Top Tips to Improve Your Organisations Work Life Balance

A healthy work life balance is essential to business success and one of the most popular topics discussed today.

As the century’s most significant challenge in management, the concept of work-life balance isn’t always straightforward. A healthy work-life balance divides workers’ time between their personal lives and work lives. A few key factors driving this critical issue are the shifting expectations of employees at work, constantly changing demographics such as an ageing workforce, and the increasing number of people trying to juggle day-to-day responsibilities and work. When it comes to the construction industry, the topic of work-life balance is no different.

The industry’s labor shortage, long working hours, and the transient nature, workers can find it challenging to manage a healthy balance. 1 in 10 Australians work ‘very long hours’, categorised as over 50 hours per week by the OECD. Unfortunately, a poor work-life balance fosters conflict and, worse, job burnout. This can ultimately lower performance, productivity, increase health issues, project defects and delays.

However, a business that address work-life balance will see enhanced productivity, quality, sustainability, and profitability.

Achieving a Healthy Work life Balance

A lack of work life balance results in an increased stress while at work and is a growing concern in the construction sector at a global scale. According to a recent study, Work-related stress lowers feelings of the overall well-being of employees across various industries, not only construction. It disrupts workflow, hinders the overall work quality, and fosters a higher turnover rate for employees. Construction companies, in particular, are known for unsupportive work-life balance environments and put themselves at risk of increasing job stress issues.

The Benefits

Experts openly state that creating a supportive work life balance has numerous benefits with the Work-Life Balance of Construction Management Professionals being separated into three categories:

• Business
• Social
• Individual

The most significant advantage for construction companies that promote a healthy work-life environment can lead to:

• Attract top talent
• Increase productivity
• Higher retention rates

Supporting a work life balance allows employees to manage their stress levels. This is because a sustained work-life balance enables workers to have more flexibility and control over their working environment.

Attracting top talent and lower turnover rates are significant advantages in construction. It marks one of the industry’s most critical challenges in the future—the increasing deficit of a skilled workforce. Construction companies initially started noticing the labor shortage around 2012. Since then, the labor shortage has grown even more recognisable.

With construction companies launching an increasing amount of new projects, the issue threatens and disrupts the industry’s growth. Anything that can help construction companies hire skilled workers and preserve their efforts while boosting quality provides them with a competitive advantage and boosts survivability. One way the construction industry can retain its workers is to implement safety training for all its contractors. Having qualified contractors can increase their productivity and change the industry’s growth.

Defining Work-Life Balance is a Challenge

Defining work life balance can be quite a challenge.  This is because it can have a different meaning to different people.

One challenge for companies is deciding what work-life balance means to each of them and how to attend to all employees achieving it through the right initiatives. Unfortunately, some of these companies launch new work-life initiatives that focus strictly on parents and families with young children.

However, this approach doesn’t go far enough. Companies need to consider the needs of all employees—even those with different family structures and different demographics.

Regardless of what programs are initiated, you can be sure that it’s a balancing act, which depends on how your employees manage their responsibilities. That’s a significant challenge for construction workers, given the industry’s nature. Construction is a demanding field where workers experience high levels of job stress due to time constraints, total workloads, and various deadlines. That makes it particularly difficult for workers to manage their situations which is a massive problem regarding work-life balance issues.

Managers can play a significant role in helping someone achieve an excellent work-life balance. Managers serve as “gatekeepers” for employees, giving them information and a path to your organization’s formal work-life benefits. In addition, they’re often the first people workers go to when they have issues due to their knowledge of its policies. Supervisors need to let their employees know they’re able and ready to provide help if they encounter work-life balance issues.

Let Your Employees Know They’re Supported

To start, supervisors need to let their employees know that the company endorses a work-life balance. By using initiatives specifically designed to teach employees how to balance their work lives and personal lives, managers can help decrease a lot of the stress people feel on the job while at the same time increasing productivity.

A few steps managers and companies can take to create a supportive work-life balance environment include:

• Maintaining structural consistency by developing a stable and healthy work environment
• Offering meaningful and beneficial community engagement opportunities
• Allowing schedule flexibility if possible
• Engaging in team building activities, events, exercises to foster a sense of unity and belonging
• Encouraging employees to take much-needed vacations and PTO
• Creating short breaks throughout the day as needed
• Allowing for paid time off for significant or unexpected life events
• Making sure managers are healthy, stable models for a work-life balance
• Creating an approving and respectful work-life balance culture
• Allowing for practical safety training
• Reminding employees of their habits and tendencies

Managers and supervisors also need to request help and guidance from their employees, as nobody understands their own needs than the employees themselves. Have regularly scheduled meetings, whether in a group or individually, to discuss the needs of your employees. It’s a great way to build rapport and understand what your employees need to function at their best. If you want to know more about how you can talk to your employees about this you can check out our article here.

Takeaway

Work life balance is an ever-growing management issue. Any construction company that wants to thrive needs to create a healthy, supportive work-life balance environment, especially in the construction industry.

Not only are the short-term benefits great, but the long-term advantages outweigh any sort of policy changes or temporary inconveniences.

These benefits can benefit construction companies in what may be considered the top challenge in the industry today—recruiting and retaining experienced, highly skilled construction workers.

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