Why companies should be interested in good private lives of their employees – for economic reasons

Many employers but also managers and employees seem to think that the company has no part to play in employees’ personal lives. The spheres of ‘work’ and (private) ‘life’ have thus been discussed separately and with regards to their balance, how to navigate or integrate the two. A new research now suggests a much stronger correlation between what used to be seen individual parts.
The UK relationships research charity OnePlusOne and the work-life organisation Working Families in cooperation found out that people’s lives at home and at work have a significant impact on each other. The key findings of their ‘Happy Homes Productive Workplaces’ report, based on a survey of over 2,000 employees, says that high levels of (private) relationship quality are associated with higher work engagement, and vice versa (!). This sheds new light on the commonly held assumption that private and work lives are almost inevitably in conflict with each other.
Moreover, some details of the study call on experts to rethink some established paradigms: There is not only a cycle effect where work pressures affect relationship quality and relationship quality affects work engagement. The impact of work stress on home life was actually found stronger than the impact of home stress on work engagement. The study also found that women are more engaged at work than men and that parents are no less engaged at work than non-parents. Penny Mansfield, Director of OnePlusOne advises that employers need to organise and manage work in ways that don’t put employees’ relationships in jeopardy. She further assumes that this might not only protect employees at times of high work stress, but also provides a competence that can enhance customer relationships with the ability to attract and retain creative and committed employees and improve business performance.
Sarah Jackson, Chief Executive of Working Families proposes to employers to be alert to signs of stress, presenteeism and long-working hours, and ensure that work is well organised.
The results of the study support a conclusion from a number of similar studies: The better companies support their employees at home, the better they will perform at work. More than 10% of the empirical studies selected for the International Business Case Report (IBCR 2012-XXL) and its two previous editions provide evidence for the direct relationship of flexible workplaces and employee engagement. More information on the report can be found: here