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Work plays a significant part in all our lives. Our earnings ensure that the lights stay on, there’s food on the table, and the rainy-day pot is full. With soaring costs and budgets playing on everyone’s minds, no one is underplaying the importance of earning enough to make a living… it just makes achieving work-life balance that little bit harder!
Recent research from Randstad shows a landmark shift in the workplace. For the first time in over 20 years, work-life balance has surpassed pay as the top motivator for employees. Their data reveals that 83% of workers now prioritise balance, compared to 82% who focus on salary. People are no longer just working to live. They’re choosing roles that protect their time.
We’re more connected than ever. Technology and AI have changed the game. Working from home is no longer new; it’s just how we do things. But this makes it difficult to separate work from personal time. It’s commonplace to check emails at all hours, take business calls at the dinner table and work on our laptops on weekends. How has this become acceptable?
The conversation has moved on from remote or hybrid work. The real differentiator is how we use technology to protect our time. AI is our daily digital colleague that helps us offload repetitive tasks.
But there’s a catch. Employers expect more from their people, which leads to them feeling more pressure to achieve greater results. These pressures appear to have reached a breaking point, as people realise that they need to achieve a better balance in their lives.
If we only use AI to cram in more work, we miss the point. The goal is to reinvest that extra time into human connection, creativity, and rest. Real balance means using tech to work smarter, not harder!
Maintaining a healthy work-life balance isn’t only important for health and relationships, but it can also improve your employees’ productivity and performance. Put simply, if your people don’t view work as a chore, then they will work harder, make fewer mistakes, and are more likely to become advocates for your brand.
Businesses that gain a reputation for encouraging work-life balance have become very attractive – especially when you consider how difficult it can be to attract and retain younger workers these days. The cost of losing your people is rising. According to Centric HR, replacing a mid-level manager in 2026 can cost roughly 20% of their annual salary in recruitment and training. For executive roles, that figure can skyrocket to over 200%. Keeping your current team happy isn’t just a “nice” thing to do. It’s a vital financial strategy.
Here are some more reasons why work-life balance is important for your people and your organisation:
Workplace absence hit record highs in 2025. The CIPD reported that UK employees were off sick for an average of 9.4 days over the year. Mental ill-health remains the top cause of long-term absence.
When we are stressed and overworked, we run the risk of jeopardising more than just our social lives—our physical and mental health is in danger too.
A poor work-life balance can lead to a variety of symptoms that can affect our wellbeing. This ranges from the flu to serious health conditions like strokes and respiratory problems. A study conducted by UCL of more than 10,000 participants stated that white-collar workers who worked three or more hours longer than required had a 60% higher risk of heart-related problems than those who didn’t work overtime.
By encouraging your people to look after themselves and find balance, you will significantly limit health problems and absences. This will ensure your organisation is more efficient during business hours, and people want to be part of the business and culture.
By helping your people find the perfect balance between work and home, you will increase their engagement levels. This has many positive effects. According to Tower Perrin’s global survey, “Companies with highly engaged employees had a near 52% gap in performance improvement in operating income.” Plus: “Companies with high levels of employee engagement improved 19.2% in operating income, while companies with low levels of employee engagement declined 32.7%.”
Having an engaged workforce will lead to your people going the extra mile for you and becoming loyal advocates for your brand and product. This is evidenced by Temkin Group, which suggests that “engaged staff are 2.5 times more likely to stay at work late if something needs to be done after the normal workday ends.”
We all get stressed from time to time. It’s unavoidable. However, workplace burnouts are avoidable, and you should make efforts to ensure this doesn’t happen to your people. Burnouts occur when we feel overwhelmed and unable to meet constant demands. The negative effects of burnout can affect every aspect of our lives.
The inability to separate work from personal life will massively increase the chances of burnout, so it’s important to encourage your team to take time off and truly relax.
When we find and sustain a healthy work-life balance, we develop greater control over our focus and ability to concentrate on the task at hand—this is known as mindfulness. Wouldn’t you prefer a team that is fully focused on whatever they are doing instead of worrying about work/home?
By encouraging your people to have a healthy work-life balance, you will create an environment where everyone is dedicated to the task at hand. This will improve retention rates, productivity and ultimately profit.
Now we know why it’s important, let’s explore how you can ensure your people have a healthy work-life balance:
Holidays are not a luxury. Annual leave is a necessity. A break from work will provide you with the chance to switch off and enjoy yourself. It’s also a great opportunity to recuperate and recharge. This is essential to help your people improve productivity and focus when they return to the office.
Numerous studies show that holidays increase company productivity and reduce stress. The American Sociological Association compiled a report, which suggests that a larger number of vacations leads to a decline in the psychological distress of people.
An effective way to encourage your people to take time off is to implement a “use it or lose it” system. This ensures any unused days will not be carried over at the end of the year or repaid financially.
The world has changed since France first introduced “Right to Disconnect” laws. Now, many global organisations have their own policies. Respect the privacy of your team outside of office hours. Avoid contacting them when they’re off the clock. This allows them to fully recharge from everyday stresses. This will positively impact your teams’ work performance, productivity and workplace happiness.
Don’t just offer remote work. Ask your people what they actually need. Use surveys to get data-driven insights. Maybe they need different start times or compressed hours. Collaborating with your team gives you a better understanding of how they think.
If you notice that your people are struggling to find balance, then find out what changes they think would improve their situation. By collaborating with your team, you will get more insight into the way they think, and you will be able to work together on strategies more effectively in future.
To help you facilitate these discussions, consider having regularly scheduled meetings or implementing employee surveys to provide you with data-driven insights. This way, you can accurately gauge how your people are feeling at any given time and make adjustments to ensure that they have the right balance.
Finally, it’s important to lead by example. If you tell your people to shut off their laptops at six and not work over the weekend, but you’re sending them emails during these periods, it sends a very mixed message. It also puts additional pressure on your people to mirror your working hours. Lead by example and witness how your work practices will permeate throughout the business.
It’s important to respect the balance and privacy of your team when they are not actively working. This means you should avoid contacting them outside of office hours to allow them to fully switch off and recharge from everyday work stresses.
Most of us will spend a massive percentage of our time at work. We let it take over and feed into all aspects of our lives. Bearing this in mind, it’s essential to find the right balance and implement it in your workplace. This will allow you and your people to switch off from work and give your personal lives equal measures of attention.
By loosening the reins on your people’s work-life balance, you will make huge strides toward building an engaged and productive team.
You can’t fix what you can’t measure. Achieving organisational work-life takes clear data and a deep understanding of how your people actually feel.
The Happiness Index helps organisations drive performance through people data, technology, and performance-culture expertise. We provide the clarity you need to see where balance is thriving and where burnout might be hiding. We do this through our three core offerings.
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