7 Tips for Balancing Work and Family Life for Brit-Asians

For many British Asians, balancing work and family life is a constant juggling act.

Moreover, Brit-Asians often live with family members, and their homes usually include two or three generations. Such living arrangements can be highly valuable but can also bring challenges.

Cultural values often emphasise strong family ties and responsibilities, while professional life demands equal dedication and time.

Expectations from both within the family and the workplace compound these pressures.

Brit-Asians frequently manage their careers and extended family obligations, such as supporting younger relatives.

Navigating this balance can feel overwhelming, especially in a society that often promotes individualism and career advancement over community and family priorities.

The intersection of these cultural dynamics creates unique challenges for Brit-Asians, making it crucial to find effective strategies for achieving work and family life balance.

DESIblitz provides seven tips to help maintain a healthy equilibrium between work and family life.

Communicate Openly

Maintaining open lines of communication is vital for balance, both within work and at home. Not being honest can lead to stress and tension in personal and professional relationships.

Discuss your needs and challenges regularly with your family and employer.

Moreover, open communication with family members is essential to ensure they are happy and can manage work and home responsibilities.

Anisa told DESIblitz: “I was always honest with my family when I needed help or something to change.

“One job meant I couldn’t help during the week with cleaning so weekends house cleaning I did.

“My sister didn’t. You had to ask her directly. Before we did that, she said nothing. She works from home and found it hard.

“She got super stressed struggling with work and home tasks; it impacted her and made her really short-tempered.”

“Now we make sure to check in regularly with her and each other.”

If you are self-employed and work from home, it is also important to take a step back, reflect, and ensure that boundaries are clear to all.

Encourage family members to express their feelings and concerns.

Transparency builds trust and understanding, ensuring everyone is on the same page and can offer support when needed.

Regular check-ins can help identify issues before they escalate and create tension at home or difficulties at work, allowing for timely solutions.

Prioritise Tasks

Managing family and home life can be challenging, but effective time management can be invaluable in alleviating pressure and stress.

Effective time management starts with prioritisation.

Create a daily or weekly to-do list, breaking tasks into manageable segments and categorising them by urgency and importance. Then, decide which tasks are high priorities and must be done first.

Delegate or postpone less critical tasks; this is important for work and within the home. This strategy helps you stay organised and reduces feelings of stress and being overwhelmed.

This structured approach allows you to allocate your energy effectively, ensuring that high-priority tasks are tackled first.

Completing essential work tasks early in the day can free up valuable time for family activities later, especially if you are self-employed and work from home.

A practical step is to review your to-do list daily and adjust priorities based on changing circumstances. Another step is setting specific work and family goals to maintain a balanced focus.

Delegate Household Tasks within the Family

Delegating household tasks within the family is essential for a healthy work and family life balance.

When responsibilities are shared, no single person bears the entire burden. This division of labour helps prevent feelings of stress and being overwhelmed.

Consequently, family members can conserve energy for work and quality interactions at home.

Sharing household responsibilities promotes fairness and equity within the family. Ensuring that everyone contributes helps prevent resentment and creates a culture of appreciation.

Recognising each family member’s efforts fosters a supportive environment where everyone feels valued.

With household responsibilities managed, individuals can better focus on their work. Minimising distractions leads to increased productivity and efficiency in professional tasks.

Reducing the mental load associated with unfinished chores frees up cognitive space for more critical responsibilities.

Delegating household tasks is about creating a supportive environment that fosters collaboration and balance. It improves relationships and contributes to a healthier work-life balance for everyone involved.

A practical tip is to create a family chore chart where tasks are assigned weekly. Rotate duties to ensure fairness and variety.

Create a Family Calendar or WhatsApp Group

A shared family calendar or WhatsApp group can be invaluable for improving organisation and communication, particularly within Brit-Asian households, where extended family involvement is common.

South Asian families often juggle various responsibilities, including work, social obligations, cultural events, and family gatherings.

A digital or paper family calendar ensures everyone is on the same page.

Important dates, such as birthdays, religious festivals, weddings, and other social events, can all be included to ensure everyone knows of significant occasions.

Thus helping reduce the chances of scheduling conflicts and streamlining busy family lives.

If someone’s schedule changes unexpectedly or they need help at short notice, they can ask for support via WhatsApp.

Doing this can be particularly beneficial in multigenerational homes, allowing each generation to plan and communicate effectively across different schedules.

For example, in a household where grandparents help with childcare or where adult children live with their parents, syncing work, school, and personal commitments ensures smoother coordination.

Having visibility of everyone’s availability also helps avoid misunderstandings or last-minute changes.

Learn to Say No

Recognising that you cannot do everything is crucial for maintaining balance.

Learn to decline additional commitments when your plate is full.

Personally and professionally, it is important to ensure that too much is not taken on.

Whether it’s saying no to extra work projects or social obligations, being selective about what you take on can prevent burnout.

Politely declining requests reinforces your priorities and helps you focus on what truly matters.

Prioritise your commitments to ensure they align with your values and goals.

A practical step that can help you is practising assertive communication to help you say no without feeling guilty.

Another practical step is regularly reflecting on your commitments to assess whether they align with your current priorities and needs.

Disconnect and Log Off

Disconnecting and logging off from work is vital for maintaining a healthy work-life balance. It allows you to separate professional responsibilities from personal life, helping to create a clear boundary between the two.

When you log off, you can fully engage with your family. This quality time strengthens relationships and ensures that your attention is not divided between work tasks and family moments.

Disconnecting from work also helps prevent burnout. Constantly staying connected leads to exhaustion, and taking time to recharge enables you to return to work feeling refreshed and productive.

Labour Laws UK highlighted that 60% of employees experience work-related stress, impacting their mental health and well-being.

Mohammed found logging off from work emails helped reduce stress levels:

“I had work emails on my phone and couldn’t ensure the notifications. Even when I silenced them, the urge to check the app was too hard to resist sometimes.

“Once I logged out completely, I felt way less stressed and could chill easier.”

Logging off reduces stress and relaxes your mind, contributing to a healthier and more balanced mindset.

By consistently logging off, you also manage workplace expectations. Employers and colleagues will understand that your family and personal time are priorities, preventing unrealistic demands after hours.

Seek Support

Don’t hesitate to ask for help when necessary. Whether you seek support from your employer or ask family members for help, getting assistance lightens the load.

Seeking support also ensures you do not have to shoulder every responsibility alone, leading to better overall balance.

Moreover, it’s also essential to seek support when needed at work.

Brit-Asians may hesitate to request flexible working arrangements, fearing it could be seen as a lack of commitment. However, openly communicating with employers about your needs can foster a supportive work environment.

Flexible hours or remote working can be particularly helpful in balancing both work and family obligations.

For South Asian women, who may feel cultural pressure to excel at work and home, seeking support is crucial. Traditional gendered expectations and roles must not lead to an imbalance and undue pressure.

Ultimately, seeking support from family or work lightens the load and prevents burnout for all.

It promotes a healthier work and family life balance, allowing you to fulfil professional and family roles effectively.

Balancing work and family life can be difficult, especially in Brit-Asian families where the focus can be on the collective. Thus, it is also important to undertake self-care; this benefits not just you but also those around you.

At times, after reflection and attempting to adjust to facilitate work and family life balance, you may find that is not possible. In this case, difficult decisions may need to be made, such as looking for a different job.

Overall, balancing work and family life and what this entails never stays the same but changes over time.

Implementing these seven tips can lead to a more balanced and healthier life.

Remember that each family dynamic is unique. Find the strategies that work best for you and your loved ones.