Strategies for living a more balanced life

UNI professor addresses work-life issues

You read or hear about it from multiple media outlets -- individuals struggling to balance personal and professional lives. It's a hot topic being discussed around many corporate boardrooms and family dining tables: How can people achieve a more balanced life?

Adam Butler, University of Northern Iowa psychology professor, suggests the topic isn't a management fad; an imbalanced life creates mental and physical illnesses including depression, anxiety, hypertension and more.

According to Butler, changes in the nature of the workforce and in work itself have resulted in a blurring of boundaries between work and family life. Approximately 40 percent of individuals employed in the U.S. are from dual-earner families, with single-parent workers as the fastest growing segment.

Technological advances and communication devices such as smartphones bring the workplace to the home. As a result, more than half of the workforce reports feeling a lack of balance between work and family.

To achieve a better work-life balance, Butler proposes the following strategies for employers and employees:

1) reduce meetings;

2) establish interruption-free time;

3) create flex schedules;

4) provide incentives for performance, not work hours; and

5) find extracurricular activities outside of work.

Curious about your work-life balance?  Download this work-life balance self-assessment and see how you score.

You can also watch a free webinar presentation by Adam Butler on Work-Life Balance: How You Can Achieve It.