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Strategies for living a more balanced life
UNI professor addresses work-life issues
You read or hear about it from multiple media outlets -- individuals struggling to balance personal and professional lives. It's a hot topic being discussed around many corporate boardrooms and family dining tables: How can people achieve a more balanced life?
Adam Butler, University of Northern Iowa psychology professor, suggests the topic isn't a management fad; an imbalanced life creates mental and physical illnesses including depression, anxiety, hypertension and more.
According to Butler, changes in the nature of the workforce and in work itself have resulted in a blurring of boundaries between work and family life. Approximately 40 percent of individuals employed in the U.S. are from dual-earner families, with single-parent workers as the fastest growing segment.
Technological advances and communication devices such as smartphones bring the workplace to the home. As a result, more than half of the workforce reports feeling a lack of balance between work and family.
To achieve a better work-life balance, Butler proposes the following strategies for employers and employees:
1) reduce meetings;
2) establish interruption-free time;
3) create flex schedules;
4) provide incentives for performance, not work hours; and
5) find extracurricular activities outside of work.
Curious about your work-life balance? Download this work-life balance self-assessment and see how you score.
You can also watch a free webinar presentation by Adam Butler on Work-Life Balance: How You Can Achieve It.