Call it what you want, but do not call it work-life balance

 

Call it work-life harmony, intermingle or integration, but do not call it work life balance!

 

To begin this article, I must define what work-life so called balance is all about, and the definition can be different for many people, but generally is typically defined as the amount of time you spend doing your job versus the amount of time you spend in your pursuit of happiness. The problem is the word balance creates an illusion that to have it all together it means you would spend an equal amount of time at work as you would in the other areas of your life. And that’s the reason why we have so many people, especially women with families, burnout in their quest to finding the so-called unachievable balance.

                      

Why is it important to find a balance anyway?

Finding the right “balance” is important to maintain an appropriate mental health which is needed to provide with good care to those you serve at work, especially if you are in the healthcare industry. Researchers have found that healthcare professionals experience stress at higher rates than any other industry. In fact, studies have taught us that, physicians who have experienced continuous stress at work, have higher incidents of adverse patient care or in simpler terms, mistakes at work. It comes at no surprise then that provider burnout can increase the rate of issues around patient safety by doubling the chances of these occurring. Burnout is the way the body responds to the excessive exposure of work-related stressors (Maslach, et al., 2009). According to Maslach’s theory of burnout, the cause of burnout is found in the lack of balance between the emotional demands of a job and rewards for it.  The evidence of burnout is seen in the feelings of exhaustion, the lack of efficacy in completing tasks and feeling unaccomplished which often leads the employee to emotionally disengage from their duties.

Now what about your home life? How is that affected by the inability to find balance? Well, think about it this way. The average American works at least 40 hours a week and that’s without including those who end up working at least an additional couple of hours from home. Even if you don’t sleep well, every adult needs to sleep some time, and while I have yet to do the research on how much people sleep, let’s assume everyone sleeps 7-8 hours a night. That leaves all of us with a little over 8 hours a day to provide our families with the quality time they need from us, exercise, take care of the house and take on a hobby for our mental health. That being said, we didn’t take into consideration the number of adults who work more than 40 hours a week, nor did we consider those who come home already exhausted both physically and emotionally due to the demands of their jobs, or those whose jobs never really end because even when they are home, they are on-call. Gee, no wonder healthcare employees ranked among the 6^th highest divorce rates of the nation according to monster.com (These jobs have the highest and lowest divorce rates) and are known to report increased rates of depression and even suicidal ideation (Fond, et al., 2022).

I’d like to suggest that the term work-life balance is in part what is causing the most frustration and feelings of un-accomplishment that can potentially cause the emotional turmoil that may lead to mental health illness. This is because the term itself suggest that  our work and personal lives exist separately and are continuously competing against each other for our attention. Perhaps if we stop looking at it as a ‘balance,’ but instead consider the intermingle between the two, we might live healthier lives.

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    A healthier way of referring to the two sides of someone’s life may be, work-life integration, or as Jeff Bezos refers to it, “work/life harmony.” It simply means it takes effort to blend our personal and professional responsibilities harmoniously. By looking at it from this perspective, work is simply one of the various aspects of our lives, which needs to be considered alongside other important concerns, such as our home/family lives, our responsibility in our church/community, and our spiritual and emotional well-being. The argument I propose is that if we stop dividing the aspects of our lives, and instead intermingle one another and if we stopped pretending the scale needs to be in the middle for us to be healthier, by recognizing that the quest to find the ‘impossible’ might be what’s causing us to fail in the first place then we might be facilitating a healthier employee. We need to be more realistic and realize that some aspects will require more of our attention and time at a certain point than others. For example, if I’m a mom who works at the executive level of a retailing business, I might spend more time and energy at home than at work, when a child of mine is celebrating a birthday, and if I’m opening a new store it might require of me to spend more time and energy at work during that period than at home. This might be considered a more feasible ‘balance’, and  not necessarily being able to spend equal amounts of time and energy at home and at work.

 

 

 

 

   

    Therefore, let us consider that achieving a healthy work-life integration or harmony can not

only potentially reduce stress and improve emotional states but also increase overall productivity and 

employers’ bottom-line. I think this is the part that most senior leaders do not recognize is critical to 

the success of their organization. Many missed the fact that the employee’s mental health can and will 

impact your success. Mental health is the number one cause for most long-term absences (Hameed, et 

al., 2022). An employee who is often missing out on work because of their mental health illness will 

not perform as efficiently as one who is at work as scheduled. Burnout is known to be strongly 

associated with increased rates of depression and even suicide, especially among the workers of 

healthcare organizations (Fond, et al., 2022). Understanding this is important so that we can provide 

better health care for patients and for senior leaders to strategize ways to provide a healthy work 

environment and culture that facilitates an employee's psychological wellness.

