WORK-LIFE BALANCE

 

Work-Life Balance Programs

That Cut Stress, Fuel Engagement

Manage Demands and Increase Satisfaction with the Most Effective Work-Life Tools
IN-PERSON & VIRTUAL PROGRAMS

 
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We Give Your Team Tools to Work Smarter, Live Better 

Our work-life balance programs recharge minds, bodies, and motivation as they reduce pressure points with proven tools to manage stress, time, and distractions and put a more rewarding life on the agenda.

With a lively combination of stress management, time management, device management, and attention and mind management, our work-life programs give your team skills to increase performance, engagement, and wellness. Whether the challenge is overwhelm, remote work, change, or burnout, work-life leader Joe Robinson, seen on CNN and Today and author of Work Smarter, Live Better, supports your talent with strategies that increase satisfaction on the job and off.  

The programs at Optimal Performance Strategies are fun, interactive and based on the latest neuroscience, so they get great sign-on from clients. "Joe Robinson was the best choice we could have made," said Nestle's Linda Sellan. 

Increase work-life survey scores and retention with the dividend of great morale.

“The more you check email, the more you have to check email, because you lose ability to regulate your impulse control," says Joe Robinson. “Interruptions erode impulse control and make anything you do seem more difficult than it is. Humans are allowed to set the rules on the devices.” - Fast Company

Joe Robinson has appeared on and in:
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Tools for Overloaded Minds, Schedules, and Teams

See Video: Joe Robinson talks about the reflex habits that get in the way of effective performance and a balanced approach to work and life. The more you check email, the more you have to check it. Excess interruptions erode impulse control, blow up working memory, and lead to Attention Deficit Trait.

Work Smarter, Live Better

See Video: Joe Robinson explains the keys to smarter work and a better work-life. He has appeared in Entrepreneur, Fast Company, and Business Insider, and has led programs for organizations from Amazon to IBM to Cisco, Nestle, Ocean Spray, LEGO, the Reserve Bank of India, the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, McDonald's, New York City Public Health, and Anheuser-Busch. 

Testimonials

“They loved your presentation. Wow! You were fantastic.”

Shari Morwood - VP, IBM

“We searched long and hard to find the right trainer. We didn't want airy-fairy but something practical to help us with the uncertainties ahead. Joe Robinson was the best choice we could have made."

Linda Sellan - Marketing & Sales Manager, Nestle Global
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"We were searching for a keynote speaker to deliver an engaging session at our company’s annual Leadership Meeting.  We wanted a speaker who could tailor their subject matter to fit our company culture and group dynamics and Joe’s presentation did just that.  He hit a home run with our team, and I would highly recommend him for others seeking a down-to-earth, creative speaking professional that will leave you with tactics and strategies that can be implemented immediately."    

Ron Moeller - Director, Human Resources, MedQuest
Insuresoft

Thank you so much for this life-changing session. It was great! I took away so much, and it left me wanting more. Employees are asking for more sessions."

Diana Salah Eldin - HR Manager, Insuresoft
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First and foremost, it was a pleasure working with Joe. Joe is one of those speakers who shows a deep understanding for his content. He is engaging with a unique presentation format. We were pleasantly surprised that we had more than half of our Associates show up for this early morning (voluntary) seminar. Not only did Joe keep the energy high, but he also provided real life examples and tools leaving the attendees motivated and recharged!"

EQH Taskforce - Equitable Financial Life Insurance
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THANK YOU for your time and expertise!  The team has raved about the sessions and, as a Business Management Team, we are actively working on adjustments to our business practices to try and operationalize some of the learnings! We REALLY enjoyed the time together and would highly recommend the sessions to other companies.  Thank you for making the program available to companies of our size!  It’s a difference-maker!"

Katie Smoot - EVP - Business Operations, Tanner Pharma Group

“Joe presented at our annual conference, speaking to board members, senior leadership, and clinicians. Members are still talking about his presentation on work-life balance. Talk about speaking the truth. It was like being in church with all the 'Amen's' and 'YESes.' Joe is an inspiration, and we have all committed to making personal changes after his show!"

Robyn Garrett - Executive Director, Georgia Assoc. of Community Service Boards

“Joe Robinson's work-life balance training was extremely valuable to our supervisory staff. I'd recommend the training for any organization trying to find the right balance between high performance and employee engagement.”

