Work-Life Balance
Work-Life Balance
A good work-life balance is meeting deadlines at work but still having time to focus on your health, hobbies and social life. This is beneficial for both work life and home life, with an equal balance for both.
However, sometimes stressors in the work environment can cause a bad work-life balance, such as an excessive workload or long shifts with very few breaks.
Vets are at a greater risk of work-related stress in comparison to the rest of the population, mainly due to the nature of the work, long shifts, tiring OOH work, demanding on-call schedules and very little time off at weekends.
Here are some tips to help you improve your work-life balance:
- You must think about your values and how you want to spend your time, prioritising interests and taking up hobbies that promote these values.
- You can take care of your health by sticking to sleep schedules, putting aside time for exercising and arranging short breaks for your team at stimulating intervals during the day, such as 5-to-10-minute breaks every hour.
- If you want to avoid worrying about work at home, you must learn to separate work and home life by having set working hours and planned free time.
- There has been a shift in OOH and on-call requirements as most practices now work with OOH providers or hire their own OOH team. This benefits sleep schedules and increases time off work so that employees can properly relax, leading to greater productivity.
- With many people working from home during the pandemic, we have sometimes found it difficult to focus on our work duties in our most comfortable setting. However, you can still separate home and work life by setting up an office space in which you will spend your work hours. Remove any distractions and even put on your work clothes to help you focus!
- Most vets and nurses did not have the ability to work from home during the pandemic due to the nature of work and are now seeing an unprecedented uptake of clients but don't let this take over your life. You must recognise that sometimes you need to say no and set boundaries with even your most loyal clients, sticking to strict shift lengths, no working late and taking breaks when you need.
- Which aspects of work could be altered to give you a better work-life balance?
Vet Seekers have a just salary survey in motion where veterinary professionals can indicate which areas of their working life would improve their wellbeing. Please fill in the Vet Seekers Salary Survey - Please click here