How To Create A Better Work Life Balance?

Sep 28, 2024

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Kas

Creating a healthy work life balance is something that we can all struggle with at times throughout the year. I won’t bore you with endless research on the negative effects of work related burnout. It is evident that our modern work lives are having a profound effect on our mental health and overall wellbeing. A modern teacher now has access to emails and notifications around the clock, being contacted by staff, parents and students after a standard work day compounds the effects of stress and overstimulation experienced regularly as a classroom teacher. This not only has a drastic effect on our own mental health but also negatively effect the lives of those closest to us.

95% of teachers report working over-time during a typical week (AITSL)
76% of Australian teachers report their workload as unmanageable (Monash)
25% of teachers report their plans to leave the profession before hitting retirement age (60) (AITSL)

What can we do to fix this? Here are three basic strategies that we can implement right now and start creating a better work life balance for yourself. We all handle work and stress very differently so please adjust these as you see fit.

1) Roster in no computer days- ‘NCD’

As technology advances our access to work has increased significantly. Long gone are the days when we leave work and colleagues, parents and students can not contact us. A teacher is not easily contactable on a range of mediums and programs and is notified around the clock when this happens. Generally these notifications come through on our own personal devices and apps which blur the lines of work and life. This constant access to work keeps us always fixated on work issues and trying to complete our never ending to do list as teachers.

If we are to truly ‘switch off’ after work, we need to be intentional on how we do it.

Start by choosing 1-2 days a week where you leave your computer at home. This is critical as sometimes no matter how hard we try we pick up our computer and do work far outside our work hours as we may have some spare time, so we want to get ahead, or try and do something we forgot to do during the day or there’s something we feel that can’t wait till tomorrow. STOP!

 42% of full-time teachers report working for 60+ hours in a normal working week (AITSL)

Regardless of what it is, it generally and always can wait till tomorrow. When we are at home, we need to prioritise our family, friends and own peace and mental clarity. Rostering NCD these days during the week are important as you can prepare prior and get those much-needed things done so you are not anxious and overly stressed when you leave your laptop at work.  This also includes shutting off or deleting apps and work related software on your personal mobile device.

These NC days can make you more efficient at work and also allow you to schedule non-work-related things on these scheduled ‘no computer days’ as you know you will be free. If you are not intentional about this, your week can very easily turn into non stop work, from the moment you start the day till you go to sleep. This is what causes burnout.

2) Valuing time with colleagues over your real friends!

Over time, we typically grow close to those with whom we spend the most time, often our work colleagues. The problem arises when we spend too much time outside of work with them, turning them into our primary circle of friends. This creates several main issues. Firstly, work tends to dominate discussions during these social gatherings, preventing us from mentally distancing ourselves from workplace concerns. (This can also lead to various work-related problems)

Additionally, we may gradually lose friendships outside of work, negatively impacting our personal lives and increasing our reliance on work friends and our work life. Striking a balance is crucial; I’ve observed many people fall into a rut where they have no life outside of work or social activities beyond work events because they haven’t dedicated enough time to the valued relationships in their lives during their free time. I myself have also fallen in this trap as an early career teacher but now have learnt the impact this can cause.

Don’t:

  • Give up that sport you love to make more time for work
  • Give up those weekend brunches and breakfasts with loved ones
  • Give up leaving work early to take your child to their sporting event
  • Give up supporting your local sporting team
  • Give up that art/ language class that is your passion

You will be a much better, friend and colleague when you can master this balance. As a rule of thumb, I would be spending time with friends outside of work twice as much (Socially) then I would with those at work.

3) Turn Off Notifications/ Emails After 4pm

Phones are designed to capture our attention and distract us from being present in real life. A simple and effective step is to turn off all work notifications on your device at the same time every afternoon. Personally, I turn mine off an hour before dinner, around 6 PM. This allows me to respond to emails and notifications from colleagues or clients/parents that come in after school or work hours.

This practice also helps me cultivate the habit of not sending notifications to others who might be spending time with their families and enjoying their evenings. It can often become a vicious cycle, so I do my best to distance myself from it.

At a previous school, we used Office 365, and a member of our leadership team, who prioritised his work-life balance, set his emails to notify senders that he is “away from his desk between the hours of 6 PM and 7 AM.” This informs the sender that they may not receive a reply until regular working hours, helping them understand when to expect a response and establishing a precedent for future communication with him. In addition to this and something I learnt from him was that he would refrain from sending others emails during after work hours, what he would do is schedule emails to be sent during work hours- even if he wrote it in the late afternoon or night. This scheduling feature can be done in most email applications now.

When you respect and value your own work life balance, it starts by also respecting others right to not be interrupted outside of work hours.

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