Posts Tagged ‘work life balance’

If you’re one of those people who are constantly late for work or personal gatherings, you’re probably suffering from task and time management problems. Being late takes away your allotted time for finishing certain tasks. You are unable to complete your tasks on time and you’ll be in a lot of pressure and not to mention, stress as well. Being always late will disrupt your work Life balance in the long run.

How can you mend your ways?

You need to understand why you’re always late. What is it that’s keeping you? Could it be your habit of staying in bed even after the alarm has gone off, telling yourself you just need 5 more minutes? Keep a close eye on what you’re doing and eliminate those that are unnecessary.

It’s all about discipline. No amount of time management training will work if you won’t help yourself. You need to make a conviction to work on not being late.

Look at the bigger picture and the effects it has on your life. You need to understand that being late is always a negative thing especially when you’re in a corporate world and that it doesn’t improve productivity. It does damage to your reputation and evaluations.

Prioritize. Being late doesn’t only apply to your physical presence in the office. It also applies to your tasks and their delivery dates. One time management skill that comes in handy is planning and setting your priorities.  By getting important things done right away, you have enough time for other things.

Own up to responsibility. Learn to respect other people’s time and efforts as they are being affected by your tardiness. You know what time you should be in the office or when the tasks are to be submitted. Be responsible enough to make sure those are met.

People from the new generation have a different take on things. With technology rising in all parts of the world, they couldn’t help but adapt. They have different views and opinions in a lot of things. One of these things is work life balance.

Work life balance is placed with great value and considered to be one essential part of a person’s life. However to the new generation, they have long given up hope of achieving work life balance. To them, it doesn’t exist. But they choose the work that best fits their lifestyle. They don’t settle for anything less anymore. For people who want to travel and have more personal time, they only take part-time jobs. With the right time management skills, this gives them more than enough time to do where they want to go. They also do not invest in material things such as houses or cars because they know they won’t be staying in one place for a long time. For people who are career-oriented and are thirsty for newer and bigger accomplishments, they go for jobs in highly acclaimed companies that provide great benefits to help improve productivity. The people of the newer generation work only for the type of job that they are interested in and the amount that can sustain their way of living.

Because of this, companies who are looking to hire more employees must think of ways to attract them. The old tricks won’t do anymore. Recruiters must now target the right persons for the jobs. They should give out a little bit more flexibility and more room for time management. Recruiters should always promote communication lines to be open at all times to be able to have a more thorough and reasonable negotiation.

There are so many things that hinder us from achieving work life balance. There are so many factors that sometimes make it impossible. However, companies must understand that it is important for employees to meet their personal obligations so they can improve productivity at work. If an employee has no problems at home, it follows that he/she will have no problems in the office resulting to a better performance. For this to be possible, here are some of the needs of employees that must be met so they can continue to give excellent service.

Flexibility – This is probably the most important thing for employees nowadays. They want to know that they have some type of control in how they do things. They want to be creative in doing their tasks. They want to be given the freedom on how to go about things. It’s all in personal time management.

Workload stress and productivity – Employers must value their employees and they must not put too much pressure especially if those are unnecessary pressure. Employees don’t want to work in an environment that focuses on stress instead of productivity. Employers must encourage time management for them to finish all tasks in their normal work schedules. This will also help them maintain work life balance.

Health care - Companies must value their employee’s health and well being. If an employee is healthy and well, he/she will be able to do more at work. Employees want to work in an environment that can offer them health benefits.

These are only some of the issues that companies are dealing with to be able to bring in employees of the new generation.

In our efforts to attain work life balance, there are a couple of setbacks that will hold us down. Despite the advices that are strewn all over the net, there are still some things that are hard to overcome.

• Client Attitudes are Unpredictable

Even if you’ve mastered time management techniques that let you finish tasks faster, you can’t just drop your clients right away. There are clients who are feisty and easily ticked off if you aren’t available when they need you. When this happens, you end up losing your clients. People who highly depend on this for a living can’t afford that because they need to provide for their families. You don’t have to sacrifice your family time just to be available to your clients but you can come up with creative ways on how you can juggle the two.

• Trial and Error

The world of business is like a science project. You have to study and test things out. Otherwise, you won’t really have an idea if it’ll work or not. This is essential especially if you’re only starting out. Money doesn’t come in just like that; you have to look for strategies to improve productivity.

• Freelance Jobs don’t wait for you or anybody else

In the highly competitive world of technology, freelance jobs come and go as fast as you change clothes. It doesn’t wait for anyone. If there’s a job that you’re eyeing on, you better dive at the opportunity rather than wait. It doesn’t matter if you’ve got things going on at the moment, let out your time management skills and you’re good to go. It’s not advisable to have two jobs at one time but if you really need it and if you can do it, then why not?

There are a lot of things to consider in achieving work life balance but as long as you stick to the goal which is to always put your family first, you won’t have any problems.

Work and life balance came into existence when it was first used in the late 1970’s. It was used to describe the balance between an individual’s work and personal life. It has evolved ever since and with the rise of modern technologies nowadays, more and more people are getting caught up with work. Work life balance is having enough time to work and yet still have time to enjoy and have fun in life.

There is no perfect recipe in achieving work life balance. It varies for different people because we are experiencing and are exposed to a lot of different things. And if you do find that balance, there is a possibility wherein that same balance may not work for you next week.

There are two things you can focus on to get that work and life balance. When you have mastered this, all else will fall into place.

Achievement is essential in this balance. Your career must be at its peak and promotions and recognition awards are your goal. In achieving this, you can use time management systems to make sure that you’re using your time wisely.

