The Benefits of Work-Life Balance & 5 Tips to Help Your Team Find It

🏃 TL;DR — 8 quick tips to promote work-life balance:

No time to read the full article? No worries.

1. Set yourself as ‘away’ on work-social channels like Slack at the end of the day. 😴
2. At the end of your workday, write what tasks you want to accomplish the following day. ✍️
3. If you’re feeling anxious, list all the things you want to accomplish to help you remember it's a finite list of tasks. Don’t forget to prioritize them. 📝
4. Use your phone’s restrictions tools to avoid social media and other distracting and time-sucking media. It's better to use that time to relax, meditate, or finally start that book on your shelf. 🧘
5. If you can, meal prep so you don’t forget to eat. 🧑🍳
6. Get a big water bottle so you stay hydrated throughout the day. 💦
7. Pre-block your calendar with the items you want to accomplish so people don’t book over it. While you’re at it, pre-block your lunch. 📅
8. Enjoy some lighthearted fun with team building experiences by Confetti! 🥳

What is a good work-life balance? ⚖️

Let’s get one thing straight: having a good work-life balance isn’t about total equilibrium. Just as life shifts and changes unexpectedly, so will the balance you create between your professional and personal lives.

If everything isn’t 50/50 all the time, don’t stress it. It’s not about perfection. It’s about finding a rhythm that works. 

Developing a structure to help minimize the changes and developing time management skills will better help you go with the flow when things shift.

You deserve to enjoy your personal life without compromising your work performance. With the right tools, you can, should, and will excel at both. 😄

Why does a healthy balance matter? 🧐

Today’s culture drives it into our heads that we have to be “on” 24/7. People are finding it increasingly difficult to mentally clock out of work at the end of the day. 

And with our desks being steps away from our bedrooms, better work-life balance is more important than ever. 

✨ Now, let’s let the numbers do the talking: 

• Companies that encourage a healthy work-life balance have 25% less turnover (CompareCamp) ‍
• 85% of companies offering work-life balance and employee assistance programs report an increase in productivity (CompareCamp)
• $190 billion is spent on medical costs each year to address the physical & mental symptoms of work-related burnout (Forbes)
• 83% of employees say their personal relationships are negatively affected by burnout (Zippa)

All-in-all, finding an improved work-life balance allows your team to perform well at work without neglecting their personal lives and goals.

A healthy balance between work and life makes your employees happier, helps them manage stress, and even leads to a more fulfilling career.  So, let’s talk about how to help your team experience a better work-life balance and greater overall well-being.

5 ways you can support your team’s work-life rhythm 🙌

Employers, you should always be working to help your employees live a healthier, more balanced life. Not only will it help them feel more supported in the workplace, but it will increase retention rates and performance. 

To put it in less corporate terms–it’s a win-win for the whole crew!

Here’s how you can support your team while they find their work-life groove.

1. Lead by example: Company culture starts at a senior level. If your leadership doesn’t display a healthy work-life balance, your employees won’t either. Lead by example by taking care of your physical and mental health, setting boundaries, and training managers on how to spot an employee who is feeling burnt out. 👯
2. Routine pulse checks: If you want to know how your employees are feeling, the best way to figure it out is to ask them. Take the wellness temperature of your team every once in a while, and help them if they're struggling with poor work-life balance. 💕
3. Understand your employees’ goals: One of the best things you can do for your team members is to understand and support their goals in their professional and personal life. Provide support for them as they work towards those goals, and provide them with opportunities that will help them get there faster. 💫
4. Let your team know their options: If your employees can work from home or have flexible work schedules, make sure they know it! Remind them of any initiatives in place for employees who feel stressed or need a break. At Confetti, we offer paid mental health days to our employees that don’t count against PTO or sick leave. 🗣
5. Encourage fun: You should remind your team that you support them in their personal goals. If you’re looking to help your employees find balance in work and life, programs and initiatives that encourage fun are a great option. Monthly team building games, like our virtual Trivia games, are easy to plan as recurring events to keep the fun momentum going. 🎉

How to find your individual work-life balance 💃

Work-life balance is a nuanced topic because it looks different for everyone. Every person has different:

• Boundaries
• Factors contributing to burnout
• Activities that help them reduce stress and feel refreshed

If you’re feeling off-balance, there are always things you can do to refresh your routine and build healthier boundaries around life and work:

1. Understand it’s a rhythm 🕺 

As your life changes, so will your work-life balance needs. So, it’s important to be flexible. For example, is Q4 often busy for you and your team? Pamper yourself with a bit more “me-time” in Q3 and Q1 to help offset the crazy work that happens in Q4.

Even when things get crazy, honor what your mind and body are asking for in the present moment. 🧠

Sometimes you will need peace and relaxation, sometimes you need to head to the gym, and sometimes you’ll need quality time spent with people you love. ‍

Whatever it is, pay attention to your breathing and emotional state to help assess where you’re at. Your needs inside and outside of work will change as life comes at you. It’s often surprising how taking time for yourself amidst the craziness is the missing key to success!

2. Put personal health first ❣️

Remember, health is wealth. Cheesy? Maybe, but it’s true. Working long, unsustainable hours can take an immense toll on your mental and physical health.

Your personal health should always be your top priority. 🙌

This will look different for everyone. But remember to move your body, drink a lot of water, and seek professional help if you need it. The right company and team won’t judge you for putting your personal health first.

3. Use your PTO 🏖

‍Your PTO is there, so use it!

“Hustle culture” has us believing that taking breaks is a sign of weakness. On the contrary, taking time off will leave you feeling refreshed and refocused, ready to kick butt at work and in life. 

PTO is there to increase employees' work-life balance. What you use it for is your business — take a vacation, refresh by doing absolutely nothing — whatever works for you. But use it! 

If your work discourages you from taking time off, that is a sign of a larger issue. You have a right to have time off from work throughout the year.

4. Encourage employees to set (and stick to) their boundaries 🙅

‍This is a tough one, especially for employees who work from home. No matter where you work, setting boundaries with your work hours and work communication is vital.If you give everyone access to you at all hours of the day, you’ll find yourself working long hours and you’ll never actually get anything done. Not only that but you’ll get overwhelmed fast. 

🚨 EXTRA IMPORTANT TIPS: 

• Encourage responsible screen time by communicating boundaries with your team so they know when they can and cannot reach you. 📣
• If you feel comfortable, share with them the other things that you’re doing, how it helps you and why it’s important, so they can get behind those hours and support you. 🫂‍
• If setting boundaries with your team members gives you anxiety, extend to your team the best ways to reach you in case of an emergency. That way you know that if they don’t do that — it can wait until you return back online. 🤝

When your home doubles as your office (and even if it doesn’t), people can get into the habit of feeling like they have access to you 24/7. This makes it really difficult to ever actually unplug and enjoy your life.

Your time spent offline is just as important to your job performance (and quality of life) as your time spent online. Remember to take time to disconnect from work (and from tech entirely, if you can swing it) so your boundaries are set firmly into place.

Add some Confetti to your work-life balance 🎊

Finding a work-life balance that works for one employee won’t match the rest of your team. It might change throughout their life and career, and that’s a good thing! Whatever works best for you is right for you.

And if you want to make finding work-life balance fun for everyone, check out our virtual team bonding experiences! Team building, stress relief, and an all-around good time. What more could you want?