The Truth about Work Life Balance

This post came out from The Straits Times (23 July 2015)
Title - The Truth about Work Life Balance

Some pointers that I've got are:
1. It starts with your mentality
2. A balancing act

On It starts with your mentality

• Understand your energy zones on being productive to tackle your work tasks.
• Survival zone - Where we usually are: Putting in a lot of energy but feeling negative - impatient, intolerant, irritable, frustrated
• Burnout zone - Where we don't want to be: Not investing a lot of energy and feeling negative - exhausted, empty, depressed, sad, hopeless
• Performance zone - Where we want to be: Putting in a lot of energy and feeling positive - upbeat, energetic, action-oriented, motivated, inspiring
• Renewal zone - Where we often forget to be: Not investing a lot of energy but feeling positive - peaceful, cheerful, relaxed, mellow, receptive, in control
• Aim to avoid falling into negative zones and proactively create positive zones to reside in throughout the day. The more you use your time and energy in a way that is aligned with what truly matters to you, the more satisfied you are bound to feel.

On A balancing act

• Effective work life balance requires a concerted effort to look at how work can be done in the most effective way, including tools and processes that manage workload, encourage engagement, and help employees cross the bridge between work and life.
• Flexible work arrangements - This can be flexi-time or flexi-placed. Employees with the flexibility to work anywhere, anytime with cloud based IT infrastructure and bring-your-own-device policies are able to work from home or remotely and seamlessly continue collaborative efforts with colleagues and team leaders on more project-driven or service-level deadlines.
• Leave benefits - This involves the allocation of leave dates for family focused activities and personal needs. 
• Employee support - Helping employees strike a work-life balance can involve providing the right facilities to meet specific needs of employees. Poor work-life balance can lead to stress, absenteeism and low productivity. Helping employees achieve work-life balance is integral to their general health, and level of work satisfaction and motivation.
• Employee engagement - Keep your employees engaged by having open communication with them, and motivating and praising them when they do good work. Employees appreciate being in the know, and will contribute to improvements when they understand the reasoning behind management decisions. This allays their fears and channels their energy into helping the organization reach its goals. 

Yours,
Something Small Thinking Big