I Love My Work, do You?

I once worked by measuring the hours I worked. I arrived before everyone else, left last and took pride in eating lunch at my desk. Most of my team must have admired my dedication. They also copied it. Within six months, productivity dropped, absenteeism spiked and I became burnt out.

The lesson is simple. People do not follow what you say. They follow what you do.

So let’s talk about joy and balance.

Not as theories.
Not as slogans.
As habits that leaders can model today.

What balance actually means

Balance is not a fixed formula.
It is not the same for you as it is for your team.

Psychologist Patricia Grabarek puts it clearly. Work-life balance is about energy, focus, and fulfilment. It is about defining balance on your own terms, checking it often, and adapting it as you go.

Ask yourself:

• What activities give you energy instead of draining it?

• Do you know when to switch off or do you always stay on?

• How often do you reassess your rhythm of work and life?

If you cannot answer these, your team will not either.

Why joy is not optional

Joy sounds soft. Yet the lack of it shows up in hard numbers.
Gallup found that disengaged employees cost UK organisations up to £70 billion a year in lost productivity. That is not an HR issue. That is a business issue.

When you model joy at work, you prove it is possible to take your role seriously without losing yourself in it.
When you ignore it, you prove the opposite.

Which message are you sending?

Stop copying, start tailoring

Katina Sawyer highlights that employers who push cookie-cutter balance policies often miss the point. Flexibility works. Prescriptions fail.

Think about your own context.
Does your team have parents who value flexible starts?
Do you have younger employees who thrive on autonomy but need guidance on boundaries?
Do you have senior staff who need permission to unplug without guilt?

One-size-fits-all does not fit anyone.

The role model effect

Sawyer’s research is blunt. Leaders who protect their own boundaries encourage their teams to do the same. Leaders who fail invite the opposite.

So look at your calendar.

• Do you book time for thinking, or only for meetings?

• Do you show you can leave on time, or do you send late-night emails?

• Do you treat holidays as actual breaks, or as “working elsewhere”?

Your team is watching.

The questions you should ask yourself today

• What does balance look like for me, not the textbook version?

• Where do I find joy that fuels my work, not drains it?

• What boundaries am I willing to defend so my team knows they can defend theirs?

Answer these, and you will not only keep yourself whole. You will give permission for your team to do the same.

Balance is not about hours. Joy is not about slogans. They are choices you make daily.

And if you keep putting them off, you will not have to explain the cost. Your team will show it to you.

That is the punchline.

If you want to explore this in practice, get in touch with us at TEG Learning & Development.

Our leadership workshops give managers like you the tools to build balance, protect joy, and create teams that thrive.