Finding Work-life Balance in a Demanding Engineering Career
Maintaining a good work-life balance is more important than it seems. Investing in the right equilibrium between your professional and personal life improves your mental and physical health and can directly impact your performance.
Unfortunately, many engineering employees struggle to achieve a healthy work-life balance as their roles become more complex and demanding. Nearly 50% of employees worldwide are experiencing burnout due to poor work-life balance.
Fortunately, several ways exist to rebalance the scales and enjoy greater well-being while achieving what you want at work.
Understanding the Impact of Poor Work-Life Balance
A great work-life balance doesn’t just mean spending equal time focused on your personal and professional life. It involves consciously managing your time and energy to ensure you can meet your professional commitments while prioritising self-care.
Nurturing a healthy work-life balance improves your physical and mental health on a significant scale. In fact, one study in The Lancet found that the risk of stroke is higher in people who work more than their allocated hours each week.
Good work-life balance ensures you can build relationships with your engineering colleagues more effectively, as you’ll have greater emotional resilience. It also boosts your creativity, productivity, and efficiency in the workplace.
Conversely, a poor work-life balance creates various issues. When you fail to invest in self-care, your physical and mental health starts to deteriorate. The quality of your work suffers because you may be unable to focus, causing you to make consistent mistakes.
Plus, poor work-life balance harms your personal and working relationships, as you have less energy to contribute to connections with other people.
Achieving Work-Life Balance: Top Strategies for Success
Achieving balance in your role is crucial for your well-being and career’s future. However, it can’t be easy to define how to enhance work-life balance effectively in a demanding role.
Here are some ideas that work.
1. Assess your current situation carefully
Start by evaluating your current workplace situation. Use tools for self-evaluation, like online stress tests, to determine how likely you are to burnout. Pay attention to the common symptoms of poor work-life balance, such as:
- An inability to “switch off” when you’re not at work.
- Strained relationships with your loved ones.
- Constant fatigue or regular illnesses.
- Feelings of panic or fear on Sunday evenings.
- A sense of disengagement or disinterest in your work.
If you feel your work-life balance might be out of whack, ask yourself where the biggest discrepancies are. Use time-tracking tools to understand better how you use your time throughout the day, and take notes of things that negatively affect your experience in the workplace.
2. Optimise your schedule
You must manage your time effectively to achieve a better work-life balance in a demanding engineering role. The better you are at organising your schedule, the easier it will be to assign the right amount of time to your personal and professional life.
You can use various strategies to give yourself more control over your time. Using a Pomodoro timer is a good way to organise your day into short, focused bursts of activity so you can get the most value out of your energy.
Time-blocking is another great strategy, as it involves dedicating specific periods of your day to certain tasks, which can prevent you from falling victim to procrastination or productivity-draining multitasking sessions. Use the Eisenhower matrix to prioritise tasks based on their urgency and importance and know when to say “no” to additional requests.
3. Focus on working smarter, not harder
Many engineering employees think investing additional hours in their jobs will make them more productive. However, working longer hours increases your chances of suffering from physical health issues.
Rather than focusing on trying to fit more into your day, look for ways to streamline and improve your performance. Developing new skills, like using technology to automate certain tasks, can save you significant time.
Setting boundaries is important, too. Ensure your team members and managers know what you’re physically capable of managing in your day-to-day routine. Don’t simply say “yes” to everything; set realistic expectations for yourself and share them with your colleagues.
4. Invest in effective collaboration
Collaboration is a powerful tool for improving work-life balance. When you can rely on other members on your team to help you achieve your goals and complete tasks, you’ll work much faster and more efficiently. Build strong relationships with your colleagues based on mutual support and assistance.
Offer to help them wherever you can, and ask them to return the favour when they have skills that will benefit the tasks you’re working on. Know when to delegate and share responsibilities with other team members, and avoid trying to handle everything independently.
If you’re struggling to make the most of your team, ask your manager for advice on how you might be able to delegate more effectively without overwhelming other team members.
5. Take advantage of technology
Technology can both harm and improve work-life balance. Being constantly “plugged in” to workplace applications and collaboration software can make switching off in your free time harder. However, technology can also help you to manage your time more effectively.
Productivity apps and tools can help you to more effectively keep track of your schedule, monitor your progress towards tasks, and allocate your time effectively. You can also use tools to help you automate certain tasks and streamline common processes.
Ensure you’re also taking the time to switch off. Know when to put email and messaging notifications on silent, and take advantage of automatic email responses to keep colleagues informed when you won’t be available.
6. Create a self-care routine
Finally, maintaining a good work-life balance in a demanding engineering role takes conscious effort. It’s easy to fall back into unhealthy habits, like working extra-long hours or forgetting to take breaks. That’s why you need to dedicate specific slots to looking after yourself.
When planning your day or week, highlight specific times in your schedule when you can dedicate time to important things like exercise, enjoying your hobbies, or spending time with loved ones.
Try to spend at least a small portion of every day doing something you enjoy, whether watching your favourite television show or taking the dog for a walk.
Devoting every ounce of your time and energy to your engineering career might seem like a good idea at first, but it can seriously damage your mental and physical health and even have a negative impact on your performance.
Investing in good work-life balance is the best way to ensure you can look after yourself and achieve your professional goals.
All the best
Steve
At Coalesce we have been partnering with engineering candidates for over 28 years; if you would like our support on finding work-life balance in a demanding engineering career, then give us a call on 07512 821708 or email us here.