Employee Work-Life Balance: Tips For Managers

A new report says that one-third of employees are finding it harder than ever to keep work and life in balance. But Patrick Woodman, Head of Research at the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), has a set of tools to help managers turn the tide…

According to Ernst & Young research among 9,700 employees, more than one-third of full-time workers are struggling to find that elusive work-life balance. Across generations and across nations, it’s getting harder and harder to cope with competing responsibilities.

But there are management strategies that have been proven in the furnace of the work-life struggle. These tips were developed to accommodate the wider aspects of employees’ lives and employee engagement, without adversely affecting the capability of the organisation to deliver on its objectives. Introduced in tandem with relevant management training, these tips should help managers improve morale and productivity, and reduce the risk of employee absenteeism and burnout.

Find out what employees' needs are, and how far they are being met

What types of work/home conflicts are your employees experiencing? What proportion have young children or elderly dependants? What’s the impact of these commitments in terms of time absent from work, for example? Then use exit interviews, focus groups or surveys to establish a business case for improving work-life balance, and communicate your intentions to the most influential people in the organisation. Assuming you get buy-in, identify the resources that will be needed to implement and maintain your plans.

Focus on company culture

The culture and atmosphere of your organisation needs to be conducive to flexibility and innovative work practices. So before you do anything, look at the organisation structure, and consider whether it enables or constrains work-life balance: a traditional hierarchy with a command-and-control approach may not be suited to effective implementation of any new measures. Remember: for work-life balance to be integrated into the fabric of the organisation, it’ll need to be taken up at all levels.

Improve personal and organisational efficiency

There is a clear relationship between productivity and stress. CMI’s recent Quality of Working Life report shows that managers surveyed for the study report a link between working longer hours and suffering from increased headaches, irritability and insomnia, early symptoms of mental health problems and potential burn out. Think about how to improve your organisational procedures and activities so that your employees' working lives can be made less frenetic, stressful and tiring.

Set up work-life policies and benefit arrangements

No one approach will create balance. You’ll need a flexible set of policies to cover as much ground as possible. You might even try giving each employee a fixed annual allowance to ‘buy’ a selection of preferred benefits, such as: flexible working hours; self-rostering (ie, teams of employees negotiating and agreeing their own hours); buddy system; flexible working location; special leave availability (for personal and family crises, for example); career breaks; health, wellbeing and employee assistance programmes; childcare/eldercare subsidies.

Success depends on implementation

Managers will need training in the range of benefits available, and in providing guidance to employees on combinations that will work well. Work-life issues could be incorporated into annual training plans and performance appraisals. And remember, take-up of flexible benefits should not affect recognition or promotion opportunities.

Communicate!

Inform employees of the policies and benefits. Post details on the company intranet.

Keep your work-life policies relevant

Measure employee satisfaction and performance factors such as retention rate. The policies should have a positive impact on the company's bottom line and on staff and customer satisfaction and retention. Consider meeting every four months to check how things are going. Keep monitoring, gathering feedback and adjusting.

And finally, never, ever...

Like any good programme of change management, there are some common errors to avoid.

• Don’t impose work-life balance policies without consultation – or good intentions will leave a sour taste in employees’ mouths.
• Don’t assume that work-life balance is only relevant to women with children or employees with elderly dependents – modern life is more complex than that.
• Don’t wrap new arrangements up in bureaucratic procedures. Accessing any new arrangements should be a simple and straightforward as you can.

The prize is clear: reduced burnout, higher levels of productivity and more motivation. Good luck.

Looking for more ideas on how to handle common management challenges? Check out CMI’s Insights news and guidance. Patrick Woodman is Head of Research at the Chartered Management Institute. Connect with him on LinkedIn. Image source: EY global study