Healthy Life Balance:

1
Healthy Life Balance An Employee and Employer
Partnership
Greater Monadnock SHRM April 9, 2008 Presented
by Richard Dufresne, MSW www.allianceconsultingh
rd.com
2
Healthy Life Balance
3
Top Employee Concerns

• Job security 65
• Benefits 64
• Ability to balance work and personal life 62
• 2002 study by Society for Human Resource
  Management and USA Today

4
Employer Concerns

• Recruitment competitive advantage for talent
• Retention
• Productivity, Profit, Sustainability
• Reduced Health Care and Benefits Costs
• Customer Satisfaction
• Its the right thing to do
• Other?

5
Employer/Employee Partnership

• What can organizations do to contribute to a
  Healthy Life Balance for their employees?
• What can individuals do for themselves to create
  a Healthy Life Balance?
• What are organizations and individuals currently
  doing to create a Healthy Life Balance?

6
Employers role

• What is your organization currently doing to
  contribute to your employees Life Balance Plan?
• What are the goals for each strategy?
• How often are these strategies measured for
  effectiveness, utilization?
• What is one strategy that has had the greatest
  ROI?

7
Organizational Strategies

• Clarify philosophy/purpose for Work/Life Benefits
• Determine what benefits employees need most
• Market existing and new benefits
• Direct management to encourage employees to take
  advantage of the benefits
• Measure and Evaluate the Value and Effectiveness
  of each benefit

8
Organizational Strategies

• Add new and different strategies to avoid
  satiation
• Think out of the box not all strategies need
  to cost a great deal
• Avoid one size fits all approach
• Get employees involved in the needs assessment,
  decision making, planning, implementation and
  evaluation of strategies

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Employees Responsibility
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Challenges for Individuals in Creating Balance in
Life

• Skill deficient
• Habit
• Attitude
• Resources

11
Reported Costs of an Unbalanced Life

• No time for
• Myself
• Social life and/or dating
• Family members, friends, causes I support
• Lack of energy and sleep
• Relationships may suffer
• Feelings of guilt, depression, anxiety, anger

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The Eight Essential Skills to Create Balance

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13
Barriers to Balance

• Were Overly Compliant
• Were Non-responsive
• Were Controlling
• Were Avoidant

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The Big 4 Facts of Life 3 4

• 1. There are 24 hours in a day
• 2. Sooner or later, you need to sleep
• 3. No one can do it all
• 4. You can get by with a little help from your
  friends

15
Creating Balance

• The opposite of Trust
• is CONTROL

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Planning and Prioritizing 2 8

• We wear a number of distinct hats or roles in
  our lives
• These hats/roles compete for our attention
• We must set priorities in order to succeed in
  each role
• Roles are often best handled by setting boundaries

17
How to Say No and Not Feel Guilty 5

• YES
• YES
• NO
• YES

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Planning is Key 1, 2, 6 7

• List of all your roles
• Conduct a personal planning meeting at the
  beginning of each week
• Write any goals and action steps for each role
  that week
• Eliminate volunteer activities that dont have
  meaning or purpose anymore

19
Creating Balance

• Be mindful of all the benefits that come from
  your work, your organization and the people with
  whom you work
• Make special time with family/significant others
  a priority
• Make child-free time with partner a priority
• Make time away from family a priority

20
Creating Balance

• Let go of perfection
• Count your Blessings!!
• Take Responsibility to create your life
• Write down what you want
• Be specific
• Trust your Inner Advisor