Work Life Balance - How Do I Feel About Work-Life Balance?

If you want to encourage a healthy work-life balance in your workplace, it's important that you lead by example. This self assessment helps you assess your knowledge, understanding and attitude to work-life balance issues, and highlights areas where you may wish to improve.

1. Read the statements on the left-hand side of the table.

2. The questions cover five important areas of work–life balance: flexible working, stress, time management, communication and your personal attitude to work–life balance.

3. Answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to each of the questions in the table below.

4. Now use the column on the right-hand side of the table to make notes on specific areas and suggestions for improvement.

5. When you have done this, consider these further questions:

• Were you surprised by any of your answers?

• Did you identify any areas for improvement?

• Do you know what steps you could take to make these improvements? If so, list them separately.

Question	Yes / No	Suggested Improvement
​1. If a member of staff enquired about your company's work-life balance policy would you be able to answer their questions?
2. Do you belief you have a good work-life balance?
3. Do you encourage flexible working arrangements among your staff, such as working from home and flexitime?
4. Do you support your staff's development through training and external education opportunities?
5. Do you recognise that time spent in the office is not necessarily linked to productivity?
6. If members of staff work from home, do you ensure that they have adequate technology to do so?
7. Do you and your staff communicate about work-life priorities and difficulties?
8. Do you encourage your staff to take all their vacation time?
9. Do you know the most common causes of stress in the workplace?
10. If your organisation has a confidential counselling service, have you made your staff aware of it?
11. Are you a strong advocate of the rights of new parents to maintain their status and position?
12. Do you grant the same work-life rights to all staff irrespective of their seniority?
13. Are employees honestly appraised of business goals and performance?
14. Do you discourage a long hours culture?
15. Do you give serious consideration to any work-life balance requests made by your staff?
16. Do you encourage your staff to speak out about any difficulties they encounter at work?
17. Do you ensure that all your staff have an adequate understanding of their roles, duties, tasks and responsibilities?
18. Have you considered the business benefits of work-life balance initiatives?
19. Are you aware of the basic legislation on flexible working, maternity and paternity leave?
20. Do you believe that work-life balance is important for all workers, not just women with children?
21. Can you identify the major sources of stress in your life?
22. Would you recognise the signs and symptoms of stress in your workforce?
23. Can you identify any ways in which you/your staff could better organise your/their time in the workplace?
24. Do you encourage staff to take a lunch break?
25. Do you feel adequately trained to implement work-life balance policies?
26. Do you empower employees to make decisions about how they organise their tasks?
27. Do you have successful personal strategies for coping with stressful situations?
28. Do you know what the most common time-wasting factors are?
29. Can you successfully prioritise your duties and tasks to maximise efficiency?
30. Do you or your staff manage to stick to deadlines?
31. If you have remote workers in your team, do you feel that you are managing them successfully?
32. Are you aware of the different flexible working options?

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