Terry Field - Program Manager, Florida Department of Children and Families

“Joe was an inspiration! The sessions with Joe were fun and interactive. He gave us valuable tools to carry forward."

Charla Eversole - Truman Medical Center

"Joe presented to our top sales group and our executive team on a recent awards trip. The work-life balance presentation provided takeaways that the group put right to work. We had great feedback from the team. They thoroughly enjoyed his presentation. Do yourself a favor and check Joe out! It is well worth it!"

Steve Newell - Servicing Manager, Hallmark Home Mortgage
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I received great feedback, and I have heard multiple team members reference the techniques and “tricks of the trade” you provided to us this week.

Again, thank you for everything and rest assured you will come highly recommended as a training leader to other departments and organizations from the Elior Service Operations team."

Ashley Mangialardi - CBORD Technical Specialist, Elior North America

"Joe’s productivity and work-life balance training for our leadership team was fun, interactive and relevant. Joe shared many strategies for managing work-life balance that will not only reduce stress on and off the job but will help increase satisfaction in both arenas."

Martha Vanderheyden - Internal Coach, Indiana University Health La Porte Hospital
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As we are almost a year into the pandemic, we felt a seminar on work-life balance was the perfect fit for our Ocean Spray Innovation virtual offsite event. Joe did a great job engaging the audience, even in the virtual world, through different exercises and breakout groups. It was a great session, and our group learned a lot of useful tactics to bring to the company! Thank you Joe!"

Adena Barber - Associate Innovation Manager, Ocean Spray

"Joe's training was ideal—and perfectly timed for our needs and workforce. The feedback from managers was universally positive!"

Craig Willardson - President & CEO, Moark LLC, $700 million division of Land O' Lakes

“Your talk included useful and important information presented clearly and cleverly, along with a nice touch of audience engagement. The audience learned something and enjoyed the experience. After almost 40 years of teaching and speaking at professional conferences I know very few people can do this effectively. You can and did!"

Kenneth Ottenbacher - Distinguished Chair, Rehabilitation Sciences, Univ. Texas Medical Branch

“Our staff really enjoyed Joe's presentation—lots of positive feedback. You have a great message and tips that can benefit all of us. I thought multitasking was a good thing. Not anymore!"

Joseph Slade - Assistant Commissioner, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

“Thank you for spending the week with us and making an impact for our people and our company. I've heard nothing but very positive comments and feel that your message will make a difference in all our lives."

Dan Schmitt - President and CEO, HH Hunt Homes

“Joe Robinson is a true inspiration."

Brian Grazer - Producer ("A Beautiful Mind," "Da Vinci Code"), Co-Chair, Imagine Entertainment
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"I personally took away a lot from your program that I can apply to my day-to-day and work-life, so I am so happy to have found you to present for Xenon Pharmaceuticals. Even with the presentation being held virtually due to Covid, everyone was engaged and truly interested, which showcases how excellent the presentation and material was. Our team now has tools to manage stress and bring balance to our lives."

Cassandra Robinson - Corporate Paralegal, Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc.
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This session came at a great time for our employees with so many feeling the burden of stress.  Joe was engaging and gave great tips on reducing stress and taking control of the day."

Katie Rothstein - Health Promotion Specialist, Optum Workplace Well-Being, for KeyBank, KeyCorp
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“Our team loved the Work Smarter Live Better workshop led by Joe Robinson. Helping team members achieve optimal balance between work and life has never been more critical, and Joe’s content was right on the mark. We all left with tools and tactics we could utilize immediately to live a more fulfilling life personally and professionally."

Brandon McNeal - Senior Director, Sales, Home Depot and Home Depot.com, Kohler KBNA
MA Probation Officers

As co-chair of the Fall Conference, I was very nervous regarding how my peers would receive the information from the training.  We all work in fast-paced stressful work settings.  Everyone kept commenting on how wonderful the training was and how interactive it was.  Some told me about which tips they were going to use right away.  I felt the same and, on my drive home after the conference I was speaking to my daughter and shared a few tools she could use in her everyday life as a college student.  I highly recommend this training for everyone."

Michelle C. Williams-Masson - Massachusetts Chief Probation Officers
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Joe Robinson provided a well-rounded and engaging workshop for our leadership team. Every participant walked away with new tools to improve mental balance at work and at home and a new motivation to work smarter and live better."

