Sometimes it is easy to get carried away by desperation when looking for a job to a point of forgetting that you not only need a job, but one that will strike a healthy work-life balance for you. There is so much damage that toxic workplaces and environments can do to a person and therefore the need to concentrate on your wellbeing before anything else. Joblessness doesn’t entirely mean that you should settle for less especially where your mental health is concerned.
You can always find that work-life balance accommodating kind of job if you are patient enough and at no point should you compromise the need to work in a healthy environment. There are several pointers you can apply way before you even attend the interview that can help you choose a job that will not end up draining you psychologically, financially or even socially in the long run. So how exactly do you tell if a job you are about to apply for will facilitate a healthy work-life balance according to professionals?
Figuring out your deal-breakers. A big part of whether you should go on and apply for a job or not depends on what your needs or rather what your deal-breakers are. That’s the time to figure out if you will be starting a family soon so that you can select a job that will accommodate that in terms of paid and sustaining leaves. It could also be that you are more productive working from home than at the office and for that reason you should consider taking a job that doesn’t come with long-working hours or strict work delivery deadlines.
What is the job description? Examining the job description can help you point out some red flags especially for the case where long work hours and meeting strict deadlines are mentioned. These are the kind of jobs that once you accept you will have abided to the work demands. Such are also the kind of jobs that once you figure out they are straining you and decide to resign; you risk not getting any pay because most of their contracts don’t facilitate that. The job description is therefore in a big percentage able to help you figure out if that’s exactly the kind of job you would like take on where striking a healthy work-life balance is a concern.
Does the company provide any benefits of perks? Don’t direct all the attention to the salary, because at times even the great ones can be outweighed by transport costs or costly health insurances among other monthly deductions. Benefits or perks on aspects like vacation, wellness incentives, parental leaves, working overtime among other equally considerable situations can go a long way in providing motivation at work and generally promoting a healthy working environment for employees.
What do former employees have to say? You can professionally reach out to the company’s former employees for a more detailed perspective and opinion on what it’s like generally to work for that particular company. Using a professional site like LinkedIn can facilitate that.
Having a good work environment will ensure that even your home life is satisfactory.