The different ways to look at our professional and personal responsibilities and considered them to be ‘balanced.’ This too is a healthier well-balanced employee!

                

 

 

 

References

Fond, G., Fernandes, S., Lucas, G., Greenberg, N., & Boyer, L. (2022). Depression in healthcare         workers: Results from the nationwide AMADEUS survey. International Journal of           Nursing Studies, 135, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2022.104328

Hameed, I., Ijaz, M. U., & Sabharwal, M. (2022). The Impact of Human Resources Environment    and Organizational Identification on Employees’ Psychological Well-Being. Public                 Personnel Management, 51(1), 71–96. https://doi.org/10.1177/00910260211001397

 

Martis, Lisa (2017). These jobs have the highest and lowest divorce rates. Monster career advice         As retrieved from https://www.monster.com/career-advice/article/job-divorce-rate-1017.

 

The work environment's impact on employee's mental health and how it can affect organizational success

 

 

                           

 

     Organizations wanting to be successful must know that it is in their best interest to 

keep their  employees’ wellness at the fore front of their organizational goals. While 

many will develop strategies  around creating an environment that pushes physical 

activity and healthy eating habits, many neglect evaluating their work environment 

for the sake of their employees’ mental health. In this article we will examine the 

literature available from the various studies conducted on how the work 

environment can impact an employees’ mental health and compare those for 

commonalities. In addition, we will review how the working conditions and how 

their impact on mental health can affect the organization’s success.

To begin we need to understand that many employees will choose not to disclose their mental health symptoms of anxiety, depression and stress related (Brouwers, Joosen, et a., 2020) especially to their employers due to the fear of the stigma associated with mental health (Brouwers, Joosen, et a., 2020). Employees fear the retaliation and discrimination that can result from it. Moreover, employees who suffer from these symptoms fear to be perceived as having an unstable psychological state (Xin, 2022) that can potentially hinder their growth opportunities within the organization. Also, there’s a perception that employees with mental health illness have an inability to adapt (Xin, 2022) or lack significantly self-awareness (Xin, 2022). Effectively managing and motivating employees for a better mental health state will be important for organizational success. Organizations can foster an environment that supports those with mental illness by creating awareness and providing perks that allow for employees to recognize their efforts in promoting a mentally healthier work environment. When employees perform well organizations can reach their organizational success (Xin, 2022) however, an unhealthy mental health state can negatively impact an employees’ performance if the appropriate working conditions are not available for those employees.

Organizations can achieve success when facilitating a healthy work environment. A healthy work environment results from the right working conditions (Hameed, Sabharwal, 2022). The various articles and studies reviewed for this literature review discuss many commonalities in what is considered among experts to be optimal working conditions. For instance, a mentally healthy work environment is one free of retaliation for those experiencing stress related symptoms (Brouwers, Joosen, et a., 2020). For some organizations it is not feasible to create environments free of stress because of the nature of their services, such as first responders, however, there is a lot the leaders can do to provide appropriate stress management techniques for their employees. One of these can be regular stress management training or regular therapy for those who have experienced traumatic events. The right environment will also provide opportunities for growth and communication to promote a healthy psychological environment (Hameed, Sabharwal, 2022). Employees must feel like they have an opportunity to further expand their skills and responsibilities to be content with their job and understand how their work can be meaningful. Xin, (2022) discusses how job flexibility, autonomy and decision-making power can play a role on the employees’ ability to find meaning in the work they perform. An employee who can somewhat control their workload and the work they perform will be more connected to what they do. That connection will in turn lead them to be committed to their job. Meaningful work leads to organizational commitment (Xin, 2022) which in turn leads to a positive connection between the organizational identification (OID) and the well-being of the employees. Organizational commitment will be important to reduce the turnover rate, which can negatively impact an organization’s financial state. OID will result from the human resources practices of the organization (Hameed, Sabharwal, 2022). The right human resources decisions will allow employees to see that their leaders have their best interest in mind. It increases security, by reducing the uncertainty of the aspects of the job and thus improves the employee’s emotional state (Hameed, Sabharwal, 2022). This will be important for the “psychological contract” when organization leaders have an unspoken expectations for employees to perform and employees in turn expect the organization to provide an environment that allows for them to do so (Xin, 2022). Employees and leaders who know exactly what to expect of the other will be a lot more confident in what they do.

