How to help your workers switch off

Workers in the UK are entitled to a minimum of 5.6 weeks of annual leave, but the benefits go beyond keeping on the right side of the law. Regular breaks, whether that's holiday or downtime during the working week, can support employee well-being and help your business grow.

For employees, time off provides an opportunity to relax and recharge, reducing stress and supporting positive mental health. It can also give them a fresh perspective on their work, increasing engagement and productivity when they return. Time away from the office also helps staff maintain a healthy work-life balance and enjoy their personal lives. Studies also suggest that skipping holidays can increase employees' risk of heart disease and early death.

Even microbreaks during working hours can give employees the opportunity to move around and give their brains time to switch off, then return refreshed.

From a business perspective, a healthy, engaged and productive workforce has clear benefits for your financial growth. Physical and mental health issues can lead to sick leave, increasing stress for the absent employee and team members covering their tasks.

When you encourage employees to use their annual leave entitlement, you demonstrate your commitment to their well-being, which in turn supports employee morale and engagement. In turn, employees who feel supported at work are more likely to stay. This reduces staff turnover and associated recruitment and training costs.

The business benefits of encouraging employees to create a positive work-life balance and spend time relaxing and recharging outside their normal working hours are clear. However, research suggests that workers struggle to switch off outside working hours and end up working more, reducing much-needed rest. Digital tools enable staff to work from home, which should help them achieve better work-life balance. However, in practice, some staff work additional hours by logging in to complete tasks after returning from the office. Remote workers find that the boundaries between work and personal life blur, leading them to work more hours.

To encourage employees to switch off, your managers should lead by example and create a company culture that normalises setting clear boundaries between working hours and personal time. Next, we'll consider practical ways to encourage employees to switch off. However, always bear in mind that employees are individuals, so one-to-one conversations can have a significant impact on helping your staff build positive habits.

Assess workloads and working hours

If your teams are working long hours, in excess of their normal working hours, it may be due to heavy workloads that demand longer working hours to ensure they meet deadlines. They may also struggle to switch off when they return home due to anxiety about the amount of work awaiting them in the office. A small amount of stress and longer hours to complete a project can be beneficial. However, if these working patterns continue in the long term, stress can become chronic and lead to burnout. Burnout impairs performance and can cause an employee to leave work altogether.

Alternatively, an employee may have a reasonable workload but struggle to complete tasks due to a lack of knowledge or support, or personal issues that affect their concentration.

Assessing individual workloads and working hours is a good starting point. Long hours and a heavy workload are obviously correlated, but if an employee works long hours with a reasonable workload, this may signal a performance issue. Remote workers can become isolated and hesitant to ask for help. Equally, an employee may be overburdened with work and experience stress even when completing tasks within their usual working hours. Identifying patterns can help identify support needs and foster a workplace culture where staff feel empowered to ask for help when needed.

Normalise finishing work on time

We've suggested analysing workloads and working hours, as well as possible causes for the patterns you identify. However, it's also possible that long hours are simply part of your workplace culture, even when workloads don't require them. Working late or arriving early can be seen as a way of demonstrating commitment to the company. Some managers may also ask staff to stay after hours to complete work that could have been done earlier with better time management.

As we've mentioned, there may be times when your teams need to work later to complete a project, but that shouldn't be the norm. Normalising leaving work on time helps staff build a positive work-life balance. There are various ways to do this. In small teams, it can be as simple as managers checking their watches and reminding employees that it's nearly time to finish, or as straightforward as ensuring staff know why a staff member needs to arrive early one day. If you have standard office hours, such as a 9-5 schedule, you can create a routine to help staff leave on time. This could be a quick catch-up at the end of the day to check progress before leaving the office.

Promote other activities

Sometimes, an employee's work-life balance may suffer when they're stuck in a rut where they don't enjoy their personal life. They either work longer hours or struggle to switch off because their personal time feels unfulfilling. Employees with caring commitments may also struggle to switch off due to significant demands on their time outside work. Encouraging employees to make more of their personal time can help prevent this and also have well-being benefits.

For example, you may have employees who leave the office on time but log in to answer emails when they get home, which negatively impacts their home life. Encouraging them to create a new routine that disrupts this habit can help. It could be visiting the gym on the way home or joining a local activity group.

You can set up lunchtime activities, such as walking groups, yoga classes in the boardroom, or talks on non-work-related topics, to encourage staff to leave their desks. Providing information about activities they can access through their employee benefits or in the local area encourages physical activity that reduces stress and improves overall health.

Encourage mindfulness

Switching off from work involves setting clear boundaries so staff can stop thinking about work and enjoy their evenings. If employees worry about work in their personal time, developing techniques to set these aside can reduce stress. Keeping a notepad and pen nearby lets staff write down any tasks they're concerned about, who to speak to during work time, or questions they want to ask. Getting these thoughts down on paper prevents employees from holding worries in their heads, which can disrupt sleep.

