3 Best Ways Technology Helps Your Work-Life Balance
If you’re struggling to find the perfect balance between your work life and personal life, there are several ways technology can help. Here are three ways technology can positively affect your work-life balance. Limiting notifications, automating tasks, and communicating with management are just a few examples of how technology can help. You may find other benefits too. But these three are the most important. Read on to learn more.
Positive impact of technology on work-life balance
Work-life balance is a complex concept encompassing the importance of family, personal life, and career. A viable work-life balance promotes the allocation of time according to the priorities of each. It is important to note that it is impossible to equalize time allocated to work and personal activities. Personal interests and time spent working on them may negatively impact the quality of a job. To make work-life balance sustainable, both employers and employees must find a way to ensure that each individual has adequate time for personal activities and hobbies.
While working from home has its benefits, constant access to the workplace can negatively affect work-life balance. Assimilation is the process by which organizational members learn the rules and norms related to ICTs. This is why employers should be mindful of the implicit messages employees send about work-life balance. For example, newcomers may notice timestamps in emails sent during after-hours hours and coworkers working on weekends.
Automation
If you’re looking for a way to improve your work-life balance, automation could be the answer. It can replace human labor but only 17% of managers cited this benefit. Automation is most useful for cognitively routine tasks, such as preparing reports for executives. To ensure that your automation is effective, it helps to outline specific tasks to be automated and determine which tasks require supervised automation. Here are three ways that automation can help you improve your work-life balance.
When you run a business, you wear many hats. You’re responsible for planning, communicating, executing, selling, and managing workforces. While it’s true that you’re an entrepreneur, you also need to find time for yourself and your family. That’s why automation can help you improve your work-life balance and get more time for what’s important. Rather than being overwhelmed by too many projects and tasks, you can spend more time on the things that matter most to you.
Limiting notifications during non-work hours
If you are able to keep your work-related apps switched off while you’re not working, limit notifications during non-work hours. This can be difficult for people who are constantly on. But it will improve your work-life balance in a number of ways. Here are a few ways to limit notifications and regain some of your restorative time. Also, avoid answering work emails when you’re sleeping.
First, limit notifications during your non-work hours. This is especially important if you’re working late or have a family. Ping notifications can rob you of your leisure time and pull you into work-related activities. Moreover, they’ll remind you of important information. Limiting notifications during non-work hours will help you get back that time. But remember, it’s possible to do both.
Communication with management
While working remotely has numerous benefits, it can negatively impact work-life balance, and constant access to technology is especially disruptive. While organizational members are likely to develop a variety of rules and norms about ICTs during the assimilation process, employers must be particularly cautious about the implicit messages they send when employees use technology outside of work hours. This can include newcomers noting timestamps on emails sent after business hours, or that their coworkers are working on weekends.
For employers, communicating with employees about their needs with technology can help them make wise decisions about their technology use. Employers must be willing to listen to employee feedback and create an environment that encourages workers to disconnect from technology during their time off. The right kind of communication with management will help employees use technology in a way that promotes work-life balance, and increase employee engagement. Here are a few ways technology can help improve work-life balance and engagement: