How you spend your summer days says a lot about your work-life balance.
Did you have time for you and your favorite people?
Get to check off any summer bucket list fun?
Or, was June through August the same old grind, just hotter, and with the kids moaning “I’m bored” a lot more?
You know, our work-life standards are terrifically low!
For most people, work-life balance means getting home at a decent hour to be present in their life-life.
Having the time and energy to do the things we want to do, a handle on our stress, and a firm boundary between work and play is not asking a lot. But it’s still so hard to get it right, to find that equilibrium, especially in your line of work.
Meanwhile, I’m over here screaming, “Ask for more! Demand more! Take more!” I think you deserve work that doesn’t dominate life. And life that doesn’t fall into the shadows of work.
Maintaining work-life harmony isn’t just a “nice to have.” It needs to be an expectation of employees. After all, work-life balance helps reduce stress and prevent burnout in the workplace. Chronic stress is one of the most common health issues in the workplace, especially in the fast-paced and always unpredictable world of healthcare and senior living. Stress can lead to physical consequences such as hypertension, digestive troubles, chronic aches and pains, and heart problems. (And in my case, a mini stroke at age 49.)
Interestingly, the Future Workplace 2021 HR Sentiment study found that 68% of senior leaders in Human Resources recognize employee well-being and mental health as top priorities in their organizations. And it’s no wonder, because in order to give our best as team members, we have to be at our best! But the 24/7 world of healthcare makes getting that healthy work-life balance hard to do, even in the best of times.
Sadly, only one in four US employees feel strongly that their organization cares about their well-being. This is a dismal statistic. Research also shows that teams who are most likely to feel the organization cares about their well-being achieve higher customer engagement, higher productivity, lower turnover, and have fewer safety incidents this month.
So if work-life balance really matters to your people and the chances are high that many on your team may feel as though your organization doesn’t prioritize their well-being enough, what are you to do?
Well, today I am going to give you a simple exercise that you can do for your own well-being, and bonus, you can even teach your team to do themselves. It takes only minutes, but it has real health benefits and stress-reducing power. (By the way, I featured this tip in Fully Staffed, my online membership program, as part of the August live content. The entire month of August has been focused on how to solidify a healthy work-life balance in your organization, because that’s what team members want and really deserve.)
Take a peek at the great stress-busting tip my expert guest shared with our Fully Staffed membership by clicking here!
Hope you enjoyed that! Sometimes, all you got to do is just breathe! Share this tip with someone who could use a stress-relieving breather.
Hugs,
Denise
