Work/life balance is a popular topic! You can barely read any publication without seeing an article on the subject. It probably is a frequent topic of watercooler talk in your Middle Market firm.
As our lives become increasingly technologically connected, it’s become easier to work from anywhere. Also, almost every country has experienced economic downturns in the last ten years. Which, leads to cutbacks that require more work from fewer employees. It also engenders a feeling of always needing to be available.
When you are a mere phone call or text away, it can be very difficult to resist the urge to always be on-call. So, can work & life balance be achieved? Does your C-Suite need more balance in particular? And, can your Middle Market firm impact the scales?
Your C-Suite Likely Needs More Balance
You may have inadvertently set the precedence. Typically, executives are salaried. So, the C-Suite may feel like they must always be prepared to respond. You depend greatly on your executive team. Thus your Middle Market organization may not really enforce time away.
Your executives and top leaders carry a lot of responsibility within your organization. Therefore, they may be more prone to needing some assistance to ensure their time away from work is spent focusing on things other than work.
Can Balance Be Achieved?
Total balance isn’t really possible or sustainable. Life and business change frequently. And, the needs and demands of each do as well. If your Middle Market firm is going through a merger or acquisition or demanding growth phase, your C-Suite probably has many more demands upon them and is spending a lot more time at work.
Likewise, when a child is born or a family member is ill, your employee’s life demands more focus and energy. Balance will look different at different times.
How Your Middle Market Firm Can Assist Balance
While you cannot control the actions of leaders outside of work, your organization can certainly impact, improve and assist in the decisions they make. By offering support and guidance, you can assist in achieving more balance between home life and work life.
If you don’t want employees and leadership checking and responding to emails from home, make that explicitly clear. Also, consider limiting their ability to do so. Mobile devices, laptops, and dial-in connections are fantastic business tools but can make it harder to separate time at home from time at work. If it is an issue, consider making devices limited to work only, see if you can turn off notifications outside of working hours or come up with other solutions to help delineate between expected working times and non-working hours.
Provide employees with ample vacation time and work to ensure everyone uses it. Make it easier for them to use PTO or vacation and place importance on time away. Talk about the importance of breaks and being present in the moment at work and outside of work. There are numerous resources and tools you can provide your teams to help achieve greater balance. Employee education support services, childcare options, flexible scheduling and many more exist that can be beneficial and allow employees to focus on work at work and home life at home.
Helping your executive teams achieve a greater balance (and skills to help with balance) between life and work will not only improve their lives and mental health, it can be beneficial to your organization.
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