No one's talking about ... Relationships
When considering the areas of an individual’s personal life that can have an impact on their working lives, it’s fair to say that the health of their relationships is a fairly big one.
Understandably, many people choose to keep their personal lives and work lives completely separate from each other and might not feel comfortable discussing certain elements of their personal lives with either their colleagues or manager.
Something that is common among all individuals is the fact that our personal lives are made up of different relationship types and even though relationships come in many forms, the four most common types are family, friendship, acquaintanceships and romantic relationships. Whether good or bad, the health of any one particular type of relationship that an individual has is likely to change multiple times over the lifetime of that relationship and these changes may well cause distress, which can filter into how they feel at work.
Nowadays it is much more common for employers to encourage their employees to improve their work-life balance through offering a greater level of flexibility to shape their work lives around their personal lives. From an employer perspective, this should lead to happier (and more productive) employees - a win-win situation for employers and employees alike. A good work-life balance will vary according to each individual’s personal circumstances, but relationships will certainly have an impact on this being achieved.
If employees are more proactively being encouraged by their employers to achieve a good work-life balance then surely it follows that creating a working environment/culture in which employees are able to open up about personal matters, such as relationships, will help in achieving this. After all, a poor work-life balance is cited as being one of the main reasons for stress in the workplace. The impact of creating a working environment in which employees feel comfortable talking about their personal lives may also strengthen relationships between colleagues, as well as relationships with line managers - a useful by-product which is proven to be important to success and satisfaction at work.
You probably don't want to share every intimate detail of your personal life with your boss, but being able to flag relationship problems and other personal matters that may be causing distress in and out of work may help to address the issue whilst also making employees feel that they are part of an organisation that cares.
It could be argued that this is particularly prevalent in the current climate, given the large numbers of people working from home and the absence of time spent with colleagues, which may make employees feel less connected to their colleagues and line managers. This may also create new challenges within the personal lives of employees as people are spending more time than ever before at home, which may put pressure on certain relationships, particularly with the added tension of having to have the children at home. It’s therefore important that managers and colleagues alike continue to check in with each other on a regular basis so that individuals feel supported with whatever challenges they may be facing.
In summary, discussing certain elements of your personal life in the workplace may help to alleviate stress by being open about things that might be causing you to be more distracted than usual. It can also make it easier for managers to signpost employees to relevant support services if necessary. This can help to improve the overall work-life balance of individuals and will also make employees feel more connected to those that they work with, which can lead to increased happiness at work and should also improve performance over time.