What are some of the new ways you’re finding to help employees achieve a level of work-life balance?
We know that our associates’ lives extend beyond their professional roles, which is why we’ve built a culture that seeks to care for our associates and their families, allowing them to find balance in their lives. We’re constantly evolving the benefits available to our associates to ensure they’re relevant to the lives that we are living today. For example, our move to a hybrid work company where associates flex between in-office and virtual work creates opportunities for collaboration and connection, while also acknowledging that life’s demands don’t always fit a 9-to-5 work schedule. Additionally, in 2021 we made Juneteenth an official holiday, closing offices and branches. This brings our holiday total to 14 days, including 2 floating holidays for associates to observe the cultural observances and holidays that are important to them, or just to take time for themselves.
How are work-life balance challenges different for remote workforces?
With the majority of our associates still working from home, we took an innovative approach to meeting the changing work-life balance challenges of our remote workforce. We recognized the importance of encouraging time to step away, to unplug, to explore, to re-energize. In May, 2020, we launched the first “Invest in Yourself Day” – to give associates one full day per month to focus on personal and professional development. That day over 1,900 associates logged into our associate-powered, self-paced learning platform, Learning Hive—a single-day record at that time. The idea was so well-received it was instituted by most teams across the enterprise. Every month, teams send a curated list of ideas to their associates to help them plan their day. However, we also want to create space for associates to decide what they need. Whether that is learning a new skill, spending time with family, practicing relaxation for their mental health and wellness, or whatever helps them recharge.
What are some of the new ways you’re finding to help employees achieve a level of work-life balance?
CECO recognizes the importance of employees being able to effectively maintain a good work-life balance. Paid time off is crucial, as it gives employees the opportunity to rest, relax and recharge, as well as to attend to non-medical personal responsibilities. Therefore, starting in 2022 CECO changed its structured paid time off policy to one that gives eligible employees in the U.S. the flexibility to assess how much paid time off they need to balance personal and work responsibilities. There are no restrictions on the number of days that can be taken in a given year, and employees no longer accrue earned vacation time, which CECO believes is a win-win for everyone.
How are work-life balance challenges different for remote workforces?
CECO’s flexible time-off policy applies equally to all U.S. employees, whether they are in the office full-time, work in a hybrid setting (a few days in office and the rest at home) or fully remote. For the day-to-day, CECO has embraced a more collaborative and flexible approach to work. Full-time remote employees are given the flexibility to manage their days as it works best for them while still meeting the needs of the company and customers, especially as a global organization working in multiple time zones. The company provides remote employees with the autonomy to balance their workday with their personal lives, and also gives them the technology and tools to help them be highly productive and collaborate with team members as though they were in the office.
What are some of the new ways you’re finding to help employees achieve a level of work-life balance?
The global pandemic has forced IPC to take a closer look at how our employees are working and the type of environment we want to promote. It is critical, that environment parallels our company values and ties into living a sustainable work-life balance. As many countries are hopeful that soon we will be in an endemic, IPC continues to support our employees’ desire to live fulfilled lifestyles both professionally and personally. The organization continues to champion a hybrid work model with in-office and remote schedules. During the past two and a half years, IPC’s Senior Leadership has observed that while there are opportunities when being together in person as a team can be highly beneficial and productive, we do not need to have an “all or nothing” mentality. The ability to offer our employees a level of flexibility has both empowered and provided employees with a level of autonomy. In turn, this has garnered trust that our leadership truly values their holistic wellbeing. The topic of “wellness” has been a large focus at IPC for the last several years. IPC has introduced our “Four Pillars of Wellness” as part of our overall employee benefits. Within each of these four pillars {emotional, physical, financial, and social} we are rolling out programming to help educate and support our global employee base. Two examples are through new partnerships with the corporate wellness platform “Burnalong” as well as educational/coaching services through “Food & Mood.” IPC’s goal to enable our employees’ pursuit of a holistic lifestyle is directly correlated to fulfilled and engaged employees.
How are work-life balance challenges different for remote workforces?
The ability to offer employee’s long-term hybrid work schedules affords greater flexibility, however it also attributes to blurring the lines between worktime and personal time. Disconnecting can be very challenging and as personal space has now also become workspace, the division between the two can be obsolete. If an employee is known to respond to work inquiries during standard after-hours, they have inadvertently set a precedence that they will always be available to respond. When the leader of a team operates this way, we have seen it put added pressure on our employees to inherit the same type of all-hours availability. It is key that managers set the tone they want their teams to follow with respect to boundaries. Through a variety of resources, IPC’s Global HR and Training teams has been working closely with management on tips to help promote a healthy balance within their teams. Within our “Leadership Development Program” offered to all global IPC managers, we offer a course specific to “Being a Leader in a hybrid workforce.” The “IPC Global Manager Guide” is another valuable resource for our managers as it discusses how to keep hybrid employees engaged and professionally fulfilled while fostering an environment that nurtures mental, physical, and emotional wellbeing as equally important.
