Is your Organizational Culture Ready for Work-Life initiatives? Surprising benefits of Work-Life support!

 “An employer’s commitment to work/life initiatives is influenced by the perception of whether or not such initiatives have a positive return on investment. In recent years, employers increasingly realise that the quality of an employee’s personal and family life impacts work quality and that there are concrete business reasons to promote work and family integration.”

The organisation and its employees both benefit from work-life balance.

Enhancing employee productivity, morale, and health is facilitated by striking a balance between

work and personal life. As a matter of fact, everyone should prioritise work-life balance.

Any imbalance will make life difficult and present a number of risks or difficulties with regard

to one's health, happiness, and emotional stability. 

Personal Benefits for Employees

• Feeling of Fulfilment : People who successfully manage their personal and professional lives feel fulfilled and content with their lives.

• Improved Mental and Physical Health : Numerous research studies demonstrate the negative health effects of mental stress brought on by work-related demands and difficulties. Over the past few years, there has been an alarming increase in the percentage of young people experiencing stress-related disorders such as depression, mental breakdowns, heart problems, or hypertension. A healthy work-life balance will lower health-related issues and the chance of developing heart disease, high blood pressure, stress, and other major lifestyle-related illnesses.

• Improved Productivity : Increased work-life balance will boost employees' output and effectiveness at the office.

• Strong Relationships : Collaboration in both professional and personal relationships is facilitated by work-life balance. When both are in balance, conflicts are better handled or resolved.

Improving Productivity

Despite the popular assumption that working overtime will boost output, research shows that extended work hours actually decrease productivity overall by wearing people out or causing efficiency to decline. Research indicates that individuals who take brief breaks during their workdays are significantly more productive than those who work long hours without taking a break. Few ways to improve productivity while working overtime could be as follows: 

• Taking short breaks from time to time while working. Stretching, breathing exercises, and meditation can all help to improve one's physical and mental well-being.

• Using downtime to engage in entertainment: Research indicates that if one allocates a portion of one's short breaks to leisure activities and entertainment, like online browsing, productivity is predicted to rise by 9%.

• Setting out: Since there could be deadly consequences, working long hours without rest is neither desirable nor healthy. It is advisable to allocate and plan holidays for vacations, as research indicates that individuals who take quality time off work are comparatively more productive than those who work long hours.

Benefits for  the organisation : Employer’s Perspective

Employees who work for organisations that provide family-friendly benefits exhibit greater levels of effective commitment and a decreased intention to quit, regardless of whether they personally utilised the policy. Well-integrated workers can also be more productive at work by fusing abilities that are traditionally valued in the workplace like linear thinking with those that are developed in the home, like handling emotions. Supporting work-life balance among employees not only has the potential to increase employee satisfaction and diversity, but it may also encourage employee growth and development, resulting in a more innovative and well-rounded workforce. Further : 

• Saving time for employees: Employers can increase employee productivity by creating a positive and encouraging work environment. They can also assist staff in better time management through the establishment of clear priorities.

• Employee Retention: Work-life balance initiatives have the potential to not only improve the percentage of employees who stay with their current employers, but also reduce the additional costs that can arise from employee turnover or departure.

• Boost the commitment to the work and the motivation and morale of the staff: Research shows that highly motivated workers are more efficient and offer the best assistance for the advancement of the company.

• Minimisation of Absenteeism: Research indicates that work-life balance initiatives, when skillfully executed by a company, can nearly eradicate absenteeism.

• Aids with Having a competitive edge or advantage: Work-life balance policies and practices, such as flexible work schedules and shift work, among other things, will help an organization meet changing customer demands and accomplish its strategic mission or goals. They will also increase the organization's competitiveness.

• Enhance the Organisation's Reputation: When skillfully designed and executed, work-life balance initiatives can enhance an organisation's reputation and image by positioning it as one of the greatest places to work and drawing in top talent.

• Establish a Loyal Workforce: Policies and programs that promote the general well-being of employees and are friendly to them will undoubtedly aid in the development of a devoted and faithful workforce.

• Diminishment of Disagreements: By giving employees the option of flexible work schedules or remote work, employers can help them better balance their personal and professional lives and lessen the likelihood of work-life conflicts.

Is Your Organisation Culture-Ready for Work/Life Initiatives?

“A common thread that links the reasons work/life

benefits go unused is organisational culture.”

Finding out if the organisation's culture is receptive to and prepared to support work-life programs is crucial before launching work/life initiatives. Determining culture readiness can take many forms: it can be as formal as utilising an employee survey assessment, or it can be as straightforward as an organisation's careful assessment. Employers are realising that work should be intrinsically interesting and satisfying to employees, and these are the folks who produce the best work. Thus, moving from extrinsic rewards to intrinsic rewards has an impact on work-life initiatives. Following suggestions are to promote work-life initiatives in the organisation;

• Check if the company's mission is supported by the human resources strategy.

• Learn what employees think about work/life balance through focus groups or questionnaires.

• Align work/life initiatives with HR strategy (employer of choice, for example).

• Develop a work/life award program with non-monetary rewards that are in line with company goals.

In conclusion, we understand that every employee needs to have a healthy work-life balance, and any imbalance on one front will present many difficulties for the individual as well as the company. An organization can benefit from increased employee productivity, a decrease in employee turnover, and various cost savings by offering the necessary support and assistance in the form of work-life programs and employee-centric policies. Work-life programs require senior management support, just like most change initiatives do. Additionally, a corporate culture that encourages employees to look at the organization in an entirely different way and supports and accepts employees as individuals with priorities beyond the workplace is the key in preparing the workplace for work-life benefits.

References

Gale, A.W. and Davidson, M.J. (2006). Managing Diversity and Equality in Construction: Initiatives and

-Practice. [online] Google Books. Routledge. Available at: https://books.google.lk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=h

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Lockwood, N.R. (2003). Research Quarterly. Work/Life Balance Challenges and Solutions.

Managementstudyguide.com. (2015). Benefits of Healthy Work Life Balance. [online] Available at:

-https://www.managementstudyguide.com/benefits-of-healthy-work-life-balance.htm.

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