With the digitalisation and a constant availability, the boundaries between work and private life are becoming increasingly blurred, making a healthy work-life-balance a challenge. But what does work-life-balance actually mean? And why does it seem so difficult to find and maintain?
Movement plays a crucial role in reducing stress, boosting energy and making us feel fitter not only during, but also after work. Read on to find out why and what companies can do to create a healthy work-life balance.
Work-life balance: definition and meaning
A healthy work-life balance literally means, that your work and private life are in balance with each other - without one completely crowding out the other.
The aim is to find a balance between work and leisure - but what that looks like is very individual: some people choose a strict separation between work and private life, while others allow the two to merge flexibly. In the end, everyone has to find the right balance for themselves.
Challenges of a work-life balance
Work-life balance is not just a private matter .
Companies have a responsibility to create the right environment for healthy working practices: Important factors include flexible working hours, the ability to work from home, clear rules on availability and a corporate culture that respects recovery.
Benefits such as flexible working hours and home office options contribute significantly to a healthy work-life balance.
At the same time, there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution:
everyone has different needs. Some prefer to work early, others late, some need fixed structures, others need more freedom. Employers should therefore offer flexibility so that their employees can work in a way that is both most productive and healthiest for them.
Work-life blending: when work and private life merge
In contrast towork-life-balance work-life blending describes a working model in which the boundaries between work and private life are deliberately blurred instead of clearly separating the two areas.
✅Advantages: More flexibility, better compatibility of family and work.
⚠️Challenges: Constant availability, lack of boundaries and relaxation, faster risk of overload.
For work-life blending to work, you need clear rules and self-organisation so that flexibility doesn't turn into permanent stress.
Many therefore consider a mixture of both working models appears to make sense: work-life balance ensures clear recovery times and protects yourself from constant stress, while work-life blending offers greater flexibility and makes personal and professional commitments more compatible.
If you have the opportunity to organise your working hours flexibly, you can, for example, run personal errands during the day and continue working productively later - as long as conscious breaks and clear boundaries are set. The key is for everyone to find the model that best suits their own way of working and life situation.
Ultimately, the biggest challenge is to create individualised working models that work for both employees and companies.
Why is a healthy work-life balance so important?
According to the 4-pillar model, a good work-life balance is based on four central areas of life: Professional life, private life, values culture and health.
The four pillars of a work-life balance:
- Labour and finances: A fulfilling job, fair sallary and a way of working that leaves enough room for your private life.
- Family and social contacts: Time for partners, children, friends and a strong social network.
- Values and culture: Personal convictions and core values such as respect, tolerance and integrity promote harmonious cooperation.
- Health & fitness: Exercise, healthy eating, sleep and stress management for physical and mental well-being.
A sustainable balance between work and private life can only be achieved if time and energy can be divided between the two in a sensible way.
Constant stress makes you ill - this has been scientifically proven. If you are constantly working, don't allow yourself any breaks and are still busy with to-do lists even after work, you are putting your body and mind under permanent stress.
Finding a healthy balance between work and private life is a decisive factor for health, Quality of life and Performance capability dar:
1. Health
Although our body is designed to be more efficient for short-term phases, when stress becomes a permanent condition and is not followed by recovery phases, the body begins to suffer:
- A weak immune system: People who are constantly under stress, are more susceptible to infections and illnesses. <
- Cardiovascular diseases: Chronic stress increases the risk of high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes.
- Lack of movement and tension: Sitting too long, moving too little - the body becomes stiff, muscles tighten and back pain increases.
According to a study by the Techniker-Krankenkasse health insurance company, around 74 % of people who are frequently under stress suffer from back pain. In comparison, this figure is only 47 %for people who are rarely stressed.
A poor work-life balance can not only lead to physical impairments, but also to serious mental health problems. People who don´t get enough sleep, eat unhealthy foods or hardly exercise, because they ‘don't have time’, are putting their health at risk in the long term.
- Sleeping problems: When the mind cannot switch off, the quality of sleep suffers - and so does the body's ability to regenerate.
- Risk of burnout: If you feel burnt out for a long time and don't take any countermeasures, you can fall into a state of complete exhaustion. Not only do you lose energy, but you also lose motivation and zest for life.
- Mental illnesses: Constant overwork can lead to anxiety or depression.
A good work-life balance helps to reduce stress and prevent overwork. By finding a balance and taking regular breaks, the body can recover and your own energy levels can be kept stable in the long term.
At the end of the day, companies benefit as well: healthy employees mean fewer sick days - which saves the company money in the long run.
More stress = more absences = more costs💸
By 2022, the number of sick days in Germany will have risen to a whopping 96.7 million - that's over 50% more than ten years ago. The financial damage? A whopping 12.4 billion euros lost to the economy due to absenteeism.
