Work-life balance is a must when it comes to building a strong team that can tackle challenges in the long term. Employee burnout and lack of time for non-work priorities lead to higher turnover, raising recruitment costs and placing additional stress on the rest of the team.

Here are several ways to encourage your team to develop a healthy work-life balance – and to give them the power to do it:

Model work-life balance.

It does little good to tell your team members to leave on time or take their vacation or sick days if they see you and other leaders ignoring this advice. To encourage staff to use the time they have wisely, set an example by maintaining your own healthy work-life boundaries. Model the kind of attention to work-life balance you want your team to practice. You’ll be a better leader, and your team will feel empowered to support their own healthy, sustainable work.

Focus on productivity, not hours.

Your team may be on site for eight, ten, or twelve hours a day, but what are they achieving in that time? When the focus is on productivity, workers look at ways to work smarter, not longer. They’re able to get essential work done in less time, so that they can take advantage of flexible scheduling, remote work, and other ways to ensure they’re meeting their priorities both inside and outside the office.

Get the help your team needs.

Workers may find work-life balance impossible to achieve if they don’t have the team support they need to distribute work effectively. If your team is putting in long hours and facing burnout because it’s the only way to get the work done, consider bringing in new talent to distribute the workload and keep the entire team on track.

Looking For Top Talent?

Work-life balance is an essential part of physical and mental health, which are essential to employee engagement, innovation, and accuracy at work. To learn more about building a team that can manage both professional and personal challenges with resilience, talk to the recruiters at SMR Group Ltd today. We specialize in connecting clients in the pharmaceutical, medical device, and biotech industries to top sales and marketing talent.