Work-life balance. It is a buzz term for sure, but not everyone has a full grasp on what it means or how to achieve it. As a supervisor, fully understanding this concept can help not only you, but your workplace. Maintaining a healthy work-life balance has a direct & positive impact on productivity and job satisfaction. This prosperity encourages employees to commit to a company for the long term, reducing burn out and turnover rates. Here is a list of things that you can do as a supervisor to help your employees achieve and maintain this healthy work-life balance.
• Communicate
• Ask your employees about their wants and needs. That is the best way to get to know them and what aid they may need to achieve a healthy work-life balance.
• If some employees feel uncomfortable verbalizing their needs, you can provide an anonymous questionnaire to attain the same information.
• Don’t forget about the tenured staff!
• Multigenerational staff is hard to stay in tune with. Different ages have different needs and different balances. Be sure not to forget about your tenured staff.
• Outcomes Over Hours
• Reward good outcomes rather than sacrificing personal time and putting in extra hours. This will ensure that employees don’t burn themselves out with extended hours as well as shift their focus to time management and outcomes in a timely manner.
• Lead by Example
• Let employees enjoy their personal time. That means no emails on weekends or days off!
• Paid Time Off
• Encourage workers to use their paid time off to enjoy their personal life and take a mental break.
• Consider stopping roll over vacation if you haven’t already. This eliminated the option to accumulate and save days, forcing those work-a-holics to take a much-needed break to avoid burning out.
• We are all Human
• Everyone has limits, both mental and physical. Be aware that everyone has different limits on what they can handle without being overwhelmed. Be in tune with our staff and make adjustments based on your observations.
• Try to distribute work evenly among your staff. With all the new technology advancements, lower and middle tier jobs have become obsolete, leaving senior staff with a lot more work to do than some may realize. Keep this in mind when assigning projects.
• Interim Professionals
• Hire enough help to aid full time staff to stay on top of their work if your business is subject to cyclical “peaks and valleys”.
• Hiring extra help year-round will also help with keeping your business operational while full time staff takes their well-deserved breaks.
• Time is a Gift
• Consider giving an extra day off, or even an afternoon off after the completion of a big project as a reward.
• Extending a holiday break could be beneficial too. For example, if there is typically a lull at the office the week between Christmas and New Year’s, try closing the office. This way your employees come back ready to get to work after a relaxing break.
• Education
• Promote achieving a healthy work-life balance in emails, memos, or letters to staff.
• Provide resources for different demographics represented in your office. For example, give material on how to balance your work life and personal life as a new parent if you have someone coming back from maternity/paternity leave.
• Try to hold a lunch where you can facilitate discussions about your staff’s balance.
• Make sure you have a clear and comfortable open-door policy so that your employees feel comfortable talking to you about what they need.
• Don’t limit yourself
• As a supervisor, you may be clouded by your own personal type of work-life balance. Not everyone has the same balance. For example, a working parent has different personal needs than a single employee, or one with parents that need help on a regular basis.
We at Mazur & Associates, Certified Public Accountants and Business Advisors are here to guide you. We are available by telephone and email, so please call (732) 936-1230 or email steve@mazurcpas.com to schedule an appointment today!
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