What is work-life wellness?

Whilst work-life wellness represents a newer term adopted in the academic literature and media, its purpose seeks to represent the many various factors that contribute to wellness generally. This is helpful to ascertain so that we no longer fall into the pressure to always strike a balance particularly between work and home life, rather, numerous components make up wellbeing and how we can better achieve it.

This more generalised definition also caters for our current remote working lives. As we navigate through a rapidly changing working world, it’s worth broadening our perspectives on work-life wellness.

Whilst the pandemic has shown employees feel more productive working remotely, there’s still research to suggest many individuals struggle to shut off from work when the working day remits (Gambhir, 2020).

“To me, is defined by work-life wellness various, personal, and oftentimes changing factors” Edward informed me.

"At its core is maintaining mental and physical wellbeing, achieved through balancing fulfilling work and happiness—development outside of work."

Already, we know the concept to be multifaceted, but we still typically associate a clearer distinction to work-life wellness: “It has two elements: work and 'me time", Mark simply stated, specifically reiterating whatever time spent is quality time had in either element.

Mark reiterated that above all else, one must be disciplined with themselves. “I prioritise tasks according to importance and deadlines; I write lists, set milestones, and ensure these are effectively communicated ”, he explained, which sets a structured tone to his working life.

For his personal life, he maintains a selfish decorum: “Me time is for me!”, he chanted, Me time is for me! “I maximise my fun and family time without work interruptions.”

He then led the conversation to guide leaders: “Delegate wisely and be mindful not to overload your team.” Expectations and goals shouldn’t be set in stone, especially as we continue to navigate the Covid-19 pandemic.

Organisations that have dedicated HR teams to support employee wellbeing have already reaped the benefits in higher productivity and motivation (Arora & Suri, 2020). Whilst we still refer to work-life wellness to mean separation between work and home life, we’re beginning to encapsulate a term that encompasses the lives of individuals from diverse backgrounds.