Life is not only a job. People have their personal lives, in which they spend time with their families and close friends, or even spend this time for their personal endeavours (for example, reading or writing). When the amount of work is overwhelming, employees will feel miserable, the amount of stress is at risk of going up, and as a result, employees will reduce their productivity and even may increase the probability of their absenteeism at work. In this brief I essay, I will explore two policies that might help both employers and employees to overcome the imbalance between work and life.
One possible solution is using telecocommuting and flexible schedules. For example, Grant (2011) writes that MITRE Corporation successfully adopts the above practices thus giving its employees the opportunity to be absent when they need to. By the way, MITRE is ranked as one of the twenty five companies that provide the best work-life balance (Grant 2011).
Another possible policy that can be implemented is suggested by Shapiro (2014). According to him, in regular situations employers should not contact their employees at night time, during the holidays and weekends. Such contacts (let us say e-mail) may lead to the increased employee stress and only make them burnout rather than facilitate the task fulfilment.
As a matter of fact, the above two policies should remind employees that work is not everything. The environment where stress is minimal should be set for all employees without exception, and in such a case their productivity will go up, and the firms’ performance will improve as well. The implementation of the above policies is heavily based on the managers’ initiative, and therefore the employers’ realization of the need for work-life balance is needed to bring the change.
- Grant, A. 2011. Top 25 Companies for Work-Life Balance. Available at http://money.usnews.com/money/careers/articles/2011/05/11/top-25-companies-for-work-life-balance
- Shapiro, G. 2014. 10 Ways to Establish a Better Work/Life Balance. Available at https://www.shrm.org/hrdisciplines/benefits/articles/pages/10-ways-work-life.aspx