Thomas Troeger - CEO, REHAU Americasting & Sales Manager, Nestle Global
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"We contracted with Joe Robinson to enhance our employee wellness program.  The initial agreement was for one year.  He provided half-day workshops on Work-Life Balance, followed by post-workshop webinars and activities.  The staff responded very positively, and this led to a second year-long agreement. Joe Robinson provided monthly trainings on employee wellness topics from Boundaries to Burnout to Positive Emotions. Staff feedback has been very positive about the trainings and appreciative of Cummins’ investment in the mental health and wellness of staff."

Dawn Pruitt - CMHC Grant Director, Cummins Behavioral Health Systems

We Can’t Control the Wind, But We Can Adjust the Sails

There's an expression in the sailing world: "We can't control the wind, but we can adjust the sails." It's a perfect metaphor for the workplace. We all have a job we have to do. We can't change that.

But how we do that job is where we can build in the adjustments and flexibility that help us manage our responsibilities and restore control to an unbounded world. We can adjust the sails. That’s what our work-life programs do, guide your team through the adjustments that make them more effective and able to avoid the behaviors that drive stress and work-life conflict.

What Is Work-Life Balance, Anyway?

Work-life balance is a series of adjustments to work and life that allow people to feel their responsibilities on both sides of the work-life hyphen are under control. When you are at work, you can be 100% there, and when at home, you can devote full attention to that.

We show your team how to build a better work-life fit with proactive self-management skills that help them navigate competing demands, be more productive, and activate the best life.

Our interactive work-life balance training and keynotes guide your team with the latest science and best practices to a more productive work style, from time management, to stress management, attention management, device management, interruption management, refueling and wellness strategies, resilience skills, and keys to a thriving life outside work.

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Increase Performance and Work-Life Survey Scores

We often hear from clients when low work-life balance scores on employee surveys show strain, which impacts performance in a host of ways. Studies show that work-life conflict reduces effort and increases absenteeism and turnover (Anderson, Coffey, Byerly). It also drives poor health and energy (Frone, Rusee, Barnes) and stress (Anderson et al).

When people have a hard time managing work and home responsibilities, fatigue drains the chief productivity tool, attention, and with it work engagement. The more fatigue, the more effort it takes to do the job, and performance slips.

Our work-life balance programs stop the drainers and adjust how we do things at work and at home, eliminating overwhelm and increasing flexibility for smarter work and life.

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The Importance Of Work-Life Balance For Organizations

When demands aren’t managed, they manage your team and organization. They steal attention, drive crisis mentality, increase absenteeism and retention problems, health costs go up and job satisfaction goes down. Our work-life balance training gives employees the tools to work smarter and increase effectiveness.

There are a host of benefits for the bottom-line when the staff feels they have tools to manage overwhelm, stress, and information overload. As Joe Robinson’s article on the Top 5 Arguments for Work-Life Balance and the infographic at right detail, the benefits come in increased productivity, profits, and engagement.

Employees satisfied with their work-life benefits are three times more likely to feel satisfied with their jobs (MetLife).

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The Main Types of Work-Life Balance Programs

1. Flexibility programs

2. Self-management and time management programs

Work-life balance programs take two basic approaches — policies that provide employees more flexibility on schedules and location, and self-management programs that reduce stress and increase work effectiveness and satisfaction on the job and off.

Flexibility Programs

Trying to juggle work and life responsibilities creates a time squeeze for employees, one that flex policies can help alleviate. Flex programs give employees the ability to navigate both realms better with adjustments to schedules and offices.

Research shows employees feel they can manage workload and home responsibilities better when they have the ability to adjust their schedules to pick up a child early from school, or work from home a couple days a week. The perception of more control reduces stress.

Studies show that remote employees actually work more hours from home (Fried, Boston College), but the time crunch isn’t as intense because they can accommodate their lives better. This increases job and life satisfaction, which is one of the reasons why 57% of companies offer some form of flexible schedule options for their employees (Society for Human Resource Management). Satisfied employees are more engaged.

The main work-life balance flex initiatives are:

Flex Time. This is a popular option for parents. Some employees may want to start work later so they can take their kids to school, or earlier, so they can pick them up after school, see a class performance, or employees may just want to avoid peak commute hours.

