National Work Life Week: Helping wellbeing in your business

How do you manage work-life balance within your small business?

Whether you’re a solo freelancer responsible for everything that happens or leading a small business and trying to do your best for your people, there is a real risk  – within our small businesses – of pushing too hard or putting too much pressure on others.

October 7-11 is National Work Life Week, the annual campaign of Working Families (the UK’s national charity for working parents and carers) to get employers and employees talking about work-life balance and well-being at work. This year, the campaign’s theme is flexible working, and Working Families is asking: What does flexible working mean to you?

National Work Life Week – Flexible Working for Wellbeing

Working Families ambassador Becca Maberly describes what she’s seen from having worked with many working parents:

“For many, flexible working is the key to work life balance. Being able to work in a way that allows you to be there for important milestones, for nursery drop off, for school pick up, recorder recitals, doctors appointments and all the other little yet monumental moments is something that many working parents dream of. Being able to work from home and cut out the commute. Being able to throw a load of washing in before a meeting and hang it up afterwards sounds pretty basic, but for many of us it’s a pipe dream!”

A lot of the people I speak to, members of the Your Business Matters community, set up their own businesses to achieve a better balance within their lives and for their families. It’s easy to find, however, that having created this opportunity for better balance, we actually push ourselves to extremes and struggle to find the equilibrium we’re looking for.

I’ve spoken to some of the experts within Your Business Matters to get their feedback on increasing balance and flexibility within our businesses.

Balance and Flexibility for You

As the leader or sole practitioner within your organisation, here are some tips to help you create balance and build flexible working practices for yourself.

Setting Boundaries

For many of us, setting clear boundaries between work and personal life is the first step, allowing us time away from our business focus. Ashleigh Hayden, from Hexagon Gold Professional Coaching, shared her tips for setting boundaries:

• BE HONEST ABOUT YOUR CAPACITY: We’re suckers for punishment and often say “yes” and “I’ll have it for you by the end of the week” when that isn’t humanly possible. Then, we criticise ourselves for failing to meet these expectations.
  • Be honest with yourself. Recognise what is possible and what isn’t.
  • You can say yes but set a realistic and specific expectation: “Yes, and it will be done by Thursday.”
• SAY “NO”: Recognise that saying “no” is an act of self-respect and self-preservation, not a slight on someone else. It doesn’t matter why you choose to decline; you don’t owe anyone an explanation to justify your “no,” just a simple, assertive and respectful “no” is enough.
• PROTECT YOUR TIME: There isn’t another you, which means you are your greatest priority – fiercely protect your time, effort and energy. That means giving yourself a non-negotiable start time, lunch break, finish time and you time.

Time Management

There are many tips about time management for freelancers and small business owners, so how do you balance your priorities to create more flexibility? Ashleigh gave us some more tips:

• EAT THE FROG: Tackle your most difficult or important task first. Handling the toughest challenge early frees up mental space and starts your day with a sense of achievement. It’s not about having more time—it’s about handling what matters most while your focus is sharpest.
• THE POMODORO TECHNIQUE: Work in 25-minute bursts with 5-minute breaks. It sounds simple, but are you actually doing it? It’s not about the method—it’s about commitment.
• TIME-BLOCKING: Schedule your entire day, even your breaks. The trick? Stick to the blocks. Your calendar is your accountability partner.
• THE 2-MINUTE RULE: If a task takes less than 2 minutes, do it now. This helps you eliminate small distractions before they snowball into a backlog of time-sucking tasks.

Suzy Sanders, coach at Suzy Saunders Coaching, had these tips to share:

• MAINTAINING BUFFERS: The thing I find most useful with maintaining balance (as a mum of two with two businesses) is to proactively create ‘buffers’ for myself. These ensure I proactively put time aside for me in my schedule each day, allowing me to respond to my family’s needs, deal with any unexpected business issues or – if nothing arises – enjoy a little time for myself!
• MANAGING DISTRACTIONS: Another thing that I find super helpful is having all my notifications turned off and only checking emails/messages at certain times during the working day – it’s once in the morning and once in the afternoon for me. This reduces the risk of getting swept up in mindless scrolling or unnecessarily lost in emails. This gives me the chance to put all my brain power into being present with my true priorities moment to moment.

