Being connected 24/7 — has become the norm in both personal and work life. New technologies that allow us to be nimble and mobile are not only beneficial, but also create blurred boundaries between work and personal life. We can use messengers, email, corporate systems, solve tasks with clients and colleagues almost anytime and anywhere. In this article we will tell you how to maintain a healthy work-life balance and not sacrifice your personal time, as well as what approaches will help businesses to keep their employees productive.
Why it has become difficult to maintain work-life balance
With the transition to remote working, the responsibility for time management and daily routines has completely fallen on the shoulders of employees. Whereas in the past, the working day ended with leaving the office, today, with the advent of technology and digital tools, work can follow us everywhere.
Remote working, corporate mobile apps and messengers allow us to be more flexible and mobile, but at the same time create the illusion that we can always be in touch. Employees often feel they have to respond to work messages immediately, regardless of the time of day, and being able to connect at any time often leads to overwork.
Constant notifications on the phone or computer make it hard to quickly disconnect from work tasks - the smartphone often proves to be a source of additional stress, as it keeps us in constant anticipation of new messages. Therefore, employees often lack a physical boundary between their personal and work lives. As a result, many people experience psychological and physical stress, do not have time to fully rest and recover, which leads to burnout and reduced productivity.
Tips for maintaining work-life balance
Set a clear time for work
Determine the time at which you will complete all work tasks. Even if your schedule is flexible, try to stick to a set time - finish your work, for example at 18:00 or 19:00. This gives you the confidence that the time after work is your personal space and you don't have to spend it on work. If you have a habit of 'finishing' things late at night, start by making small changes - for example, only finish priority tasks and leave less important tasks for the next day.
Create a separate workspace
If you work from home, separate your work and relaxation areas. Set aside a place that is associated only with work - it can be a separate office, a part of a room or even a small desk in one of the areas of the flat. Going to a private space after working hours helps you switch to relaxation better. Even small symbolic rituals, like putting your notebook and notepad in a certain drawer, can help you mentally prepare for the end of the working day.
Master time management and set priorities
For example, the "time-boxing" technique (allocating time for a specific task) or the "2-minute rule" (if a task takes no more than two minutes, do it right away) will help you avoid procrastination. Another useful method is to categorise tasks into important and urgent tasks, identifying those that need to be done first. This way you can get rid of the backlog of tasks and give yourself time to relax without feeling that something is left undone.
Impact of work-life balance on building an effective team
Employees who can clearly separate work and personal time are less likely to experience burnout, have higher levels of job satisfaction, and are better engaged in work processes. Loyal attitude of management to employees' rest hours helps to improve interaction within the team, because when each person respects the personal boundaries of the other, it always favourably affects the quality of communication and trust. Managers who support such principles contribute to the creation of a healthy company climate and a strong team able to cope with challenges and achieve high results.
Corporate messenger to separate work and personal communication
It is often more difficult to maintain work-life balance because we mix personal and work messengers. If you move corporate communication to a special messenger, employees will not be distracted by personal notifications, and vice versa - after the end of the working day, they will not answer work questions. For example, you can leave Telegram for personal correspondence, and corporate platforms like eXpress will do for work. By using a corporate messenger, employees can focus on tasks without being distracted by personal correspondence and news feeds, as is often the case with conventional messengers. Also, employees no longer need to create an endless number of time chats for each new task, confusing personal and work correspondences. And thanks to the inbuilt directory, the time to find the right employee is reduced to a minimum. In addition, the company gets full control over information and access to it, which helps to guarantee data security.
This solution is suitable for various business areas, from IT to retail. For example, Nornickel, Russian Railways, Coffeemania and other companies have already converted their corporate communications to eXpress, providing their employees with a separate messenger for work.
Work-life balance is possible, but it is important that employees and employers meet each other's needs and respect everyone's personal time. Separation of work and personal communication channels, clear rules of interaction and support from the company will help to reduce stress, increase loyalty and create a healthy team climate.
