Vasilis Palilis
Instructional & Moodle Course Designer
Moodle Mentor Assessor
Certified Adult educator
Physicist & Teacher#FFFFFF#FFFFFF#EE393E#0086BE#FFFFFF#097CE7#0086BE#FF4B42#000000#FFFFFF#A1A1A1#0086BE#FFFFFF#323232#EDD6D5#FFFFFF#6E6E6E#D0D0D0#A1A1A1#000000truefalsefalsefalsefalsefalsetruetruetruefalsetruetrueslideTimelinebySlidesfalsetruefalsetruetruetruetruetruetruefalsefalsetruetruefalseModule 1: PreventModules / Submodules
2. Empower
3. Participate
3.1 Building relationships
3.2 Compliance
3.3 Reactions to illness
3.4 Recovery - healing
3.5 New perspectives
1. Prevent
2.1 Understand your role
2.2 Patient skills
2.3 Know your rights
2.4 Cultural awareness
2.5 Patient knowledge
Nutrition
Work-life balance
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Physical activity
Sexual life
Mental health
Units:
Unit 1: What is work-life balance?
Unit 2: Factors impacting work-life balance.
Unit 3: Common strategy pitfalls for addressing work-life balance.
Unit 4: How to address work-life balance.
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3
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5Submodule 1.1: Work-life balance
Work-life balance is concerned with the conflict that can happen between work and non-work activities, which can include family life, care-giving and leisure time.
Identifying effective strategies to improve work-life balance is important for achieving better health and wellbeing, as work-life conflict often leads to poor physical and mental health.
Overview
Lead partner: NUIG
Work life balance Objectives
Upon completion of this Unit, the reader should be able to:
describe work-life balance;
list the factors that impact work-life balance;
describe common strategies to manage work-life balance and why they can be unsuccessful; and
identify strategies for addressing work-life balance successfully.
Work life balance Outline
Unit 1: What is work-life balance?
Unit 2: Factors impacting work-life balance.
Unit 3: Common strategy pitfalls for addressing work-life balance.
Unit 4: How to address work-life imbalance.Unit 1 What is work-life balance?
Unit Overview
Work-life balance is concerned with the conflict that can happen between work and non-work activities, which can include family life, care-giving and leisure time.
Poor work-life balance happens when there is a clash between work commitments and non-work commitments.
Unit Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this module, the reader should be able to:
describe work-life balance; and
understand the impact of poor work-life balance.Understanding work-life balance
Work-life balance is a two-way relationship and conflict occurs where either work or life demands impact significantly on the other area.
Work-to-family disruption occurs where work demands prevent enjoyment of normal family life, while family-to-work disruption occurs where family demands prevent work commitments being met.
Life
WorkImpact of poor work-life balance
While there is never likely to be a perfect fit between work and life, significant or long-term work-life conflict can have a negative impact on health and well-being.
Poor work-life balance can lead to:
feelings of being overwhelmed;
negative coping strategies; and
physical or mental health issues.
There are many factors that can impact work-life balance and the relationship between these two areas is complex and works in both directions.
Unit 2 Factors impacting work-life balance
Unit Overview
Unit Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this Unit, the reader should be able to:
identify factors that impact work-life balance;
understand that such factors are interrelated; and
identify common health concerns linked to work-life balance issues.Job insecurity – is a person’s concern about the continued existence of their job in the future.
Job strain – occurs when an employee is unable to meet workload demands and pressures, which can lead to physical and psychological issues.
Role overload – happens when a person takes on multiple roles at the same time and lacks the resources (time and/or energy) to perform them properly.
Caregiver burden - is a term used to describe the physical, emotional and financial strain resulting from providing care to someone else who needs it.job insecurity – is a person’s concern about the continued existence of their job in the future.
job strain – occurs when an employee is unable to meet workload demands and pressures, which can lead to physical and psychological issues.
role overload – happens when a person takes on multiple roles at the same time and lacks the resources (time and/or energy) to perform them properly.
caregiver burden - is a term used to describe the physical, emotional and financial strain resulting from providing care to someone else who needs it.<p><font size="12">Job insecurity – <b> </b>is a person’s concern about the continued existence of their job in the future.</font></p><p><font size="12">Job strain – occurs when an employee is unable to meet workload demands and pressures, which can lead to physical and psychological issues. </font></p><p><font size="12">Role overload – happens when a person takes on multiple roles at the same time and lacks the resources (time and/or energy) to perform them properly.</font></p><p><font size="12">Caregiver burden - is a term used to describe the physical, emotional and financial strain resulting from providing care to someone else who needs it.</font></p>Factors that lead to poor work-life balance
Factors that commonly lead to poor work-life balance can include:
job insecurity
job-strain
role overload
caregiver burden
Job insecurity – is a person’s concern about the continued existence of their job in the future.
