Life can feel like a crazy juggling act sometimes, with work stuff on one side and personal stuff on the other. Especially after the vacations, you need to reorganize yourself to find the balance all over again.

At Epical, we recognize that we as the employer play a crucial role in enabling work-life balance for our employees. A supportive work environment can significantly contribute to fostering a healthy balance between professional commitments and personal well-being. Our Senior Consultant in Data & Analytics Petri Alho and our Consulting Manager in Data & Analytics Juha Rautala has first-hand information on the topic.

As a manager at Epical, Juha feels it’s important to offer flexible work options such as remote work, flexible hours, compressed workweeks, or job sharing. These arrangements empower employees to adapt their work schedules to their personal needs, reducing the stress of rigid 9-to-5 routines. “It’s a balance of freedom and responsibility” he states.

Petri agrees and stresses the importance of independence and flexibility at work. For instance, Petri took altogether 2 + 4 weeks off during the summer months. During this time, he was contacted from work a couple of times. Of course, the vacation was disrupted as he needed to dig into the ongoing problem but according to Petri, several things in his job here at Epical compensate for it. “Freedom and independence at work, great colleagues, and great clients make it worth it”, says Petri.

Juha works with the clients too and strongly agrees with Petri. As a consultant with a great customer, you feel engaged and ownership. You nurture the good relationship and collaboration that you have with the client and that is what being a consultant is all about. Juha also had to work a few days during the vacation but as the flexibility works both ways, it is rather empowering.

For the reasons mentioned above, neither one of these gentlemen felt stressed to come back from the vacations. According to Juha, coming back to work felt good. “Of course, vacation is always vacation. After all, who would not like to sip Prosecco in Italy but getting back to work wasn’t a shock for me”, Juha states, smirking at Petri, who actually was on vacation in Italy earlier this year.

However, for both of them, there was something special happening this fall. As they got back to work, Petri’s daughter and Juha’s daughter started their first grade at school. Both say that starting the school was exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time. As the small first-graders are still learning how to cross roads safely, what time to leave to make it to the classroom in time, and how to set the sleeping rhythm according to early mornings and demanding days, both Juha and Petri agree that flexibility from work is even more important. “I hardly make it to nine at work sometimes with all the hassle in the morning” laughs Juha.

For Petri, it has been important that he has been able to plan this earlier: “It has been important to me that I have been able to choose a customer that does not require working on-site. It has also been important that the work situation has been stable, and no major changes have caused extra stress or disturbance now.” These things make a big difference when juggling work and family life.

Epical's role in enabling work-life balance involves creating a supportive culture, implementing flexible policies, and providing resources that empower employees to manage their professional and personal lives effectively. A lot of this is enabled by the nature of consultancy. Freedom and responsibility are written in the DNA of consultancy, and we here at Epical are dedicated to making the most out of it!