According to a Harvard Business School survey, 94 percent of work professionals work more than 50 hours a week. This happens across the globe. South Korea reduced their maximum working hours from 68 to 52 hours per week due to declining health rates. More than 600,000 people in the UK suffered from work-related stress due to poor work-life balance.
Poor work-life balance can stem from a few factors including unrealistic workloads, poor work culture and expectations from society. With the rise of the ‘always online’ culture and work on an ad hoc basis, maintaining work-life balance gets more challenging. Here are a few reasons why work-life balance is important.
Maintains your mental health
If a computer is left running for hours, it will eventually heat up and may face further complications in the long run. The same goes with the human brain. If you feel like you’re facing a burnout, take some time off or consult a professional about it.
Maintains your physical well-being
Maintain a healthy lifestyle to keep your physical well-being in check. Exercise regularly, eat healthy and indulge in some ‘ME’ time whenever you can to keep yourself happy.
Enhances productivity
Let’s face it - any organization wants people who are productive and who are able to bring results to the table. It’s better to work at your best instead of working long hours needlessly.
Being more well-rounded
If you focus too much on work, you may lose out on other opportunities in life. All work and no play makes Jill a dull girl, don’t you think so? Make time for yourself to engage in new hobbies or experiences. This will in turn make you more well-rounded as a person.
In order to achieve work-life balance, employees and employers alike must work together. Here are a few ways on how they can do so:-
Employers:-
1. Establish and implement a healthy work culture.
2. Exercise good management.
3. Be flexible at times.
4. Ask your employees to take their holiday leaves.
Employees:-
1. Sort your work priorities, from most urgent to least urgent.
2. Do your tasks more efficiently.
3. Plan your work schedule properly.
4. Communicate with employers when you face difficulties.
Both:-
1. Learn when to connect and disconnect from work matters.
2. Take care of your health (physical, mental and spiritual).
3. Don’t be too harsh on yourself when things go wrong.
4. Tell yourself to keep learning.
Nobody, not even Elon Musk, wants to spend their lives only working or only living their personal lives. It is best to balance the two so that we can have a fulfilling life as an individual. After all, we only have one life, best care for it well and live it to the fullest.
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