Work Life Balance

Offering employees more flexibility makes them happier, healthier, and more empathetically connected.

Covid-19 hit the reset button on the world, and here at Soulsight it meant we immediately went to a fully remote workplace. And over the course of 18 months, we’ve seen that when dedicated professionals work with empathetic leadership a company can not only survive such a strange upheaval, but thrive in spite of it.

Studies have confirmed that job satisfaction has returned to or exceeded pre-pandemic levels, parents have greater flexibility for their families, and people feel greater control over their work/life balance.

Since the start of work from home, we’ve streamlined our company values to Grit, Growth, and Gratitude, which captures the dedication, passion, and appreciation we have for each other and our client partners. We’re empowered to manage our lives with greater flexibility, spend time with our families, and find a balance that works best for each of us. And yeah, sometimes that means mulleting on video calls (professional on top, whatever on the bottom). But this blended way of working and living has changed our workplace dynamic for the better and proven the owner’s trust in our team.

“Building an environment with a high level of trust gives the team respectful accountability that allows for better communication and collaboration. They feel their value individually and together. The team bond results in stronger creative. Trust each other, trust yourself, trust the process and trust the outcome is going to be awesome. ” – James Pietruszynski, Partner/CMO, Soulsight

There are some perils inherent to this model—life and work can blend in ways that make it tricky to balance, given how technology has made us so reachable. There is also the mental hardship of working alone, which can be especially felt by those who thrive among others. To help our team adapt, we’ve moved to a hybrid model that allows work from home or work from the office, depending on personal preference; we’ve implemented Summer Souldays, which allows our team to officially clock out by 1 pm on Fridays to reflect on the past week, refresh for the week ahead, and enjoy Chicago Summer while it lasts; we have reserved working time every Wednesday until noon, which means individual time to work without meetings or interruptions; we each received a $1,200 stipend to set up our home offices; and the agency also provides free subscriptions to Headspace to help the team manage their emotional and mental well-being.

Overall, adapting to this workstyle change has made us more aware and empathetic of each other and humanized the workplace in a way that brings us all together, despite being physically apart.