According to the experts, however, the problem starts when the working conditions of the job do not align with the needs of the employees. For example, the job demands (Brouwers, Joosen, et a., 2020) workload and work pace (Xin, 2022) are common sources of work-related stress (Mariko, Mutsuhiro, et al., 2022). Stress significantly contributes to the onset and further complications of mental health (Brouwers, Joosen, et a., 2020). A demanding job or excessive workload as well as a lack of supervisor support, can create a stressful situation. As well as the inappropriate pace, which can either stress or demotivate an employee. An employee who is unable to keep up with the pace required will grow anxious while the one who is not challenged enough will grow bored. Either one will affect the employees’ satisfaction with their job and lead to a stressful situation. Regularly being subjected to a stressful situation can take a toll on the mental health of the employee. This is especially true when the employee is unable to find the right support in their superior. When employees are properly supported, they are better prepared to perform well. However, on the other hand we must also look at how the working conditions can have a positive impact on mental health under the right circumstances (Xin, 2022).  To positively impact the employees’ health, employers must understand how the job control or the ability to have a say in the distribution of workload provides with the flexibility that (Shifrin, & Michel, 2022) can positively impact an employee’s work environment. Flexibility in the work arrangement leads to a better work-life balance (Shifrin, & Michel, 2022) although it is worth noting that none of the studies reviewed considered the gender differences as a contributing factor. Flexible work schedules are linked to better physical health (Shifrin, & Michel, 2022) although the connection between flexible work schedules and mental health has yet to be made, those with flexible scheduling abilities were found to have fewer levels of stress. The impact of stress on mental health has been a very well researched topic. Work-related stress is the cause of a high number of absences, employee dissatisfaction and high turnover rates among other organizational weaknesses (Lashewicz, B., Mitchell, et al., 2020). A persistently high level of stress over time can lead to burn out, (Lashewicz, B., Mitchell, et al., 2020) a sign of a diminished mental health state.

               Organizational culture and mental health

It is important to determine the role organizational culture plays in the mental health of employees (Jablonowski, 2017) for organizations to develop employee wellness programs that will help them maintain a healthy workforce. Working conditions’ impact on mental health related symptoms (Rolland,  Hadouiri, et a., 2022). Biman, Maharana, et al., (2021) studied the effects of workplace yoga as an initiative to reduce stress and musculoskeletal pain as a result of the long-standing periods employees were subjected to in the diamond industry. They had 155 employees participate in a program with sixty-six of them participating in a one-hour session of yoga at least four times a week, while the others continued their existing lifestyle routines. After three months both groups were re-evaluated to find that the group who participated in the yoga exercises were significantly showing higher levels of improvement in their pain and stress levels than those who did not participate. This study differentiates from the others reviewed in that most experts are concerned with the effects of the working conditions on the mental health of the employees, however very few proposed a way to improve those conditions by adding benefits such as, yoga, extra time off or even perks that would lead an employee to have a healthier balance in life.
               For this reason, more and more organizations are considering the employees’ wellness and incorporating that at the forefront of their organizational strategic plans, because mental health has an impact on organizational success. To begin we can look at the impact of mental health and business functions (Kensbock, Alkersig, Lomber, 2022) by considering that the number one cause of long-term absences (van Hoffen, Rijnhart, et al., 2021) are due to symptoms related to mental illness such as, burnout, depression and anxiety. Moreover, psychological health and the impact on performance (Panchal, Singh, et al., 2022) as an employee experiencing a mental crisis is unable to concentrate and perform their duties as diligently and efficiently as they would otherwise. Consider men’s mental health for example, men who experience mental health illness symptoms are less likely to seek help due to the stigma associated with their need to be strong and resilient providers of their families. As a result, they are in a constant cycle of needing to be busy to show that they are performing well, and thus are doing well mentally, but the suicidal rates of men surpass those of women. According to the Centers for Disease Control website (www.cdc.gov), in 2020 the suicide rate of males were 4 times higher than those of females. Lashewicz, Mitchell, et al., (2020) attribute this to the need to be constantly viewed as the strong, busy, provider of the family.  

Improving working conditions of the psychosocial work environment will be key to securing a mentally healthier workforce. To do this, organizations will need to ensure that their leaders realize the job is not just that of the human resources department, but rather everyone plays a role. The psychosocial work environment has a lot to do with the organizational culture. It is the way employees work with each other, and the workload, along with the level of control the employees have on the job they perform, as well as their involvement in the decision-making process (Shifrin, & Mitchel, 2022).

