Facilitate an effective team discussion about addressing and improving balance in your workplace. The intended outcome is to create a practical and cost-effective action plan that works for your team.
Balance
In a work environment with positive balance, employees are supported to manage the demands of work, family and personal life.
In an organization with positive balance, employees might say:
- My employer encourages me to take my entitled breaks.
- I am able to reasonably balance the demands of work and personal life.
- My employer promotes work-life balance.
- I can talk to my supervisor when I am having trouble maintaining work-life balance.
- I feel supported at work when I am dealing with personal issues.
In an organization with positive balance, employees might NOT say:
- I feel burned out in my job.
- My home life suffers because of my work.
Creating awareness: A team discussion
Engage your entire team in reviewing the factors that impact psychological health and safety in your workplace. This is the approach recommended by the National Standard of Canada on Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace. By doing this, you build awareness of the responsibility of each employee to contribute to a positive workplace culture. You also get their involvement in developing and being part of the solution.
Creating change: Facilitating policy development
This session builds on employee ideas developed in the Creating awareness workshop. The next step is to engage decision makers in reviewing employee suggestions against evidence− or practice−based approaches. The objective is to modify or create policies and procedures that improve work−life balance for your organization.
Evidence-based actions for balance
Suggested actions are based on research or practice that can improve each psychosocial factor shown. In most cases, free resources are provided to help you move forward, with or without additional funding.
Each of the psychosocial factors identified in Guarding Minds at Work and the National Standard on Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace have similar resources that can be found in the On the agenda workshop series.