By Senyo M. Adjabeng, SPHR:
It is the aspiration of every young person to rise to the pinnacle of his or her profession in the shortest possible time, and meeting this target means dedicating a lot of time to work. The emerging trends in the field of work have become more complicated, making people neglect their social life, an equally important aspect of human life. Have supervisors, managers, and Human Resource business partners or managers looked on or perhaps looked away while young workers burn themselves out, sometimes to the point of no return.
The demands placed on employees today at work and the expectations and targets required to be met undoubtedly increase the level of stress for the worker. This, coupled with the traditional long hours of time spent travelling to and from work, as well as long hours spent on the job, develops work-related stress from tiredness, anxiety, job insecurity, bad and abusive boss(es) or supervisor(s), sexual harassment, fear of the unknown and sometimes, unending work related travel. In Ghana, time spent in unrelenting traffic jams alone, the inconceivable behaviour of commercial drivers and the fumes their vehicles produce can cause enough stress even before the start of a work day.
As a student of Stress Management and a practicing massage therapist (masseur), I am conversant with the need for the balance of work, relaxation and responsibility. Work-life balance involves the deliberate use of stress management tools to ensure and sustain a healthy, happy life at work and at home. There is the need to find a balance between work and play, as well as responsibility to identify, acknowledge and decide when to slow down and take a break from work. Work-life balance is also the careful planning of free time for leisure, relaxation and pure fun away from work. It is a lifestyle which must be mastered and enjoyed to the fullest.
The role of HR in Work-Life Balance
One can only imagine what regular breakdown of keen and productive staff can cost a business; the amount of time and resources that would go into finding a suitable replacement and training him/her to attain the staff’s level of competence, drive and performance.
For proponents of employee wellbeing programmes, the mental fitness of a worker is as important as the physical fitness of that worker and his or her optimum performance.
Programmes such as employee counselling, coaching and mentoring, health and fitness, as well as in-house crèche/nursery day-care facilities for nursing mothers and working mothers with babies of up to two or three years of age, will go a long way to improve the lives of workers in an organization and reduce stress towards a good work-life balance. HR has a singular duty and should protect workers from excessive burnout!
Senyo M. Adjabeng, SPHR
Labour & ADR Consultant,
CAS, LLC
