As with many fundamental changes to people strategy, the journey for employers here starts with bolstering communications efforts.

More specifically, the onus is on organisations to create a set of standards for work-life balance, and ensure that managers communicate this to employees on a regular basis, in addition to monitoring progress.

This can be as simple as ensuring employees do not work beyond their agreed hours, that they utilise their annual leave allowance, and that they are comfortable with their workload.

This will not only improve employee satisfaction and performance, but also bolster the organisation’s employer brand.

Workload plays a key role here, and it should also be required of managers to ensure that a suitable balance is struck. Often, employees will be quietly reluctant to take holidays, or feel compelled to work beyond their contracted hours, for fear that it will set them back and their performance will be negatively scrutinised as a result. This can quickly lead to burnout and can be easily mitigated by taking a more diplomatic approach to output expectations. 

In many cases, reaffirming that it’s okay to take a break, taking excess work off people’s plates and working with them to prioritise tasks can actually boost productivity, as sometimes having too much on can be lead to nothing being done at all. It will also enable employees to leave work at work, recharge and come back refreshed, rather than working themselves into the ground.

What’s more, before rejecting annual leave requests, managers should carefully weigh up whether this is worth the potential impact on the employee. It might not always be possible to accommodate a request, particularly during busier periods, but this is sometimes all the more reason to ensure employees take the time out they need to decompress. 

Keep an eye on those who have a build-up of unused holidays and encourage them to take them; even if the current circumstances mean they have nothing particular planned, this can do wonders for overall wellbeing.

Finally, aside from communicating the company’s stance on work-life balance, managers should also be urged to comply with the standard themselves and resist the temptation to contact employees during evenings, weekends and holidays.

Often, managers will continue to delegate tasks and send resources to employees when they are out of office, with the expectation that they will acknowledge it when they return. But the digital age we live in renders this a flawed approach. With employees able to access platforms such as email, Slack and Microsoft Teams from their smart devices, these communications can act as a source of stress, and ultimately have a negative effect on work-life balance.

If these provisions are firmly in place, and that is made clear to the employee, it is far more likely that they will feel comfortable switching off outside of working hours and during holidays.