The Balancing Act We Hear So Much About

The advent of digitization has enabled millions of employees the world over to use technology to work virtually. Offering unprecedented seamless integration of work cultures and flexibility in terms of work cycles and location, this positive brings with it a bigger challenge; the diminishing blur between personal and professional life.

'Strike the balance between work and home life.' We hear these words all too often but what do they actually mean?

A concept that believes in the judicious juggle of their personal & professional lives, work-life balance enables employees to split efforts between a better work life, and holistic personal space. It is a constant effort to grow as an individual by ideally defining personal and professional spaces. A focused work-life habit enables a person to create set work ethics that lets them make space for friends, family, and colleagues while allowing self-time for recreation and social activities.

This elusive balance can, in other words, be understood as a concept of being more focused in a current role, and resist the blur that is bound to happen as an individual grows in a career. With more technological innovations coming into the social mix, the equilibrium of work is bound to be upset, which now greatly depends on an individual's capability of defining roles at home and work.

A recent Harvard Business School survey has pointed that nearly half of the respondents are regularly putting in more than 65 work hours a week, with a whopping 94% responding putting in more than 50 hours of work a week regularly. This has lead to experts and health professionals saying in unison that the increasing workload is a damaging sign that contributes towards wrecking relationships, work efforts, health and overall personality.

Juggling the demands of work and home, life is stressful, to say the least. Having a tight grip on life at home and at work can reduce stress and conflict in the workplace and foster a greater sense of satisfaction and motivation, which in turn could increase employee productivity and retention. Furthermore, a workplace that is sensitive towards the struggle between personal and professional life is an attractive destination for potential candidates. Thus, we must ask ourselves how employers can facilitate finding this balance for themselves as individuals as well as for their employees.

As an employer, we may feel a certain responsibility towards our colleagues in easing the burden of this challenge and as employees; we may find that we respond positively to bosses who exhibit empathy. In this way, compassion and consideration can improve the performance and overall satisfaction of an employee, and increase their loyalty and trust towards a company.

Organizations that offer holistic self-development, and avenues that allow pursuit of work-life balance greatly help reduce the stress employees experience in their day-to-day activities. Medical research has pointed out that when an employee spends a greater part of his day corresponding to various work related activities, neglecting health, family & friends and other important aspects, stress building up can effect adversely on work and personal life.

One of the quintessential ways to find this balance is to maintain structural mental consistency. This means establishing a stable work-life schedule, which one can reliably refer to. By devising a predictable schedule, not only one can feel more at ease at work due to the added sense of familiarity that an agenda brings, but it also minimizes the chances of valuable time being wasted. Friends, family & colleagues are aware of how one has prioritized his day activities, managing their time accordingly.

This leads to another very important practice to follow for progressing towards a healthy balance: Prioritize. Talking from the organizational point of view, a good manager should communicate to his team as to which tasks are the most important and require prioritized attention, and which are less significant and could be carried out further down the line. This allows the employees to structure their day accordingly, knowing how much time to dedicate to each task and thus reduces the risk of compromised, rushed work results and earn a good work-life balance. Prioritizing and structural consistency goes hand in hand, complimenting one and other, allowing an employee to recognize their responsibilities and duties, and thus engendering a sense of confidence in their role at the workplace.

The hallmark of a good leader is to communicate. The manager should be able to answer any questions or address any concerns that may arise during work conditions. In doing so, they help lighten the burden of an employee and alleviate any stress or anxiety which may be having an effect on their performance at work and even at home. A manager, who is readily available to reassure their employees, in essence, assists the individual's endeavor for the perfect balance, by ensuring that their work life is stable.

Furthermore, a great leader should empower their employees. Whilst it is comforting to be assured and given guidance, an employer must make efforts to find equilibrium between micromanaging and allowing free reign of the management of a task. This means that they should assign tasks with deadlines, but also readily answer any questions or concerns and check in from time to time, or monitor the process of a project but without constantly interfering. This encourages employees to stand up for themselves, which in turn boosts confidence and provides validation for those who are less self-assured.

