Why wait until January 1 to kickstart a healthier work-life balance?
Research shows that 88% of people who set resolutions for the new year do not follow through, and
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The 'Winter Arc' trend that has recently emerged on social media shows people making the most of the months leading up to the new year, putting positive change into motion now rather than kicking the can down the road. Frank Weishaupt, CEO of video conferencing software company Owl Labs, has encouraged this movement among his own team, and urges all employees to do the same — examining what they need in order to
"It's a great opportunity to evaluate how you can maximize your productivity, your work-life balance, your personal health, and your mental health," he says. "You need to figure out as a human being, 'I work for this company, I have this life, I need to make all this work.' So use the next three months to not only establish what those things are, but actually put them in practice and see how it works for you."
Owl Labs' 2024 State of Hybrid Work report shows that employees need to make their improvements to their well-being a top priority: 43% of workers have seen an increase in stress compared to last year, while 46% said theirs has stayed the same. The report found that managers are being hit especially hard, with their stress levels coming in 55% higher than those of non-managers. In-office employees report higher stress levels than those who are hybrid or remote, and 32% of employees looking for a new job cite lowering their stress level as the main reason.
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Weishaupt notes that the shift from a "resolution" outlook to an "adjustment" of routine takes some pressure off of making lifestyle changes. He also reminds people to tweak things until they find the right scenario, versus giving up and falling back into a situation that makes them unhappy. For example, if scheduling time to go to the gym for an hour two times a week doesn't work, try alternative time options such as going twice a week for a half hour, instead of not going at all. He also recommends an open dialogue among team members and with leadership, to help employees feel comfortable communicating their needs.
"It's this constant testing and iterating that you have to be able to do to make yourself successful," he says. "Everybody works differently. [Taking the opportunity to] have that conversation honestly with the people that I work with might help us work better together and make me a more productive employee."
Owl Labs feedback showed a large part of work-life balance is dependent upon individuals' ability to maintain a flexible work schedule. Four out of 10 employees currently working in a hybrid setting would look for a new job if they were called back into the office full time. In order to retain talent, Weishaupt urges employers to remain flexible and focus more on accountability rather than where people physically work, and compare company or team expectations with employee needs in order to come up with a possible compromise.
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No matter what work-life enhancements employees decide to try, there's no time like the present to begin making changes.
"That will actually help people to focus a little more, and to be able to let go a little more, because they don't need to leave for that vacation during the holidays and come back and feel like there's this tremendous uphill climb," says Weishaupt. "They'll just be continuing on the journey that they started by making some of these changes along the way."
