Whilst many would say that simply by allowing an employee to work from home brings greater work life flexibility, is this actually the case?
Yes it is true that work from home allows an employee to reclaim the travelling time and other time spent outside their home, but what happens when our employees are filling this time with more work.
Many employers would be cheering if this is the case however is this really the best scenario for a productive employee.
It is very easy for employees who work from home to spend more and more time working without worrying about when they need to take lunch, leave to beat the traffic or even taking any down time at all.
Now more than ever, when your employees are working remotely to your location, you need to have an understanding of their work life balance.
Common signs an employee may be not balancing their work and play includes, exhibiting stress, burnout, fatigue and anxiety.
As their employer you can help them to introduce techniques to ensure they are spending the right amount of time working and at play/rest.
One time management technique developed by Francesco Cirillo is the pomodoro technique. This is where a timer is used to allow 25 minute work intervals followed by a short break. This technique used regularly can improve productivity and stress levels.
Another method is to do this over longer blocks where for example 90 minute work intervals followed by 15 minute breaks apply. It is important to ensure that the 15 minute break is used to do something that you enjoy that enables you to switch off from work.
Set office hours and stick to them. Ensure that a timer is set to go off at the ‘end of day time’ and leave your work area for the rest of the day/night.
Ensure you have a dedicated work area at home that you can leave during non-work hours – even if this means moving a laptop/ipad and other equipment from a kitchen table and putting it into a cupboard until the next work day.
Schedule down time activities and stick to them. This can help to ensure that you actually spend your non working time doing the things that you enjoy.
For assistance with managing your employees work life balance, contact us at [email protected] or 1300 720 004.
Information in HR Advice Online guides and blog posts is meant purely for educational discussion of human resources issues. It contains only general information about human resources matters and due to factors such as government legislation changes, may not be up-to-date at the time of reading. It is not legal advice and should not be treated as such.