Work-Life Balance or Work-Life Loop
“I am 25 year old and I am facing many health problems due to stress in my job.” Said a girl in an interview. “This is not the age to catch perennial health problems and that is the reason I am looking for a job change.” She further added. I believe she is not alone to voice this concern in this corporate universe.
Picture this. The alarm goes off at 5:30 AM. We hit snooze. After 10 minutes, the whole process is repeated again. And after hitting on snooze button few times, we drag ourselves out of the bed around 6 AM. We join traffic chaos in our bid to reach office on time. And once we are at the office, we work, eat and work non-stop in the office. After spending close to 9 hours in an office, we reach back home around 8 PM. We eat and sleep. And next day we prepare ourselves for the same grind.
This is how professionals are living their lives in big cities. It would not be wrong to say that we drive ourselves into the ground by working overtime. This results in mentally and physical exhaustion.
This work-life loop after sucking blood and crushing souls is leaving behind a stressed and lifeless zombie.
The biggest badge of honor that many professionals wear is that of working non-stop day and night. This means that working to the point where one wear-himself-out is considered to be a medallion of honour. During my meetings with many professionals, I hear stories of their late evening’s tirades in office. At times, there is a hint of pride and bragging in these stories. These professionals are successful ones and they are in line to rise higher in corporate hierarchies. Yet, this model of success is not rewarding as the mental and physical health of many professionals is deteriorating.
This is work culture has increased stress, fatigue and sleep deprivation among many professionals. According to a news report in Fortune, professionals who are stressed in their workplace have 79% more chance of developing heart problem than professionals who are in less stressful jobs. Over the last decade, the number of professionals who are sleeping for less than 6 hours is on the rise. According to research conducted by McKinsey, 43% of employees said that they do not get enough sleep on four days of a week. Around 6 out of 10 employees quoted that they do not get enough sleep on 3 nights of a week.
Sleep deprivation is causing a higher number of errors in the work and can impair job performance. This means we are losing productivity because of daily stress and sleep deprivation. A company called Aetna pays its employees up to 500 dollars for sleeping more than 7 hours in the night. Aetna gets 69 minutes more productivity from its employees. They are investing in their proper sleep cycle and they are reaping benefits. The premise is simple: you cannot get the best out of employees if they are stressed, sleep deprived and unhealthy. To extract the best of its employees one has to invest in the wellness and health of the employees. Creating a less stressful environment at the workplace is the first step towards that. It starts with ensuring employees are leaving office in time, reaching home in time and getting enough rest during the night so that they are ready for next day grinding.
Creating a culture where employees are well rested and less stressed is a boon for the organization. More organizations should take a shot at it.
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