Creating a routine that signals the end of work is also beneficial. For some, their commute home may be enough, but this isn't possible for remote workers. Adding an activity such as a walk or an exercise class can help. Exercise releases endorphins, also known as the 'feel good' chemicals, and reduces the stress hormone cortisol, both of which can promote better-quality sleep.

Meditation and mindfulness sessions can help with relaxation and are available online or via apps. Many mindfulness apps offer corporate memberships that provide your teams with access, and they're often included in health insurers' member reward schemes. Apps such as Calm and Headspace offer a range of tools, including guided meditations, breathing exercises, soothing soundscapes, and bedtime stories, so employees can choose options that meet their needs. They typically include reminders to encourage regular practice and make mindfulness part of your daily routine.

Set clear expectations

Creating clear expectations around working hours, practices, and time off provides your teams with certainty and lets them switch off. We've mentioned how workplace culture can normalise long hours, even when workloads don't demand them. This can encourage presenteeism, where staff stay at work even when they aren't producing meaningful work, or come in when ill instead of taking time to rest and recover. Employees may worry that failing to conform could result in job loss or missed pay rises and promotions. Effective policies enable staff to set clear boundaries and stick to them.

Various policies can help set performance guidelines. For example, if out-of-hours work is sometimes necessary, create a policy that specifies when it is acceptable and who is expected to respond to queries or emergencies. If your business needs to have someone on call at all times, create a rota and provide a company phone to make the requirement clear.

Your communications policy can help staff appropriately prioritise tasks. For example, you might set standards for returning phone calls and replying to emails. Training staff to set an email responder and voicemail message confirming the usual response times can help to set client expectations and avoid situations where staff feel compelled to answer out of hours.

Annual leave

Annual leave is vital to ensuring staff can switch off and take a proper break. It enables them to spend extended time with their loved ones and enjoy activities that they may not be able to access closer to home. Encouraging employees to use their full annual leave entitlement demonstrates your commitment to their well-being.

As mentioned, the minimum annual leave allowance for workers in the UK is 5.6 weeks, which is pro rata based on their usual working pattern. However, you can offer more than that. You can give all employees an enhanced annual leave allowance or offer more days as a reward for long service.

Some employers now offer unlimited annual leave. Clearly, the word 'unlimited' is slightly misleading, since everyone needs to be in the office at some point. However, it avoids setting a daily allowance and instead lets staff take reasonable leave. There are some potential pitfalls. Some employers have reverted to a generous but fixed annual leave allowance, as unlimited leave created uncertainty about what constitutes reasonable time off. In some cases, staff took fewer holidays and experienced poor mental health as a result. Setting clear expectations is vital.

Provide self-care resources

People work and relax in different ways. Providing them with resources to choose how to switch off helps your staff feel empowered to manage their own self-care. A library of articles, videos and self-assessment tools lets employees explore mental health and well-being based on their interests and learn relaxation techniques that work for them.

You can build a library using trusted sources such as the NHS, charities, and mental health professionals. Most health insurers also have libraries you can access even if you aren't a customer. If you decide to curate resources yourself, start by including articles discussing mental health topics, specific conditions and the importance of caring for your mental well-being.

There are many ways to relax, so it's important to include a range of resources. Here are a few of the topics your resources could cover:

• Audio guides with music and guided meditations
• Physical relaxation techniques like yoga, tai chi, self-massage, breathing exercises, and warm baths.
• The benefits of time in nature, social connection and time for yourself.
• How to create a digital detox.
• Daily mental health habits, such as journaling.
• Sources of support, for example, charities or counselling services.

You can encourage staff to engage with these resources by introducing training sessions and regular well-being communications.

Health insurance can provide your staff with access to private medical care and resources to support their mental well-being. These include services that help them improve their mental health and support them in switching off after work.

Most health insurance companies provide their business customers with access to employee health assessments. These provide employees with an overview of their health, including areas for improvement, and offer ongoing support to help them achieve their goals. If they're experiencing stress and struggle to enjoy their downtime, they can access resources and treatment using their health coverage. Your insurer can also provide you with anonymised data to help you understand health issues affecting your teams.

Health insurance typically provides access to 8-10 counselling sessions as standard, and you can also extend your coverage to include more counselling sessions and treatment from various mental health professionals. You can also add an employee assistance program (EAP), which provides counselling and telephone helplines with guidance on legal and financial issues.

Insurers' reward schemes offer free or discounted access to well-being benefits. These include discounted gym memberships, fitness trackers, and access to mindfulness apps, among other things.

Depending on your business size and chosen policy, you can often access training and support to design workplace wellness challenges and initiatives that promote healthy habits.

Health insurance can give you and your team the tools to support their health and well-being and find ways to switch off at the end of the day. At Globacare, we provide tailored advice to help you find health insurance that meets your needs. Contact us today for a comparison quote.