Work Life Week: Find your balance...

The increasing demands of the modern workplace and pressures of 24-7 technology are having a negative impact on a huge number of people.

In fact, the Mental Health Foundation describes it as “perhaps the biggest and most pressing challenge to the mental health of the general population”.

A survey carried out by them revealed a third of respondents were unhappy about the amount of time they devoted to work, while more than 40% of employees found themselves neglecting other aspects of their life because of work - leaving them open to developing work-related stress and other mental health problems.

This week (2nd-6th October) is National Work Life Week - a nationwide campaign run by UK work life balance charity Working Families - which is designed to get both employers and staff talking about wellbeing at work and the “fit” of work and home life. In particular, the charity is calling for more firms to embrace flexible working policies.

Late last year, LionHeart developed a half-day Improve Your Work Life Balance workshop which is now offered to RICS professionals and their partners in cities across the UK.

Parita Mardania, LionHeart’s training and development manager, said: “This was developed especially in response to a survey that we carried out, in which members told us work life balance was one of their top concerns.

“The constant demands of juggling work and home can build up over time and end up having a detrimental effect on people’s mental health, lives and relationships. That’s why we thought if we could offer a workshop to help people explore ways to find a better balance for themselves - and spot the early warning signs that they might need to make changes - it would hopefully help prevent those stresses snowballing into something more serious.”

The workshop was developed in partnership with Kate Taylor FRICS, an experienced APC trainer and assessor, whose own interest in work life balance was sparked several years ago at a time when she was in charge of the professional development of 100 graduate valuers.

She said: “But my own personal work life balance was not very good and I also supported several staff through stress-related absences. I began to see that the so-called soft skills are not to be under-estimated and I spent equally as much time on pastoral care as providing technical training.”

She now delivers the Improve Your Work Life Balance workshop for LionHeart.

• Read Kate’s blog on why we must care about work life balance here
• Check out our range of wellbeing workshops, including work life balance, here

If you feel work demands are starting to have a negative impact on your professional or personal life, you can also call a member of our support team for help.

Support may include:

• The chance to talk through concerns with a support officer in confidence
• Free professional counselling with one of our BACP registered counsellors
• Additional help including a referral for legal advice or careers coaching support