A cohesive and collaborative team are essential for your organization’s success, and a new study has found that employer flexibility regarding employee work/life balance is a determining factor in employee satisfaction. Other team building ideas include striving for cohesive teams that understand the importance of personal responsibility.

Researchers from the study found that spouses hold a large investment in your employee’s decision to stay, and if work is affecting family life, a discontented spouse could cause your employee to leave.

“Given the impact of employer support on worker commitment, it would behoove organizations to enact policies and procedures that support a culture giving employees flexibility to attend to a family matter. These findings underscore the importance of making sure employees are aware of workplace support,” said Merideth Ferguson, Ph.D., the study’s author, and assistant professor of management at the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University.

A balance between work life and personal life is not a new concept, and many articles are written on the topic. This article references the following articles: A Healthy Work/Life Balance Is No Unicorn  and Companies Use Sabbaticals to Reward Employees, Who Return to Work Recharged.

There are many team building ideas available for organizations to create a healthy work/life balance for employees, and some tips are listed below.

Encourage vacations. No matter if you are an entrepreneur or work for a large corporation, taking time off is essential to stave off burnout, according to A Healthy Work/Life Balance Is No Unicorn. While entrepreneurs may feel that vacations are completely off the table at the moment, breaks are necessary to give you a refreshed sense of purpose. For organizations, employers need to encourage their employees to take time off to recharge for the same reasons.

Find time for hobbies. Finding a purpose outside of work gives employees the chance to step away from work and think about other things. This is important for both entrepreneurs and employees, as hobbies boost creativity and productivity for employees while they are on the clock. Employers can facilitate groups outside of work to help employees connect with one another through shared interests.

Offer long-term sabbaticals. According to Companies use sabbaticals to reward employees, who return to work recharged, employees who are offered the chance to take long-term sabbaticals (a month or longer), are better prepared to re-enter the workplace with fresh ideas and a renewed sense of productivity. The most important aspect of the sabbatical is to completely unplug. Unless there is an emergency that cannot be addressed by anyone else, employees who are on sabbatical, including CEOs, should be allowed to fully unplug and step away from their responsibilities at work.

Offer team-building activities for employees. A seminar and/or workshop such as the 6 Principles That Build High Performance Teams team leadership clinic offers employees the chance to work together to achieve tasks and learn to effectively work with one another. Leaders are able to identify potential leaders within the organization, as well as learn how to manage, lead and motivate their teams for better productivity and teamwork.

Organizations that focus on these team building ideas will benefit from more productive and satisfied employees, which helps not only the organization, but the employees themselves. Employers who incorporate these ideas need to lead the pack with their own actions for this strategy to be successful.

“By matching their words and actions, supervisors demonstrate behavioral integrity and position themselves as appropriate role models,” Ferguson said.

Copyright TIGERS Success Series by Dianne Crampton

About TIGERS Success Series, Inc.

TIGERS is a Bend, Oregon team building consultancy that licenses and trains HR Executives and Management Consultants to use powerful team development tools that help to transform organizations into the type of workplaces employees enjoy returning to after a couple of days off.  Join us in the 6 Principles that Build High Performance Teams leadership clinic to learn how to correctly develop new teams for complex organizational problem solving and change initiatives. Learn the steps required to transform low performing teams into excellent ones.  Click here for the 2014 West Coast and 2015 East Coast clinic schedule.