Work Life Balance

Find a Job You Love

Perhaps one of the best ways to strike a work life balance is to find a job that you could imagine doing for free. When work gives you a sense of personal accomplishment other than monetary gain, you might even wake up feeling excited and motivated for the challenges ahead. If you find your current work environment too taxing or you don’t love what you do, it might be time to move on.

If you are feeling unsure of where you are in your job, take some time to lay out the pros and cons of your options and you might achieve more clarity. Here are some tips you might find effective to help you make a decision:

• Writing down your little successes for each day
• Listing three things you're grateful for about your job
• Speaking up about aspects of your job that you're unhappy with

Organize Your Workflow

Amidst the bustle in and out of the workplace, you might find yourself getting caught up in a routine. This routine could have worked for you before but as more responsibilities and tasks pile up, it is ideal that you take a step back to review what should be prioritized and what can be outsourced. One tip to learn from TopResume is to place equal importance in rethinking your activities at home as much as your workflow in the office.

Some tips to help you in the household include:

• Hiring a dog walker
• Ordering groceries online
• Delegating household responsibilities with your family

When reaching out and asking or getting help for your daily duties in the home, you can relieve yourself of unnecessary stress and take time to unwind. By getting into the practice of organizing better and putting yourself first also helps you in the workplace, where you can focus on your strengths and achieve greater goals with more efficiency. Work life balance should involve both your habits at work as well as your time outside the office.

Unplug When You Need To

There are the days when the workload is overwhelming, and pushing through at your maximum capacity seems to be the only way. Maintaining a good pace is important but the human brain can only sustain that level of concentration for about two hours, and extending that might prove to be counterproductive. Taking consistent breaks and unplugging is essential for you to catch your breath and refresh your mind, allowing you greater potential in making better decisions with more creativity.

Some ways to unplug at work and at home include:

• Meditating for short periods of time
• Taking a walk outside during your lunch break
• Exercising regularly to clear your head and boost your mood

A company is nothing without its staff and it’s essential to recognize the importance of employees’ needs in their careers and to help encourage work life balance as a priority. In order to create a happier workplace, employers can take these steps to support their team.

Be Encouraging

Balance begins at the top with the management team where the managers should take the lead by exemplifying and motivating employees to work hard as well as de-stress. Below are some ways to encourage staff to take care of their well-being.

• Ensuring that employees use all of their leave
• Allowing employees the freedom to take short breaks throughout the day
• Prioritizing mental and emotional support with an open-door policy, offering support groups for employees and providing them access to mental health services.

Be Flexible

Trust your employees in doing their best in both workplace and home. To build trust in the team, supporting them with lots of flexibility can increase overall job satisfaction.

In the event where staff need to take time to care for a sick family member or take a personal day off, support can be given by:

• Offering flexible working hours so that employees can manage their time according to their strengths
• Providing the option to work remotely so that staff can take care of personal needs
• Encouraging employees to create structure and boundaries in their working schedule to prevent taking home work as much as possible.

Be Generous

We know that actions speak louder than words and employees are happy when they are rewarded as much as they deserve. This can come in the form of monetary rewards but there are other compelling benefits a company can offer its team as well. Most of these benefits can be mutually advantageous, such as:

• Providing employees with access to a fitness center, to improve overall well-being. Exercise promotes stress relief and healthier employees.
• Offering childcare services to create a family-friendly work environment, allowing less time for worrying about children and more focus at work
• Organizing a company retreat and reward hard work with a well-deserved break

When staff get recognized for their efforts by receiving tangible benefits such as these, this encourages and lifts their well-being and motivates them to strive for better work.

A company is only as good as its people, and at Lyreco we strive to build a healthy balance of work and play in order for great work to happen. Together with our employees, the workplace does not simply represent work but encompasses passion, well-being, excellence and mutual respect. When everybody works hard mindfully for a work life balance, our community at Lyreco grows stronger and happier with every milestone.