Work-life balance key driver of employee retention

There is now greater awareness among employers that well-being is directly proportional to good performance

May 27, 2017 03:35 pm | Updated May 30, 2017 11:28 am IST

CHENNAI, TAMIL NADU, 29/05/2016: Archana, an employee with IT firm Cognizant seen with her child Aradhana at her home in Chennai. Most women prefer flexi-timing jobs that help them juggle multiple roles at critical phases in life over a full-time career engagement that could potentially disrupt work-life balance. 
Photo: Shaju John

CHENNAI, TAMIL NADU, 29/05/2016: Archana, an employee with IT firm Cognizant seen with her child Aradhana at her home in Chennai. Most women prefer flexi-timing jobs that help them juggle multiple roles at critical phases in life over a full-time career engagement that could potentially disrupt work-life balance. Photo: Shaju John

The biggest driver for seeking new jobs is better compensation. Or, so goes the popular myth.

With awareness about the need for adopting a healthy lifestyle on the rise, people are leaving no stone unturned in achieving a balance between work and personal life.

According to a recent survey by Michael Page India, a global recruitment company, acquiring new skills and ensuring work-life balance now supersede the desire for higher remuneration. This survey, conducted among 650 Indians and 4,700 employees in the Asia-Pacific region, has indicated that while 48% seek new skills and 39% want better work-life balance, only 34% consider income to be a decisive factor. The survey has quite clearly highlighted a substantial shift in the way employees are prioritising and working towards striking a balance their work and personal lives. At the same time, organisations are making conscious efforts to encourage their employees to lead a balanced life.

One of the most important aspects of work-life balance is understanding that it is a key factor to ensure well-being of employees -- a core component driving performance.

Both employees and employers are increasingly realising the fact that well-being is directly proportional to good performance, increased engagement levels, and is a significant tool in maintaining a higher retention rate.

Concept of well-being

Today, the well-being of employees plays a paramount role in an organisation’s overall growth agenda.

As part of this, work-life balance is promoted as a strategic business initiative and woven into a company's people practices. The well-being agenda doesn’t need to be a complex strategy but can be driven by simple policies, programmes and easy-to-achieve goals. While a holistic approach with a bouquet of initiatives can be implemented under the well-being canopy, it is important to know that a holistic concept of well-being is not restricted to physical well-being, but also includes social and emotional well-being. Counselling support offered through experts will help manage stress-related issues both on the personal or professional front. Contributing to a higher purpose through collective action drives social fulfilment,leading to social well-being.

Energy management

Work-life balance is largely driven by efficiency, which is not just time management, but also energy management. For better energy management, companies could conduct workshops for leaders and employees. Managing energy is a powerful additional way of streamlining our work life better.

Energy Workshops are a unique concept with modules that aim to create a sustainable high-performance culture by extending to employees, ideas and tips to manage their energy more skillfully, so that it leads to better time and stress management.

The idea here is that for individuals to recharge themselves, they have to recognise the costs of energy-depleting behaviours and then take responsibility for changing them, regardless of the circumstances they find themselves in.

The good news is that better energy management can be achieved through simple routine activities, which include prioritising your work and spacing activities. Greater capacity — that is, greater energy — makes it possible to ‘get more done in less time’ at a higher level of engagement and with higher sustainability.

Above all, at the workplace, what directly contributes to work-life balance is flexibility, faster decision-making, better collaboration and building a culture of transparency and straight-forwardness.

Delegation and appropriate resource planning help manage time and maintain work-life balance.

Organisations can initiate programmes and training modules for people managers to enhance such skills.

Learning from others’ strengths and valuing differences help create a culture of respect, creativity and innovation, thereby contributing to performance which, in turn, augments professional and personal well-being.

A holistic approach

Attaining work-life balance is a holistic approach that takes into consideration management of multiple aspects of work as well one’s personal life. While it is the responsibility of both employees and employers to manage life effectively at the workplace and beyond, a 360-degree outlook, boosted with the right mindset and willingness to attain the balance is critical for this. We live in a VUCA world which poses many challenges, but also offers many opportunities for growth. To make the best of the opportunities, we have to stay ahead of the curve consistently. It, therefore, becomes imperative for us to manage our health, time and energy optimally.

(Rachna Mukherjee is Chief Human Resources Officer at Schneider Electric India)

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