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Job strain – occurs when an employee is unable to meet workload demands and pressures, which can lead to physical and psychological issues.
[X]]
Role overload – happens when a person takes on multiple roles at the same time and lacks the resources (time and/or energy) to perform them properly.
[X]]
Caregiver burden - is a term used to describe the physical, emotional and financial strain resulting from providing care to someone else who needs it.
[X]]Health concerns linked to poor work-life balance
Poor work-life balance can impact:
blood pressure
sleep patterns
mental health
Poor work-life balance is a risk factor for:
cardiovascular disease
obesity
alcohol misuse
depression
Impact of poor work-life balance
Within Europe, men and women exposed to poor work-life balance generally experience emotional exhaustion.
Amongst men, this can often lead to problem drinking, while women tend to report poorer self-rated health.Unit 3 Common strategy pitfalls for addressing work-life balance
Unit Overview
There are a number of strategies that people often use to try to cope with work-life imbalance.
Some strategies may improve the situation in the short-term, but are difficult to maintain in the long-term.
Unit Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this Unit, the reader should be able to:
describe strategies commonly used in response to work-life imbalance;
identify longer-term considerations related to such strategies; and
understand the pitfalls of such strategies.Strategies commonly used and their pitfalls
Prioritizing demands is a common strategy – this involves rank ordering tasks to focus on the most important ones, without cutting down on any tasks.
Scheduling and planning tasks is used to try get all the work done.
Often leads to the prioritising of work over life commitments.
Working harder – giving more time and energy.
Trying to forget about problems.
Drinking alcohol, taking prescription drugs.
Leads to higher levels of: role overload, work-to-family interference, family-to-work interference and caregiver strain.
Therefore, not suitable in the long-term.
Unit 4 How to address work-life balance
Unit Overview
While the previous unit noted strategies that are difficult to maintain in the longer-term, there are also strategies that can help with managing work-life balance.
Unit Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this Unit, the reader should be able to:
identify strategies that can help with improving work-life balance;
understand the longer-term benefits of such strategies; and
describe supports that can help with improving work-life balance.Strategies to improve work-life balance (1)
Where possible, delegating tasks and responsibilities can help the management of work stressors.
Asking colleagues for help and discussing problems can help to relieve stress.
Having clear boundaries between work and non-work activities, particularly when online, can help address feelings of being 'always on'.
Strategies to improve work-life balance (2)
Many people do not ask colleagues for help. This may be related to:
the culture of workplaces, and
concerns that asking for help may be seen as a weakness.
Speaking to colleagues, friends and family about work stressors can help with coping around work stressors.Long-term benefits of work-life balance
Employees’ ability to achieve work-life balance can lead to better health, lower stress, and improved wellbeing.Coping strategies – are the ways that people try to deal with problems and issues.coping strategies – are the ways that people try to deal with problems and issues.<p><font size="12">Coping strategies – are the ways that people try to deal with problems and issues.</font></p>Supports to help improve work-life balance
Employers can help individual employees to develop effective coping strategies.
For example, encouraging positive working cultures, and assisting in developing time and stress management skills can help to achieve better health, wellbeing and work-life balance.
Coping strategies – are the ways that people try to deal with problems and issues.
[X]]References
Bambra, C., Whitehead, M., Sowden, A., Akers, J., & Petticrew (2008). “A hard day’s night?” The effects of compressed working week interventions on the health and working life balance of shift workers: A systematic review. Journal of Epidemiological Community Health, 62, 764-777.
Lunau, T., Bambra, C., Eikemo, T., Van der Wel, K., & Dragano, N. (2014). A balancing act? Work-life balance, health and well-being in European welfare states. European Journal of Public Health, 24(3), 422-427.
Higgins, C., Duxbury, L., & Lyons, S. (2008). Reducing work-life conflict: What works? What doesn’t? Government of Canada.
Zheng, C., Molineux, J., Mirshekary, S., & Scarparo, S. (2015). Developing individual and organisational work-life balance strategies to improve employee health and well-being. Employee Relations 37 (3), 354-379.
End of submodule
Congratulations! You have completed this submodule!