Work Life Balance Vs Work Life Fit + Hybrid Work Structure

 

What is “Work Life Fit”?

Work life fit is a modern and flexible way of approaching the connection between your professional and personal life. It is different from the traditional idea of work life balance, which suggests a strict division between the two. Work life fit is about finding a balance that suits your unique needs and circumstances, recognizing that achieving a perfect balance is not always possible.

In simple terms, work life fit is about aligning your work commitments with your personal priorities and lifestyle. It understands that the demands of today's work environment, combined with the complexities of personal life, require a more adaptable and personalized solution. Instead of keeping work and personal life completely separate, work life fit encourages individuals to blend these aspects in a way that works best for them.

Benefits of Work Life Fit Approach

1. Enhanced Well-being and Reduced Stress

2. Increased Productivity and Efficiency

3. Positive Impact on Employee Satisfaction and Retention

4. Improved Work Life Integration

5. Enhanced Creativity and Innovation

6. Strengthened Employer-Employee Relations

How work-life fit is different than work-life balance:

- Work-life balance implies that employees need to be putting equal time or effort into their work and personal lives, which is not always possible

- Balance is reactive, while fit allows people to be proactive, to individualize, and to plan ahead in accommodating their work and personal lives

How employees can improve their work-life fit:

- Prioritize and organize their time

- Separate themselves from work with regular digital detoxes and try to not dwell on workplace issues or emotions from work

- Implement a flexible work arrangement

- Be honest to themselves about their limits

 

How to create a workplace that supports work-life fit:

- Educate all levels of employees on the benefits of having work-life fit

- Identify small practices the unit can do to promote work-life fit

- Create a policy that makes work-life fit a standard within the unit, and is flexible to accommodate different employees’ needs

- Be clear about how hours and productivity will be monitored and assessed

Traditionally, work life balance has been the guiding principle, emphasizing a static equilibrium between work commitments and personal life. This concept implies a clear separation between the two domains, aiming for an equal distribution of time and energy. The idea is that by maintaining a strict balance, individuals can prevent one aspect from overshadowing or encroaching upon the other, thereby achieving a stable and harmonious lifestyle. It often assumes that the demands of work and personal lives can be neatly compartmentalized, neglecting the dynamic nature of both these domains.

In contrast, work life fit represents a more contemporary and adaptive approach. Instead of striving for a fixed balance, work life fit acknowledges the fluidity of life and the varying priorities individuals may have at different times. It is about finding a personalized and flexible integration of work and personal life that aligns with one's unique circumstances and aspirations.

Work life fit recognizes that the traditional boundaries between work and personal life are no longer rigid and fixed. Therefore, it encourages individuals to blend and adjust these aspects based on their needs. This may involve work flexibility, remote work options, or other arrangements that allow individuals to fulfill their professional responsibilities while also addressing personal obligations.

One of the major advantages of work life fit is that it helps people feel better overall and reduces stress. When you can organize your work to match your natural rhythms and personal priorities, it creates a more balanced and less stressful life. This, in turn, contributes to improved mental health, fostering a positive and resilient mindset.

Embracing work life fit has a direct correlation with increased productivity and efficiency. When individuals have the flexibility to manage their time according to their unique needs, they are better positioned to maximize their productivity during peak energy levels. This personalized approach to work schedules enables employees to deliver high-quality work, ultimately benefiting both the individual and the organization.

Companies that support work life fit often see happier employees who stay with the company longer. By recognizing and meeting the different needs of their employees, companies create a friendly and supportive culture. This leads to greater job satisfaction, a feeling of being part of something important, and employees wanting to stay with the company.

Work life fit makes it easier to combine your work and personal life seamlessly. Unlike the strict boundaries of traditional work life balance, work life fit understands that these two parts of life are connected. This allows you to take care of personal matters without feeling guilty, creating a sense of control and balance. It helps you approach life as a whole, positively affecting both work and personal aspects. Flexible work arrangements, a key part of work life fit, can boost creativity and innovation. When you have the freedom to choose when and where you work, it often leads to a more creative work environment. This flexibility encourages new ideas and perspectives, promoting innovation within the organization.

 Work life fit improves the relationship between employers and employees by encouraging open communication and understanding. Employers who recognize and support the diverse needs of their employees build trust and loyalty. This creates a positive and collaborative relationship, making the workplace a space where everyone's well-being and success are valued.

Hybrid work is a flexible working model where employees work partly in the physical workplace, and partly remotely – at home or from another workspace.

 

Hybrid Work Statistics

- 80% of companies are planning to adopt a hybrid work model.

- Employees who work remotely at least once per month are more likely to feel happy and productive in their roles than those who don’t.

- Individuals are likely to consider switching to hybrid work.

- High-growth organisations employ hybrid work models.

- Hiring managers believe that hybrid work arrangements will become the norm in the future.

- Global respondents claim that hybrid work has improved their physical health.

- Workers believe that hybrid working has improved their physical fitness.

- Employees have saved money through hybrid work.

- Employees agree that the ability to work remotely influences their decision to stay or leave a job.

- 50% of employees desire remote work at least three days per week.

All hybrid business models blend the in-workplace and remote working experiences. But the interesting thing to note is that they have all come about by listening to what employees had to say about how they would work, the tech they needed, and how to deliver the best outcomes for the team and department.

