How do you handle your work life day to day, and how do you balance it with family and fun? Richard Holmes, Director of Wellbeing at Westfield Health, discusses with Lawyer monthly 5 signs that your work is impacting on your home life and how you can avoid job burnout.
With a rise in longer working days and flexible hours, it can often be hard for the head of an organisation to switch off from work whilst at home. In most cases, employees are completely unaware that their job is slowly taking over their life, however, no matter what your position, it’s important to maintain a good work/life balance to ensure you stay happy and healthy.
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Developed unhealthy or out of character habits
Constant overworking may cause you to take your eye off things that are important to you or pick up unhealthy habits like over-eating or excessive drinking.
It’s important to take time to look after yourself and do what you love outside of work. Sticking to a routine will help you stay organised and on-track with other aspects of your life whilst busy at work.
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You’re a victim of ‘leavism’
Leavism is the latest coined phrase to define working during non-paid hours or annual leave. If you’re heading up a company, you may feel the need to be constantly on-hand or too scared to book annual leave through the fear of missing out on work. Leave your laptop at the office to avoid being tempted to work during your spare time.
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You’re always tired
If you are stressed and over-worked, you are likely to feel tired both on the job and at home. New research has revealed that almost half (46%) of working Brits say they regularly turn up to their jobs feeling too tired to work and a surprising 1 in 10 say they have purposefully taken a nap at work1.
Not only does fatigue impact on performance, it will impact on your physical and mental health which may result in having to take sick leave.
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Spending minimal time with loved ones
If you are so engrossed in work that you have neglected your favourite hobbies or lost interest in socialising altogether, you may need to restore some work life balance. Leadership responsibilities can often take up a lot of your personal life, but it’s vital to ensure you are still seeing friends and family. To help stick to this, be strict with allocating a certain amount of time each day to socialising or doing activities outside of work.
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You talk about work all the time
When running an organisation, you may find the time you are with loved ones is spent thinking about work-related problems or discussing your latest project. It’s good to share some workplace worries with those closest to you, but discussing every aspect of your working day will mean you struggle to switch off. The key to a healthy work life balance is to understand the need to talk about important work problems whilst restricting the time spent doing so.
