What Does Work-Life Balance Have to do With Workplace Wellness?
Minimizing costs and maximizing resources are often the top goals of business leaders. After all, costly operations are not sustainable in the long run and efficiency is a key contributing factor to a company’s growth and development.
However, when the aim for efficiency is taken to the extreme, employees sometimes get the short end of the stick. If they are made to take on additional tasks and work more hours, this may eventually result in a decrease in job satisfaction. It’s all a chain reaction from there. When employees are no longer happy with their jobs, their effectiveness takes a plunge. And without effectiveness, efficiency doesn’t mean much. There’s no sense in employees being the fastest or costing the least if they don’t do the right task or fail to achieve expected goals.
You have to remember that people are the most important assets of an organization. Talent is what drives the innovation needed for a company to stay competitive. But you can’t expect employees to devote all their time to work when they have families and friends they want to spend time with, and hobbies and interests to pursue. Employees are not machines — they get tired and burnt out. Without work-life balance, their personal well-being will suffer, and so will their job performance. Thus, work-life balance is an essential component of workplace wellness. When it comes to taking care of employees, physical health is just part of the equation. You also have to think about their mental and emotional health, and one way to do that is to ensure that they have enough time to lead well-rounded lives.
Fortunately, there are several ways to encourage work-life balance in your company. You can offer either flex hours, flex locations, or maybe even both. Under flex hours, options usually include compressed work weeks, output-based schedules, staggered work hours, compensatory time off, etc. For flex locations, choices are typically telecommuting, teleworking, etc.
There’s no doubt that, because they will have more freedom, your employees stand to gain a lot from these arrangements. But don’t worry, this is a win-win situation for both your employees and your company. People who enjoy a healthy work-life balance are less prone to absenteeism and tardiness, for one thing. They’re also much more productive and effective. And because they’re happy with their jobs, they’re likely to stay longer at your company.
The recruitment process will be easier, too. Many applicants put a high value on work-life balance, and so they look at a company’s flexible work options before accepting an offer. When your company has a solid workplace wellness program in place, you’ll be able to entice more people to join, and therefore, increase the pool of qualified candidates from which to choose. Isn’t that a great thing? You’ll retain your most trusted and loyal talents, and you’ll also attract new talents, too.
It’s always worth investing in people. Yes, your company can spend millions on new technology and fancy ad campaigns, but if you don’t have effective employees doing the actual work behind the scenes, then you can’t expect your business to prosper. Take a close look at your company’s priorities and see where workplace wellness falls on the list. If it it’s not near the top, then it’s time to do some rearranging. Remember: Happy people make the best employees!