2. Quality of life
Work is important, but it's not everything. If you don't have time for family, friends or hobbies, you risk becoming socially isolated.
Social relationships provide support, reduce stress and make life more fulfilling. However, if they always have to take a back seat to work commitments, the risk of losing important contacts increases.
A healthy work-life balance also means that life around the job remains harmonious. Companies can provide support by offering childcare, for example.
Personal quality of life also improves with a healthy work-life balance. Making time for hobbies, sports or simply relaxing gives you new energy and helps make work feel less like an endless chore. Those who consciously create this balance are not only healthier, but also happier.
3. Productivity
Many people believe that they achieve more if they work longer hours. However, studies show that the opposite is true: too much overtime and too few breaks reduce productivity.
The reason? Our brain needs time to process information and our concentration has natural limits.
In industrial psychology, we speak of „presenteeism“. In this state, employees still come to work, but are significantly less productive due to stress, tiredness or exhaustion.
In recent years the term "quiet quitting" has become popular in this context - a trend in which employees continue to carry out their tasks, but only do the bare minimum. They have not (yet) resigned, but have gradually distanced themselves more and more from their job.
Why is that happening?
A common reason is persistent stress and a lack of appreciation. If you are constantly expected to do more without receiving the appropriate rest and recognition in return, you will eventually lose motivation. In addition to the negative mental and physical consequences of this overload, many employees often react by withdrawing emotionally, becoming less committed than necessary and seeing their work as a means to an end.
More and more companies are realising that a good work-life balance is not a nice-to-have, but a real success factor. Companies that offer their employees flexibility, relaxation and recognition will have motivated, productive and healthy employees.
Ergonomic office furniture from Aeris focuses on the needs of employees and keeps them active and healthy.
Measures for a better work-life balance
Tips for creating a better work-life balance for employees and employers:
| For employees | For employers |
|---|---|
| Setting clear boundaries – Define working hours and do not be constantly available after work or on holiday. | Clearly communicate expectations – Make it clear that constant availability is not necessary. |
| Consciously use breaks – Plan regular rest to maintain concentration and energy. | Promoting a healthy working culture – Respect recovery times and actively support breaks. |
| Setting priorities – Tackle important tasks in a targeted manner instead of getting lost in multitasking. | Offering flexibility – Enable different working time models to take individual needs into account. |
| Integrating exercise into everyday life – Sport, walks or short stretching exercises prevent tension and stress. | Offering health-promoting measures – Provide ergonomic office furniture, sports programmes or stress management workshops, etc. |
| Learning to say no – Avoid overload by rejecting unrealistic demands. | Setting realistic goals – Organise tasks and deadlines in such a way that they can be completed without being overloaded. |
Companies that take a proactive approach to work-life balance reap the long-term benefits of happy, productive and engaged teams. This includes not only flexible working models, but also specific health-promoting measures.
💡 → Everything you need to know about corporate health and what you can do about it, you find here!
The role of exercise for a healthy work-life balance
Getting enough exercise is an important part of maintaining a healthy work-life balance. Regular exercise provides your body with more oxygen. This improves circulation and concentration.
However, movement often falls by the wayside, especially in everyday office life. Many of us spend a large part of our day sitting rigidly at a desk, which can lead to tension, back pain and exhaustion. Exercise not only helps to avoid physical complaints, but has also been proven to reduce stress and improve well-being.
That's why we at Aeris have made it our mission to enable people to lead an active and healthy lifestyle with our movement-enhancing products. We create movement exactly where it is least expected, but most needed - while sitting!
Aeris not only blurs the boundaries between work and private life in the traditional sense - it rather creates a Work-life-circle, in which movement acts as a connecting element. Ergonomic office furniture encourages natural movement and keeps the body active throughout the day. Dynamic seating solutions such as the office chair Aeris Swopper or Aeris Numo Task, combined with the Aeris Active Desk and the Aeris Muvmat, will enable you to have enough energy for life after work, even after a long day at the office.
In this way, exercise not only becomes part of the job, but also contributes to enjoying leisure time more consciously and actively - a cycle that sustainably combines work and life.
💡 Office tip
Instead of remaining immobile on an office chair all day, Aeris enables a completely new way of working with the Aeris Active Office KonzeptMovement is actively integrated into the working day - without additional effort.
A good work-life balance does not simply mean working less. Rather, it is about working in such a way that there is enough energy left at the end of the day for other areas of life.
At Aeris, we want to bring more movement into the workplace so that you don't end up on the sofa exhausted at the end of the day, but can enjoy your life after work. For a work-life balance that doesn't start after work, but starts in the office! 🚀
