Sharing Sustainable Work Life Balance Stories

We regularly hear that fellows are interested in support around sustainable work practices and work-life balance. This year, we’ve made it a goal to share about the foundation’s policies and practices in order to promote transparency and provide resources to support Switzer Fellows’ leadership in their own organizations. 

In addition to sharing the foundation’s stories, we also want to lift up the wealth of knowledge and experience within the Switzer Network! We hope these stories spark connections between fellows and offer examples of ways we can support each other in making changes in our workplaces. If you have a story, question or thought to share, chime in on the Switzer Fellows listserv or email Cora. 

What workplace practices or policies support your personal well-being as you engage in your work, supporting you and your colleagues to avoid burnout and promote a more sustainable work-life balance? 

Here are a few ways the Switzer Foundation supports our staff to maintain a sustainable work-life balance: 

• Variable hourly schedules and adjusted expectations to keep a ‘right-sized’ workload 
• Paid family and medical leave and sabbatical leave policies 
• Generous and flexible paid time off (PTO)
• Bonus time off to recuperate from travel or working outside normal hours
• Accommodations for small children and additional caregivers to attend work travel
• Paid time off for staff to vote and volunteer for nonpartisan election efforts
• Collaborative goal-setting and decision making across the team

Switzer Fellows shared the following things they or their organizations do to support work-life balance: 

• “My organization offers comp time, paid time off, and a lot of flexibility in terms of where and when we work (parents often leave the office early to pick their kids up from school, folks can work from home when caring for family members or if they just need quiet time to concentrate, we have the option to Zoom in to meetings or attend in-person, etc.)” 
• “I recently advocated for closing our offices for the week between Christmas and New Year's Day, so that all of our staff can have that week off without needing to use their earned vacation time. … I think it will be meaningful in terms of morale and supporting staff wellbeing. I also like the idea of everyone being off at the same time, so that (in theory) less work will pile up in our absence.”
• Managing meetings: have phone meetings instead of zoom, walking during meetings, and packing meetings into blocks to create time for more focused work. 
• “Not texting/phoning about work out of work hours unless it's an 'emergency' (and collectively defining emergency).”