Mounting work pressure, longer working hours, and the constant blurring of work-life boundaries have caused a severe rise in workplace-related mental health issues over the last decade. Today's employees are working harder, stressing more, and feeling much less happy than employees in the last decade.
From Dissatisfaction, Disengagement to Anxiety and Depression:
Gallup reports that job dissatisfaction is at an all-time high, and so are Employee dissatisfaction and disengagement – both of which are huge contributors to mental health problems in the workplace.
However, a skewed or disturbed work-life balance is often the source of disengagement and dissatisfaction. "Preventing or alleviating workplace stress comes down to fixing that balance. Many working professionals try hard to achieve it but often fall short," says one of our behavioral counselors at PsychBoston.
If you're just starting your working journey, the best thing you can do to improve your engagement and workplace satisfaction is to maintain a healthy work-life balance. But if you're already feeling the effects of that skewed balance, like slow burnout or anxiety, addressing it becomes even more paramount.
Managing Work-Life Balance: Start Early
In our previous blog, we explored the downward spiral of workplace mental health issues, discussing how these challenges often begin at work and their impact on employees.
Today, we’re taking a step toward addressing the root cause: work-life balance.
With this blog, we aim to empower working professionals with right foundation that can help them improve their work-life balance consistently. So let’s get started!
Managing Work-Life Balance - Tips for Working Professionals:
1. Pause, Introspect, & Acknowledge
It is expected to get swayed by the winds of disturbances and need help knowing where to start making changes. We suggest you take a step back and look into what causes your stress, dissatisfaction, or disengagement.
Is there a mismatch between your personal priorities and your current situation? What is causing the alignment problems, and what are you mistakenly prioritizing?
Taking a pause and introspecting into these factors gives you a starting point in making changes.
2. Your Emotions Provide the Clue: Pay Attention
Sometimes, it can be challenging to identify what is impacting you. In haste, you may make wrong assumptions, too. In such situations, always look at how you feel about the specific situation. Are you feeling drained, unfulfilled, angry, or resentful about it?
Clear emotional awareness guides you in making necessary changes that can help you improve your work-life balance.
For example, if you feel resentful about a specific situation, it could be because it's costing you more time and effort without any concrete returns.
3. Make Use of Awareness: Recalibrate & Reprioritize:
Once you step back and develop your emotional awareness, you'll start to see what impacts you and how you feel about it.
When you reach this point, it's time to recalibrate and reprioritize. Ask yourself some critical questions: What regrets do I have, and what might I regret if I keep following the same path? What am I willing to sacrifice, and for how long? What are my most important objectives and goals, and how do I rank them?
This stage is all about outlining the questions you need to ask yourself. The aim is to understand what to prioritize and how to allocate your time to achieve the desired satisfaction. When you start answering these questions and organizing the important factors to implement them, you can create a work-life balance with a purpose.
4. Put Changes into Action:
Now that you've recalibrated and reprioritized, the next step is to reflect and evaluate the changes you need to make so they align with your priorities. What aspects of your work life do you want to change? How much time would you like to dedicate to work, and how much to personal life? This evaluation takes time and experimentation to zero-in on the priorities and changes you'd like to implement to achieve your goals.
Once you pinpoint the necessary changes, it's time to take action. You can do this publicly, privately, or a combination of both.
For example, if spending more time with your family on weekends is your priority, you can make both public and private changes to achieve it:
· A public change can involve talking to your supervisor and asking for a flexible schedule, such as adjusting your work hours so you can start your weekends earlier.
· A private change could involve setting internal boundaries. These might include making changes like not bringing work home, not checking emails after 5 p.m., or relieving yourself from weekend tasks that aren't critical.
Each change you want to implement can be approached with public and private strategies. The key is to consider the best way to implement these changes that work for you.
Achieving Work-Life Balance Is Not a One-Time Fix
While it's easy to offer cookie-cutter solutions like "get up early," "prioritize sleep," or "establish work-life boundaries," these changes vanish at the first sign of work-related emergencies or problems.
A strong foundation through introspection and self-awareness is essential for achieving a natural work-life balance. It's crucial to build the proper groundwork to see lasting results; this is where mental health professionals can help.
Expert Help for Work-Life Balance: Mental Health Services for Professionals by PsychBoston
“The most important thing every working professional must understand is that there is no one-time fix,” says our behavioral counselor at Psych Boston. Achieving work-life balance is a cycle where you gradually implement changes. A trained and experienced mental health professional understands you better than you might appreciate yourself. They can guide you in identifying your priorities and creating a tailored plan that works for you.
Without proper foundation, you can implement as many changes as you want, but the results may not be satisfactory. Lasting results require a solid foundation where a mental health professional can assist you. If you want to improve your work-life balance, reduce work-related stress, boost your productivity, and enhance engagement, we advise you to contact us at PsychBoston.
Comments