Wellbeing: a Recruiters Guide to Work Life Balance

 

Recruitment is a fast-paced, competitive and, for many, a highly stressful industry to work in. Meeting targets, managing client expectations and keeping on track with candidate sourcing doesn’t come easy, and can take a toll on your mental wellbeing. Being able to achieve greater balance in your work life is crucial not only in helping maintain your health, but contributing to you performing in the job you love.

Here are our top tips for maintaining your wellbeing at work.

Get out of the office!

One easy step to take towards achieving a better work life balance is simply taking your lunch break. Leaving the office for an hour, going for a walk, taking a gym class and getting some fresh air are all great ways of clearing your head and resetting for the afternoon.

NHS research has also shown that office workers are more at risk of becoming obese, developing type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure if they remain sedentary during the working day. So if you need an extra prod to get out of the office during the day, protecting your long term health is a fairly good reason.

Get in the zone

Meditation and mindfulness have received mixed reviews, but being able to be ‘present’ in the moment and detach from external stressors – work related or otherwise - has been proven to reduce stress levels, sharpen concentration, improve sleep, enhance feelings of happiness and help manage anxiety. If you’re new to mindfulness a great place to start is by downloading the Headspace App and following their “basics” guided meditation programmes.

You can also try simple deep breathing exercises to release tension and lower your heart rate – set aside five minutes when you get home or just before bed to help you switch off from your manic day in the office.

Get active

Mental health charities such as Mind have drawn strong links between running and better mental health, with many experiencing a reduction in anxiety, depression and OCD symptoms. Besides helping improve your overall fitness, running plays an important role in clearing your mind, and can be a great way to get those nagging work worries out of your head. If you’re more couch potato than track superstar, check out the Couchto5K app or join a local running group to help kick-start and maintain your motivation.

Yoga is also great for channelling your inner ‘zen’ and reducing every day stress, encouraging you to concentrate on your breathing, and release tension through a series of movements. There are thousands of yoga apps, YouTube tutorials, yoga studios and gyms offering classes, so wherever you’re based you’ll find help getting in the zone. If you have an HR team, you could also mention introducing office yoga classes as a new employee benefit.

Don’t be a hero

Asking for support when you’re stacked with work isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s just common sense. Overloading yourself with work in fear of seeming weak, unable to meet targets and ’behind‘ your colleagues will only increase your stress and make you less able to successfully perform your job. If you find that you’re constantly fighting an uphill battle with your work load it’s probably the case that you’re being overloaded or your line manager isn’t aware that too much is being expected.

Talking to your manager and using one-to-ones to share that you could benefit from support may feel difficult, but will prove valuable in the long-term in ensuring you have the support needed to get your job done without losing your mind.

Make the most of employee benefits

Free yoga classes, monthly massage therapies, on-site counsellor visits, employee support lines. These are a few of the benefits that forward thinking recruitment companies have started offering with the aim of helping their talent maintain positive wellbeing. If your company is one of these, make sure you take full advantage of the benefits available to you.

Turn off your phone

Emailing candidates and clients long after you’ve left the office? Checking emails before bed and as soon as you wake up? While meeting targets and keeping clients happy is important, being able to switch off from work during your free time is vital in ensuring that you’re able to maintain any semblance of positive wellbeing. You wouldn’t bring patients home if you were a doctor, so why should you let work invade your private life?

Set yourself time limits on checking your emails, with a clear cut off time that is held as sacred. If you think you’ll still be tempted to have one tiny last check of emails check out the Freedom App, which blocks the internet, social media and apps from your device. Now you’ve no excuses.

Don't be shy, be social! If you found this helpful it's likely your colleagues will to. Why not share this blog on social media or around your office and be the catalyst for positive change in your organisation.

You can follow the IRP on Twitter, Instagram and like us on Facebook.