No doubt remote working offers great benefits to employees. And one of the greatest is flexibility.
However, one of the biggest challenges faced by remote workers is achieving a good work-life balance.
How can HR professionals and employers improve the work-life balance of remote employees?
In this post, we’ll offer some helpful tactics you can use.
But before that, let’s understand why you should support work-life balance and how it can boost your employee experience.
Benefits of Improving Work-Life Balance of Remote Employees
Improving the work-life balance of remote employees can help you alleviate stress and stress-related illnesses among your workforce.
Employees who have a good work-life balance are also said to be more productive. Multiple surveys and studies have shown a huge correlation between work-life balance and employee productivity.
In fact, according to a Deloitte survey, good work-life balance is among the top reasons 39% of millennials and 32% of Gen Zs choose to work for their current organization.
Image via Deloitte
A good work-life balance can also lead to higher employee morale.
Work-life imbalance is undoubtedly a serious problem both in the health of employees as well as their performance at work.
Here are some practical ways to promote good work-life balance for your remote employees.
1. Give Reasonable Workload
Supporting a healthy work-life balance for remote employees starts by giving them reasonable responsibilities.
This is especially true for working parents who have to balance work, childcare, and homeschooling demands.
In the Deloitte survey mentioned above, 46% of Gen Zs and 45% of millennials say the intensity and demands of their work environments lead to burnout, forcing many to think about leaving the organizations they work for.
Image via Deloitte
What does this mean for employers?
Employers should allow employees to work on their own schedules and should try to manage the workload of their entire team so that no single person is taking on a disproportionate amount of work.
They should also adopt the best project management platforms listed by Attrock to ensure the smooth execution of most projects assigned to employees.
2. Prioritize Employee Mental Health and General Wellbeing
The pandemic brought many challenges for most people. These challenges have had a negative impact on the mental health and well-being of many employees.
Surprisingly, according to Adecco’s Disconnect to Reconnect survey, 45% of workers feel that their well-being isn’t supported at work.
Yet, 74% of employers consider employee well-being as very important for their companies.
Image via Adecco
Prioritizing employee overall health and general well-being can improve the work-life balance of remote employees.
This is because prioritizing mental health can boost productivity and enhance the happiness of your employees, helping them restore their work-life balance.
So what can employers do to improve employees’ mental health and general well-being?
In the same survey, the top well-being support initiatives developed by companies since the pandemic include flexible schedules, psychological and mental health support, and more free days.
Image via Adecco
Here are some ideas you can try:
- Make mental health an important discussion with your employees
- Offer mental health training
- Offer flexible work options
- Encourage employees to take time off
3. Prioritize Productivity Instead of Hours
To keep track of remote workers, most managers closely monitor hours worked. Given that remote working offers greater flexibility to employees, many may not be clocking in their usual hours. But this isn’t something to worry about.
Instead, managers should focus more on productivity. Consulting a business mentor can also provide valuable insights into managing remote teams effectively. Additionally, you can explore the best productivity booster tools available on the internet.
One issue that organizations face today is the increasing use of shadow IT. While employees may use their own devices and software to increase their productivity, this can lead to security risks and compatibility issues that can have a negative impact on overall efficiency and effectiveness.
To promote a healthy work-life balance, managers should measure employee performance based on productivity and not time.
By focusing on productivity, you’ll also notice an improvement in your employees’ performance, such as their customer service delivery among other benefits.
4. Encourage Breaks
Even though it can be tempting to ignore breaks such as lunch breaks and vacations for employees, this can hurt their productivity at work and hurt their work-life balance. Follow the best practices to increase productivity of your employees at work.
Here are some of the benefits of encouraging employees to take regular breaks:
- Breaks can improve the creativity and communication skills of your remote employees.
- They can help employees become better at making decisions.
- Taking breaks improves their focus and physical health.
- Breaks improve employees’ mental health. To encourage breaks, managers must lead by example by taking their vacation days.
Conclusion
Remote employees want a healthy work-life balance that helps them improve their overall performance on their work projects without sacrificing their personal life.
As an employer, you need to implement practical strategies that will help them achieve this effectively by:
- Not overworking them
- Prioritizing their mental health and wellbeing
- Focusing on productivity instead of hours worked
- Encouraging them to take breaks
How does your company support the work-life balance of remote workers?
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