News pouring in from all quarters of work area spanning several countries indicate that the employees are struggling to achieve a work-life balance. Work, work  and just work, its all for evident reasons ;money, power and prestige.

Dreams galore and wish-fulfillment by spending more time on work. Success does follow when you work more and when you work harder but you are not able to achieve one thing and that is work-life balance. This is a hard-core truth, believe it or not.

The research from several countries like U.S.A, U.K. and Canada have shown that business owners and employees of a business organization alike have taken to increasing workloads to ease off the pressure to generate more revenues. This is more so when the world economy is being hit by inflation. There is no other alternative as to cut down on their time being spent on their own life and their families.

But, can anybody answer as to why all this? Isn’t work-life balance an utmost priority? Does ever nature change its normal course of events?  Imagine if it rains and only rains throughout the whole year. What will happen, you will have no life ultimately. In the same manner, work has to be balanced perfectly well with life in order to be both successful and happy.

One naturally thinks that diverting  from personal life  to professional ethos will lend you credibility and take you away from  professional worries be it job security, or regulatory issues or generating more income and revenues.

Be it a parenting issue, or taking care of the elderly at home, work-life balance calls for. One fine day you come to realize that you are terminally ill or you are fed up with the tensions prevailing either in your personal life or your professional life. The reason, one of this remains unfulfilled. And this is more so with women who have to give equal attention to office and home affairs.

Many employers are of the view that they keep on increasing the workload on their employees because they want to cover up the recruitment costs, office costs and such other costs. Today achieving work-life balance is a challenge and the demand for it is going high.   

Some of the IT companies like Altis Consulting has approached the problem of workload differently such that it gives more flexible work hours to its employees rather than making alterations in the normal work pressure. This would also prevent employees from taking holidays. 

Effective Solutions to attaining work-life balance:

Although there is no single-step approach to this problem, some of the easy-go methods are:

Perform and Consult: Your performance will not come only when you work for long hours. If  you manage your timings well, you can give results in lesser time.

If you want to perform, don’t overexert yourself.  The next step is ask your boss to be more considerate and tell him clearly that you have your personal life to balance. Do not pay such a big price at the cost of your family and loved ones. If you are self-employed, take the help of your peers and employees.    

Opt for flexible/alternate  work arrangements:

If however, the organization that you are in does not call for work-life balance, then try other organizations where there are options of alternate work arrangements. For eg. Telecommuting, flextime, flexible work hours, job rotation etc. As an employer too, if you want employee retention and expect good performance, then allow for these arrangements.       

Organise/look for company parties:

As an employer, organize events and parties on a weekly or monthly basis so that employees can bring along their spouses and families together. In this way, the family won’t be neglected and the employee too will feel at home. As an employee, join companies which throw such parties and get-togethers. 

Undertake self-evaluation tests and take less stress:

At any stage of your professional life, you should undertake self-analysis. Know when to stop working and start afresh. Go for some stress busters like yoga, prayanam or some light exercises like aerobics.

Undertake Training and Motivation:

Whenever you suffer short of time to make up for your job or your personal life, go for some motivation classes. Learn to be more organised.This will give a new direction to your life. You will not tend to be workaholic. Art of living tell you not to be just successful but also sacrificing and giving.   

While all these will help you achieving work-life balance, you need to ensure that everything is in order at home, at office, only then can you do so. The employer should maintain that there are good working conditions and facilities, whereas an employee should make the best use of his available time. At the same time, take care of your health. And remember that “all work and no play makes jack a dull boy”.