What is Work-Life Balance?

Work-life balance is essential to mental and physical health. A work-life balance is the state of managing work and personal life in an organized and healthy way. 

It involves making sure that your time and energy are distributed evenly between work and leisure. Don’t forget to build a life while building a career. It also involves maintaining a healthy balance between physical, mental, and emotional well-being.

Benefits of a work-life balance

Having a healthy work-life balance has many benefits, including improved productivity, reduced stress, and an overall sense of well-being. Employees with a good work-life balance are happier, know how to set boundaries and prioritize tasks and experience less burnout. Studies by Aviva show that some people prioritize a good work-life balance over a high salary.

Achieving and maintaining balance is not always easy, but with the right strategies, it is possible. It requires conscious effort and practice.

Tips to achieve a work-life balance to remain productive

As an employee, you can achieve a good work-life balance by:

• Taking time off 
• Taking breaks throughout the day
• Taking time to do things you love during your off-work hours

As an employer, you can help employees achieve a good work-life balance by:

• Encouraging employees to take paid time off (PTO), and setting a policy for a minimum amount of time off, especially when it comes to unlimited PTO
• Offer other paid holidays such as extended weekends during the summer, parental days, or creative days
• Offer floating holidays so employees are free to celebrate religious or cultural holidays of their choice
• Encouraging employees to take coffee breaks and real lunch breaks by stepping away from the computer
• Ask employees for feedback to help improve policies that support work-life balance
• Practise what you preach!