What are some of the new ways you’re finding to help employees achieve a level of work-life balance?
Companies traditionally manage wellness at a corporate level. This means all employees receive not only a set of standardized benefits, but are taught the same working norms, regardless of location, department, and job description. However, this approach does not account for the unique physical, social and emotional needs of each team. “At Curriculum Associates, we learned every team gets work done differently so it’s essential to tailor culture accordingly to optimize work-life balance,” said Sandra O’Sullivan, Chief People Officer at Curriculum Associates. Curriculum Associates developed an exercise to recognize potential pain points and remedy them accordingly. The approach gets into the specifics to identify the how, when, where, and why work gets done. For example, the company asked their employees:
- What does “urgency” mean for you and your team?
- When does thinking time take place for you?
- When do you turn off from work?
By learning the culture and common language of each team, we’re able to establish customized frameworks for each group to enable a productive and healthy workplace.” Sullivan said.
How are work-life balance challenges different for remote workforces?
Especially during the pandemic, Curriculum Associates has learned the importance of designating spaces of life for different tasks. For example, when working in person, the offices enable employees to separate work from life physically and mentally; even commutes create natural distinctions in the day between the two domains. Remote workers don’t have this separation, and there’s a tendency for one to feel as if they’re on call all day, every day with pressure to answer emails during all hours. Studies show know that overwork like this has negative impacts on one’s health. “It’s become increasingly important for us to dial in to the specific needs of our teams and to create working norms that members of the team can agree to, like customs and etiquette around correspondence and taking time off,” said Sandra O’Sullivan, Chief People Officer at Curriculum Associates. The organization has already begun to conduct listening sessions with employees and document healthy working cultures and will continue to refine processes in the coming months.
What are some of the new ways you’re finding to help employees achieve a level of work-life balance?
The pandemic has changed how we work and interact with each other. Many of our associates continue to work virtually from home, if their role allows, and enjoy extra time with family or participating in hobbies without a commute. Others blend virtual with time in one of our office locations. We also have a robust opportunities for all associates to learn about integrating work, life, family and other health aspects through our Employee Impact Groups and external speakers, such as a former monk who shared tips on meditation. We also share tips and stories about associates who find ways to achieve combine work and home life in healthy and productive ways. For many of our shift-based associates, we ask for their input into the shift time/pattern that works best for them and offer flexible schedules
How are work-life balance challenges different for remote employees?
The boundaries between work and personal life are increasingly becoming blurred – with remote workers finding it challenging to “disconnect” from work life. Unlike leaving the office or work site and driving home – which are natural boundaries to unplug – it is difficult to set up those boundaries when an employee’s office is in their home. As a remote worker, you’re pretty much ‘always in the office – it’s easy to return one email, finesse a presentation, or make calls – all the time and often, including weekends. To foster greater work-life balance, we encourage our associates to set routines that delineate work life and personal life, offer learning resources on effective remote work, and offer various time-off plans, such as our flexible vacation plan, that support a healthy work-life balance.
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What are some of the new ways you’re finding to help employees achieve a level of work-life balance?
Based on employee feedback, we implemented an unlimited PTO policy here at WilsonHCG. We have had an incredible amount of positive feedback from our employees since we launched the program. It shows employees in a very authentic way that we genuinely do care about work-life blend. We also passionately believe that managers have a duty to their teams to encourage them to take time off while reassuring them that their tasks will be managed appropriately while they are away. We also offer flexibility in terms of hours and location – this gives employees the freedom to work when they want, where they want how they need to work that day. This is particularly helpful if childcare falls through for parents and caregivers — and nobody’s made to feel guilty when it does happen. We also implemented a summer schedule and holiday schedule program so that employees get alternating Fridays off. These extra days give employees more quality time with their families. Our award-winning well-being program prioritizes community for both remote and in-office employees with a range of activities and initiatives to encourage engagement and camaraderie within the workplace. These include employee belonging groups (EBGs), a peer-to-peer recognition program with Kudos (which encourages employees to reward fellow colleagues for a job well done), and virtual events such as coffee chats, happy hours, mental health discussion sessions, money coaching, regular meditation sessions, and group yoga classes so people can find balance within their workday. This, alongside friendly fitness challenges and top chef competitions, helps encourage healthy eating and holistic living. We also host an annual virtual mentalism and magic show for employees. These opportunities continually reinforce our commitment to valuing employees’ well-being — professionally, socially, and otherwise.
How are work-life balance challenges different for remote workforces?
