Finding a balance between work and life is all about managing situations in our personal lives that affect our work, and vice versa. In order to achieve that balance, employees need access to preventative services, not just crisis services.
That’s the idea behind the robust Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) at Cascade Centers, an organization that administers EAPs to companies around the country. I spoke with Anna Meiners, Director of Account Services at Cascade Centers, for Transform Your Workplace about the importance of offering wellness programs and other preventative services in addition to the mental health counseling and crisis services found in most standard EAPs.
“In the medical community, for decades we have understood the need to treat high blood pressure before someone has a heart attack,” Meiners said. “But the mental health community and the EAP community hasn’t been as quick to get on board with prevention.”
Cascade Centers’ goal is to intervene earlier. “We don’t want to wait until someone has a crisis. We want to get people connected to care sooner and help them have effective tools to manage stress before they are in a crisis.”
“In my experience, leaders really want to do the right thing,” Meiners said. “They just don’t know how.” Here are some of her ideas for prioritizing prevention company-wide:
Be a role model for self-care.
While providing direct emotional support to employees is valuable, managers won’t always be available to do so, nor will every leader feel comfortable in that role. An easy way for any leader to show support is by modeling vulnerability and self-care.
“If work-life balance is one of your company values, your people should see you leave work at a reasonable hour, and take breaks, and leave early to attend your kid’s school play,” Meiners said.
Remember the rule from every airplane safety video: you need to put on your own oxygen mask before assisting those around you with theirs. You won’t be very helpful if you can’t breathe.
It’s difficult to implement this behavior regularly, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth it. “Leaders don’t just wake up one day like, ‘Oh, now I’m great at making sure my people see me taking my lunch break.’ You have to be really intentional and deliberate,” Meiners said. “Ask yourself: how can you, within your organization, facilitate these behaviors that we know help people be healthier?” Often, we can start with ourselves.
Find ways to give your employees autonomy, whatever that may look like in your industry.
Having a sense of control is a huge contributor to our health and happiness at work, Meiners said, but it’s not easy to find in every workplace environment. At a call center, for example, your employees have to be available to answer calls at any moment.
But there are ways to allow freedom here, too. Meiners cited Ruby Receptionists, a Portland-based call center that gets a lot of positive press for its workplace culture. “They are a call center,” she said, “but they empower their employees to delight their customers, which gives them a sense of autonomy and control in what they can do. For example, an employee could say, ‘Oh, I was just on the phone with this client and learned they are getting married, so I’m going to send them a little care package.’ It gives them autonomy in an environment that is notorious for having low job control.”
It’s a relatively minor thing, but Meiners said that’s just fine. “I think employers get intimidated, thinking they have to offer something huge here,” like work-from-home policies. But that won’t work in every industry, especially not in retail. The key is finding a way to give autonomy that uplifts and empowers employees while still ensuring the necessary work gets done.
“We should allow ourselves to think more creatively about the ways we are supporting people,” Meiners said. “So we talk about parental leave as an obvious one, but another way to help people manage caregiving is by giving them their schedules at least a week in advance.” Consistency allows people to make choices that alleviate their work-life conflicts, and that’s a major help, too, even though it seems small.
Help employees understand what is expected of them.
Having more certainty in their roles helps employees feel more secure and, as a result, less stressed at work. “Just basic performance conversations, like ‘Here’s what we expect from you, and here area professional development opportunities that are available to you’ helps people be healthier, too.”
Keep in mind that everyone’s approach to work-life balance is different and may change over time.
Some employees will want complete separation between work and life. They will want to shut off their email when they leave for the day, not thinking about work again until they have coffee in the morning. Others will prefer total integration and will want their work to spread out over the day. Many of us have periods in our lives when work is more important, and periods when home and family life is more important. While you want to help employees with their balance, you don’t necessarily want to force them to change their preferred work method. So keep talking with your employees, Meiners said, get a feel for their preferences, and remember that they may change down the line, so you’ll need to check in regularly.