Why encouraging a sensible work/life balance is so important for your business

The beginning of a new year is a time for reflection and setting resolutions, and it is often a time that many people will want to make changes in their work and within their personal lives. Over Christmas, people are reminded of the importance of spending time with friends and family and so creating a better work/life balance becomes more of a priority.

When it comes to making the decision to look for a new job, work/life balance can be a strong, influencing factor. The motivation for leaving a company can be driven by anything from money, location, family circumstances or career progression and it’s natural that most employees will move on at some point in their career. This is why it’s always important for businesses to have an ongoing recruitment plan in place and, equally, businesses should always strive to ensure that their existing employees are happy to give them every reason to stay.

With the pressure on employees to be more productive than ever, a higher retirement age and the many financial pressures we all face, it can be incredibly difficult to find that work/life balance. Employers play a vital role in helping their employees to find the right balance, and ensure that they remain motivated, driven and performing at their best.

Here at Bristow Holland, we understand that our people are the heart of our business, which is why we offer a range of incentives to make their work-life easier. One way we do this is by paying their phone contracts. We also believe in creating a relaxed working environment and have adopted the ‘Google approach’ which means the office now contains a pool table and a breakout area for employees to spend their breaks. This, along with a generous bonus scheme and regular team outings, allows us to give something back to our team who go above and beyond in their roles. From our experience, we believe this makes us more attractive to potential employees when recruiting ourselves. A happy employee is a motivated and loyal employee. Businesses work hard to attract the right people for the job, and the benefits you offer can help hugely with staff retention. When recruiting, it’s all about attracting the right people and you may need to match the benefits offered by a candidate’s previous employer to bring them to your company. The kinds of packages and incentives that employers offer to help encourage employees to maintain a better work/life balance, include: flexible working hours, generous holiday allowance, health and wellbeing benefits, and the availability of training and development options. These all serve to make an employer more appealing to a candidate. Such benefits are a “nice to have” until you have them, then they become a “must have” when you are looking to move.

Flexible working hours are becoming increasingly important to employees. From a recruitment perspective, clients who offer this tend to be more attractive than those that don’t, so this immediately limits the market for businesses who are not willing to be flexible. In relation to working hours, we would always encourage businesses to consider adapting a role to accommodate the right person. In many cases, the demand for great candidates is far greater than the amount of talented candidates available, so you can’t afford to be picky.