| What
is it?
Work-life Balance is a subjective and ill-defined concept. One
of the problems is that only the individual concerned can decide if they have
achieved it! Basically it is finding that point at which you are happy
with your lot. For example you could decide that the ideal balance would be a
25 hour week as this would (subject to other commitments) give you 30 hours of
leisure time. But, if you reduce the amount of time you work, most people also
reduce the amount of money they earn. And it is not exactly rocket science to
see that you might not have enough money to enjoy all those extra leisure hours! So
part of the work life balance is deciding what you want out of it. You might like
to consider creating a policy for your workplace that sets out what a workplace
balance means. It could be improving morale, reducing working hours, dealing with
stress or retention of staff. But it should mean defining it so that you can measure
it-and therefore assess progress towards it. How
does your life balance?
Unless your business is well organised and structured
it is extremely likely that your own work life balance comes crashing down on
the side of work. Ask yourself how many times in the past couple of months you
have: - Worked more than a 40 hour week?
- Been late for a family
appointment or event because of work?
- Been the last to leave the building
more than 2 days on the trot?
- Felt resentment because it was a nice day
to be outside instead of being stuck in work?
- Got too much pressure
at work?
- staff turnover high?
Think of all those trite, but
true, sayings like: - You only get one life.
- The children are
only young once.
Then realise that they are talking about you as well
as others! Also, they are talking about your business, your workplace or your
staff. Change how things work and not only will you benefit but your business
will benefit from happier, more motivated staff. Staff that do not keep an up-to-date
copy of their CV in case today is the day that they get fed up and walk out on
you. If you are the business owner then the only one that can significantly
alter the work life balance is you. So you have to change things. Because if you
don't then you will be doing exactly the same thing you have been doing over the
past few months in 5, 10 or even 25 years time. How
do you find out what to change?
It is very hard to be objective about
yourself. So most people need help in deciding what to change and how - and that
means using Jonathan Vowles Chartered Accountants as consultants. But you have
to remember that if you are going to change to make your workplace better for
you and your staff, you have to start defining what better means. So that
is where our business advisors start to help you… Contact us to arrange
a short, free and no obligation meeting to discuss your work life balance and
to find out how little it costs for us to help you. | 