All Generations Seek Work-Life Balance Above All Else

Why work-life balance matters

In May 2022, Forbes surveyed 1,120 American adults about their priorities when choosing a job (or choosing whether to stay at their jobs). Among the 620 employed respondents, 90% said work-life balance is key. This paralleled the response rates for the importance of financial stability and consistent pay, respectively 91% and 90%. It was higher than ease of commuting (86%), flexible hours (82%) and promotion paths (75%).

In 2021, Harvard Business Review explored work-life balance through nearly 200 interviews conducted among 78 accountants and lawyers. Virtually every respondent described their work as exhausting, yet 30% of men and 50% of women took active steps to maintain a work-life balance. Clearly, work-life balance matters to even the busiest employees. In fact, it’s an important part of keeping employees happy without pay raises.

A 2020 study published in the scientific journal BMC Public Health also uncovered a strong correlation between poor work-life balance and poor health. A 2020 International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health study similarly correlated a strong “work-health balance” with improved job satisfaction. Amidst all these research findings, it’s clear that a strong work-life balance is an effective antidote to employee turnover and its associated costs – and this notion remains true across generations, not just millennials.

Employees across generations assign roughly the same importance to work-life balance as other factors. In a 2022 Oyster report. Generation X, Generation Z and millennials all ranked flexible working hours as their second-greatest expectation of their employers. They all ranked the ability to work from anywhere as their third-greatest expectation. Only regular pay raises beat out these other factors.

How to improve your employees’ work-life balance

You can take the following steps to balance your employees’ work with their lives:

• Paid leave policies: With paid leave policies in place, your employees know they can take time off without losing money. This alone can encourage your employees to take time off as needed to restore their work-life balance. Couple your policies with a team that can cover an employee’s work while they’re out, and you’ll really encourage your employees to take the leap.
• Flexible work schedules: Many employees would trade pay for flexible work hours, such as Summer Fridays and compressed work schedules. An example of the latter could be working 10-hour days Monday through Thursday, but not working on Fridays. Any hours or days you can give back to your team can help with their work-life balance.
• Team-building: The best team building activities feel entirely separate from work while occurring during work hours. A team trip to an escape room or an early afternoon happy hour can be a meaningful break that still happens on work time. And the connections employees make with one another and company leadership may translate to real value in the workplace.
• Prioritize productivity, not hours: Some employees who are required to work 40 hours per week can do all their work in far fewer hours. This is why focusing on productivity over hours can be a boon to your team’s work-life balance. If one team member can do their usual work in 30 hours instead, sending them home for the remaining 10 can restore their balance. 

• Encourage remote work. In many cases, working from home increases productivity. It can also come with built-in flexibility – with no physical office, the need to set team working hours is less pressing. When your employees get to end their commutes and work on their own hours, they can more easily find time for their lives outside work.
• Encourage breaks. Even short five-minute breaks between tasks can help employees feel less prone to burnout. And, of course, combating burnout goes hand in hand with achieving a great work-life balance. So encourage your employees to take breaks – the clear mind they’ll return with is often better for both their work and their health.
• Review your employees’ workloads. Are your employees doing too much? If so, it’s time to delegate their tasks to other team members or hire a new team member. Employees whose workloads match their scheduled hours are more likely to achieve a healthy work-life balance.
• Achieve your own work-life balance. Employees who see their managers working around the clock might infer that they’re expected to do the same. If you instead make it clear that you’re not always working or available, your team will know they can also take breaks. This can have a positive ripple effect on your company culture, which is more important than salary for some employees.

Balancing it all at work and home

It’s clear that employees value work-life balance, and you’re in a position to help your team achieve it. Doing so is certainly in your best interest; after all, a team that’s stretched thin just can’t do high-quality work. And the more your employees balance their lives and their work, the more you can do the same.