10 Ways to Improve Employee Well-Being and Work Life Balance

1. Provide Flexible Work Arrangements

Post-pandemic, the popularity of remote work has skyrocketed – 98% of workers want to work remotely at least some of the time, according to Forbes. However, there’s no one-size-fits-all. The study concludes that while it has a positive impact on work-life balance for the majority of respondents, it negatively impacts others. In light of this, employers may consider providing flexible work arrangements with the following measures:

• Offer remote work opportunities, but have dedicated support to check in on its impact on work-life balance. Having an office space that employees can utilize if they wish can help create clear boundaries between work and home life.
• Provide flextime schedules so that each employee can work according to their needs.
• Look into the option of compressed workweeks or 4-day workweeks, a strategy that has shown a range of benefits and conversely has proven to even increase productivity.

2. Encourage Regular Breaks

No-one wants to stare at a screen all day. With 69% of workers experiencing burnout from digital communication tools, encourage a culture of taking small breaks throughout the day to help with focused productivity and promote mental health. Implementing structured policies around breaks – such as a set lunch hour, for example – can help with this.At the same time, providing dedicated relaxation spaces in offices can serve as a forcing function for employees to take their breaks. 

3. Offer Generous Leave Benefits

Having concrete benefits that promote taking leave will establish your reputation as an employer that takes employee well being seriously. Some of these policies could include:

• Annual leave that exceeds the statutory requirements of your country. Explore what that looks like in your country with Playroll’s global hiring guides.
• Family-friendly policies, such as parental leave and childcare support, to help them balance their work and personal lives.
• Bonus leave, such as birthday leave or mental wellness days.

4. Promote Physical Activity

Good physical health is a surefire way to give your employees’ overall well-being a boost. By bringing fitness opportunities directly to the office, employees can easily incorporate physical activity into their daily routine. It's a win-win situation for everyone – employees stay healthy, and employers get the benefits of a happier, more productive workforce.But what can you practically do to encourage it? 

• Organize onsite wellness programs, such as workout classes, yoga sessions – even a dedicated gym. 
• Fitness challenges and incentives can be a fun way to motivate employees to get moving. For example, you can implement a step challenge with rewards for reaching fitness goals.
• Don’t neglect to invest in ergonomic workstations for your employees: adjustable chairs, standing desks, ergonomic keyboards and mouse pads can all go a long way to keep employees comfortable and happier. 

5. Support Mental Health

Being intentional about your efforts to support employee’s mental health in addition to physical wellness programmes can help you establish a more positive work environment. What could this look like?

• Provide access to counseling services to support employees' emotional well-being, whether it's through a dedicated in-house counseling service or referrals to external professionals. 
• Stress management workshops are a great way to equip employees with the tools they need to cope with pressure in and out of the workplace, from relaxation techniques and mindfulness practices to time management strategies.

6. Establish Clear Boundaries

Poor work-life balance is a direct result of unclear boundaries between work and personal life. As an employer, there’s a few simple tactics you can implement to foster a culture of respect for personal time:

• Define your expectations for work hours from the get-go, with set start and end times for the work day. That way, employees know when they're expected to be online.
• Set limits on after-hours communication, and encourage employees to switch off their email and other communication tools when it’s the end of the work day. 

7. Offer Professional Development Opportunities

Everyone wants to feel like they’re continuously growing and thriving in their career – make it a central part of your efforts to promote overall employee well-being:

• Provide a budget for training and skill development programs that offer employees the chance to enhance their knowledge and expertise in their field, whether it's through workshops, online courses, or certification programs. 
• Have career advancement paths that provide employees with a clear roadmap for progressing in their careers, from entry-level roles to leadership positions. Outline the skills, experience, and milestones needed to reach that next step in your organization.
• Offer mentorship and coaching programs that pair employees with experienced team members who can offer guidance, support, and networking opportunities.

8. Encouraging Social Connections

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many workplaces have become hybrid or fully remote. It’s more important than ever to be proactive in encouraging social connections at work in this context, and prevent the sense of isolation that can easily affect employees. Try these tactics to get it right:

• Arrange team building activities to help build trust and connections among employees, whether it's a fun game, a collaborative project, or an outdoor adventure.
• Establish channels at work that recognize and celebrate milestones and achievements, such as hitting targets, completing projects or marking work anniversaries. 
• Create awareness among employees of groups they can join within the organization, whether that’s employee resource groups, or social groups. That way, you can build towards creating a truly supportive community among your workforce.

9. Provide Workload Support

Being overloaded at work is a recipe for burnout. Here’s some ways you can head it off and maintain employee well-being:

• Assess the workload distribution among your team, and ensure that tasks and responsibilities are allocated fairly and efficiently among team members. 
• For employees that are currently dealing with a heavy workload, step in to offer direct assistance and invest in resources that help employees manage their workload, whether that’s providing additional support staff, giving access to extra training programs or tools to streamline processes. 
• Prioritize tasks and deadlines that will most likely achieve the goals of your business, which can help reduce overall workload. Encourage employees to focus on high-impact activities and defer less critical tasks.

10. Foster a Culture of Work-Life Balance

It’s an uphill task to improve work-life balance in isolation in the workplace: if you don’t have an established culture around it, you won’t get very far. To build this culture from the ground up, prompt your management team to lead by example. When leaders prioritize their own well-being it sends a powerful message that it’s acceptable for employees to do the same.

To maintain a culture that respects work-life balance, you need to remain responsive to the changing circumstances of your employees. Regularly assess your current policies and practice by distributing surveys to gather feedback from employees, and stay on top of industry best practices to adjust your approach. Ultimately, prioritizing employee well-being and work-life balance isn't just the right thing to do – it's also smart business. Organizations that invest in their employees' health and happiness experience higher productivity, lower turnover, and greater overall success. 

Leverage Playroll to offer employee well being benefits

Need a simple way to offer employee well being benefits to your distributed workforce? On Playroll, you can set up global employment benefits at the click of a button. Request a demo today.