In conclusion, the relationship between mental health and working conditions is one worth examining further. Not only do organizations need to keep that in mind at the time of creating their organization goals, but also for the sake of public health. Considering that as adults we are spending more time at work than ever before, it is important that for the sake of public health we study how the working conditions of the employees can affect the general mental health of our communities. An employee who is constantly subjected to high levels of stress at work will likely impact family life as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Biman, S., Maharana, S., Metri, K. G., & Nagaratna, R. (2021). Effects of yoga on stress,  
               fatigue, musculoskeletal pain, and the quality of life among employees of diamond
               industry: A new approach in employee wellness. Work, 70(2), 521–529.
                       https://doi.org/10.3233/WOR-213589

Brouwers, E.P.M., Joosen, M.C.W., van Zelst, C. et al. To Disclose or Not to Disclose: A Multi-       stakeholder Focus Group Study on Mental Health Issues in the Work Environment. J Occup Rehabil 30, 84–92 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10926-019-09848-z

Hameed, I., Ijaz, M. U., & Sabharwal, M. (2022). The Impact of Human Resources Environment    and Organizational Identification on Employees’ Psychological Well-Being. Public   Personnel Management, 51(1), 71–96. https://doi.org/10.1177/00910260211001397

Jablonowski, L. (2017). Healthy Organizational Culture - Healthy Employees? Effectiveness of            Organizational Culture on Perceived Health of German Police Officers. International              Journal of Police Science & Management, 19(3), 205–217.

Javaid, M. U., Bano, S., Mirza, M. Z., Isha, A. S. N., Nadeem, S., Jawaid, A., Ghazali, Z.,      Nübling, M., Imtiaz, N., & Kaur, P. (2019). Connotations of psychological and        
               physiological health in the psychosocial work environment: An industrial
                         context. Work, 64(3), 551–561. https://doi.org/10.3233/WOR-193016

Kensbock, J. M., Alkærsig, L., & Lomberg, C. (2022). The Epidemic of Mental Disorders in     Business—How Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Spread across Organizations through               Employee Mobility*. Administrative Science Quarterly, 67(1), 1–48.    
               https://doi.org/10.1177/00018392211014819

Lashewicz, B., Mitchell, J., Boettcher, N., Jones, E., & Wang, J. (2020). You better be as          
               stressed as I am: Working men’s mental health amidst workplace expectations for        
               busyness. Work, 66(3), 645–656. https://doi.org/10.3233/WOR-203207

Mariko Nishikitani, Mutsuhiro Nakao, Mariko Inoue, Shinobu Tsurugano, & Eiji Yano. (2022). Associations between Workers’ Health and Working Conditions: Would the Physical and            Mental Health of Nonregular Employees Improve If Their Income Was       
               Adjusted? Medicines, 9(40), 40. https://doi.org/10.3390/medicines9070040

Panchal, S., Singh, S., Chaudhari, A., Ramirez-Asis, E., Zarzosa-Marquez, E. D., & Castillo-            Picon, J. (2022). The Impact of Psychological Changes in Mental Health on Employees Performance. International Journal of Early Childhood Special Education, 14(1), 1089–           1098. https://doi.org/10.9756/INT-JECSE/V14I1.221123

Rolland, F., Hadouiri, N., Haas-Jordache, A., Gouy, E., Mathieu, L., Goulard, A., Morvan, Y., &               Frajerman, A. (2022). Mental health and working conditions among French medical              students: A nationwide study. Journal of Affective Disorders, 306, 124–130.                        https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2022.03.001

Shahidi, F. V., Gignac, M. A. M., Oudyk, J., & Smith, P. M. (2021). Assessing the Psychosocial    Work Environment in Relation to Mental Health: A Comprehensive Approach. Annals of    Work Exposures & Health, 65(4), 418–431. https://doi.org/10.1093/annweh/wxaa130

Shifrin, N. V., & Michel, J. S. (2022). Flexible work arrangements and employee health: A meta-              analytic review. Work & Stress, 36(1), 60–85.
               https://doi.org/10.1080/02678373.2021.1936287

van Hoffen, M. F. A., Rijnhart, J. J. M., Norder, G., Labuschagne, L. J. E., & Twisk, J. W. R.              (2021). Distress, work satisfaction, and work ability are mediators of the relation between    psychosocial working conditions and mental health-related long-term sickness                     
               absence. Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, 31(2), 419–430.  
               https://doi.org/10.1007/s10926-020-09931-w

Xin, Z. (2022). The Influence of Work Environment on Employee’s Psychological Relationship:   A Case Study of Japanese Literature. Occupational Therapy International, 1–10.    
               https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/5387795

Learn, grow and move on

 

According to the Washington post, Millennials became the largest population in the US as of 2019 (Searing, 2019). That means that if you are a leader, it is highly likely you have a millennial in your team who joined you with this being one of their goals in mind, learn, grow, and move on!

