What I learned about Work Life balance while on Medical Leave

Posted on September 04, 2019 by Eartha Genece, One of Thousands of Career Coaches on Noomii.

Early in my career, I worked at a company where the later you stayed in the office, the more you got to brag about how late you stayed in the office. Somehow this act of martyrdom meant you must’ve been getting a lot of work done. However, it meant employees were having unnecessary meetings, surfing the net and taking one too many personal calls. None of this mattered, provided you were still in the office.

It also wasn’t unusual for my boss to call me on the weekends. He took advantage that I was single and didn’t have any children. It wasn’t until I worked myself into stress induced illness, that I realized that I didn’t have work life balance.

In Japan working yourself to death is called Karōshi, which can be translated literally as “overwork death” in Japanese. It is occupational sudden mortality. The major medical causes of karōshi deaths are heart attack and stroke due to stress.

While on medical leave, my boss had me working on a project and called me 2-3 times a day for updates. Did I mention, I was reporting to the Director of Human Resources. Thankfully, after being on leave for two months, I knew I had to move on. Not only did I vow to find a new opportunity and the “right boss,” I promised myself that I would never let myself become ill from work related stress.

What I learned from my experience is the following:

If possible, avoid long commutes-If you avoid a long commute, you’re more likely to feel that you have more work life balance. If there is no way to avoid this, then consider joining a van pool, carpooling, or taking public transportation. The options can remove stress driving each day and give you time to decompress and enjoy things like reading blog posts, audio books, podcasts, meditating, or striking up a conversation with someone new. If a vanpool, carpool, or public transportation commitment of 5 days a week is too much, try 3 times per week and drive your own vehicle solo the other days. Likewise, if you’re job permits, ask to test working out one day a week from home. Finding work life balance is about being creative and cutting down your stress level.
Limit your workweek to 40 hours per week. –although sometimes due to large projects and traveling for work this can’t be avoided. However, make sure you are being effective if you put in extra hours. For example: Choose one or two days per week to stay an hour late or coming in an hour early.

Note: If you’re doing the above mentioned, make sure you have no distractions. That means, do not check email, voice mail and place your phone directly to voice mail. Only work on the task at hand, and if you’re staying late, set a timer to buzz 5 minutes prior to stopping, so that you have plenty of time to set priorities for the next day, shut down the computer etc. and be out the door.

Use all your vacation days. Studies have shown that employees who use all their vacation days are happier. If you’re not going on a road trip or flying to somewhere exotic, try a staycation. If you plan a staycation, stop your physical mail, and leave an out of office message on your personal email. Leave your phone at home, or if you can’t stay away from your phone, make a pledge to only check it for 15 minutes per day. Lastly, if you’re leaving tasks for a coworker(s) to complete while you’re out, make certain to leave thorough instructions. Give them the option to contact you if they really need to. I know this may seem counterproductive, but it will save you a headache when you return to work.

Take advantage of your company’s perks. Some large companies will give you time off to volunteer. Not only can volunteering make you feel like you’re making a difference, it’s a good way to break up the work week.

Work life balance is key to your mental and physical health to a happier career.