For the first time in several years I resisted the temptation to look at emails while on holidays (mainly because I couldn’t get my iPhone to connect in Greece), but it was still a great achievement!

It made me realise I don’t have a good work-life balance. During the holiday (which followed a presentation I made at a SME conference in Athens) I remembered what it was like to relax properly and how therapeutic it is to take a decent break.

And when I returned from leave, the Centre was still continuing from strength to strength – we really are more dispensable than we realise.

It’s easy to forget the business will keep running (and the world turning) even if we do take time out for a well earned rest.

Work-life lack-of-balance on the rise

Running a franchise business can be high stress and create a huge sense of time pressure.

Often the majority of your resources are tied up in the business and you have an all-consuming, strong personal attachment to its success, which is completely understandable, but is it healthy?

Research from the University of South Australia’s Centre for Work and Life reveals the majority of women (60%) and nearly half of men are constantly feeling time pressured.

The Centre for Work and Life Australian Work and Life Index 2010 research findings reveal 60 per cent of workers don’t take regular holidays.

According to the report, almost a third of the workers who stockpile leave do so because work pressures stand in the way, (and interestingly most workers would rather have an extra two weeks holiday than an equivalent pay rise).

Professor Barbara Pocock from the Centre for Work and Life told ABC news new research reveals productivity is actually lower for people who do long hours of work.

Research also shows taking time out for vacations actually increases productivity – and having just returned from my holiday I’d have to agree.

Work-life balance help available

If, like me, you don’t have a good work-life balance there’s now a tool which can help.

And it’s a tool that will work for franchisees, franchise head office staff and franchise owners.

Creator of the UBalancer tool, Dr Robyn Young, completed a PhD with our Centre in 2009 looking at work-life balance in franchising, with a particular focus on franchisees.

And the verdict of her research? Most franchisees feel extremely time pressured, stressed and in need of help achieving balance in their lives.

The outcome? Dr Young developed an interactive tool to help people regain and recognise balance in their lives, which individuals, as well as field support professionals can use.

UBalancer works by highlighting how time is allocated, identifying and assessing competing priorities and what’s missing, and highlights opportunities to make changes where they’re needed.

It helps identify areas causing frustration caused by a lack of balance and highlights where improvements can be made, as well as tracking work-life balance over time, seeing it as a process rather than an outcome.

By using the tool field managers can work with franchisees to:

• enhance the sense of control they have over their choices
• guide them in the self-management of life balance issues
• facilitate the analysis, planning and management of actual versus preferred life balance situations
• guide the development of personal plans for managing life balance
• help them recognise the dynamic aspect of life and encourage them to bounce back from life balance challenges

Being newly Dr Young is keen to receive feedback on the tool and is offering a limited number of free trials for franchises.

If you’re interested in a free trial of the tool in your franchise please contact our Centre’s General and Business Manager Kerry Miles for more information.

And remember, take time out and recharge to regain some balance in your life.