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Life harmony (the driver)

This guide explains the Life harmony driver, outlines the question behind the score, the typical root causes and general ideas on how to improve.

Updated over 2 weeks ago

Life harmony measures whether the employees feel like they have a healthy relationship between leisure and work.

The question behind the driver is: "How satisfied are you with the way your work is in harmony with your everyday life?"


How to succeed with Life harmony

To ensure that your employees score high on this driver, you can make sure that:

  • Get to manage work mostly according to their life preferences

  • Understand what’s expected of them concerning time spent on- and at work

  • Feel comfortable using the flexibility provided by the team or company

  • Have the confidence and trust to establish personal boundaries that look out for their best interest before they get overworked


Typical root causes for unsatisfactory scores

Below are the root causes that explain the lower score in the vast majority of cases.

  1. Overtime
    Employees feel that they have so much work that they have to spend many hours in the office or take work home.

  2. Blurred boundaries
    Employees feel that it is expected that they respond to emails and other work-related tasks during times when they do not think they should work.

  3. Misaligned expectations
    Employees miss expectation alignment with their leader about how much work is required.

  4. Lacking flexibility
    Employees miss flexibility in work hours and location.

  5. Trouble setting boundaries
    Employees are afraid to set boundaries for how much they want to work.


Ideas for improving

Note: The root cause is what guides a good action that will improve the status quo from a bad action that's targeting something that might already be working. It's only possible to provide good ideas in the context of a root cause.


If overtime is the root cause

Ask yourself: How many hours do the employees actually work, and is this more than agreed on?

  • If yes, book the employee for a task check-in to help them prioritize what is most important. Also, we recommend you book them for a longer well-being 1:1 and use the well-being conversations cards for Life harmony and/or Mindful to discuss what to do about the long working hours.

Ask yourself: What expectations do I have for the employees, and how many hours do these require to be fulfilled?

  • If your expectations are too high compared to the amount of hours available within your team, you need to either hire more people or adjust your expectations.

Ask yourself: Do I clearly communicate my expectations?

  • Make sure to be completely transparent about expectations for the employees - going forward already in the recruitment process - and of course, make sure that these expectations are fair. This will help the employees prioritize and also feel supported in keeping up with the agreed working hours. Knowing you have their back based on what needs to be prioritized may give them more peace with going home without guilt.


If blurred boundaries is the root cause

Ask yourself: In our culture, is it true that we expect people to e.g. respond to emails outside working hours?

  • If this is the case, you need to be very transparent about that - also during the recruitment process. You could have a team session about this subject of work-life to investigate the different needs and try to find a balance so everyone feels heard. If you wish to change this culture - be transparent about that and make sure to be the forerunner of the change yourself: Communicate that you do not expect anyone to answer outside of working hours - and most importantly, try to avoid doing it yourself.

  • If this is not the case, communication is missing. Invite for a team session about this to make sure the employees get to share their views on it and find ways to support and remind each other about this. Communicate that you do not expect anyone to answer outside of working hours - and try to avoid sending emails yourself.


If missing expectation alignment is the root cause

Ask yourself: Do I clearly communicate expectations?

  • Make sure to be completely transparent about expectations for the employees - and of course, make sure that they are fair. This will help the employees prioritize and also feel supported in making decisions that may not always be easy. Knowing you have their back based on what needs to be prioritized may give them more peace with prioritizing and going home when the work day is over.

Ask yourself: Do I ask them directly what their expectations are of themselves? And from me?

  • Not only do you need to elaborate on your own expectations - a good expectation alignment involves both parties and maybe the employees have much higher expectations of their own performance than you do. Also, make sure to ask them what they expect from you so you can let them know what you can and cannot do to help them.

Ask yourself: Do the employees and I disagree on what is expected from them?

  • If they feel like your expectations of them are too high, maybe it is because you yourself are very ambitious and quick at solving tasks. This may not be the same case for your employees who have other talents, and therefore it may be stressful for them to feel like are not succeeding according to your expectations. Invite them for a 1:1 to discuss what work-life balance looks like for them, as it is very subjective in regards to what it means to the individual. You can find inspiration on questions to ask the employees in the well-being conversation cards for Contribution and Mindful in our Leadership Playbook.


If lacking flexibility is the root cause

Ask yourself: Do we have a policy for remote work?

  • If yes, should something be changed according to the employees’ needs or explained more in-depth?

  • If not, consider establishing some sort of guidelines for remote work that take into account that employees have different needs. We recommend having a talk with the employees about this to take their views into account before making a decision. Make up your mind about the levels of flexibility you want in your culture and communicate them clearly to avoid ambiguity.

Ask yourself: Could working hours be more flexible than 9-5?

  • If the employees feel restricted to only work during “normal” office hours but would like to have a more flexible schedule, find out if it really is important which hours they are doing their work. They may need to be available to their colleagues during some hours of the day. However, consider if the rest of the hours could be spread out during the day to accommodate for private matters demanding more flexibility for the employees. Also, make sure to discuss it with the team so everyone is aligned on what is acceptable and what is not.


If not setting boundaries is the root cause

Ask yourself: In our team, do we generally have a culture where employees are afraid to set personal boundaries?

  • It might be a sign that the team culture is lacking psychological safety, and you have an important role in changing that. Psychological safety can be a somewhat big area to both understand and manage. Therefore, we advise you to read our chapter on Psychological Safety in our Leadership Playbook where you can find inspiration on how to work with this.

Ask yourself: Do I as a leader provide a safe space for the employees to set boundaries for their working hours?

  • If you sense that someone is working more than they may prefer, it is important to be proactive to avoid them burning out at some point. Invite them to a well-being 1:1 and find inspiration in the well-being conversation card for Mindful for relevant questions to ask them. Focus on listening to them and help them set boundaries by e.g. telling them your expectations and inviting them openly to say what they think about that. If they feel like they need to work extra to contribute, you can also include questions from the Contribution conversation card.

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