Work-life balance

In many parts of the world, people work long hours. Many say – and some complain – that they spend more time with their work-colleagues than with their family and friends. Some also say that the time and energy they put into work eats into other activities that they want – indeed need – to do, like sleeping, exercising, observing religious practices, reflecting and contemplating, etc.

It is best practice for organisations to support their employees seeking a healthy balance between work and life outside of work. But what is a healthy balance?

For many it seems to be about 35 to 45 hours work and no more than five hours commuting per week, combined with between seven and nine hours sleep in every 24, and time every day by themselves and with family and friends. It also means taking regular short breaks and longer holidays where work can be temporarily forgotten, or at least put aside.

But we need to remember that – just like people’s physical sense of balance – Work-life balance can vary a lot in the population. Driven people may seek and be happy with a balance that puts more resources and time into work; people with less family commitments maybe look for opportunities to work and travel more; people with close families may be happy to work longer hours for local organisations which give them short commutes.

And there are other possibilities than simply commuting each day to a place of work. Home-working and tele-working can increase individual productivity while eliminating the 'dead time' and wasted energy of a daily commute. Part-time working and job-sharing were originally introduced in many organisations to help their employees stay in work while raising a young family; they are now used by other workers who need a shorter working week but have skills to use. The benefits of retaining good people often outweigh the additional administration costs of running non-standard contracts.

The important thing is to enter into a discussion with the people in your organisation – individually and as a group – about what Work-life balance means to them. If you can give them what they want, while still meeting the organisation’s objectives, what’s stopping you?

(This is the second post to the Oakwood Club and Alumni Network blog. Please look at the first post for why we're doing it and how we intend to run it. Please leave your comments or questions. We're eager to know what you think. Thank you for reading and getting involved.)