Balancing Work and Life Happiness

Written by: Kristy Kwan, Benefit and Retirement Plan Administrator

It’s inevitable that stress happens – it could be due to a number of factors, like an angry customer, a fight with the spouse, unruly teenage children, or even weight gain. Whatever the reason, life stress can easily carry over to the workplace, and sometimes employees have a difficult time separating work and home. Employees who bring their home problems to the office affect everyone around them, and may even have a negative impact on your clients, patients, and ultimately, your business. While there are certainly disciplinary actions that can be taken, a proactive and more productive alternative would be to provide your employees with a resource they can turn to in their times of need. Employers who can help their employees deal with stress appropriately will have happier workers, and in the long run, a more professional work environment. There are simple programs available to employers that provide employees with advice, guidance, and even counseling, free of charge. These programs, known as Employee Assistance Programs, may even be attached to benefits that you already provide.

Employee Assistance Programs usually have both a hotline and website that employees can access to assist them with everything from elder care to legal matters. Operators field calls to specialists who can then help the employee with their specific issue. If the matter requires therapy or counseling, a limited number of visits are available free of charge, and the employee is put in contact with a therapist in their area. Employee Assistance Program websites have an abundance of questionnaires and informative articles to guide employees through situations such as relationship communication, depression, buying a home, or the intricacies of adoption, to name a few. Both the phone lines and websites are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The addition of an Employee Assistance Program to your benefits is invaluable, as the ability to balance life and work is crucial to employee happiness. In a June 2008 survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), it was found that 79% of employees and 84% of HR professionals rated work/life balance as “important” or “very important.” While Employee Assistance Programs may have an annual fee, these substantial figures show that providing a program may be worth the consideration.

If you are a client of MMC, Inc. you already have an Employee Assistance Program available to you, free of charge. For more information on utilizing this program or adding it to your benefits, please feel free to call MMC at (800) 899-6624.

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