What is work-life balance?

What is work-life balance, and how can you achieve it?

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

Let’s explore the benefits (for individuals and organizations) of working toward a better work-life balance. We’ll also look at some practical tips for improving it.

Work-life balance is a term that makes intuitive sense to many of us but can be elusive to achieve.

We all know the feeling when demands are piling up on one side of the work-life scale and dominating our days. You may also know the feeling of unfulfilled dreams and desires on the other side of the scale.

They slowly drag people into a vague feeling of discontent and disengagement.

With that said, how can you manage your time and energy in a way that leaves you feeling fulfilled and engaged as a whole human being? What can allow you to show up as your best self and avoid mental exhaustion?

Work-life balance is often used to describe a trade-off. You balance the time spent on work projects versus time spent with family, friends, and personal interests.

It can also refer to the level of flexibility team members feel they have. For instance, is it possible for you to integrate your work with your personal demands? Can you respond as needs arise? To what extent do work and personal priorities interfere with one another?

A good work-life balance

A healthy work-life balance will mean different things to us all. It’s not so much about splitting your time 50/50 between work and leisure but making sure you feel fulfilled and content in both areas of your life. A healthy balance could be:

• meeting your deadlines at work while still having time for friends and hobbies
• having enough time to sleep properly and eat well
• not worrying about work when you’re at home.

This can be challenging if, for example, we also have caring responsibilities, a demanding boss or health difficulties.

Regardless of what’s getting in our way, we need to include self-care in our daily routines. After putting in long hours at work, who wouldn’t want to uphold their work-life balance with some personal time? Self-care and work-life balance go hand in hand. 

We know that’s way easier said than done. It’s easy to feel like we’re too busy for it. 

That’s why we’re here. Take a deep breath, find a comfortable spot, and read on to learn how to take care of yourself and uphold a healthy work-life balance.

Taking care of yourself is always the first step

When people ask, “How do you maintain a work-life balance?” we always answer by saying we need self-care. 

Some people might see self-care as a trend, but it’s here to stay. One study found that 73% of the UK became more conscious of practicing self-care in 2020.

Plus, 69% said they planned on incorporating more self-care into their routine than in the years before. 

We know that the workplace has plenty of stressors. When you’re too busy to relax, your energy levels diminish, and engaging with work gets harder. These workplace stress triggers might lead to exhaustion or burnout and interfere with your stress management techniques, indicating that you need a better work-life balance.

The importance of work-life balance isn’t only about having the time to put your feet up. Work-life balance demands that we disconnect from our jobs and devote energy to our personal lives. That might mean a full social calendar, a regular exercise plan, or weekly relaxation rituals to limit stress.

But the bottom line is that we create a lifestyle that allows us to value our professional ambitions without forgetting that there’s more to life.

Our lifestyles should allow us to easily take time to improve our well-being and mental and physical health, rather than feeling like that’s impossible. To do this, we need to know what self-care practices work the best for us to uphold our work-life balance.

There are steps you can take to improve your work-life balance.

It can be difficult or impossible to stand up for yourself at work if you’re precariously employed or worried about losing your job. Make sure you know your rights and see if any of our tips feel safe for you to try:

• Understand your rights at work. Citizens Advice has information on contracts, working hours, sick pay, parental leave and more. For example, if you have a disability (which can include mental and physical conditions), your employer might have a duty to make reasonable adjustments. This could include changes to your working hours.
• Speak up when the expectations and demands of work are too much. Your manager and employer need to know where the pressures lie in order to address them.
• Try to 'work smart, not long'. This involves prioritising - allowing yourself a certain amount of time per task - and trying not to get caught up in less productive activities such as unstructured meetings. 
• Take proper breaks at work. For example, take at least half an hour for lunch and get out of the workplace if you can. You’re legally entitled to certain breaks during the day and working week: Gov.uk has more information.
• Try to draw a line between work and home. If you work from home, try to keep to a routine, make a dedicated workspace and switch off when the working day is over. The NHS website has more tips on working from home.
• Work-related stress can seriously affect your mental health.
• If work makes you feel you don’t have quality time for your partner or friends, read Relate’s tips on realigning your work-life balance. They include scheduling time together, getting help with chores and childcare and making every second count if you don’t have much spare time.
• Keep track of your working hours over weeks or months rather than days. This will give you a better picture of your work-life balance. Factor in hours spent worrying or thinking about work, too – they’re a good indicator of work-related stress. If possible, assess your work-life balance with your colleagues and management staff. The more visible the process, the more likely it is to have an effect.

