Working in busy, fast-paced healthcare settings with many deadlines and clinical targets can often result in staff members feeling increasingly pressured to prioritise work over wellbeing.
Working in such environments raises the risk of staff adopting a 'let’s-keep-going' mindset by taking on additional responsibilities and not noticing the impact that this approach has on their emotional and physical health. It may be difficult to set healthy boundaries between our working lives and home lives, leading to them becoming blurred and merged together.
A CIPD survey results illustrate the effects of a blurring of work-life boundaries on health:
- Employees who have experienced at least one characteristic of burn-out attribute it to high work demands, reduced social connections and a lack of boundaries between work-life balance
- Over a quarter of employees (26%) report struggling to relax in their free and personal time due to work
- Nearly half of workers (46%) have worked in recent months despite reporting not feeling well enough physically and/or mentally to carry out their required work duties.
- Consistently working routinely outside of your contracted hours - intentionally starting the working day significantly earlier and finishing work later than your contracted hours
- Taking on additional duties in work which exceed the current workload, not allowing tasks to be delegated to others when such opportunities are possible
- Checking work emails during non-contracted hours including on annual leave
- Undertaking work duties on annual leave days or outside of working hours, only scheduling in annual leave when requested to by a manager
- Dropping pleasurable activities/hobbies which you usually enjoy in leisure time
- Reducing socialising and spending less time with loved ones; not attending meet-ups, avoiding taking phone-calls from loved ones, delaying responding to personal messages/emails
- Not prioritising important personal tasks or appointments e.g. putting off scheduling health appointments
The Mental Health Foundation have proposed five key tips on regularly checking managing the home-life balance and boundaries through the following steps:
- Pause. Do you have an opportunity in your day to reflect on your work or personal life? Have you been able to check in on how you’re feeling mentally or physically? How would you describe how you’re currently feeling? Make time for yourself, even for 5 minutes, to check in. This mental space can help you to reflect on your priorities and if your current work-life routine is giving you satisfaction and meaning.
- Pay attention to your feelings. Once you have been able to notice your feelings, thoughts and bodily responses to this situation, what conclusions have you drawn? Are you feeling fulfilled? Upset, happy, angry? Mindfulness is a very useful practice to observe and notice these, you can access mindfulness sessions with Peter Helmer. Once you are aware of your feelings, you can decide which changes you want to put in place.
- Reprioritise. What needs to change? What are the pros and cons of making such changes? How do you want your life to ideally look like? Which areas of your life do you want to spend more or less time on? What is important to you?
- Consider your alternatives. Is there anything within your control at work you can change to meet what is important for you? For instance, are you able to leave work on time so as to spend more time with your friends and family? Is it necessary to check work emails out of hours, so that you can spend that time pursuing a hobby you’ve always loved?
- Make changes. Depending on what changes you wish to make, start implementing these – are you able to discuss your concerns about your work with your manager? Are you able to speak to Occupational Health about the effects work is having on your health? Can you ensure that annual days are spent solely for leisure purposes and not work?
Use our checklists below whilst your at work and before switching off to help create a healthy boundary between work and home life.
