How can you promote work-life balance for your employees?

Communicating expectations regarding job responsibilities and performance standards is vital for employee success. It involves: Defining Roles: Clearly outline each employee's job role, including tasks and responsibilities. Productivity Expectations: Specify the level of productivity or output expected from employees within a given timeframe. Quality Standards: Communicate the quality standards that employees are expected to meet in their work. Deadline Management: Set clear deadlines for tasks or projects and emphasize the importance of meeting them. This clarity helps employees understand what's expected of them, reducing ambiguity, and enabling them to perform effectively and efficiently.

It is important to set clear expectations from leaders to respect personal space, not only outside work hours but during work hours as well.

Flexibility works wonderfully when you give the reins of work arrangements in the hands of the team, with productivity and results oversight. I have always been a promoter of giving team the control of when they want to come, for how long they want to come to office as long as the results are being delivered and collaboration expectations to support other team members are well met. Even if one does not have a flexible work arrangement, giving some leverage to the team goes a long way in their engagement and productivity.

As a holistic wellness doctor and an employee wellbeing specialist, I believe in developing wellness programs that include physical fitness activities, stress management workshops, and mental health resources. Promote a culture of well-being that emphasizes the importance of taking breaks and caring for one's health. Also, offer EAPs that provide confidential counseling and support services for employees facing personal or work-related challenges.

Some would like to believe that managers should be involved in managing their team members. This is untrue, and considerably less productive and creative. Many leaders like to work and interact amongst their teams. Titles are a matter of label, not responsibility and pay. This method of management is self effective and built on natural interaction and collaboration. Some believe this is an European hierarchy, which is flat in structure and titles, but more agile and capable of working autonomously as remote adhoc teams and/or individuals. People naturally role up to others by virtue of experience and intelligence. This does not mean that the most intelligent lead, so this paradigm serves its purpose.

I advocate encouraging employees to set clear boundaries between work and personal life, including designating specific workspaces and turning off work-related notifications during non-work hours. Encourage managers and leaders to set an example by respecting these boundaries themselves. If leadership routinely sends emails during non-work hours, it can create an expectation for all employees to be similarly available.