The Relationship Between Work Life Balance and Employees

03 August 2022

Not everyone gets to find the right career opportunity the first time, but you want to find jobs that strike a healthy work life balance.

For every job seeker turned newest employee, the first and basic reason for job seeking may not be to have a great work life balance but simply finding a job that pays well so you can come out of debt and meet your daily and monthly expenses.

As you'd later find out, in the long run, this entry level mindset would not be favorable to you as a wrong career opportunity will cause a lot of burnout, stress and even depression.

Many freshly recruited employees with little to no work experience will at some point find jobs that keep them in an endless back and forth in Zoom meetings and being assigned more tasks way beyond the job description. So you're left wondering how and when you'll be emailing your letter of resignation to the manager.

If you've been there, then you'd certainly want to understand the relationship between work life balance and employees. Why are we hearing so much about work life balance today?

The reasons are not far-fetched:

mental health and stress
striking a balance between work and family time
the need to improve productivity levels at work
challenges of working from home

Many considerate employers understand that creating a work environment that prioritizes balance between family and having a career, will save time, money, and maintain a healthier, more productive workforce.

Why Work Life Balance Is So Important

1. Having Work-life Balance Helps Improve Mental Health

Striking a balance means employees will be happier when coming to work. This will in turn, reduce stress and fatigue, two common health issues in the work environment.

When employees are continuously stressed, it becomes a chronic problem leading to mental health problems like depression, anxiety, and insomnia. Then there are the physical health problems like chronic aches and pains, and hypertension.

Fatigue, also called burnout, happens when an employee suffers too much stress overtime. When stretched to the limit, burnout can cause irritability, mood swings, the need to be left alone and a decrease in productivity levels.

Many workers have had to seek therapy simply because of a lack of work life balance. Some end up taking sick days, which in turn becomes costly for the company.

2. Make Time for Fun Activities

"All work and no play" is catching on real fast with many companies, embracing a super lively work culture by marking out time on the calendar for fun events through team bonding activities.

Some of these may include outdoor recreational activities like paintballing, scavenger hunt and other engaging collaborative challenges to get the adrenaline pumping and creative juices flowing.

Who wouldn't want to be in a company that takes the happiness of its employees very seriously?

There has to be a reason why recruiters ask about your hobbies and things you like to do for fun. Just be yourself and don’t take such questions for granted.

3. Maternity Leave

If you're an expectant mother who has to earn a living for the family and you simply want to remain productive in every area of life, choosing the right career opportunity that pays special attention to your family is a win-win!

With the clamor for change in supporting women in the work environment, it's becoming common practice, especially with large corporations, to give adequate paid maternity leave to female employees.

This shows that the company places value not just on what women bring to the table but also values family building and bonding. This is one sure way to retain employees.

Make the time to find out about the company culture of the firm you’re applying to. Ask previous employees. Reach out to current employees on LinkedIn to get a sense of how much the company values its employees.

4. Eat Healthy, Exercise, Sleep Well

Companies that offer flexible working hours give employees the opportunity to head out and make better decisions with what to eat.

Imagine spending most of your day on your laptop WFH or at the office, would you be able to walk up to the kitchen and cook up a hearty meal for yourself and your family? Most likely, your answer is no.

Prolonged hours at the office adversely affects the quality of what we eat, how we take care of our bodies and the number of hours we sleep. This could be from processed packaged quick snacks to choco bars or burgers and fries.

Unhealthy eating habits could lead to long term health complications which could also affect productivity at home and at work.

Having a healthy work life balance means paying attention to what we eat, the need to exercise and yes, get adequate sleep.

5. Refreshing The Mind Leads to High Creativity and Productivity

Your mindset matters. Having offline hours or balanced hours away from work gives room for self-improvement, taking training courses, learning a new skill or simply going on vacation to draw inspiration from different cultures and people.

Make room for getting clarity. Turn off the noise, the social media, stop opening the emails every five to ten minutes. Your brain needs room for creative thinking. The world can wait.

You would notice that time away from work and everything in between, will leave you feeling recharged and ready to take on the next challenge.

At Compaira - we want a world where everyone has the chance to progress; we will provide the connections to do this simply and without bias.

As a bonus point, having an active work life balance means success for you and success for the company. Productivity at the office could lead to a future promotion. Having a happy personal life while remaining relevant in your position is the truest form of effective work life balance. Find jobs that encourage you to prioritize the people and the things that matter most to you.

The good news is that you don't have to search for the right opportunities alone. At Compaira, we're always looking for ways to link reputable world class companies with super talented candidates like you. Sign up to our newsletter to get the latest career tips and seize the right opportunities that tick all your boxes.

The Relationship Between Work Life Balance and Employees

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