 

1. Workplace-based with limited remote working

Employees are expected to connect with the office every day and attend meetings, training sessions, team briefings, and collaborations there. Sufficient tech and connectivity let people work remotely evenings and weekends, or if life events prevent them from getting to the office. Employees who aren’t in every day miss out somewhat on the corporate culture and real-time contribution to decisions and actions.

2. Workplace-based with generous remote working

Work still revolves around a physical office, and tasks are briefed and launched from there, but employees can work from home for a set number of days per week. People can take home work that they can focus on independently, but the office is still available when collaborative working is needed, or when teams need to align.

3. Digital first with a workplace

The business maintains a physical office, but this is not its hub:  the tech is. Leadership, collaboration, productivity, and culture are mainly delivered via digital tools, which can be used anywhere in the world. The norm is working from home, the exception is getting together in person in a workspace.

4. Digital first with no workplace

Everything in this model is done digitally: it employs a truly distributed workforce, with no permanent workplace, although office space may be rented as required. Tech has to be top of the range for this model to work smoothly, and colleagues may not meet in person very often. 

What’s the difference between “Hybrid Work” and “Work From Home”?

ØHybrid Work: 

Employees divide their working week between being in the office and working remotely – this is flexible working.

ØWork From Home: 

Some employees work remotely, while other employees work in the office. Someone designated WFH will work remotely most of the time, while a WFO employee will be in the office most of the time.

Collaborating Effectively to Create the Best Hybrid Work Environment

It’s not enough to tell your employees to go away and split their working week between home and the office – that’s a recipe for chaos. Hybrid working needs careful orchestration if everyone, employees, business, and customers are to benefit. It’s well known that there’s a behavioural bias towards people who are more often in the office, and therefore visible and influential, over remote workers who are ‘out of sight, out of mind’. People who do remote work are often women, people with disabilities, which means that discrimination against your remote workers can contravene diversity and inclusion legislation. 

Not every employee has superfast broadband or a comfortable home office space to work in. If businesses expect their employees to work at home for part of their week, how can they make the working environment more conducive to comfort and doing their best work?

Simply being in a workplace together face to face, chatting in the lift or around the water cooler can encourage innovation and collaboration in a way that Zoom or Teams calls cannot. How can you encourage collaboration between your remote and your in-house teams?

1. Set clear guidelines right from the start

You’ll need to map out a framework of which jobs can be done remotely, and which cannot, and which employees are eligible for home working. Are there a particular number of days when employees have to be in the office? Schedules are better set at a team or departmental level, rather than company-wide so that everyone can have their say and organise themselves.

2. Communicate

Teams only run efficiently if everyone is kept up to date and working towards the same end goals. Draw up guidelines about meeting times, which communication channels or tools to use for maximum effectiveness (e.g. Slack for quick queries, a video call for more complex issues), everyone individually logging onto Zoom rather than a single remote worker looking at a tableful of colleagues. And repeat everything, on multiple channels if need be, so no team member misses anything.

3. Treat everyone equally

It’s imperative that you treat remote workers the same as your on-site workers. It may take more effort to check in with someone remote than the person sitting at the desk opposite you, but it must be done. Also make sure that work is distributed fairly, so that remote workers don’t end up getting the rubbish tasks or assignments that the on-site workers didn’t want.

The Future of Hybrid Working?

It may be that hybrid working was right for 2020/2021, but once the world settles down post-pandemic, employees fall out of love with it. Certainly, WFA capability will still be part of most people’s jobs, and a culture of flexibility is a great basis for forward-thinking companies to be ready for anything in this uncertain world. However, hybrid working pans out, if business leaders follow these strategies, they can be ready for anything:

Empower employee flexibility: 

This requires a combination of quality tech, physical workspace, and policy that puts people – their needs, wants and well-being – at the centre of decision making

Make working environments conducive to collaborative working:

Whether the online experience or a physical office that’s worth traveling to

Give everyone a break:

Being always-on digital culture is exhausting, so it’s important to listen to how employees are doing, manage their workloads, and make downtime part of company culture

Create a culture of belonging so that everyone, whether they choose to work from home, in the office or out on site, feels supported, treasured, and working towards the same goals. Make employee experience the very best it can be, to attract and retain top talent, have a happy and productive workforce, and great brand equity. Listen to your employee’s voice through employee engagement survey and gather continuous feedback; the data will help you understand where your strategy is working and where it isn’t, and you’ll be able to take immediate action to close gaps and address issues.

 

 Bottom Line…

The seamlessness with which so many industries have adapted to the new normal is encouraging. The job for employees and businesses now is to utilize the lessons learned and to understand that hybrid work is here to stay, that communication, flexibility, and agility are fundamental, that work-life balance is key, and to consider the physical and psychological impact such dramatic changes are having on every company’s most valuable resource: its people!

 

Reference:

[1] OECD: 10 Work-Life Balance

[2] United Nations HR Dept.: Guiding Principles to Support Work-Life Balance

[3] Forbes: Most Americans Are Unhappy At Work

[4] NPR: Why You Feel So Guilty When You’re Not Working

[5] Study Finds: American breaking point: 1 in 4 workers have quit their job over mental health