Achieving work life balance for you, your staff and your company.
By Mark Towers
The most important asset of any company is having the "right employees" from top to bottom of the organisation. This is just as true of a small one person business as it is of global empires.
Of course, we could divert the discussion and talk about "only being as strongest as the weakest link" or other true sayings that impact on the true worth of the manpower asset.
That’s not the purpose of this article - Work Life Balance is.
What is Work Life Balance? Well, quite simply it's about balancing working life with home life by applying a flexible approach to how, where and when people work.
Getting the balance between work & homelife for you and your staff is crucial to getting the best out of people. What would you rather have - motivated staff, or those who just do a job and are prone to absenteeism?
At this point you might be thinking "Oh, here we go, some ideological babble - flaming do-gooder" or "this kind of thinking increases costs and reduces the amount of business we can do - It'll cost me loads. "
Both are fair points of view, and at the same time I'm hoping that you're thinking "tell me more." Well, here are the headlines.
Get work life balance right for you and your staff and productivity can increase, staff retention can improve, flexibility in working arrangements can be an opportunity (not an obstacle), reduced stress/absenteeism, motivated and happy staff are a great advertisement for you. And profits can rise too.
This is the same pot as Corporate Responsibility. It a win win win because of the benefits to the individual, society and (most importantly for you guys!) the business too.
So, what can you do to improve the work life balance of you and your staff? This article doesn’t have the answers, but reading this is a start because it's making you think about work life balance. The real benefits will come from positive steps and putting WLB into practice.
Here's a quick list of some of the common features in achieving WLB in your organisation.
- Talk to staff/colleagues, set up focus groups.
- Understand current legislation and how it applies to your organisation. Consider approaching local business guilds for advice.
- Consider working from home options.
- Can you be flexible outside the standard "9 to 5" day?
- Have fun at work.
- Make staff feel appreciated
- Term time working (allow unpaid leave during peak holiday times)
- Look for quick wins to score early points. Parents who need to pick up children after school, staff who are carers or who do voluntary activities.
- Talk to your customers too. Done right and this could give you a great profile with them.
- Take in the wider picture :- what is the impact as a whole and on all affected parties, rather than looking at the issues in isolation.
This is just a handful of suggestions, and if you go through each one you'll start to think about the opportunities these can bring for your company. Seek other material too, perhaps engage one of the many experts in this field. If you do nothing else, do something.