Retaining employees is always more affordable than hiring new ones. Therefore, companies are now focusing on employee retention and citing work-life balance as a major contributor.
The work-life balance constitutes a healthy work environment. Maintaining a healthy work-life balance will help reduce stress, irritability, and burnout.
With this article, we will learn the role of work-life balance in the employee retention program. Also, how can you improve the work-life balance for your employees?
Methods to improve the work-life balance for employees
1. Work from home
Due to COVID-19, companies-imposed work from home on all employees. But now that the situation has improved, many companies continue to adopt the same policies.
40% of employees are willing to quit if the work mode shifts to the office.
There are various ways in which working from home will help employees maintain the work-life balance:
- Employees tend to be more productive when they are at home as they can manage their working environment.
- There are fewer distractions as compared to the office.
- The employees working from home do not commute so it is easier to save costs and reduce stress.
- The employees can utilize the time spent commuting, hobbies, or spending time with the family. This will help to maintain the well-being of the employees as well.
- When the employees are trusted that they can work from anywhere, it improves job satisfaction for them. Also, it helps in encouraging them to achieve more success.
2. Lesser work weeks
Many organizations are now moving to 5 days 8 hours each day to 4 days and 10 hours per day. This will give the employees an extra day for recreational activities. It also helps them maintain the work-life balance by spending time with their family better.
They will get three days off rather than two days by working the same amount of time.
3. Flexible working hours
Flexible working hours mean the employees can arrange their time accordingly, whatever suits their lives. You can tell them to work for the core hours of the day, but you can make it flexible for them to choose the rest of the working hours or the rest of the working days.
This will help many employees coordinate their activities and maintain a healthy balance between family and work. They can check if their working hours coincide with their children’s school times so they can spend time with their families.
4. Encourage breaks
You can create break-out rooms or set aside some desks so the employees can take breaks. You can encourage them to work in an entirely different part of the office or just take a walk. This will help them to think better.
5. Review workloads
Make sure when you are assigning tasks, you are reviewing the overload as well. This is the duty of managers to regularly contact their team and analyze who is burnt out or can take up more work.
6. Decide perks or no-perks
According to research by Sage.com, we can find that 40% of organizations find office games and other activities beneficial. But only 4% of the employees find it useful.
The statistics show the lack of awareness among the companies for their employees. There are many perks that you can consider including:
- Free fitness classes
- Massages in the office
- Petrol allowances
- Tax support for the employees
- More ideas
7. Acknowledge every employee is different
Every employee is unique, and as an organization, you must recognize this. Some employees might be happy with the current company policy whereas others will want extra perks.
While drafting the policies, you must keep every employee in mind. You have to tailor your approach for every employee to create a healthy work environment.
How will an employee’s work-life balance benefit you?
As an organization, for sure when your employees are happy you tend to progress better. Many factors will determine:
1. Better productivity
Many times, employees start before and work after working hours as well. They do not spend any time commuting, so they try to put in more effort for the work. This will help in enhancing the productivity of the employees.
They can also be relaxed and work better rather than coming stressed after commuting or hours.
2. More Creativity
With the different environments, employees will develop “box thinking.” This will help them to present new ideas to the company.
We have also been introduced to workcation which means working while on a vacation. This will give employees a new environment to work in, and they can be more productive.
3. Attracting new talent
While you are deploying policies to increase employee retention, you are also working towards attracting new talent. When looking for job opportunities, a good office environment is a primary factor for many employees.
It works best if you want to employ a younger audience because they are always looking for work-life balance.
How to measure work-life balance?
The best way to measure the work-life balance is by directly asking your employees. you can send them anonymous forms to collect their views.
Your questions can include:
- How would you rate your overall well-being?
- How valuable will you score your work from 1-10?
- How satisfied are you in terms of work-life balance?
- Do you have to work overtime?
- Is your manager supportive?
- Any suggestions to improve work-life balance?
- During an average workday, how much do you sleep?
- Are you satisfied with the amount of sleep you are getting?
- Do you take your stress home, rate 1-5.
Work-life balance will help your employees be more productive and help you improve your employee retention rate.
Even as an individual, you must also put in the effort to maintain a work-life balance. You can take the following steps for the same:
- There can’t always be a perfect work-life balance
- Try to choose a job you like
- Always give priority to your health
- Always make time for yourself and your loved ones
- Take a break or vacation
- Always set your boundaries and maintain working hours
- Know more
Make sure you are treating your employees with respect and extracting work without overburdening them. Maintaining a good work-life balance will ensure better employee retention.
