It’s a well known fact in the corporate world that the workforce needs better work-life alignment, and that this is one of the most important factors that employees look for before joining or leaving any company. Although this is what the employees want, the reality is far from it.
Developing countries like India and Indonesia are known for having low work-life alignment, and because of this firms lose out on the best talent.
So, what can companies do to achieve harmony between work and life to retain and engage the best employees?
Difference between work-life balance and work-life alignment
There is a difference between work-life balance and work-life alignment. Experts understand that focusing on ‘work-life’ balance might place work and life on the opposite side of the ‘balance’ framework. However, the idea is that both of this need to coexist and in an alignment. This simply means that work is part of an employee’s life and therefore, should complement their personal aspirations and needs as well.
Simply put, work-life alignment is all about how employees can harmonize their energy to the maximum – both at work and at home. This ensures there is a wholesome experience for them to flourish in a positive environment.
Be a part of their journey
Every employee is different, which means that their individual work-life alignment might also be different. Therefore, organizations also need to understand this fact and treat every work-life alignment opportunity differently. For this to happen, organizations need to tailor various programs and initiatives that are responsible for driving these alignments.
The HR department of organizations needs to have a better understanding of every employee, including information of where they come from, what are their hobbies, what interests them, etc. Only then they can move to the next phase.
The next phase is to know whether the employees’ personal lives are well-aligned with their respective work or not. For instance, an employee might be interested in playing table tennis every day after office, but the shift timings are creating an issue in aligning the interest. If the HR understands the situation, then the issue can be discussed with the management to accommodate the employee’s request, so that his/her work and life alignment needs are met.
Conclusion
The main premise of work-life alignment process is that employees don’t want separate identities. This is true, especially for millennials which places more importance on experiences than money. Therefore, the role played by HR will be an important one here. They can even get in touch with a manpower consultant agency to understand how to reach out to employees.