Benefits of Work Life Balance

You gain many benefits from having a healthy work life balance. It enables you to experience personal satisfaction and professional fulfillment. It also makes you more confident and effective at work. Let’s explore all the benefits you can gain from having a healthy work life balance. Benefits of Work Life Balance in your Personal Life Setting clear boundaries between your professional and your personal life is one of the most powerful things you can do for yourself. By doing so, you enable yourself to experience things more fully, to be more present in each moment of your life, and to spend more quality time with yourself and your family. When you have a healthy work life balance, you are better able to enjoy the time that you are away from the office. You no longer feel the uncontrollable urge to take work home with you or to worry about work related issues while you are at home. You also have a much easier time getting to sleep and staying asleep. Long gone will be the days filled with anxiety and the sleepless nights you’ve gone through while worrying about work. You will feel a much higher level of relaxation overall. You’ll be able to truly enjoy the time you spend with your friends and family. This will make you a better spouse, a better parent, and a better human being. By achieving work life balance, you allow yourself to be more present and focused in your conversations with your spouse, with your children, and with the higher power you believe in. You are able to become more aware of yourself, your strengths, weaknesses, values, and interests. You become a well rounded person and as a result, more compassionate and accepting of yourself and others. Benefits of Work Life Balance in your Professional Life Work-life balance is not only beneficial to your personal life, it also has incredible effects on your professional life. When you establish healthy and clear boundaries between your work life and your personal life, you are much more relaxed and clear headed. As a result, you are more productive, more effective and confident at decision making, and more creative. Your new-found creativity translates into innovation, product creation, improved sales and marketing strategies, and much more. It also results in “out of the box” thinking and creative problem solving. Having a clear mind and feeling grounded are essential to getting ahead in your career. These are particular traits shared by some of the most successful business people out there. They are traits that many would like to have but don’t know how to obtain. Studies on the Effects of Work Life Balance at Work Did you know that according to Northweste National Life, one-fourth of employees view their jobs as the number one stressor in their lives? Northweste National Life also indicates that 40% of workers report their job is “very or extremely stressful.” Source: Stress at Work, published by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Definition of Work Life Balance Wikipedia cites to a survey conducted by the National Life Insurance Company in its definition for work life balance. According to the survey, four out of ten employees indicate that their jobs are "very" or "extremely" stressful. The survey also showed that those in high stress jobs are three times more likely than others to suffer from stress-related medical conditions and are twice as likely to quit. In addition, the following studies which focused on coaching and employees’ work life balance have shown the positive effects the two have on employee performance, fulfillment, personal and professional satisfaction, and bottom line. • Grant, Frith, & Burton (2009) – Randomized Controlled Trial* (RCT) evaluating executives provided with 360-degree feedback and just four coaching sessions for over a ten week period proved that coaching the employees: – Enhanced goal attainment – Enhanced resilience – Enhanced workplace well-being – Reduced depression – Reduced stress – Helped participants deal with organizational change • Duijts, Kant, van den Brandt & Swaen (2007) – RCT assessing the effectiveness of a preventive coaching program on sickness and absenteeism due to psychosocial health complaints showed employee’s: – Improvements in health – Improvements in life satisfaction – Improvements in burnout symptoms – Improvements in psychological wellbeing It’s easy to see how damaging having a lack of work life balance can be. Not only does your family and professional life suffer, but so does your health. These studies are reflective of what truly matters to employees at this time.