the employee that will help manage work-life conflict as well because not all of the responsibility is held by the employer.

4. Putting an emphasis on both spheres of life, either work and private life, time management and organizational skills, stress management strategies such as relaxation techniques and being sure to sustain ones social support system.

5. Organizational skills and time management techniques are both essential to accomplish various tasks, goals and projects. Some strategies to stay on top of these tasks include keeping a daily to-do list and taking notes to put work-related and personal events on a calendar. The separation of working time from personal time is extremely important for time management.

6. Relaxation techniques are a source to recharge an individual’s personal battery and replenish their energy. Some examples of techniques used are various forms of meditation tactics in order to attain or retain a state of increase calmness and reduce stress levels so one can manage tasks more efficiently.

7. The last approach is to sustain a system of healthy social support in both the workplace and personal life. it would be extremely beneficial for an employee to join forces with colleagues who can cover in private emergencies and the other way around, to aid with friends that can assist with child care when overtime or travelling for work is needed.
Overall, maintaining a healthy work-life balance is extremely crucial for the benefit of both the employer and employees. It has only been less than a century since a major shift in labour regulations have been established in majority of the world. With many different countries testing out and finding success with the four day work-week it would be possible in the coming of years that it could become the new normal. Maintaining a healthy work-life balance increases the productivity of the employees and creates a great long term benefit for organizations as a whole.