I was lucky enough to raise my children while working for a company that valued Work/Life Balance. I wouldn’t be surprised if they coined that phrase because at the time, they were so cutting edge in that arena that they set the bar pretty high for all other companies who followed in their footsteps.
As a corporate trainer, it was my job to teach our employees the reasoning behind the new initiative and give them examples and exercises on how to approach it. Work/Life Balance is a catchall phrase that describes ways to properly equalize the demands of both work and home. The stresses from non-stop work play havoc with our physical, mental, and emotional health. Now, with technology and globalization, people are on call 24 hours a day every day of the week. With that, an employee has no down time or home life. Add Covid to the mix and many employees have come to work remotely and the balance between work and personal time has blurred.
Three points that I recall from teaching Work -Life Balance sessions remain the same today; set goals, list priorities, and set boundaries (this includes saying no). Here are other tips from various publications that offer a few workable suggestions.
Now that I sit on the other side of the frenetic post Covid workplace, I can see that my father was right when he told me to relax a bit and that “Life is too short, stop a minute to catch your breath.” Work life balance is an evolving process and with each phase in your life it can and rightly should be, managed differently. I suppose that’s why it’s called a balance.
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