Prioritise Self-Care and Wellbeing

When you’re in charge, practising self-care and considering your wellbeing is important. Ashleigh gave us some signs to look out for to avoid burnout:

• Look for the following sentences, which highlight six early stages of possible burnout. If you recognise yourself in any of these sentences, getting help is crucial to prevent long-term damage to your health, wellbeing, and relationships.
  • “I must prove myself” – This shows an underlying fear that you’re not enough unless you achieve more, meaning you push yourself beyond healthy limits.
  • “I must do more” – You’re convincing yourself that working harder will bring the recognition you crave, and you may dismiss exhaustion as “part of the grind”.
  • “I don’t have time for that” – When self-care becomes a luxury, and you don’t prioritise healthy behaviours such as the gym, sleep, hydration, healthy eating or socialising, it all feels less important than fulfilling your expectations.
  • “Nothing is wrong” – Your emotions, stress and fatigue may build up, but you’re telling yourself and others you’re fine.
  • “This is more important” – Whatever was important – family, hobbies, personal time – now isn’t as important as work.
  • “The problem is others” – Are you complaining, blaming your colleagues, clients, or the system? Not recognising the pressure you’ve put on yourself.
• As we explored above, setting boundaries is key to prioritising your wellbeing.
• Recognising your achievements and rewarding yourself for progress is also incredibly important.

Balance and Flexibility for Your Employees

As well as looking after yourself, it’s just as important to create an environment where your people are supported and also enjoy the benefits of flexible working.

Attracting and retaining the best people is key to any business’s success with employees highly valuing a company culture that supports work-life balance and flexibility. By prioritising these elements, you will create a more positive work environment, strengthen employee morale, and improve productivity.

Caroline Robertson of ActifHR supports small businesses with their HR needs and has shared the key messages from new employment legislation introduced in April this year, which included changes to employers’ Flexible Working requirements.

Flexible Working

Flexible working arrangements might be reduced hours, compressed hours (the same hours in fewer days), flexible start and finish times, job sharing, working from home, or part-time work. While employers aren’t obliged to grant flexible working requests, they must consider them fairly and reasonably.

The right to request flexible working has changed, as Caroline tells us:

• Employees now have a right to make a flexible working application from day one of their employment rather than waiting until they have been employed for 26 weeks.
• Employees can make two statutory requests per 12-month period instead of just one.
• Employers now have two months to deal with flexible working requests, reduced from three months.

Support for Families and Carers

National Work Life Week was started to highlight problems faced by employees trying to balance the needs of their work with family. Caroline has identified further legislation introduced in April to support families, including changes to carers leave.

Carer’s leave is available for anyone with caring duties, with a dependant with long-term care needs and those who want to be absent from work to provide or arrange care for that dependant.  Changes to carers leave:

• Allow employees to apply for up to one week of unpaid carer’s leave in any 12-month period from day one of their employment. The requirements for requesting such leave, and for the employer to provide or reschedule it, are strict – if you’re unsure, it’s worth discussing with an HR professional.

Changes to paternity leave

• Employees can now take their two-week paternity leave entitlement in two blocks of one week (rather than just one week in total or two consecutive weeks). Paternity leave can be taken at any time 52 weeks after birth, and employees only need to give 28 days’ notice to take it.

The Maternity Leave, Adoption Leave, and Shared Parental Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2024 have also introduced redundancy protection for new and expectant parents.

• On informing their employer of their pregnancy, employees will receive protection throughout their pregnancy to 18 months after the baby’s date of birth if the employee tells them of this date. Equally, employees taking adoption leave will be covered for 18 months from the placement date.

Supporting Flexible Working Within Your Small Business

How we maintain work-life balance will be different for everyone; what’s important is to consider what it means for you in your business.

I hope Ashleigh Hayden and Suzy Sanders’ tips on setting boundaries, time management, and prioritising your own well-being have been helpful.

I also hope it’s helped to see what the law requires from employers, thanks to Caroline Robertson.

Here at Your Business Matters, we have a wealth of expertise and support through our network of members. If you’re looking for a team to support your business growth and the wellbeing of your people, check out our networking groups to see if there’s anything right for you.