The present always connected technological environment has gradually blurred the boundaries between work and leisure resulting in poor work-life balance, increasing levels of unhappiness and even reduced productivity.
With the global economy increasingly becoming a round-the-clock culture it is found that work-life balance remains an issue requiring considerable attention by employers and employees.
Employees today have to sacrifice their personal life to achieve something at work and a research has pointed that this over-reliance on professional commitments saps energy, and also leads to job fatigue, incomplete or bitter interpersonal relationships and even shortened lives.
As the phrase work-life integration is intertwined with work and is vital for the business environment today, more and more organisations are engaging in practices to gain employee trust and talent.
Work-life balance encourages employees to find a defined line between work and life and ensures that both don’t overlap each other. Work-life integration inspires employees to find the best approach to incorporate the requisites of wholesome working, and healthy living amongst each other, to create the best life scenario.
Companies today believe that people work best when they are offered opportunities to work according to their ease. If they can deliver excellent results working from home, so be it; or, if they can have better concentration and work brilliantly being in office overtime, it is their prerogative.
According to a latest Ernst & Young study, one-third of millennials say managing their work, family, & a personal responsibility has become more difficult in the last five years.
Today there are many organisations, which have taken initiatives to ensure that employees at work are relaxed and happy.
It is often noticed that even with such employee-friendly policies and comprehensive programmes, the results are not very encouraging. This happens because the companies focus on only one aspect of the program — that is, putting these practices in place. Just by doing so you won’t be able to manage to retain people, boost morale, and or improve revenues.
It is important to have a focused understanding amongst the employer and the employee, as to how the perfect work-life integration can be achieved.
From the employer's perspective, they can encourage employees to own work balance by understanding their temperament, work style, convenience.
Making work-life integration as a part of their business strategy by communicating, training and analysing employee sub-cultures and creating opportunities for focused deliverance of work-ethos can also be helpful in achieving this.
On the other hand, employees should learn to draw a line between work and personal life.
At times, an overworking employee is seen as somebody who is extra involved in the organisation, and hence the company expects the same from other employees as well. This is something that employees should refrain from.
Employees, aiming to become model employees, should not neglect their health as overworking at a time brings with itself stress, which eventually leads to diminishing productivity. They should also know that smart work delivers higher productivity.
In the immediate future, organisations that offer better work-life integration to their employees, will become the employers of choice, and be listed amongst the most aspirational places to work at.
However, these organisations could only prosper if they have employees who are trustworthy and understand the latent ideation behind having a work-leisure integrated life, which helps them grow personally and professionally.
Courtesy: www.peoplematters.in