Remote Work. In a digital world more organizations are turning to telework from home at varying frequencies. It’s ideal for companies whose teams are spread around the country or globe, for people with long commutes, and to signal trust to employees.

Compressed Workweek. Some organizations offer their employees an option to get their allotted work done in a shorter time span.  A standard program allows employees who work 35-40 hours per week to do 10-hour days for four days a week, instead of eight-hour days over five days. The extra day off goes a long way to bumping up life balance.

Reduced Workweek. This flex option allows employees to work a reduced schedule of hours but still get benefits, and is particularly helpful for new parents.

Work Sharing. Two heads are better than one in this program. Employees who would like to work less but the job requires 40 hours or more per week can divvy up the job with another person, each of them working 20 hours while the position is being fully staffed. Parents with young children are prime for this approach.

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Our WLB Approach: Smarter Work 

14 Ways to Boost Work-Life Balance

We build sustainable work-life balance by giving employees the tools for smarter and more proactive self-management. They get strategies to manage demands, reactions, minds, and bottlenecks, and prevent shrinking attention spans.

The science tells us that attention is the chief productivity tool, chief life tool, and chief happiness tool. The more of it we have, the less stress, the more we are engaged in what we’re doing, like what we’re doing, and get it done faster.

Yet devices, distractions, and unmanaged demands are shredding attention today and, as a result, driving work-life imbalance and conflict. Without good time management, information management, interruption management, and stress management, strain and distraction drive stress and overwhelm. It leads to tasks having to be done over again, reduced productivity, more effort to get the same amount of work done, and hours of catching up on work at home or on the weekend.

Our work-life balance program gives employees proactive self-management skills that let them make critical adjustments to how they do their tasks and how they organize life outside the job to reduce stress and maximize attention and engagement. Here are some of the ways the program boosts work-life balance and job satisfaction:

14 Ways to Increase Work-Life Balance

1. Do a Work-Life Balance Survey.

The right work-life balance survey can surface issues driving work-life conflict and identify the areas that need to be improved. Our How to Do a Work-Life Balance Survey Ebook serves as a road map to the hot buttons and pressure points that are undermining work-life balance. It serves as a starting point for a second survey to be done after the work-life program to get metrics on the success of the program.

2. Manage demands, pressure, and pace.

Stress blows up attention and undermines intellect, leading to mistakes, conflict with others, and crisis mentality, not to mention absenteeism, medical bills, and loss of top talent. Turn off the false danger signal of stress and the stress stops in four minutes.

3. Set boundaries on an unbounded world.

Research at Harvard and elsewhere shows that boundaries are a success tool. Reining in information overload and mechanical momentum help restore order to the workload and improve life outside the job.

4. Increase time management skills.

Everything is urgent when we don’t stop to think about what is urgent and what isn’t. Separating the urgent from the non-urgent and prioritizing tasks is key to unfrazzled pulse rates and effective workflow.

5. Improve time estimation and deadline management.

Employees can avoid missed deadlines and the stress that comes with them when they know how long each of their tasks takes and make sure their bandwidth can manage it.

6. Control email and information overload.

Every email results in six emails, three going and three coming back, since no one knows when the conversation is over. Employees can get control over email overload with information overload strategies vetted by the science.

7.  Cut down on interruptions.

Lack of impulse control and crisis mentality drive excess interruptions. Interruptions blow up working memory, triple the risk of errors, and make everything you do seem harder than it is. When employees cut interruptions, productivity and job satisfaction increase.

8. Manage the self-infliction of multitasking.

Multitasking is a myth. Employees can’t do two thinking tasks at the same time. When they get control over this habit, they build attention and reduce mistakes and strain for brain neurons not built for doing two cognitive tasks at once.

9. Increase self-regulation and impulse control.

The more you check email, the more you have to check it. Interruptions and stress erode impulse control and discipline to stay on task. Employees can get willpower back when they build up their self-regulation and attention resources.

10. Refuel and recharge brains and bodies.

Humans are energy machines. After burning up energetic resources over the course of the day, we have to recharge like our smartphones. Employees get strategies on how to refuel during the day, after work, and in their leisure time.

11. Get the home front and family organized.

Employees can carve out more time for kids, partners, and schnauzers, when they have plans to manage chores, childcare, and quality time with each other.

