Help your staff achieve work-life balance

Today is the final day of National Work-Life Week, an event designed to help people achieve a better balance between their career and their home life.

Organised by Working Families, the awareness week aims to give advice to both bosses and their staff about how to juggle work and home in a more positive way.

So what can you do as an employer to help your staff achieve a better work-life balance?

1.      Look at what you already do

Review what your company already does to help your staff achieve a good work-life balance. Make a list of any policies you have which promote flexible working, wellbeing, equality and diversity. Are there any obvious ways your policies could be improved and do all your employees know about them?

2.      Ask staff for their suggestions

Put a suggestion box in a communal area of your commercial premises and encourage employees to share their ideas on what you could do to help them achieve a better balance between work and life. Perhaps give them a survey to complete to identify issues of concern.  Be prepared to take the feedback seriously and act on it where you can.

3.      Offer staff training

Giving your staff training in areas like time management and ways to reduce stress levels will assist in their skill development may help them feel happier at work. Extra work-related training may help staff be more productive, reducing the need for them to work late.

4.      Allow staff to do volunteering

Giving employees a small amount of time off to carry out community work or voluntary roles can lead to them feeling happier and more fulfilled. This in turn will make them feel more motivated and productive at work.

5.      Make work-life balance a topic for discussion

If you have any staff forums, make sure that any issues affecting work-life balance are discussed. Raise the issue regularly at staff and management meetings to check that your existing policies are working.

6.      Offer healthy options

If you offer any food at your workplace, whether it is in a canteen or through vending machines, make sure there are healthy choices available. Put fresh fruit in the meeting room rather than biscuits. If staff eat healthily, they will be able to pace themselves better, which will help them achieve a better balance between their working life and home life.