03 Feb Establishing Work-Life Balance When Working From Home
With the move toward remote workforces to maintain public safety, your employees need to adapt to their new work settings. Their home has now been infiltrated by their work, leaving the boundary between these two major parts of their lives blurred.
As an employer, you must implement strategies to keep your employees’ work-life balance stable. You need to help your team find ways to navigate the new remote work structure and enjoy their free time as they did when your office was open.
Here are some strategies to help you establish a work-life balance for yourself as a leader and your employees:
Let Your Employees Make Their Schedule
Now that your staff is working from home, you can offer more freedom when they start and end their workdays. Here are some things to keep in mind when letting your employees choose their scheduling:
- Make sure there are times in the day when everyone is available for meetings, calls, answering emails, etc.
- Have your staff state their new schedule times so you can make sure they are fulfilling their agreed-upon work hours and you know when they are accessible.
- Keep an eye out if your staff is working beyond their stated hours.
Share Work-From-Home Tips
By sharing productivity tips to help your employees stay focused while at home, they can incorporate techniques to help them get more done in their committed work hours. If they work productively, your staff will be more able to honor their schedule and walk away from the computer at the end of the day. That way, they can enjoy their free time without guilt.
Maintain Water Cooler Chat
Your staff may be feeling down as they no longer have their daily fill of social interaction at the office. The brief greetings and lunch break chats were subtle but essential to creating a positive business environment for your employees. While your team is no longer able to pop by one another’s desks or hold small-talk by the water cooler, you can arrange a chat stream for your employees to stay in touch and motivate each other through the day.
Promote Mental Health
This past year has been full of anxiety and stress as most people’s lives shifted one way or another. Your employees may be working from home with kids in the house, or have a partner who lost their job due to business closures or feel lonely without being able to see friends or family.
Share resources that will support their mental health, including how to access services for assistance. Be available to your employees to reach out to you if they are struggling, or conduct regular one-on-one meetings to learn how you can help them manage their work while coping with these times.
Taking these measures to maintain your staff’s work-life balance will help your business continue moving forward. By ensuring your employees savor their free time and commit the necessary hours to work, they will find it easier to remain committed to you as their leader. You will position yourself as an employer that values their workers’ wellness, which will help you build a positive reputation to attract future employees.
