EPQ’s Guide to improve your work life balance.....

Work-life balance is a key part of self-care when juggling the responsibilities of your workday, home life, and relationships with your loved ones. 

More than a quarter of full-time employees admit they struggle to balance work and family and other extra curricular. So we’ve taken it upon ourselves to get the balance just right: 

Improving your work/life balance in the workplace 

1. Learn to say NO 

Although classed as a soft skill, learning to say no is extremely hard to any dedicated professional. We’ve all been a situation where we’ve felt forced to say yes to something we didn’t have the capacity to do. It’s a human-thing, and some of us tend to be serial people pleasers!

To start learning the word no, you must first assess the typical demands of your day, learn to prioritise what you have on your plate and become familiar with your boundaries. If you have trouble deciding what is a priority and get handed an excessive amount to do, simply ask your superior what they’d like done with urgency. 

2. Take Breaks 

A break even as little as 2 minutes can count towards:

• Improve concentration
• Reduce stress
• Keep you feeling engaged
• Make your work feel more enjoyable

And if you’re given a lunch break, use it! And that doesn’t mean eating lunch at your desk. Switch off, change location, and use up the entirety of the time.

3. Prioritise your health 

Recognising the importance of maintaining your physical and emotional wellbeing is the first step to making it a priority. 

Consider the following healthy habits:

• Movement/Exercise for 30 minutes at least 
• Commit to taking time off 
• Social connection 

Improving your work/life balance at home 

1. Remove the pressure 

Set and communicate your work hours to your management/colleagues so that you have clear boundaries. This should include when you’ll work and when you won’t be able to respond.

We suggest setting up an autoresponder to alert those who contact you via email, to notify that you’re unresponsive and when you’re back. This can be as simple as:

“Hello, I am out of office from Tuesday 26th July to Tuesday 2nd August. All
emails shall be replied to when upon my return. For anything urgent, please contact (name) Thank you”

2. Block out time for family

For this to work, everyone in your family needs to make this time a priority. Make sure you’re all on the same page. 

Although easier said than done, try and get outside or doing something out of the ordinary and stay away from your mobile unless an emergency. 

3. Reconnect with a hobby

Chances are if you’re reading this, you have been struggling to keep up with work and family, and have little to no time to have an extracurricular. 

Whether it’s after the kids are in bed or on a one-off, it’s important that you are honouring a passion off yours outside the normalities!

To summarise, here’s our must-do’s to withhold a healthy work-life balance. 

• Learn to say NO
• Take breaks and utilise your lunchtime
• Consider healthier habits 
• Communicate your work hours 
• Block out time for family 
• Reconnect with a hobby