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ACT 2020 Featured Capstone:
A Compassionate Approach to Work-Life Balance
Ratnesh Sharma
IT Technology Leader
A Compassionate Approach to improving work-life balance and
reducing burnout while working from home during the pandemic.

Describe Your Capstone Project.
The pandemic has taken a toll on the general well being of employees where they have to work hard in an “always-on” environment, prioritizing work and tight deadlines while still trying to balance the unique challenges of working from home- taking care of kid’s education, meals, doctor visits, etc. The workplace stress adds to the fear and anxiety experienced due to the disease, resulting in burnout. To make matters worse, employees often are not aware of the need to take a mental or emotional break from home or work life and take care of their own needs.
My three-step approach implements actionable steps to create a culture that recognizes and prioritizes the needs of employees working from home. A work environment that tries to be flexible in accommodating the needs of employees rather than meeting expectations in the workplace. The experimental solution, though delivered virtually, has its foundation on a proven, compassionate approach based on years of personal compassion cultivation, mindfulness and applied compassion training.
My project involves a weekly share during company office hours, active management of a social media channel to address work-life challenges, and offer solutions and a weekly "coffee break" hour to check-in and deliver mindfulness and self-compassion exercises to an employee group of four hundred. If successful, the goal is to reach out and extend the program to the larger employee base of over twenty-five thousand.