Pleasure is another thing. As much as you want be successful in your career, it is also essential for you to know if you’re happy. Is this your dream job? Or is it the only thing holding you back from your real dreams?

Achieving and enjoying go hand in hand for you to achieve work life balance. You must learn how to improve productivity at work to succeed in your job while having enough time to spend with your family. When you’re at the office, focus on work-related issues that demand your attention. When you’re at home, focus and give attention to the people around you. It’s all a matter of personal time management.

“With great power comes great responsibility.” This adage is proven true by managers. They have bigger pays and a higher rank but with it come a lot of work too. Managers need to oversee the operations for the entire department or team that they’re handling. They are the eye and they see to it that things are moving and meeting the customer’s needs. They are overloaded with work which is why they need time management skills to be able to make everything work out. Good managers know how to balance time and family. They have a good work life balance.

Here are a few time management techniques that came from managers themselves:

You must be able to determine the things that you can do and the things that need to be done by others. For things that can be done by others, learn to delegate and let others do the said task.

Review the entire operation procedures for any tasks that are too time-consuming. There may be areas where changes can be made to improve productivity.

Always be prepared and learn to prioritize. Think of the things that need to be done by tomorrow and list them all according to urgency and priority. When you get to the office the following day, you know where to start right away and not waste time fiddling and thinking of what to do first. Proper planning and goal setting must be done to ensure an increase in productivity.

Remember these things and try it out. You’ll see a huge difference in the way you manage time. Through effective time management, a manager’s job is made stressful and easier.

If you compare the employees now and then, you’ll see a difference that’s so huge and a gap that’s quite vast. What employees are looking for in companies before are not necessarily what employees of today’s generation are looking for now. Work life balance is much easier attained by employees of the new generation.

Employees of the new generation have high expectations for growth even if it’s only an entry-level job. They don’t apply for just any job, it has to be one that they love doing to the extent that they’d go for months without a job rather than work for something they don’t really have any interest in.

Employees of the new generation are looking for companies who can offer them better ways in achieving work life balance. They don’t want to spend too much time in the office. As much as possible, they want to do it outside the office. They want to work and deliver results no matter where they are, it’s really all in personal time management. Companies who offer flexibility in work schedules usually get the attention of these employees.

The reasons why employees before stuck with their jobs are for financial security and other benefits that comes with the job. But employees of the new generation don’t give this much weight. Often times, they work where their friends are. They feel motivated to work in an environment where they are comfortable with the people and are generally happy with the people around them. They believe it helps improve productivity.

There are new breeds of workers who value their lives and still possess time management skills to get the work done. Companies are trying all sorts of strategies to reel them in.

We used to live in a world where work starts at exactly 8 or 9 A.M and ends at 4 P.M. or 5 P.M. The schedule was fixed and we couldn’t do anything but to adjust and adapt. With the internet on a rise, new opportunities and new doors have opened. Things that were standard and unchanging before were now flexible. There’s more room for understanding and better opportunities in achieving work life balance.

There are different ways to attain work life balance:

Flexible rules – Some companies offer flexibility in terms of work schedule. If you have important events or appointments that you need to attend, you can get off work early and then come back to make up for it or make up for it on other days. For some who are really good at time management, you can render 9 hours of work from Mondays to Thursdays and have Fridays off.

Sabbaticals – some companies also offer a long vacation after you’ve completed a certain number of years. They give you three weeks or a month tops to enjoy yourself and your life.

Special arrangements – There are also some companies who adjust to their employee’s needs but only those that are reasonable and justifiable. For example you’ve worked in a certain place for a number of years or you’ve been travelling back and forth for work and you suddenly want to have a more stable life. It all depends on what you can work out with your employer. The important thing is you have a good relationship with your employer and that they know and have seen that you possess time management skills so what you’re asking for wouldn’t be a problem.

Part-time Work – The most famous arrangement of all is the part-time work. Companies often retain their employees by offering them this arrangement. It’s more convenient and will improve productivity for them rather than hiring another one and do training all over again. Employees can now work from the comforts of their home for a specified number of hours every week.

With the evolution in the professional world, there are a lot of arrangements you can make to succeed in your work while maintaining work and life balance.

Do you go to work an hour earlier than you’re supposed to? Do you get to work as soon as you get there? Yet despite being early and all, you find yourself in the office 2-4 hours after your normal time out? When you get home, do you go straight to bed without taking time to talk to anyone because you’re tired? If this is how your day goes, you are in dire need of a work life balance to set things right.

How do you do that? Here are some tips on achieving work life balance without compromising your performance professionally:

• Keep a daily log of the things that you did. Chances are, you’ve been doing something that’s not necessary or can be kept out.
• Know the options that you can benefit from. If you can have flexible hours, grab it. It’ll give you more time with your family and to rest. It’ll help keep a family work life balance for you.
• Communication is crucial. Avoid petty misunderstandings and try to listen and understand more.
• We can’t do everything that is asked of us. When you think things are too much, learn to say no politely. It’s better to be upfront about it rather than say yes and doing it all wrong.
• Once you step out of the office, consider yourself a free man. Technologies such as mobile phones and laptops should be kept at minimal use only.
• On your days off, try to relax as much as possible. It’s the only time you can do that.
• Do not deprive yourself of proper sleep. Not getting enough sleep is already stressful to begin with.
• The main key to improve productivity and having a life is by having the right time management skills. You get more work done in less time if you just know how to manage it. There are a lot of time management trainings that you can attend. They can give you tips and tricks on how to save time so you can enjoy life.