Helping employees find work-life balance

Long story short: Mixing work and play

August 5, 2022 10:36 AM

If you want your employees to flourish at work, you need to make sure they're leading full lives outside of it, too.

In this week's top stories, employers are giving their workers an opportunity to relax and reset, all on the company's dime. At Ditto PR, CEO Trey Ditto brought his team on a company retreat to Big Sky, Montana, where the group played games, rode horses and fit in a little time for leadership training. The retreat helped employees bond and come together on a shared vision for the business.

At MasterControl, a management software provider, that team-building is woven through their day-to-day routines: the company has 25 fitness clubs that employees can participate in during the work week, like meditation, running, biking, soccer and even e-sports. The teams have helped employees stay connected to each other throughout the transition to remote and hybrid work, while also helping them prioritize their health and wellness.

Ensuring employees are living their best life may mean allowing them to rely on the emotional support from their pets — new research from Forbes Advisor found that employees would take a 10% pay cut to stay home with their pets. Employers should take these needs into account when thinking about return-to-work and other retention strategies. See more of how companies are contemplating life outside of work into their culture in the stories below:

MasterControl pays its employees to play sports and stay active

MasterControl, a Salt Lake City-based management software provider, prioritizes health and wellness by offering 25 different fitness clubs for employees to participate in, ranging from soccer or basketball to yoga, meditation and walking clubs. Employees get an hour off during the workweek to play, and MasterControl gives the teams money to host tournaments and buy team swag or equipment.

"We had a really strong culture going into the pandemic, but as we started working more and more from home, there was definitely a disconnect," Alicia Garcia, MasterControl's chief culture officer. "This is something that has really bonded our teams together. Even now in this hybrid environment, we still see a ton of participation."

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MasterControl pays its employees to play sports and stay active

Why remote work has made in-person retreats vital to company culture

More than two years into the pandemic, nearly 60% of U.S. workers who have jobs that can be done from home are working remotely, according to the Pew Research Center. Encouraging community, even when employees are far-flung, takes some innovative but necessary thinking, something Trey Ditto, CEO of Ditto PR, has spent a lot of time contemplating.

For Ditto, this meant taking his employees out of their homes and even out of the office. Ditto took the entire company to a retreat in Big Sky, Montana in October of 2021 and again in June of this year. Employees had the chance to participate in activities like archery, horseback riding, hiking, meditation, breath work and art while also meeting their colleagues — possibly for the first time. Ditto shares his teams' experience with associate editor Deanna Cuadra:

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Why remote work has made in-person retreats vital to company culture

Want employees back at the office? Not without their dogs

Twenty-five percent of workers would take a 10% pay cut in order to work remotely with their dogs, according to a new Forbes Advisor survey. Over a third of workers said they would give up benefits such as gym reimbursement, free lunches and tuition reimbursement in order to work remotely with their dogs. Twenty-one percent would accept fewer vacation days, and a third of dog owners would financially prioritize their pup's healthcare over their own.

To dog owners, these sacrifices make perfect sense. But employers may be unprepared to welcome both employees and their animals back to the office, especially as the number of workers with dogs spiked throughout the pandemic. Reporter Jasleen Singh shares some information employers need to consider when it comes to employees' pets.

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Want employees back at the office? Not without their dogs

Want to move abroad? These 8 cities are the best for remote work

More than half of employees say the ability to live somewhere else is a major benefit of working remotely, according to a survey by MoneyTransfers.com, a money transfer comparison tool. A separate survey by the Harris poll found that 55% of millennials are considering moving abroad, due to factors like cost of living, a better quality of life, and the ability to have new experiences.

As more employers transition to a fully-remote workforce, the world has become employees' oyster when it comes to finding the perfect place to live. MoneyTransfers.com analyzed the best cities around the world to live and work, naming locales in Spain, Portugal and Romania among ideal locations.

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Want to move abroad? These 8 cities are the best for remote work