Numerous studies have shown how vitally important it is to maintain a healthy work-life balance in order for employees to perform at their best and stay motivated. However, it can be difficult to know when an employee is working too much, particularly if they work remotely, so it’s crucial to proactively promote healthy work-life balance initiatives.

Employee retention rates, one of the key metrics for any company, should also improve as happy employees who feel fulfilled in their jobs will be more likely to stay with your organisation long term.

A study by Gallup found that “engaged” workers (those who are motivated by their job), are six times more productive than disengaged workers.

Similarly, when employees feel connected with their co-workers, they tend to be happier overall. This leads directly back into increased productivity levels across an organisation as well as better performance among individual employees.

Challenges of Remote Working

While working from home can be a great opportunity for employees, it also presents some challenges. The blurring of work-life balance is one of them. It’s easy to lose track of time when you’re not in an office environment with set hours and co-workers who keep each other accountable.

Another challenge is difficulty identifying mental health issues. When you’re surrounded by people all day, every day, it’s easier to notice when someone isn’t acting like themselves or doesn’t seem like they’re doing well emotionally. However, when working remotely, this becomes more difficult.

Similarly, it’s important to remember some of your employees may need a specific workplace environment or regular routine to help address any mental health issues, especially neurodivergent employees.  

Promoting Physical Activity

The benefits of exercise are well-documented and it’s really important to encourage your employees to take breaks throughout the day, especially a lunch break. This can help ensure physical activity can take place but many organisations go further than this such as arranging dedicated exercise classes such as pilates  or boxercise sessions that can be run remotely ensuring people both in the office and working remotely can partake.

Providing Fitbits or daily exercise breaks can split up the long working day and further encouragement can be created through fun, competitive tasks for both an individual and team basis such as the most daily steps.

The importance of accommodating family-related issues

With an increasing number of employees being primary caregivers for either a dependant or elderly parent, it’s important to provide flexible working options so they can balance their professional responsibilities with their personal lives.

Demonstrating trust in employees by offering flexible working options will help you retain top talent and build loyalty among your workforce.

Team Building and Social Events

It’s also important to create a great team dynamic and this can be done through various team building and/or social events. From quizzes to karaoke, fostering camaraderie amongst your workforce is crucial – especially if there is a significant amount of remote working and little office interaction for some of your employees.

However, it’s important to tailor these events to what suit your employees. For example, not everyone can attend out of office hours events due to family commitments, so make sure you consider things like team lunches and perhaps a quarterly quiz in the office.

For remote workers, things like quizzes can be done via Microsoft Teams or Zoom, whilst team lunches can be delivered to their location.

The key aspect in ensuring all your employees have the opportunity to have fun with their co-workers and get to know them better in an informal setting.

It’s really important to promote a healthy work-life balance for employees in order to increase their productivity as well as improving employee loyalty and retention.

Summary

While it might be difficult to implement all of these solutions at once, we encourage you to do so over time. The more you put into it, the more you’ll get out of it!

You may also want to consider implementing other ideas that aren’t listed here; the key being to ensure there are plenty of options available to help ensure your team members feel supported and cared for.