FLEXI WORK ENVIRONMENTS

Manilka Ediriweera emphasises that millennials value their work-life balance

Work-life balance is the state of equilibrium where the demands of a person’s job and personal life are equal. In today’s unpredictable and dynamic business world, it’s extremely difficult to achieve work-life balance. The more we’re connected through technology, the harder it is to separate our work and personal lives.

And it has become commonplace to work on weekends while at home or check emails anytime, anywhere. As a result, there is growing concern that the quality of home life is deteriorating at a rapid pace.

With pressure at work increasing over the years, advances in IT, the need for speedy responses and constant availability, the cruciality of customer service and fast-paced nature of the corporate world, it has become very difficult to prioritise the demands of one’s career and personal life equally.

This issue has been prevalent in the workplace, and can be traced back to the 1980s and ’90s when companies first began to offer work-life programmes to employees. Though these programmes were initially targeted at women with children, they’ve become less gender specific – both men and women are searching for work-life balance, these days.

Different demographics define work-life balance differently. For baby boomers who were exposed to many hardships at a young age, making a decent living and stability in the workplace were more important; and as a result, work-life balance was of no great concern to them.

However, gen X that followed them placed more emphasis on work-life balance and considered it a prerequisite for employment. On the other hand, millennials who will shortly account for a large portion of the workforce are challenging the entire concept of traditional office life. Most of them demand this balance and consider it a priority.

This raises an important question as to why the work-life balance matters – especially for millennials. Work occupies a significant place in our lives and those long hours at work have become an obsession for many. As a result, people constantly struggle to find time for their children and families, passions or life besides work; and this causes stress and unhappiness.

Success for millennials isn’t limited to climbing the corporate ladder and earning titles. It’s more about moving into better work environments where they have flexibility and control over their work schedules.


As a result, younger generation employees are pushing back and demanding flexibility such as the freedom to work remotely, come in or leave at any time, paid leave on the birth of child, extended paid family leave and wellness benefits.

Having grown up with technology, mobile devices and instant communication, this generation of digital natives is aware of the ‘always on’ work culture.

While they are ready to take their work home, they expect flexibility from their employers to bring their home life to work as well. This means that while the younger generation is willing to work hard for a company, they also need time to live their lives.

Furthermore, since more millennial parents are employ-ed full-time, the need for better work-life balance is even greater.

A survey conducted by Harvard Business School and the Boston Consulting Group revealed that of the 11,000 workers and 6,500 business leaders who took part in the survey, a majority stated that employee expectations on flexible autonomous work, better work-life balance and remote working were among the new developments mostly affecting their organisations.

Therefore, creating such an environment for millennials
will be a compelling advantage for corporates. When there are policies or programmes set up to support work-life balance, employees and employers alike will benefit.

A healthy work-life balance will improve productivity and performance among employees, as well as their mindfulness and loyalty. This will benefit their health and relationships too. Employers can reduce costs, make the workplace more attractive, build a loyal and productive workforce, and experience less absenteeism.

While it has been drilled into us that our work and personal lives should be kept separate, an overlap between the two is necessary to a certain extent. So employers should focus on integration instead of equilibrium; and by making small investments in the right areas, they will dramatically improve the level of employee satisfaction and productivity.

Even though an employee belongs to a particular generation, it doesn’t mean that he or she requires the same things as another in that demographic. Therefore, an employer should focus on creating a flexible environment that satisfies the work-life balance requirements of all concerned.