How the Working World Needs Self-Care Support
From educators to offices, the working world needs extra self-care support to start effectively managing the work-life balance for the better.
Our work life balance as a collective has gone down the sink in light of Covid-19. The pandemic pushed us all into home working, then left us there without guidance. Too many of us were bruised by the inability to switch off in the evening, the constancy of our boss’s attentions, and the lack of home space we all had. Working from home is a fantastic idea until we start to realise that it eats into our home lives. So what do we do about it?
The working world needs self-care and we have a duty to provide it to our employees. Fortunately, advising our employees on looking after their work-life balance is not a difficult task.
The Working World Needs Self-Care
The working world is severely lacking in self-care. While our old lifestyle involved office chats and peer support, our new world involves a solo desk on a home computer. Some of us are working with children at home, some of us with elderly parents to care for. The working world shifted so completely that we now need to re-learn how we go about working while still taking care of our own selves.
How to Help Employees Manage Work-Life Balance?
In this new world of home and remote working, the path of the digital nomad is the new normal. For those of us with a house to run and a family to organise, it’s no mean feat. Here are a few ways to help your employees maintain a healthy work-life balance in the face of the digital age.
Give them Free Wellbeing Training
This one is a no-brainer. If you live in the UK, give your employees Hays Wellbeing Training. It’s free to use, your staff learn how to self-manage their own wellbeing in the home workplace, and you are contributing to their future success. Staff who are unable to manage their home and work lives are staff that leave your business. They are staff that may end up off sick or who are susceptible to stress. Wellbeing training helps with this, particularly in the fast paced industry of education.
Support and Facilitate Holidays
Make sure you remind your employees to take holidays. Before, when we worked face-to-face, taking a holiday was as simple as spending a week off at home, enjoying your life. Now, that home holiday is just another week spent at work. Employees need time away and regular change to keep them engaged just as much as a client would.
Encourage an Open Door Policy
You can have an open door policy in the digital world as much as you can in the real one. Being approachable and informing staff you are there to support them, can be all it takes to prevent the isolation of remote working from setting in.
Stay in Touch with Staff
Above all else, staying in regular contact with your remote employees allows them to feel connected to your corporate ethos. Stay in touch with your staff. Your support might be the only support they are getting.