12. Get more sleep.

One of the best ways to improve attention is to get more sleep. Through the latest science we learn the best and worst strategies for getting sufficient shuteye to bring full attention to the tasks at hand.

13. Put life on the calendar.

We have time for life, say researchers. It’s just not organized. We help employees identify the open slots and pursuits to indulge in. They also learn the difference between work and life skills to put the most gratifying life on the calendar.

14. Measure work-life balance improvements.

After the program employees can do a sustainment follow-up program and a survey to quantify the benefits of the program.

Get Proven Strategies for Employees and Employers

We provide proven strategies vetted by the research to solve challenges for both staff and management. Visit our Work-Life Balance Research page to learn more or check out Joe Robinson's article, "The Scientific Connection Between Work-Life Balance, Productivity, and Engagement."

We also provide you with a system to measure progress from the program and create process improvements. Seeing tangible gains is a big leverage point for employee engagement.

 

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Work Smarter, Live Better

SEE VIDEO: Attendees at Joe Robinson's Work Smarter, Live Better program talk about how his strategies helped them with stress management and work-life balance.

Work-Life Balance Training & Keynotes: The Work Smarter, Live Better Program

It's very easy to get caught up in a work style that makes us act before we think, reacting to devices and others all day. It's a pattern that leads to doing more than we can do well, mistakes, stress, burnout, and reduced productivity.

There's a more productive way to work: managing demands, instead of having them manage us. This inspirational and interactive training shows your team how to do that, by using the latest research and best practices to make key adjustments to how they do their tasks and respond to stress, time frenzy, and reflex behaviors.

Our work-life balance training course equips your team with an array of self-management tools to manage interruptions and email overload, improve time management and prioritization, increase focus, reframe stress, refuel energy, and upgrade quality of life.

They also get strategies to navigate the work-life divide and activate a fulfilling life outside the office, shown to increase attention and success on the job.

Give your team the best tools science has to offer, and big dividends in performance, engagement, and improved work-life survey scores follow.

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Learning Activities That Are Fun and Interactive 

The best way to learn anything is by doing. Our work-life balance programs put an emphasis on the interactive side of things. The usual reaction is like one we got from a manager with the Florida Dept. of Children and Families, "Was that really three hours? We were doing so many things, the time flew by."

A group multitasking exercise from the University of Michigan's David Meyer, one of the nation's top attention experts, illustrates to everyone in 10 seconds how multitasking high-cognitive tasks can't be done. We cut stress and increase focus.

We Help Your Team Feel Valued

Work-life balance initiatives signal to your team that someone cares, that they are supported in their efforts to manage demands, solve bottlenecks, and reduce work-life conflict. When this happens, employees reciprocate with increased commitment and job satisfaction (Beauregard, Henry) and reduced turnover intentions (Aryee, Luk).

People who think you are looking out for them look out for the team and organization, because they feel valued. They are more willing to go the extra mile, the mark of employee engagement. You can't command engagement — that has to come from the employee's discretionary effort — but you can enable it through work-life balance strategies that reduce stress and overwhelm and address core psychological needs. 

Unleash the Engine of Engagement

The main dimension of employee engagement is energy or vigor. The brain fatigues well before the body, so we have to keep it recharged on a regular basis just like our smartphones to keep our chief productivity tool, attention, charged and ready.

Your team learns how to do that and bolster the self-regulation system key to focus, discipline, and impulse control. The goal is more top-down attention, which drives concentration and results. 

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What’s Life Got To Do With It?

Life satisfaction goes a long way toward job satisfaction. They are a team. Life is the engine of productivity, vitality, focus, and the attitude that we bring to the job.  

Our work-life balance programs help your team recharge vitality during the day, when they get home, and on the weekends. Recovery strategies outside the office reduce stress and help us return to work the next morning minus strain and fatigue — and with a more positive attitude, studies show (see Joe Robinson's article, "The Science of Work Recovery").

Your team learns how to activate the fullest life outside work, unlocking experiences that fuel satisfaction with a skill-set that is opposite of what's needed at the office. They find out how to initiate quality life experiences, and get family, friends, significant others, and themselves on the calendar.

We can’t do anything about 60% of our potential happiness, which is due to genetic or circumstantial factors, but we can control the other 40%, and your team learns how. This inspirational program gives your group tools to dramatically increase their life satisfaction, which shows up in a more positive spirit on the job.