Improve Work-Life Balance
TED Talks
Nothing beats TED for inspiring live expert talks on topics of technology, work, and lifestyle. Take the time to watch a video on the topic of work-life balance to feel informed and empowered.
Laura Vanderkam
The author of several books on life, career, and family balance, Laura is an expert in making the most of our time off. Her books include “168 Hours” and “I Know How She Does It.” She publishes her time management tips across the Web and is often interviewed on TV.
Eryc Eyl – Life is a Mashup
Eryc teaches people how to “Keep Your Head and Your Heart While Keeping Your Job.” His advice goes a long way to help career-loving parents (yes, that is the best way to describe working parents) achieve the ideal work-life balance. Request a copy of his ebook and follow his blog for insightful advice.
Link: https://www.eryceyl.com/
The Muse – Career and Work-Life
Be inspired to leverage your vacations, find a job with flexibility, and balance your work-life to the fullest. Read your daily muse for spot on career advice.
TweakIt – Flex Strategy
This work+life fit project lets you practice tweaking your work-life balance to achieve what Cali Williams Yost calls your “fit.” You can join the program to track your tweaks, measure your progress, and benefit from work-life-fit worksheets, tips, and inspiration from the biggest names in employee happiness coaching.
Definition of Work-Life Balance
The Wikipedia page of Work-Life Balance offers facts, history, and links to more official resources on this subject.
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Work%E2%80%93life_balance
Search for Job with Balance
U.S. Department of Labor
With links to major government policies such as the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the US Department of Labor is where to read about U.S. time off legislation. Unfortunately the standards are often minimal at the federal level, so search for your U.S. state labor department for information on where you live.
Link: http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/workhours/vacation_leave.htm
Canada Federal Labour Standards
The official source of labour statistics for work-life-vacation balance in Canada.
Link: http://www.labour.gc.ca/eng/standards_equity/st/index.shtml
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics – Employee Benefits
The official US Government source of stats on working hours, pay, and time off. Check out the benefits section of their national compensation survey.
FlexJobs – Flexible Schedule Jobs
Learn about your flex job and flex time job options with comprehensive how-to guides, a flexible job search tool, and tips for making a flexible working schedule a reality.
Link: https://www.flexjobs.com/blog/category/flexible-work-options
Glassdoor – Best Work-Life Balance Company Survey
Review their Top companies to work for that offer the best work-life balance according to their survey ratings and reviews. Their “Best Places to Work” list for the USA is a useful guide, but the number of vacation days is only one factor in their ranking.
Link: https://www.glassdoor.com/Award/Best-Places-to-Work-LST_KQ0,19.htm
VacationCounts Job Search Tips
Our own article with the 7 ways to find a job that is most likely to have the balance of work, life, and vacation benefits that you desire at any stage of your career.
Link: http://www.vacationcounts.com/7-job-search-tips-for-work-life-balance/
Life and Travel Hacks
Earth Class Mail
The original and the best virtual mailbox solution for frequent travelers, independent small business leaders, expats, and digital nomads. Rent a postal address in the USA to manage your mail online with ease and security.
Lifehack.org
Life hacks are the name of the game and this site is a top place to turn for tips on getting more done, improving yourself, and leading a happy life. The lifestyle category has simple advice on how to optimize your world and travel more.
The Points Guy
Do you collect travel points in order to earn free trips? The Points Guy (gals welcome too) website gives you real advice on how to maximize your free and discounted travel earnings and redemption.
Link: http://thepointsguy.com/
SquareMouth Trip Insurance
Travel insurance that offers health and evacuation coverage is essential when visiting riskier destinations. Of course trip insurance can cover your lost baggage or missed flight, but the real value is if you get sick in Africa or have an accident in Southeast Asia for example. Now you can compare policies from the top insurance companies instantly to select what’s right to protect your next exotic vacation.
Nerdwallet Travel Credit Cards
If you like to collect points and miles for spending money you’ll appreciate this study on credit cards that offer travel rewards. It charts the bonus points and mile earning potential of the latest credit card offers. Yet another way to earn free travel.
Link: https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/credit-card-data/travel-credit-cards-study/
Part-Time Travel Bloggers
Sidewalk Safari
While working at Google, Dr. J captures stunning travel photographs one step at a time. She combines her 5 weeks of paid vacation with frequent weekend city breaks especially around Ireland, Europe, and California. As a part-time travel blogger for over 10 years, she takes maximizing her time off and leveraging bleisure time very seriously.
Read the Travel Blogger Interviews
Before you decide to quite your job to travel the world (a good idea in your imagination, but not in reality), listen to advice from these Top Travel Bloggers who still work full-time and find ways to take lots (and lots) of vacations. It’s all about time management, leveraging your vacation benefits, and prioritizing travel over other work-life goals.
Link: https://www.vacationcounts.com/travel-bloggers-teach-how-to-work-full-time-travel-part-time/
HR Time Off Benefits Resources
Project: Time Off (U.S. Travel Association)
The benefits of taking more vacations is important to the official travel trade association of the USA. Their members (airlines, hotels, tour operators, and travel agencies) wish to encourage you to use ALL your vacation days for travel. The authors of this site publish numerous motivating articles with data to back up their claims that traveling helps Americans have the work-life-vacation balance they deserve.
Take Back Your Time
Non-profit organization fighting the epidemic of overwork, over-scheduling and time famine in the United States and Canada. They advocate for adequate vacation and time off benefits at the employer and employee level. Take the Vacation Commitment Pledge!
Workforce Management
The magazine for HR Professionals covers every topic related to employment, hiring, and benefits. Read the latest news and trends in people management.
Society for Human Resource Professionals
The largest organization of HR professionals publishes useful articles on the benefits of, well, benefits of course! SHRM is geared toward professionals in the HR department first. Even without being a member you can read articles covering retirement plans, wellness, healthcare, and changes to paid time off law on a state-by-state basis.
Link: http://www.shrm.org/hrdisciplines/benefits/Pages/default.aspx
