Talent and HR News Monthly Update: Work-Life Balance & Happiness at Work

Here at exaqueo we understand that employees bring their whole selves to work, meaning that what happens at home may be just as important as what happens at work. In recognition of this, this month’s update is focused on work-life balance and how employees can do their best work when they are happy at work. We’ve hand-selected six articles on how to increase the focus on happiness and ensure that your employees are enjoying work-life balance, too.

1) These Key HR Steps Will Help You To Retain Your Top Employees from Forbes

In an earlier post, I covered the potential of pulse survey data to unlock the secrets of employee motivation and retention. Google, Amazon, and Adidas, among others, have already reported making strides in this direction.

Yet, many companies in Asia still lag in their approach to using pulse surveys to build a base of structured data from which to analyze their workforce. While sheer headcount numbers may not be a concern in a region with 60% of the world’s population, there is still a talent gap in Asia. This adds pressure on employers to get the best out of the talent they have, and to retain that talent for as long as possible.

While simple in abstract, implementing a pulse survey process work can be tricky. Here's how you can make it work for you.

2) Uncover the Happy at Work: Two Ways to Put a Smile On Your Employer Brand from exaqueo

I’ve been lucky to find jobs that truly make me happy. From my first job at 16 as a parks and recreation playground leader, to helping workers in rural areas reskill after the economic downturn in 2008, to my current role as a Brand Strategist with exaqueo. My passion, energy, and enthusiasm have served me well over the past 10 years, and in turn have lead to a very happy and successful career.

I’m not naive, nor unrealistic. Of course, my career has never been full of 100% happy moments, but overall I look back fondly and know that I have been intentionally happy at work. When you “choose happy,” your perspective changes - in life and at work. When you look at your career choice with intention, I truly believe that it reflects who we are, or what we want to become. I understand a career provides fundamental needs, however - it doesn’t mean you have to be miserable doing it. You can be happy at work, seriously. Who would have thought? Choose a role that inspires you, and then look around your workplace. You’ll find the happy, if you choose to look for it.

3) Work-Life Balance And Positive Company Culture? Sign Me Up from Inside Indiana Business

We work to live, not the other way around! But in our 21st century world of sending one last email at 7 p.m., it can often be tricky to find a balance between the two. Historically, companies have not emphasized the importance of a healthy work-life balance enough, but luckily this mindset is shifting. As the topic of work-life balance becomes more popular in the workplace, successful companies with happy employees are coming up with new ways to implement a positive company culture.

According to Gallup's 2017 State of the American Workplace, 53 percent of employees say a role that allows them to have greater work-life balance and better personal well-being is very important to them.

4) Why Your Daily Habits Must Be Aligned With Your Work-Life Balance Vision (Or You Might Not Achieve It) from Inc

Successful companies know that they need a solid business vision. They also know that their business processes, support systems, and culture need to be aligned to it. The same can be said about personal work-life balance.

After years of talking about how important it was for me to achieve some semblance of work-life balance, I finally decided to make figuring it out a priority in 2017 and now into 2018. There had just been too many ridiculous work-life balance days that had stressed my brain to the point of near failure resulting in me calling my two-year old son by the dog's name and inadvertently addressing a business client by my wife's name.

5) The Science Of Happiness, In Four Simple Work Habits from Fast Company

One happiness researcher believes we’re all capable of becoming happier in our jobs. It just takes a little bit of deliberate practice.

There might be many reasons why your job makes you miserable. Maybe your work is boring, your manager is terrible, or your company just has awful benefits or a crappy work culture. If you aren’t experiencing any workplace malaise, bravo! You’ve hit the jackpot.

But if you crave more satisfaction at work, you don’t necessarily need to find a new job or escape your boss. According to Dr. Emiliana Simon-Thomas, a happiness researcher at UC Berkeley, where she teaches a popular edX course called “The Science of Happiness” and serves as Director of the university’s Greater Good Science Center, we’re all capable of making ourselves happier at work–we just have to, well, work at it.

6) How Two Workaholic Entrepreneurs Learned Work Life Balance And Delegation from Forbes

When I caught up by phone with co-founders of the Chicago’s Boka Restaurant Group Kevin Boehm and Rob Katz, they were on a long-awaited manager’s retreat in Mexico. “We opened four restaurants last year, so we figured we deserved some R&R,” says Boehm.

Over the years, the pair has learned to take time off when they can. The pair has opened 21 restaurants together, and currently manage the 16 year old group, including concepts around the city of Chicago such as Stephanie Izard’s Girl and the Goat, Giuseppe Tentori’s GT Fish & Oyster and the namesake Boka, helmed by Lee Wolen.

Do you have news or insight about employer branding, talent or culture to share? Want us to include it in our monthly update? Contact us below.

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