How do I know if my work-life balance is unhealthy?

It can be easy to normalise working long hours or being under extreme stress, especially if we’ve been doing it for a long time or all our colleagues are in the same boat. Our assumptions and habits around work can become deep-rooted unless we take a breather and step back once in a while.

It’s not always possible to make changes at work: but for those who can make changes, recent research, Work-life balance is a cycle, not an achievement, suggests regularly checking your work-life balance by following five steps.

1. Pause. Ask yourself: what’s currently causing me stress or unhappiness? How is that affecting my work and personal life? What am I prioritising? What am I losing out on? We often don’t take the time to reflect on work until there’s a major life event, such as the birth of a child or the loss of someone close to us. But just pausing and thinking about your priorities can help you discover whether the way you’re living and working is right for you
2. Pay attention to your feelings. Now you’re more aware of your current situation, how does it make you feel? Are you fulfilled and happy or angry and resentful? Being aware of your feelings can help you decide which changes you want to make
3. Reprioritise. Think about what needs to change. For example, you might want to ask yourself if working long hours is worth losing out on family time or whether working weekends is worth losing out on your social life
4. Consider your alternatives. Is there anything at work you can change to meet your new priorities?
5. Make changes. Maybe that’s asking for flexible hours, making sure you use all your annual leave or not checking your emails at the weekend, for example

How your workplace can help

Finding a balance shouldn’t just be down to you. Your manager and workplace also play a role. They should:

• encourage a culture of openness so you can speak up if you’re under too much pressure
• train managers to spot stress and poor work-life balance
• offer flexible and remote working where possible
• encourage breaks, whether that’s during the working day or by using annual leave
• regularly review your workload to make sure it’s achievable
• give you time off to volunteer
• increase support for parents and carers, so they’re not forced to leave
• allow you to attend counselling and support services during working hours as they would for other medical appointments 
• encourage stress-relieving activities such as lunchtime exercise or relaxation classes
• ask employees what would improve their work-life balance

12 tips to improve your work-life balance

It’s one thing to talk about work-life balance. It’s another to achieve it.

Here are 12 practical tips for improving your sense of balance at work and at home.

Improving work-life balance at work

First, let’s look at some ways you can improve your work-life balance in the workplace.

1. Learn to say “no”

Learning how to say no can be one of the hardest soft skills for any dedicated professional to learn and put into practice. But it’s an important part of setting boundaries.

To start, you must first assess the typical demands of your day and learn to articulate and prioritize what you have on your plate.

A great tool to use for this exercise is the Eisenhower Matrix. (Hint: If you’re finding everything falling into the “Urgent-Important” quadrant, try this clever hack).

It can be helpful to recognize that saying “no” to things that are less of a priority frees up time and energy to say “yes” and attend to other things that are important to you.

2. Take breaks 

Even a 30-second microbreak can:

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

It’s especially important to be mindful of this when you’re working from home.

MIT senior lecturer Robert Pozen recommends taking a break every 75–90 minutes for 15 minutes. This will allow your brain to consolidate and retain learning.

A study by The Energy Project found people naturally go from full focus to physiological fatigue every 90 minutes.

3. Use your lunch break

If you have a lunch break at your place of work, it’s your right to use it.

This means you shouldn’t be expected to always eat at your desk and work through lunch.

You can take this time to enjoy your meal mindfully. You can also do short meditations or breathing exercises if your stress levels are high or experience chronic stress.

4. Ask for flexibility

Having open, honest conversations about your needs and those of your employer and team can lead to productive solutions.

Those can include flextime, a compressed workweek schedule, job sharing, and other creative options.

5. Prioritize your health

Recognizing the importance of maintaining your physical health, emotional well-being, and mental fitness is the first step to making it a priority in your life.

Use the concept of habit stacking to build simple, supportive actions into your day. Consider habits like:

• Daily meditation
• Movement/exercise 
• Social connection
• A gratitude practice
• Committing to using your paid time off

6. Practice self-compassion

One of the most important ways to achieve a sense of work-life balance is to let go of perfectionism.

The approach of perfectionism may have brought some success during school and early career. But the stress it causes accumulates over time. The strain on our system and emotional resources increases as our responsibilities increase.

It’s important to recognize that life isn’t always easy. Everyone struggles, and you aren’t always going to get it “right.” Recognizing this truth allows you to create a shift toward a more compassionate growth-and-learning approach to work and life. This can help to support a sense of balance.

It can also provide an inspiring model for others who also need to hear this message.

Improving work-life balance at home

Now, let’s look at some ways you can improve your work-life balance at home.

7. Communicate boundaries so you can truly unplug

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

One simple way to achieve this is to set up an autoresponder to alert those who contact you via email that you are offline. This message can also let them know when you’ll respond.

This removes the pressure to keep checking work emails.

Consider setting up a system for key stakeholders to contact you in a true emergency so you can rest, knowing you’re not missing something critical.

8. Invest in relationships

Lack of strong relationships increases the risk of premature death from all causes by 50%. That’s nearly as harmful as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

On the flip side, solid connections and social support can improve health and increase longevity.

Make sure to spend your time nurturing relationships that matter to you. If you took the previous steps to unplug, then you’ll be able to give more attention to the people you spend your time with.

9. Make space in your schedule for family time

Block out some time that’s devoted entirely to your 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. You all need to decide to take the necessary steps to carve this time out.

You can also set this time apart to call family members or other loved ones who live far away.

10. Prioritize quality time

Rather than spreading yourself so thin that nothing feels satisfying, identify what’s truly important to you.

A values exercise, or exploring your Ikigai, can be helpful ways to clarify and articulate this for yourself. Based on what you learn, take an honest look at how you spend your personal time. Which activities and relationships are life-enhancing and which are soul-sucking?

With this information in hand, define for yourself where you’ll devote your time. Make sure to prioritize high-value relationships and activities.

Don’t forget that one of those relationships is with yourself! When you have downtime, allow yourself to enjoy that quality time for yourself to re-energize.

11. Start small

Healthier behaviors can support your sense of personal well-being. These could be behaviors like staying active and or improving your eating habits. But those habits can be difficult to establish.

Who hasn’t experienced the New Year’s resolution that peters out by mid-February? Motivation alone isn’t enough to drive behavior change.

The other key ingredients for success are the ability to do the behavior and a dependable reminder that prompts us to do it. According to Tiny Habits author BJ Fogg, one way to succeed is to make something so simple and so tiny that you have no excuse not to do it. You’ll be able to do it even when you’re in a rush, if you’re sick, or when you’re distracted.

12. Ask for help

High-achieving professionals are often guilty of taking everything on themselves. They don't want to “bother” anyone by asking for help.

Sometimes this is tied to identity (“I’m supposed to be the one who has it all together”) or feelings of obligation (“Who else will do it if I don’t?”).

Instead, consider that asking for help gives other people the gift of giving — and being part of a solution and support system. This builds the benefits of mutual relationships for all involved.

Make healthy work-life balance a priority

Creating work-life balance and integration is an ongoing and fluid process. You’ll constantly be learning and adapting as your interests and circumstances change over time. It'll require honing key skills, like time management skills.

Let it be fun! And don’t forget to periodically revisit your priorities to see what’s changed. You’ll want to assess whether your priorities continue to line up with how you’re spending your time and energy.