Work-life balance

When the term work-life balance is mentioned, everyone has an idea of what it means to them, how they balance their work responsibilities with private ones and if they are satisfied with that arrangement.

Most of the people spend 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, working (even more if commuting), so there is a less than 8 hours left for all the other private responsibilities and activities that we would like to fulfill (or, if you are not a fan of getting an 8 hours of sleep at night, you can have a bit more time).

However, this traditional employment model (working full time, 40 hours a week) is getting competition. The shift in working arrangement is happening and more people are turning to self employment, working part time or for agencies that employ temporarily and other kinds of flexible working arrangements. These changes make creating a satisfactory work - life balance for employees in the “traditional work model” even more important.

In the 21st century this subject has become more and more popular and a lot of researchers have started exploring what work - life balance means to an individual, and what kind of benefits organizations who promote WLB policies offer to people and how it reflects on their employees and business in general.

Research shows that employers who acknowledge the needs of their employees and include various WLB policies have a beneficial effect on their motivation, retention, recruiting, job satisfaction, productivity, commitment to the company and overall mental and physical health. Organizations that offer tailor made (specific benefits arranged with each employee to best fit their current needs in their non working life) benefits to their employees generally have even more satisfied, productive and loyal employees.

So, what does Thespian offer to its employees to ensure satisfactory work - life balance?

Except for the benefits you can find described at the end of any of our job openings, we would say that our work - life balance policies are mostly based on a tailor made approach.

Even though we do have sliding working hours with overlap where every employee is supposed to be available, we make arrangements with each individual who has a hard time to work as previously agreed upon due to their current private situation, to best fit their needs and make it easier for them. Whether it is regarding a child or elderly care, medical appointments, additional education…or even if they temporarily saved a bunch of abandoned puppies that couldn’t be taken to shelter due to lack of capacity and had to prioritize taking care of them for almost a week, we like to communicate everything and find a solution which makes both sides end up in a win-win situation.

In conclusion, businesses will have to adapt and be more flexible in making  arrangements with their employees if they want to ensure that each person can establish a work life balance that is suitable for their needs. Even if this makes business processes a bit more complicated, it has a great impact on the employees' well-being, their productivity and loyalty, which in the long term is far more important for a successful company.