By Chelsea Babin

The fresh start of the New Year has a lot of people and companies evaluating their priorities and making big changes. Once change your organization should make this year is to emphasize work-life balance with benefits like flextime, telecommuting, partial telecommuting, increased PTO, or unlimited paid time off. Here’s why these perks and the general practice of prioritizing work-life balance for technical employees is a great idea.

1. Longer Tenure: As more technical positions open up, it’s becoming even more important for companies to lengthen the tenure of the technical employees at their organization. If you prioritize your employee’s work-life balance, they’ll be more likely to stick around for the long-term which will help you reduce the number of lengthy hiring processes you have to go through each year.

2. Happier Employees: Want to make your employees happier? Offer them perks that improve their work-life balance. A well-rested, relaxed technical professional will be happier to come into the office every day and produce the amazing results your company needs. Communicate the fact that you’re committing to prioritizing their work life balance and you’ll inspire smiles and keep your valuable technical employees happy.

3. Lack of Concentration In Open Offices: According to a study conducted by the Harvard Business Review, the number of people who say they cannot concentrate at their desk has increased by 16% since 2018. Additionally, they found that the number of workers who say they do not have access to quiet places to do focused work is up 13%. The truth is, as many companies have shifted their offices to open floor plans, a lack of concentration has proliferated. Which is why, often times, employees who can telecommute increase their productivity and focus!

4. Productivity: The better an employee’s work-life balance, the better their productivity will be. According to a national survey, 65% of workers said that remote work gives their productivity a boost. Countless studies have also found that companies who encourage employees to use their paid time off often have more productive employees because they get the rest and relaxation they need, when they need it so they can return to the office and perform at their highest possible level.

5. Increased Positivity and Camaraderie: When people take the time off they need, they don’t come into the office sick, they don’t take out their mounting stress and frustration on their colleagues, and they’re less likely to develop sour, negative attitudes that are infectious in the workplace. If you want to see increased positivity and camaraderie from your technical employees, work on improving their work-life balance.

6. Great Incentive for New Employees: Having trouble enticing new employees to join your organization? Have open technical positions that you just can’t seem to fill? It’s time to try improving your technical employees’ work-life balance! Offering perks like flextime or telecommuting that help improve work-life balance and even more generous PTO could put your company one step ahead when a talented technical professional has multiple offers on the table.

7. Helps Keep Compensation Competitive: With technical salaries rapidly rising and outpacing national averages, offering work-life balance improving benefits could be the solution to keep your technical employees’ compensation competitive and fair without offering regular, staggering raises. When your technical employees factor in the amazing work-life balance they can have at your company, they may be willing to accept lower salaries or lower raises.

8. Rare Sense of Loyalty and Appreciation: Loyalty between companies and their employees is at an all-time low. Many technical employees feel that the majority of companies are only focused on profits and ignoring the wants and needs of the people who work for them. If you want to reignite that rare sense of loyalty and make sure your employees know you appreciate them, improving their work-life balance and communicating that you’ll prioritize their work-life balance is a great way to do it.

In the New Year, your company should work on prioritizing your technical employees’ work-life balance. Why? Because it will make your employees happier, keep them around longer, and create a wonderful company culture that will thrive for years to come.