#NationalWorkLifeWeek – October 2nd – 6th
Achieve a work life balance for a happier healthier life
As you are reading this I am on holiday. Lucky you, I hear you say, but as a hypnotherapist, you’d be surprised at the number of times I have asked a client “When was the last time you had a break?” and it may have been 2 or 3 years ago. I am self-employed which means I don’t get paid holidays, but unless I take these breaks every 3 months I would soon be no use to anyone else. It’s called spare capacity.
The overworked stressed exec
The client above I cite was a top executive of a global building company. He had actually come to see me about his cycling. He was having panic attacks and wanted to stop them. After the initial consultation I realised there was much more to this than just cycling, he was just burning out. He hadn’t had a day off in 3 years. He was a health and safety executive, and yet he couldn’t see what he was doing was not only ruining his health but his family too.
When he realised he was health and safety checking every aspect of his family, home and hobbies he knew he had to make changes. After seeing me for a few months he announced he was going on a 3-week vacation and that he had just been for an interview with another company. When he got back from holiday his cycling, as well as the rest of his life was so much better, and he had got the job. That was the last time I saw him as he was moving down to Kent, so a series of hypnotherapy sessions had managed to completely change his life around.
So if you’re an executive of a company and your staff turnover is high because they can’t get the work-life balance right, here’s what you can do.
- Look at what can create a better working environment while people are at work – measures that enhance health and well-being during the working day, and help keep stress levels down.
(I used to work at a newspaper and when the deadline was over we’d have fun times having muffin eating competitions and singing and dancing, it made all the focus well worth it and kept productivity up) - Help employees make the most of their own time away from work – protecting that time; recognising that people have lives outside work and need to go home with the energy and time to live those lives; promoting understanding of colleagues’ diverse work-life balance needs.
(Try having family days, picnics or sports events that everyone can participate in, not just down the pub on a Friday after work)
My husband and I improved our work-life balance by my matching similar hours to his work schedule which also means neither of us commutes during the rush hour, which helps with stress levels too.