Rest and relaxation

HOW DO YOU MANAGE YOUR WORK/LIFE BALANCE?

Firm: Capital Homes

Principal: Grant Watson

Location: Pukekohe

Staff: 4

I think it’s important that when you do get that time with your family or friends, you make sure you’re 100% there.

You may not get as much time as you’d like to have with them, but when you do you can’t still be thinking about work or taking phone calls – that’s how I go about achieving it.

It’s also important that when you make a time commitment, such as taking your son to his football match or going to the beach, you treat it as you would a work appointment and don’t break it!

Turn your phone off and make sure you take the time to listen to what they’re saying.

When your reaction to a problem, whether it’s at home or at work, is out of proportion to the size of the problem, that to me is an indication the balance isn’t right and you need to step back a bit from what you’re doing.

Making sure your staff also have time to get their own balance right is key as well.

By listening to what my staff are saying to me and understanding their issues, I’m able to help them out by providing them with the assistance they might need.

---

Firm: R & P Building Works

Principal: Rob Abraham

Location: Pukekohe

Staff: 5

It’s very hard, but it’s important to get right, because if you’re not happy at home, you’re not going to be happy at work and that can flow on to negatively affect your business.

I made the decision around five years ago to stop working weekends to restore some balance to my life.

There are occasions when it’s necessary, but my contracts state that our working hours are from 7:30 to 5pm Monday to Friday.

I’ve made sure it doesn’t affect our timelines, though, by being well organised and planning ahead.

The reason I did this is that previously I was starting at 6am every morning, working six days a week and often finishing late.

It hurts your social life and, when I weighed it up, I decided an extra couple of hundred dollars wasn’t worth giving up time with my family.

I’ve got two sons aged 13 and nine, and a five-year old daughter. I’ve been able to coach their rugby teams for the past four years and go to all of their games, which I just wouldn’t have been able to do if I was working weekends.

---

Firm: Elite Shopfitting and Construction Ltd

Principal: Shawn Cotton

Location: Christchurch

Staff: 5

Being the co-owner of a small building business means working long hours, which I feel makes it harder to achieve a good work/life balance, as ultimately the buck stops with you when it comes to completing jobs on schedule.

Over the past few years, I have tried to obtain balance by always having a trip planned or booked. It gives me something to look forward to and a goal to work towards. Jobs can be accepted anytime, so there’s no right time to book a holiday.

However, I am lucky to have a business partner and adult children – so I can afford to be flexible if a job doesn’t go to plan and things need to change.

The downfall to not having the correct balance can be exhaustion and illness – even the common head cold can take at least twice as long to get over.

This effects your overall productivity, as you know you still have things to do, but your body is not willing and forces you to stop.

Life is short and what you want from it will determine your balance.

My wife believes life is about making memories not money, as one will last a lifetime. I think that’s good advice.

---

Next month’s question: What processes do you have in place for assessing potential employees before you take them on?

Answer this question to enter our quarterly prize draw.

Email your answer with your full name, contact phone number, company name, number of full-time staff and the city or town in which you’re based to editor@pmundersconstruction.co.nz. All responses must be submitted by 25 October 2017. The answers to this question will be published in Under Construction December.