How a positive work/life balance can benefit your business

The advantages include:

Increased productivity

When employees work long, tiring days, they will typically burn out and get less work completed in the long-run. To back up this point, the Corporate Executive Board (which represents 80% of Fortune 500 companies) discovered that workers who believe they have a positive work/life balance work 21% harder than those who do not.

The research also found that for employees to increase their productivity, they didn’t even need to participate in the work/life services offered – they just needed to know that they were available.

Reduced staff turnover and recruitment costs

American consulting firm, Hay group found that “More than one in four employees at organisations who perceived no support for work/life balance plan to leave their employers within the next two years, compared to 17 percent of employees who feel supported.” Also, research conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) discovered that 89% of HR professionals reported that flexible working arrangements resulted in an increase in employee retention.

Why is reducing staff turnover so important?

This is because it costs so much to recruit and retrain new staff. According to the Center for American Progress, it costs approximately 21% of a person’s annual salary (the costs of the person leaving, hiring and training a new member of staff and the time it takes for them to get up to speed).

Increased employee engagement

Your best employees are the ones who engage more. They are more creative, productive, motivated and loyal. They are also less likely to ask for more annual leave, take sick days and will want to promote your business to others. If you want a business with more of these employees, providing a positive work/life balance is the perfect starting point.

Positive brand perception

If your business promotes a work/life balance, you will create a positive brand image as an employer – this will be great for business. Having this reputation will enable you to attract great talent for the future. This will help give you an edge over your competition and help your business growth.

Overall, a work/life balance can help you cut unnecessary expenses, improve your business’ reputation and increase revenue.