The challenges with a remote workforce differ from in-person offices when it comes to maintaining a strong workplace culture. With a virtual workforce, you cannot depend on in-person meetings or the watercooler moments that many companies have relied on in the past. This is why it’s more important than ever to have peer mentor programs to help alleviate struggles for new starters and graduates in the workforce, as they aren’t learning directly from being in the office. WilsonHCG has always been remote to a certain capacity since its founding almost 20 years ago. A healthy remote culture starts with a concerted effort to communicate and engage more frequently with employees. Whether it’s a weekly huddle or monthly companywide calls, consider ways you can take time out to recognize and celebrate the current wins and your top performers. It’s a great way to keep remote workers motivated and engaged with goals. You can also help with challenges around a distracting home environment by offering a hybrid approach to work — give employees the option to choose a way of working that suits them best. Another challenge lies with burnout. Remote workers are much more likely to blur boundaries and work longer hours due to being at home. Support is needed around giving employees the freedom to “turn off” at the end of the day and to not continuously keep checking their emails. For other service-based or in-person work, you leave when you leave the workplace, but remote work is uniquely challenged as it can be all too easy to be “always on.”
What are some of the new ways you’re finding to help employees achieve a level of work-life balance?
At SmileDirectClub, we prioritize our Team Members’ health and wellbeing and are always putting our ears to the ground to ensure that we are meeting the shifting needs of our workforce. In response to feedback from an organization-wide Pulse Survey, we created a new Truth, what we call our Team Member values, entitled “Our Best Through Balance.” This Truth is a guiding principle that encourages Team Members and leaders to prioritize work-life balance by allowing for time away from work to reenergize, reengage and honor the moments that matter. We also developed our Creating Space guidelines which support this value by protecting our Team Members’ time. Examples include respecting vacations, no lunch meetings, no weekend emails, and Friday afternoons being blocked from 2 p.m. to the end of the day. Space, time, and balance are all key ingredients for creating a happier, balanced, and well workforce.
How are work-life balance challenges different for remote workforces?
A recent survey estimated that approximately half of all respondents felt burnt out, even while they were working from home as the lines between work and home were blurred. Burnout is something our leadership team takes very seriously, and we’ve made a lot of progress from our early days as a fast-growing start-up with a 25/8 mentality. Our Creating Space guidelines help us create a better work-life balance for our Team Members by establishing clear boundaries. It’s important to encourage balance and wellness within a remote workforce. Time is valuable, and it’s the responsibility of the organization and its leadership team to honor and protect your Team Members’ time, and in turn, you will protect their wellbeing, delivering a happier and more productive workforce.
What are some of the new ways you’re finding to help employees achieve a level of work-life balance?
CIVIC runs on its people-first culture. Every morning, each department within CIVIC begins the day with a morning huddle with their respective team and during this huddle, we have a daily bandwidth check which allows team members to scale from 1 (being able to support) to 5 (needs projects re-assigned) where their workload is. This allows managers to review the allocation of duties and ensure CIVIC team members have achievable workloads. We also understand that many of our team members are motivated by social action. Having the opportunity to do good is not just confined to after work hours, we give our team members the freedom to give back while working with up 16 hours of paid leave for volunteer activities during work hours. Lastly, the quality of our team’s mental health plays a significant role in the ability to achieve a healthy level of work-life balance. With that in mind, CIVIC partners with a virtual mental health platform, Ginger, providing team members with free unlimited access to confidential, on-demand emotional and mental health support. In addition to that, CIVIC offers team members to participate in Cigna’s incentive program, MotivateMe®, which rewards those who take charge of preventative care and improve their health.
How are work-life balance challenges different for remote workforces?
COVID sparked the onset for creating a program called “CIVIC Anywhere” – enabling employees to work fully remote, or a remote/in-office hybrid schedule. While this workplace flexibility has, in some scenarios, provided more work-life balance in a variety of ways, it can also pose more challenges as well. Many team members struggle to disconnect from work and set a clear boundary between our digital and physical worlds. While many of us leave the office and head home to unwind, remote team members can’t determine when to end their day and unplug from their work. It’s important for those working from home to create a designated workspace and a routine in order to be able to disconnect from work at the end of their workday.
What are some of the new ways you’re finding to help employees achieve a level of work-life balance?
SuprTEK is providing a flexible work schedule consisting of a hybrid work week. We also offer wellness programs such as Headspace, and Financial Wellness seminars along with monthly employee morale events. Work hard but we know regular breaks are necessary to keep fresh and focused.
How are work-life balance challenges different for remote workforces?
When working remotely whether it be permanently or working from different locations each day, the challenge is to maintain a collaborative and connected team environment to produce our best work. With work schedule and location flexibility we may maximize time saved on commuting and spend it on our personal connections and family time. Keeping a structured environment reduces stress and maintains boundaries to support work-life balance.