Once you’ve decided to promote good work/life balance among your staff, determining the best policies and practices to implement is the next step.  If your organization has HR personnel, they will be able to work with you to make your workplace or department more balanced.

There are a number of different ways that managers and employers can have a positive influence on the work/life balance of their employees.  Some require policy changes, but others are simply informal practices that you can put into place easily.

Workplace Policies

Implementing HR policies that allow for flexible schedules and tasks are straightforward ways of improving work/life balance for staff.

• Flexible hours – allowing flexible start and end times
• Telecommuting – facilitating the ability for staff to work from home
• Job sharing – splitting a full-time job with another employee
• Graduated return – gradually building up to a full-time schedule after a leave
• Personal leave –such as time off to care for sick children or relatives

Workplace Benefits

Providing certain key benefits could have a higher cost to implement, but may also pay for themselves in reduced costs associated with work/life balance, such as absenteeism and lower productivity.

• Employment assistance programs (EAP) designed to assist employees with both personal and workplace problems such as stress, martial issues, financial problems or health concerns which lower workplace productivity.
• Assistance with child care, including financial assistance or provision of on-site care
• Allowing employees to volunteer in their communities during work hours
  

Management Approaches

Even without significant policy changes, there is a great deal that mangers and employers can do to improve work/life balance among employees.  Simple changes to workplace practices can significantly improve work/life balance for staff.

• Consider eliminating unnecessary meetings or reports
• Communicate expectations clearly to your staff
• Allow staff to control their own priorities as much as possible
• Reduce unnecessary work-related travel
• Provide on-going feedback to staff regarding their performance