As the leader of the team, one must be conscious of their actions and how they will be perceived. This is because the work-life balance of employees is greatly influenced by that of their employer. If the manager is creating expectations, which deviate from the conventional behavior of the workplace such as emailing during non-work hours, then it is likely that employees will do the same. This inability to 'switch off' from work is unhealthy for the entire workplace, and can lead to stress and anxiety problems, which can be damaging to the individual and the overall productivity of the workplace. To ensure better man-management and enable a healthy work-life balance, the managers can offer employee friendly opportunities including work from home, flexible work hours, paid leaves, sponsored get-togethers and team building initiatives.

So how does one, either as an employer or employee ensure the perfect work-life balance? The answer lies in following the five sigma of work-life balance which helps regulate work and life cultures. These are:

1) Personal Management: The basic management that everyone should employ in his life is Personal Management. By managing oneself, and not neglecting health, food intake, communication and switch-off time one can easily create the requisite space for himself, that will assist in perfectly balancing life and work.

2) Time Management: By effectively planning time available for work or leisure, one can make optimal usage of time and can prioritize activities, which helps keep up with assigned activities and to-do lists. Also by segregating the important and urgent from the important or urgent, time management helps understand what is to be done first, and in priority.

3) Technology Management: The advent of Technology today is both a boon and a curse. Boon for bringing ease of actions, and a curse for dictating terms for us humans, rather than the other way round. With technology being at our beck and call, one should ride the turn and smartly employ technology to help create a better work-life balance.

4) Stress Management: With complex situations arising in our daily lives, stress is a by-product that we can no longer ignore. With more relationships, responsibilities and distractions happening all around, one needs to keep a hang of emotions and practice de-stressing activities that empowers one to get through the testing times.

5) Change Management: Change being the only constant, adapting oneself to the changes in everyday outlook lets one to be on the top of happenings around. By putting in concentrated efforts to align to the changes happening around, one can thus sync his work-life activities and create a much greater and larger value stream of life culture.

Once one is able to streamline daily activities, the challenge is to incorporate it in daily activities and carve meaning into their lives. This is what super achievers' who have a healthy work-life balance do. So what is it that they do differently? They,

A) Are focused on planning, prioritizing and achieving what they want: These individuals plan, re-plan and implement everything they wish to achieve in a day, week, month or a year. They are not passive individuals who follow what is happening but make informed choices to make things happen. They prioritize their needs and efforts of achieving it and thus stick to the routine to attain the perfect life balance.

B) Return to their original plan of action and revise the changes and alter accordingly: For them, no plan is set in stone. They understand that deviations are bound to occur, and thus they constantly re-access their goals and make changes that allow them to be on top of their game.

C) Believe every individual has his/her own importance and none is neglected: For these matchless individuals who attain the perfect work-life balance, everybody around them has individual importance, and they make sure that the amount of time committed to them is honored. With deviations happening, they make sure to keep the other person informed to show the value they have for the said relationship, and hence always stay connected for a better work-life balance.

D) Focus on the task at hand, and avoid distractions: As far as possible, people with a structured work-life balance keep away distractions focusing on the task at hand, and completing it within the stipulated time before moving to the next engagement. This way, they try to stick to their original plan of action and achieve the work-life balance that they aim for.

Man being a social being cannot ignore the activities around him. For him not being connected to his surroundings shall sooner or later lead to becoming socially ostracized, which nobody can afford. Hence, it is always good to set up priorities and not be bound to act like a superhuman trying to achieve everything that is asked for. Remember, it is all about working smart and not working long.

Lastly, a great tip to ease off the work-life issues comes from none other than Richard Branson himself whose views on life are huge inspirations to all of us. He says, "No matter what your career goals are, try to do something different each day," he suggests. "See where it takes you, and what you can learn. This has made every day of my life an adventure - who knows where it might take you!"