Work-life Balance

Work environments that recognize the need for work-life balance contribute to staff and faculty feeling valued and happier – both at work, and at home. An understanding of the importance of harmony between work and personal life necessitates greater workplace flexibility. This flexibility helps minimize conflict by allowing staff and faculty to accomplish tasks necessary in their daily lives.

Balance enhances well-being, reduces stress, and reduces the possibility that home issues will spill over into work, or vice versa. This protects physical and psychological health by allowing staff to maintain their concentration, confidence, responsibility, and sense of control at work.

Organizationally, this translates into enhanced staff and faculty commitment, job satisfaction, organizational citizenship behaviours (discretionary behaviours that are beneficial to the organization and are a matter of personal choice) and job performance. In turn, balance is associated with enhanced well-being and reduced stress.

Staff and faculty with higher job stress are more likely to be dissatisfied with work and be absent either physically or mentally. One primary source of stress is a conflict between work and family roles.

When work-family conflict occurs, health and well-being are undermined. This imbalance can lead to constant tiredness, bad temper, and inability to progress. These can, in turn, lead to additional stress-related illnesses, as well as higher cholesterol, depressive symptoms, and overall decreased health. The impact on the organization is increased costs due to benefit payouts, absenteeism, disability, and turnover.

•  the organization encourages staff and faculty to take their entitled breaks (e.g., lunchtime, sick time, vacation time, earned days off, parental leave);
•  staff and faculty are able to reasonably meet the demands of personal life and work;
•  the organization promotes life-work harmony;
•  staff and faculty can talk to their manager when they are having trouble maintaining harmony between their life and work;
•  staff and faculty have energy left at the end of most workdays for their personal life.