Improving work-life balance

Doing a work-life balance audit

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To enhance work-life balance, it is important for people to think about the amount of time and energy they spend on the different aspects of their life, and consider how closely this is aligned to their personal values.

Make a list of the most significant work and non-work elements in your life. These may include career; education, training or personal development; relationship with partner; relationships with children, other family members and friends; health, exercise and nutrition; fun and recreation; hobbies and interests; community activities; creative pursuits; emotional wellbeing and personal growth; and spirituality or religious commitments.

Then, plot each element on a wheel based on the amount of attention you currently give to each aspect, allocating scores of between 1 and 5, as illustrated below, where the inner circles stand for low scores and the outer circles for higher scores. A low score (1 or 2) suggests that you are not giving much consideration to this aspect, whereas a score of 5 indicates that you give it a great deal of attention.

It is important to show how you actually allocate your time and energy rather than how you think this ‘ought’ to be.  Indicative scores are shown by the green line in the example below.

Work Life Balance wheel (example)

The next step is to consider the level of attention you would like to give to each aspect of your life. Provide a second set of scores for each dimension on the same wheel: as above, a low score (1 or 2) means that this aspect is not very important to you, whereas a high score (4 or 5) indicates that it is very important.

The example below shows these scores as a red line. Finally, compare any discrepancies between the two sets of scores and ask yourself questions such as: “where are the biggest differences?”, “to what extent is my current work-life balance aligned with my personal values?” and “are there aspects of my life I wish to devote a considerable proportion of your time and energy to, but I am currently investing a small amount?” 

In the example you can see that the individual who is drawing up their wheel is spending considerable time and energy at work, and having sufficient money is also a key focus. Health and sports are getting much less attention than desired. Is this sustainable in the long term? What could they do to change this?