Basics

The work-related well-being concept outlines the overall quality of how an employee experiences and functions at work and can be affected by factors such as psychological (job satisfaction, fulfilment of potential, finding meaning), social and physical functioning (subjective feelings of health including energy level).

Energy management is one of the mechanisms how to affect work-related well-being. The optimal candidates for energy renewal programs are organizations, that want new solutions, but are not overwhelmed by them, due to crisis mentality. The crisis mentality increases the feeling of being overwhelmed, as it is not enough that executives are actively supporting the energy renewal programs, employees also have to have the feeling of being able to contribute. Instead, if they feel they are under intense pressure, focusing on immediate survival (for example due to rapid growth of the company), they might not be able to distance themselves and have full recovery of energy, due to mentioned worries. A lot of time energy is taken for granted, however with a higher level of energy (or capacity) one can have more done in less time at a higher level of engagement, and nevertheless with more sustainability.

Employees are expending time and psychological energy to various parts of life: work, family, friends, personal growth and health. As the world develops so does the concept work-life balance. Word life present more than just caring for dependent children, it also includes other types of caring (e.g. siblings, friends, pets) as well as noncaring activities (hobbies, education, religious, social, cultural). The “life” demands may conflict work, but skills gained may have positive effects on it. Due to the changing nature of working arrangements the work also needs to be seen beyond traditional model of employment since there is a growing number of people working outside of it (e.g. zero‐hour contracts, working for temporary employment agencies, self‐employed, gig economy). Broad view on the concept is essential. Work-life balance is a personal and therefore subjective viewpoint on how employee manage to balance personal and professional life meaning there is no tension between work and non-work roles. Therefore, SMEs need to be aware the meaning of work-life balance is not the same for all people, it depends on the context of conversation as well as on a personal viewpoint.

The problem nowadays is that work and careers take up a lot of time which leads to insufficient time for other areas in our lives and increase in workload is not affecting only employees, but also organizational performance. For SMEs good work-life balance of employees means better chances for recruitment and retention of talented employees gender equality, less work-life stress and absenteeism, and greater societal well-being. Given the importance of flexibility for young people, this practice can facilitate a given SME to become the employer of choice. Organizations that gain a reputation for promoting work-life balance are more attractive to workers and have a high employee retention rate which leads to less training and therefore more time for other work.