GrokTalk Blog

I’ve worked at a lot of companies, big, small, start-ups, agencies and Fortune 500s, and when it comes to workplace wellness, it’s not size that matters. Even though more than 85% of large employers offer a wellness program, less than one in four employees actually participates in it, according to a recent Gallup poll. This is a problem. Not only for companies’ bottom lines, but for the people who work there. Even when my big name employer offered an elaborate fitness facility, monthly wellness speakers, and subsidized massages, I always felt like I had to sneak out to take advantage of any of it.

Just read my previous post on increasing employee engagement through work-life balance to see how companies benefit from increasing engagement with wellness programs and you might wonder the same thing I do-- why are so few people using these programs? What can I do about it? How can I improve my workplace wellness? 

As a working mom and wife, I struggle like so many others with finding work-life balance. And it’s not just me that struggles; my husband does as well. Clearly, the challenge of attaining work-life balance isn’t gender specific.  Anne Marie Slaughter expressed it so well in her Tufts University commencement speech, she says that the only way to balance the scales is to balance the work/home roles.

Slaughter asked graduates to imagine marriage as a partnership, where "breadwinner" and "caretaker" shift fluidly between both partners. Here is more of her advice:

Call it idleness, resting, or just being lazy, but I bet you didn’t know that doing nothing is one of the most important things you can do in your day?

Everyone’s too busy. In today’s world, if you’re not “busy” you must be unpopular, or at the least, unimportant. How dare you show any vacant slots on your calendar for coworkers to see; or offer more than a smidgen of a window of time that you are available to meet up with a friend. Nobody in our overly productive culture today would dare admit to purposely making space in their day to do nothing.

But that’s exactly what neuroscientists, medical experts and mental health professionals want us to do ASAP.

You may have been hearing a lot of buzz around “mindfulness” and wondering, what is it? Why should I care? And how would I practice it if I wanted to? Here’s the quick “What”, “Why” and “How” to get you started.

You spend a significant part of your life working so it’s critical to find a way to enjoy your work or make peace with the pieces you don’t before it breaks you. But leaving your job may not be the answer either.

In an earlier post I talked about how entrepreneurs need to make work life balance as high a priority as shipping their product. And it should come as no surprise to anyone that work life balance is just as important for the entire team as it is for its leader.

How does work life balance affect employee performance?

It is obvious that increasing a team’s wellness lowers health costs for the business and increases productivity because of fewer sick days. An even more impactful benefit can also come from increased employee engagement.

I had a good laugh when I saw the results of this UK study summarized in the Daily Mail that said to have “perfect” work/life balance one couldn’t spend more than 2.5 hours at your desk working each day.  Which, even if you had the most integrated life possible, would translate only to 17.5 hours/week!

I live and work here in the Bay Area, deep in Silicon Valley and some people here make the “humble brag” of how hard they work an actual sport. And while I pursue a more balanced, integrated life and Grokker values are around everyone maintaining effective work life balance, it still requires many more than 17 hours of work each week!

Here at Grokker, the entire team lives their values. We support each other making time to devote to activities that enhance us — regular exercise, yoga practice, cooking for our colleagues, friends and family.

These activities enrich our lives, keep our stress levels down, and our creativity and problem solving up for work. It helps us to be more fully engaged in our time spent with friends and family, while at the same time —  be more productive.