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How to Promote Work-Life Balance in a Remote Workforce

Remote employee working on laptop with child jumping next to her achieving work life balance

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a shift in the workforce as companies were required to shut their office doors and adapt to remote work-home balance. Your employees have likely been dispersed and set up their new workspaces within their homes, causing your work culture to undergo a massive, unexpected transformation. Meetings are conducted via video rather than the conference room at your office, and water-cooler chats no longer exist.

With your team working at home, their work-life balance may be completely skewed. The time limits of a workday are blurred now that your employees have constant access to completing their work at home. While they may believe this is a demonstration of higher productivity, it could lead to negative results like burnout and lower work quality.

As a leader, your new duty is to encourage as much normalcy for your employees while they work from home. This will help them maintain work-home balance so they will remain an asset to your business and be able to tend to their personal lives and wellbeing when the workday is over.

Here is how you can promote work-home balance for your remote workforce:

Allow Freedom in Scheduling

A benefit of remote work for your employees is the freedom to adjust their workday scheduling to suit their lifestyle. You may notice higher productivity in your employees as they shape their scheduling around times when they are more highly focused.

It’s highly recommended that you promote scheduling flexibility for your remote employees. This is highly valued by employees working remotely. With more freedom, they can run errands during their lunch breaks or take care of their kids at certain hours while their partner holds meetings from their home office. You will still need to ensure boundaries are set by having your remote workers share their hours so you can know when they are available and ensure they are completing their necessary daily workload.

Man smiling at laptop in white office
Encourage At-Home Workspaces

Whether you choose to maintain regular 9-to-5 scheduling or allow your employees to establish remote scheduling, you must ensure they only work their necessary hours and no more or less. You can achieve this by having your team members set online and offline hours, which apply to when they are working and when they can no longer be contacted for work-related issues. It’s essential to ensure your team honors one another's’ hours.

With these hours, which can be established on most communication platforms, your team can develop their work-home balance.

Establish Online and Offline Hours

While you may not have total control of where your employees work within their homes, you can help them find some work-home balance by suggesting they designate a workspace. You can do this by including discounts to workspace equipment retailers or by sharing at-home workspace set-up tips.

Promote Wellness with Work-Home Balance and Health Tips

These times are highly stressful for your employees. The shift of everyday life may have heightened their anxiety levels as the pandemic has caused social isolation, reduced access to certain resources, and entirely different work environments. The stress and chaos from the pandemic may impact your remote workers’ mental and physical health.

You may have an on-site fitness center at your office or resources available for your employees’ wellbeing. Now that they are home, you may need to find alternative methods, like sharing health tips through emails or providing discounts to wellness resources like apps, subscriptions, or online classes. Supporting your employees’ wellness through these services and discounts will lead to their reduced stress and improved ability to remain productive from home.

Mom and child looking at laptop under blanket
Promote Work-Home Balance With Passport Unlimited Packages

To help your employees thrive while working from home, you can build a benefits package filled with discounts to local and world-renowned businesses so they and their families can adapt to their new work lives. Passport Unlimited is partnered with a wide range of companies that will promote your employees’ wellness and establish their new work setting so they can manage their work-home balance.