Do you struggle with finding the perfect balance between your career and family? If you said yes, then you are normal – most American workers say that they do find balancing family and work schedules extremely challenging. It seems like our schedules are getting busier than ever before and we are unable to just take a break and actually slow down. While this can be great for productivity, it often causes both our personal and work lives to suffer.
Don’t get me wrong – work-life balance is hard. It involved juggling stresses in the workplace while normal, daily pressures and stresses of family, friends, and of course – yourself. According to a Business Information Review publication, “The search for work-life balance is a process in which people seek to change things in accordance with changes in their own priorities, physical, psychological or both, and these can be triggered in their turn by factors such as: age; changes in working conditions; the demands of new technology; and poor management.”
Although it is extremely challenging, employees feel better and more in control when they do implement work-life balance into their daily lives. They tend to have better relationships at home and with management at work, they typically feel more motivated and less stressed out, and this of course, leads to increased productivity and decreases the number of conflicts within the workplace.
That is why so many companies as of late are implementing and enhancing work-life balance within their businesses. Companies who implement work-life balance into the workplace are very attractive to potential new hires. They also tend to have higher employee retention rates, more loyalty, and better employees in the long run. Since studies have shown that a positive work-life balance benefits companies significantly, why not implement it into your business?
Here are a few ways to do so:
FAMILY DAYS
Everyone loves a company family day and one of the best ways to boost employee morale is by helping workers get to know each other on a personal level in a non-stressful situation. This is why employee outings and family days are so important for work-life balance and to increase employee happiness, in general. These family days and work outings can be as low-key, or as extravagant as you’d like, depending on the culture that you have fostered within your company and of course, budget, as well. Activities such as volunteer days, lake (or beach) days, and a day at the park with a picnic are affordable ideas. Other ideas could be lunches, topgolf, axe throwing, and more.
FLEX HOURS
Implementing not only flex hours, but also remote access within your business is so insanely important for your employees happiness – especially in the day and age we are currently in. Obviously, not every business is well-suited for a virtual workplace, but if your employees have an emergency with childcare, being able to work from home for a day or two can be life saving for your employee. Most people who are currently looking for jobs are looking for a company that is flexible with hours and work from home (or work from coffee shop) options, so stay current with the times if you want to make your employees happier.
IT SUPPORT
Like I mentioned, not every company is set up for remote access and a lot of business owners do not know where to start with that, or with other IT support needs, as well. If that sounds like you, consider working closely with a company such as Ameritechnology. Ameritechnology can help you with your office network maintenance and IT solutions in New Jersey or New York. They say, “ Like it or not, the numerous technologies that you have installed across your organization are the backbone of your small business or enterprise operation. If your network goes down, so does your productivity, employee morale, along with your revenue and profits.
Call Ameritechnology and stop worrying. We have more than 30 years of providing IT management and office network-maintenance and management solutions for small businesses and mid-size enterprises throughout New Jersey and New York. We have the trained technicians and industry expertise to provide your business the services and support required for your network to remain a data-generating, revenue-enabling business tool.”
Ameritechnology offers a proven, multi-phase methodology in order to gain a thorough understanding of your IT structure and processes. This allows them to identify efficiencies, eliminate redundancies, and even detect vulnerabilities that can leave your office network exposed to security threats. They are able to manage, maintain, repair, and upgrade your network technologies as needed and make recommendations to enhance your system performance, which can increase functionality as your business needs dictate.
CHILDCARE ACCESS
As a parent, raising your children is your number one priority – even above work. Yes, you have to make money to raise a child, but you always need to make sure they are okay. Unfortunately, childcare can be very costly. A lot of businesses are starting to provide employees with a stipend each month for childcare, or they are providing in-house childcare for their employees. That would be a nice perk, right?
Those are four ways that you can implement work-life balance into the workplace. Do you have any other ideas?
Happily Ky 