STI places a great emphasis on work-life balance and actively encourages it. We understand the importance of maintaining a harmonious equilibrium between professional responsibilities and personal well-being. Hence, at STI, we foster a culture that encourages employees to achieve their professional goals while also nurturing their personal lives. We asked a bunch of questions to our Vice President, Prabhuram Ramesh on how he has managed to chalk a healthy work-life balance and how it is achievable by all. This is what he had to say –

What is your idea of work-life balance?

The term work-life balance seems like a commonly used phrase, but the idea behind it is much deeper than 9 hours of being in the office and having the rest of the day at your own will. To give more clarity, I would first like to define what work-life balance means to me.

First and foremost, work-life balance does not mean an equal balance. Secondly, your best individual work-life balance will vary over time, often on a daily basis. Lastly, there is no perfect, one size fits all, balance you should be striving for. However, at the core of an effective work-life balance are two key everyday concepts that are relevant to each of us. They are daily achievement and enjoyment ideas almost deceptive in their simplicity.

Achievement and enjoyment are two sides of the same coin. You can't have one without the other, no more than you have a coin with only one side. Trying to live a one-sided life is why so many "successful” people are not happy, or not nearly as happy as they should be.

What are the five steps you recommend achieving a good and effective work-life balance?

Step 1 – Set your priorities

Ask yourself, “if I could only focus on one thing in my life, what would it be?” that answer is your top priority. What would you focus on second? Third? Fourth? Fifth? You've now identified your top five priorities.

Step 2 – Track your time

For one week, track how you spend your time. How much time do you spend doing things that don't matter to you? Eliminate these things from your life or delegate them.

Step 3 – Concentrate on one thing at a time

Forget multi-tasking! Instead, devote your full attention to the task at hand. When you're working, work. When you're spending time with your family, focus solely on them.

Step 4 – Schedule one thing you look forward to each day

Put aside an hour on your schedule to read a book, take a walk, or just to be alone.

Step 5 – Respect your private time

Once you've put private time on your schedule, protect it, unless there's an emergency.

Why do you think work-life balance is important in today's day and age?

Maintaining a healthy work-life balance is not only important for health and relationships, but it can also improve one's productivity, and ultimately performance. Put simply, when people don't view work as a chore, then they will work harder, make fewer mistakes and are more likely to become advocates for their employer.

Some reasons why I feel work-life balance is important in today's world -

More engagement - By helping employees to find the perfect balance between work and home, the organization will increase their engagement levels. Having an engaged workforce will lead employees to go ‘the extra mile'.

Less Burnouts - Burnouts occur when we feel overwhelmed and unable to meet constant demands. The negative effects of burnout can affect every aspect of our lives. The organization should make efforts to ensure this doesn’t happen to their employees.

More mindfulness - When we find and sustain a healthy work-life balance, we develop greater control over our focus and ability to concentrate on the task at hand – this is known as mindfulness. Wouldn't any organization prefer a team that is fully focused on whatever they are doing, instead of worrying about work/home?

Would you recommend this balance to your fellow employees and why?

I would recommend work-life balance to my fellow employees. As a former entry-level employee, I understand my roots, and I understand the day-to-day problems of my subordinates. My idea is – a clear mind is required to give a better productive output. An employee who is stressed with work needs to take a break, clear their head, and restart the work. This would lead to a better and much more efficient solution.

Some of the little-known benefits of work-life balance are –

Increases Productivity – When employees get overwhelmed and burnt out, we are going to get less done in the workplace. The reason? The stress and fatigue of burnout can lead to brains that “look exactly like ones that are sound asleep". In short, employees who believe that they have good work-life balance work harder than those who don't.

Increases Employee Engagement – Who are our best employees? It’s the employees who are engaged the most with the business. These are the individuals who are the most productive, creative, loyal, and motivated. These same engaged employees take fewer sick days, are less likely to leave, and are willing to promote our business to others. To surround myself with more of these types of employees providing a work-life balance for them is the best place to start.

What is your advice/suggestion to your colleagues have the power to administer the right practices for an effective work-life balance?

Offer a Flexible Work Schedule – A flexible schedule does not mean that employees can come and go at will, which is a possibility that concerns employers. A flexible schedule policy spells out what the employer means by flexible hours. In many workplaces, flexible starting and ending times are easy to implement. More sophisticated flexible schedules such as a four-day work week or telecommuting requires more planning, but flexible work schedules are a cornerstone of work-life balance.

Offer Paid Time Off (PTO) – Offer PTO instead of traditional paid sick leave, paid personal days, and paid vacation. A paid time off approach treats employees like adults who are capable of making decisions about how, when and why to use the paid time off offered by the employer.

Model the Work-life Balance Yourself – Managers and senior managers need to model the work-life balance they'd like to encourage their teams to exhibit. When a manager uses PTO to take a vacation yet responds to email as if they are in the office, this sends a powerful message to employees about whether they need to plug-in while on vacation. The actions of senior leaders are heard and observed by employees. When a senior manager calls in for unimportant meetings while out-of-the-office, employees get the message. It affects their personal choices of work and life balance.

What are your thoughts about expecting employees to work hard with long hours, and over the weekend all the time?

It's okay to expect employees to work long, hard hours during the push for a timely product release or at a trade show for three or four days. But employees can't sustain an extraordinary level of energy and long overtime hours as a constant work expectation. Employees will check out, burn out, and or leave if long hours and extraordinary efforts are the norm.

Creative employers and employees will think of more ways that employers can support employees in their quest for work-life balance. To conclude, from my perspective, my job has always been my passion, thinking about a critical problem and figuring out a solution late at the night passion. Does this mean I can still achieve my work-life balance? Yes.

I am a person who enjoys a healthy lifestyle. I love to travel, I enjoy swimming, I am passionate about fitness, and I love spending quality family time as well. I have a bucket list of things I want to achieve in my personal life, and I set daily goals to improve my lifestyle. What I do is – I make choices that are favorable to achieving my work goals and my personal goals, in a way that doesn’t compromise either of them.

To put it simply

When individuals acknowledge and give importance to work-life balance, they can experience a more enriching lifestyle, attain higher career satisfaction, and benefit from enhanced physical and mental well-being. At STI we cultivate a culture that motivates employees to pursue their career objectives while also nurturing their personal lives.