Take your pick: Work-life balance or work-life integration?

This indicates that it’s not just the hours we work, but also the quality of life inside and outside the workplace. 

Filipinos and work-life balance

Data from Jobstreet revealed that salary and compensation are not enough to keep a Filipino worker in the workplace. In fact, it was found that work-life balance ranked high on their priorities.  This ideal translated to things like compensation for overtime, companies adhering to public holidays, taking unpaid leaves, five-day work weeks that did not extend to weekends, flexible hours, and remote work.  

There’s no mistaking it—all eyes are now on employers’ ability to provide work-life support. The question now is: where does your organization fall on that spectrum? 

Two concepts, one goal

The term ‘work-life balance’ was coined around the 1970s to 1980s and served as stressed laborers’ antidote to the ways of working at the time. More recently, the term gave birth to another iteration in the form of ‘work life integration’, a modern approach that sought to reconcile the old with the new. But how exactly are they different? It’s not so much the ‘what’, but the ‘how’. 

While both concepts encourage healthy boundaries, work-life balance is more rigid and suggests that work must not bleed into life and vice versa. This could look like employees closing their work laptops on the dot, refusing to answer work emails on the weekend, or no checking of work message channels during lunch break. This approach is ideal for industries where standard nine-to-five schedules are in place but would most likely fall through in agile environments. 

Work-life integration, on the other hand, is more of a blended approach where flexibility is its key driver. This could look like employees working after official business hours so they can fully focus on life events on the weekends or having core working hours sprinkled throughout the day. This approach is ideal for industries primarily fueled by remote workers. However, when applied, there’s also a likely tendency for people to feel “on” all the time.

How can my organization provide work-life support?

Whatever approach floats your boat, work-life support is a necessity for employees. Here are some tips to get started:

Implement remote or hybrid work

In 2023 alone, commuters in Metro Manila lost 117 hours in traffic. Empower your people by giving them their time back and help reduce their stress, leading to improved wellbeing, contributing to an organic increase in productivity and creativity.

Revisit company PTOs

Don’t look at paid time-offs as mere compliance. Look beyond the mandatory and consider the life stages of your teams when revisiting PTO allocations. Moreover, foster a culture that does not condone workplace guilt when leaves are taken.

Create a safe space to fail  

Did you know that more than 70% of workers attribute their work-life balance challenges to personal or cultural reasons? That said, encourage your people to set aside perfectionism and let innovation (i.e. failing fast) take its reins.  

Pro-tip: Boost morale with rewards 

Meaningful rewards help decrease burnout rates and make your people feel more seen in the process. Moreover, the best rewards often allow recipients to choose depending on their preferences, lifestyles, wants, and needs. 

With Pluxee Gifts, you can give your people this power and enable them to create more joyful moments.  

Let’s nurture vibrant workplaces that grow, attract, and retain talent together. Reach out for a free consultation here.