Known as the “disruptive generation” if you have employees born between 1981-1996 and you are interested in retaining your best asset, you are going to want to hang around a bit! Now, if you want to know why employee retention is important, I invite you to read my article on Employee Retention first.

Before I even begin let me explain why it is important that you strategize ways to maintain those millennials engaged. By 2025 the Millennials will represent 75% of the workforce (Eddington, 2019). They also differ very much from their predecessors, the Baby Boomers and even those younger than them. Let us review the differences between these two generations.

Key components of their life	Baby boomers	Millennials
Loyalty	They are very loyal to their employers, often remaining despite the unhealthy environment.	They are loyal to their goals. If an organization no longer suits their aspirations, they are moving on.
Company culture	They would work through some of the most unhealthy and abusive of cultures.	They need to be part of a culture that appreciates them and provides positivity to their lives.
Trust	They know they should not trust anyone, although expect leaders to remain true to their word.	They must be able to trust their leader. If trust is lacking in the superior/direct report relationship, they will move on.
Honesty	It is a very valued aspect of their relationships.	It will be the foundation to trust their leaders.
Transparency	Not a critical aspect of the relationship between the supervisor and delegate, as they understand somethings will need to remain private.	If they feel someone is hiding something, somewhere, they will lose trust.
Advancement opportunities	They could remain at the same position for years, even decades.	They will not remain at the same position for long, especially if they find they are no longer being challenged.
Work-life balance	For this generation, work was a priority, often over anything else in their lives.	They need to be able to feel like they can handle it all, or they will move on.

 

Let us dive deeper into every unique quality of the Millennials.

Healthy company culture – the millennials will work for an organization that will foster an environment that shows appreciation for their efforts and talents, as well as has their best interest in mind. This is important not just in the physical aspect of their health, but also their mental and psychological health as well. For more on Employee Wellness check this article out!

Trust – many experts in relationships will talk about trust being a key component of any relationship. This is not different in the work setting. To trust someone, you need to find them to be honest. By the way, part of being honest, means being transparent. Ever heard someone say, omission is a form of lying? To a millennial if you are hiding something, you are not being honest. As a leader, even if you are unable to provide the information requested, be truthful in saying that, but do not try to hide it or distort it.

This one next, is one of the two most important ways you will retain a Millennial. Advancement opportunities! As the disruptive generation, millennials are on a constant desire to change. To change responsibilities, to change hobbies, to change the duties..etc. In changing, what they are really looking for is a challenge that can help them grow! They operate under this motto, learn, grow, and move on! They want to learn, and they do so to become more marketable. Once they have learned, they want to grow. Help them reach their potential and advance and you will have a long-standing millennial in your team! However, they also want to move on. Once they have learned all they can and have grown as much as they are able to, they will move on. A few days ago, I was joking with someone, saying “while baby boomers were married to their jobs, millennials have to interest in spending decades doing the same thing in the same place.” Trust me, this is true! Now, it is important that if you advertise yourself as providing with advancement opportunities that you have a clear path for them to follow to move up the career ladder. The minute they start working for you and find out that the so called “advancement opportunities” are plagued with favoritism, politics, or any other non-sense, guess what? They will move on!

Finally, work-life balance! If you can get the millennials in your team to not just work, but also have fun and stay healthy while at work, you will have yourself a long-standing member of your team! In addition, they will need the flexibility to manage their other responsibilities. Notice how I do not just state, “family affairs.” That is because back in the baby boomer era, an average of 4.24 million babies were born every year. Whereas this number dropped in the next generation to closer to 3 million babies. Some attribute this difference to the fact that a lot more female baby boomers were at home raising children for most of their adulthood, while a lot more millennial women have dedicated themselves to education and career goals. Some of these last ones opting for not having children at all. This, however, does not mean that the millennials are not looking for the proper balance in life, to the contrary millennials seek that balance more than the previous generation did. In fact, recently millennials are seeking jobs that allow them to integrate some of their hobbies and other duties such as, family responsibilities, community engagement or pursuing high education degrees.

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References

Eddington, T., (2019). Leading Millennials and a Diverse Workforce Effectively. Conscious Leadership. 12/2010. As retrieved from https://www.udemy.com

Searing, L., (2019). The Big Number: Millennials to overtake boomers in 2019 as largest U.S. population group. Health & Science . As retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com