HR Solutions To Work Life Balance

In today’s life, the toughest obstacle for human resource practitioners is to cost-effectively attract, train and retain their employees. It is for this cause that companies develop an environment that promotes work-life balance support to help employees achieve balance between their career and non-professional lives (Tariq et al., 2012).

HR can assist employers to help employees achieve the goal of work life balance. Employers should consider the following:

· Allowing work from home – If the employer is not happy with full-time remote work, they should consider 1 day a week which should be appropriate or allow meetings (using technology) to be attended remotely rather than in person (Miller, 2016).

· Focusing on outcomes, not hours worked – High productivity doesn’t necessarily come in an 8-hour working day. In other words, productive workers can easily get their job done and does not need to be at the office for a full 8 hours a day (Miller, 2016).

· Promoting breaks in the work day – This can go a long way to keeping stress under control. Take steps to enable staff to take meal breaks and rest breaks. It has been proven that taking breaks increases productivity levels. Higher productivity ensures that working late is less required (Miller, 2016).

· Allowing extra leave/time-off – employers should consider extending the number of days available for holidays. Also consider offering additional days as a form of bonus for the completion of goals or to honor milestones. A different concept is to encourage all workers to use their leave days instead of losing it (Miller, 2016).

· Offering wellness plans – A healthier workforce will lead to less stress and less absences, which can boost productivity and decrease the need to work more hours to stay caught up (Miller, 2016).

· Offering flexible hours – By allowing flexibility, employers can better manage their time around all tasks. Many companies are now opting for flexible work weeks in which workers can work 4 longer days and take a weekend of 3 days per week. If this is too much, remember that flexible hours may also mean encouraging workers to make up for hours spent on personal meetings or errands, so they do not need to take days off to accomplish these items (Miller, 2016).

" Align all the elements of your life to support the pursuit of what has deep meaning to you"

Nozuko Tikayo