Three Reasons Why Encouraging Work/Life Balance Works
A critical part of being a company with culture is encouraging a healthy work/life balance for employees. We believe in working to live, not living to work, and would like to share how this idea has proven successful.
Encouraging a healthy balance between work and life for your employees and leaders can have an incredible impact on a company, including saving money, increasing retention, and drawing higher-skilled applicants. Research even shows that the majority of workers today are more interested in work/life balance than they are in higher wages! This means that it is critical for companies to pay attention to this subject, as the call for a more balanced lifestyle for workers continues to grow.
The concept of a “work/life balance” is no new thing, and it can have different meanings for different workers and generations. Many suggestions for how to offer better balance have to do with time management: offer more flexible hours, more options to tele-commute, more PTO, more vacations, etc. While these options are helpful, they do not encompass all of what it means for a company to embrace a culture of balance. And in fact, many companies that are well known for employee satisfaction and buy-in offer only a few of these incentives.
In many industries—like construction, retail, and food services—it just isn’t possible to provide flexible hours or tele-commuting to many of the workers. However, companies in these fields can still offer crucial incentives that help encourage a healthy work/life balance and develop incredible commitment from employees.
Here’s three steps any company can take to foster a healthy and supportive company culture:
Supply Health Benefits & Medical Support
Helping employees (full-time and part-time) maintain their health can have a significant impact on a company’s success. Although it requires investment, benefit packages to all employees has proven to be cost-efficient in the long run as companies cover fewer sick days and workers make fewer costly mistakes, work more productively, and incur less injuries. Encouraging employees to prioritize health—and as a company prioritizing the health of one’s employees—can have an incredible financial and cultural impact.
In addition to benefits, companies can also allow employees to borrow and give PTO to others who need it for extended illnesses or leaves of absence. This helps to build community among members while reinforcing the knowledge that, if the worst were to happen, the employees and their families would be taken care of. Alleviating worry over the significant financial impact of illnesses helps employees bring focus and higher energy to their job performances.
Offer Extended Employee Training, Workshops & Education
Offering extended levels of training and workshops expresses to employees that a company values them and is willing to invest in their success. Advanced job training can also signal paths to promotion, helping employees feel that they have a future with a company, which in turn increases retention and productivity.
Workshops for employees can include topics related both to the company and a workers’ personal life. Even lessons on life skills like financial planning or budgeting can create a positive relationship between a company and its workers. These types of training sessions can also help balance a workers’ home life, making it easier for them to stay focused and energized at work.
Another step companies can take is investing in employees’ education, offering scholarships for particular classes, degrees, or certificates. When employees feel invested in, they reflect that feeling of value back onto their work and the company they work for.
Commit to Community Engagement & Team Building
Many companies have seen significant cultural return on encouraging volunteerism and community engagement for their employees. Whether it is offering paid time to volunteer in the community or organizing special volunteer events, these offers are a special way for employees to give back—and to see their companies investing in benevolent action.
Not only do employees feel empowered by these events, but they’re also an opportunity for companies to create rapport with the communities they inhabit and to draw in fresh, skilled labor through positive reputation-building.
Despite some popular opinion, creating a culture of work/life balance at a company doesn’t necessarily include ping-pong tables in the break room, bring-you-dog-to-work days, or even extended paid time off. At its core a healthy, balanced company culture is about recognizing workers as people—with lives and families—and respecting them as individuals. Engaged leadership and respect from the managers that interact daily with employees is critical to a healthy and engaged team.
Curious to find out how The MDC Group has applied these principles in building our own company culture? Call us today!