Why maintaining a work-life balance is so important?

In an increasingly connected world, the line between our work and personal lives has become more and more blurred and difficult to separate.

Maintaining a work-life balance is about separating your personal and professional lives without allowing one to encroach upon the other. Both are important, neither should be neglected. Your ideal work-life balance will depend on your career goals, life stage, and family or social commitments, and it will likely change over time. But maintaining a healthy work-life balance has many benefits:

Here are our 3 reasons why work-life balance is so important.

Improved health and wellbeing

Perhaps money can buy happiness in certain circumstances, but if you spend all of your time working or thinking about work then it’s more than likely that it won’t.

Being over-tired, over-worked and stressed can jeopardise more than just our social lives, it also puts our mental and physical health at risk. Stress and work-related exhaustion often lead to a weakened immune system and can also lead to other physical issues like high blood pressure and heart disease.

By recognising your own individual triggers and understanding when you’re overdoing it, you’ll be able to recognise the early warning signs before you start burning out.

Higher productivity

Studies reveal that those who maintain a steady work-life balance are much more productive than those who do not. A survey conducted by the Corporate Executive Board, representing over 80% of Fortune 500 companies, found that employees that believe they have good work-life balance worked 21% harder than those who don’t after researching 50,000 global workers.

Working for unnecessarily long hours might make you feel like you are contributing a lot, however the quality of work is probably worse… making the effort much less productive.

Rather than over-work, it’s much more effective to be engaged while we work, and most importantly, to enjoy the work we are doing.

Become a more well-rounded individual

It’s easy to make excuses when you don’t have any free time.

And whether your dedication to work has resulted in you missing yoga classes, football trainings or opportunities to see friends, you simply shouldn’t have to sacrifice that much of yourself to do a good job.

Work should not interfere with hobbies or relationships, and if you have the right balance it won’t. By finding the right balance for you, you can improve your health, strengthen your relationships, invest in ‘you time’, and maybe even enjoy your work.

When you want to succeed, it’s tempting to put every ounce of yourself into work but making your work your life doesn’t always result in success. Check out these tips on how to improve your work-life balance.

Fortunately, being a contractor enables you to get this balance right, as you choose when, where and for how long you work. If you’ve made the change, or are considering it, join us at our Tax TIps & F inancial Planning event for current & potential contractors, or contact us here.