The Benefit of Happiness
Oh, how the times have changed. In my late 20s, I would look forward to the end of the day to check out a new local bar or brewery for happy hour after work. Back then, work-life balance meant getting out at 5 p.m. and looking forward to the freedom of a post-work cocktail, a round of golf, or checking out a concert.
Fast forward to my late 30s, and that philosophy has taken on a much more traditional meaning. A marriage and three kids tend to change your priorities a bit. Working for a company that understands the trials and tribulations of modern-day work-life balance has become one of the most desirable aspects of finding a new job.
I've been a recruiter for over 10 years and have talked to thousands of candidates whose professions range from C-suite executives to entry-level employees. One commonality among almost all of them is wanting to understand what work-life balance looks like at a new company. I'd be lying if I said the driving factor for roughly 95% of the people I spoke with wasn't money. But without fail, a close second is understanding a company's flexibility with work hours, remote vs. hybrid vs. onsite environments, and vacation time.
The Origins of Work-Life Balance
Henry Ford established a five-day, 40-hour workweek for his employees in 1926, but it wasn't the official law of the land until October 1940. The Progressive Era in the early 1900s sought to improve working conditions for employees, eliminate child labor, and create some sort of standard for workplace safety, but changes were incremental at best until the Fair Labor Standards Act. Back then, the thought of remote work, health insurance benefits, and multiple weeks of paid time off (or even sick days) was still a pipe dream at best.
Why Are Benefits Important?
A recruiter's standard approach to a job intake call with a client is understanding the key responsibilities of the role, the skills and personality traits required to be successful, past and current industry-specific experience, and typically the technologies associated with the position. One aspect that has become almost as important as the job description and key responsibilities is what the company can offer potential candidates.
Again, compensation is still king, but understanding benefits, PTO, the work environment (onsite, hybrid, or remote), and fringe benefits (cell phone or home office allowances, flexible spending accounts, company cars, etc.) is just as important. Today's workplace is more competitive than ever, but the demand for talent is just as aggressive, and offering some degree of work-environment flexibility or discretionary allowances for gas or cell phone bills can be the difference in landing that dream candidate.
What Does the Future Hold?
There are new studies and applicable data being developed daily on the pros and cons of onsite, remote, and hybrid environments, but one philosophy tends to remain constant: happy employees make better employees.
There isn't one key benefit that's a catch-all solution for achieving universal employee satisfaction, but there is one currency we all value above all else as humans: time. The utopian goal of the AI revolution is to simplify processes and preserve time, allowing us to use it to enjoy the things that bring us happiness.
Understanding what that looks like as an employer may seem like a paradox, but more often than not, it could be the difference in landing an employee who makes the incremental difference between success and failure.
