People often assume that remote workers have a healthier work-life balance because they’re working from home – but that isn’t necessarily true. In fact, many remote workers find it is worse as their home has shifted from being a place to relax, to being their ‘workplace’ instead.
In some cases this can lead to a poor work-life balance. Remote workers may feel that they’re constantly ‘at work’, under stress, and unable to relax. To avoid that and ensure they don’t burn out, there are several steps you should take to promote a healthy work-life balance:
Allow flexible work hours
Try to allow your remote workers a certain amount of flexibility in their work hours so that they can choose the time that fits them best. Using employee monitoring tools like WE Controlio can help you to track their work hours anyway, and make certain that they are actually working when they’re clocked in.
Because the features of WE Controlio can track all employee activity, you’ll have no problem monitoring remote work. At any point you can use it to capture screenshots and ‘see’ what employees are up to.
Set clear schedule expectations
While some flexibility is good, you will undoubtedly need your remote workers to synchronize their schedules at some point to allow for meetings and other communication. Be clear about these schedule expectations and define the time windows when employees are expected to be available.
Distribute reasonable workloads
A big part of promoting a healthy work-life balance is making sure that that you distribute reasonable workloads to employees. In other words, your goal should be to provide a workload that employees can complete within normal working hours and not pile on unrealistic expectations.
In some ways, WE Controlio can help on this front. It will let you track exactly how much time remote workers spend on different tasks and let you budget time more effectively when distributing them. Ensuring you have enough people on your team is also crucial. Overburdened employees are a sign of being understaffed and can lead to burnout and decreased productivity. Implementing a strategy that includes the use of contingent search agencies can be an effective way to quickly fill gaps in your workforce. These agencies specialize in providing temporary or permanent employees tailored to your specific needs, allowing for a more flexible approach to managing workloads and preventing existing staff from being overwhelmed.
Check-in regularly
Many remote workers state that they feel ‘cut off’ and disconnected when working from home. To counter this, encourage your managers to check-in regularly with employees and talk about any issues they may have including work-life balance.
The monitoring data from WE Controlio can be used as an early warning sign that a remote worker is disengaged. If their productivity drops suddenly and their activity shows that they’re distracted – a one-on-one meeting may help to solve their issues.
All of these steps should help to dramatically improve the work-life balance of your remote workers and ensure that they aren’t overworked or constantly stressed out. That in turn can lower burn out among remote workers, and improve productivity at the same time as employees will be in better condition while they’re working.
The sooner you take steps to promote a healthy work-life balance, the better. Provide your remote workers with the support that they need and it’ll keep them engaged and productive while helping to foster a stronger relationship between them and your company too.
