There was a time – not so long ago in the grand scheme of things – when you had no choice but to leave work at work. You departed from your office at the end of the day, leaving your office phone on the desk, and for all but perhaps a briefcase of papers, there your work stayed until the start of the next day. There was a fixed boundary between your life at work and at home. Over time, things changed.
What Happened to Balance?
A series of evolving technologies chipped away at that boundary. Pagers, then cell phones, then smartphones made us more available outside regular work hours. Then came the pandemic. More people began working from home (all or part of the time), and many of those people are continuing to do so indefinitely. That’s a good thing in many ways, but by definition, it blurs the boundaries between work and home life, or eliminates them altogether.
Several decades ago, if an employee spent 80 hours – or more – every week at the office, it was difficult to overlook. Someone, either at work or at home, would usually bring that level of overwork to their attention. Like the metaphorical frog in boiling water, it’s easier today than ever before to slip into a lifestyle that is chronically imbalanced without noticing. And even if you don’t reach the level of actual burnout, you simply can’t sustain that over time. The mind and body both need rest, and rest means time away from work.
One quick aside: this kind of imbalance is different from the normal pressure of a demanding job, and the requirement we all have sometimes to be available outside regular hours. This is common, almost universal; it just shouldn’t be the norm. 24/7 availability should be the exception, not the rule.
How it Happens, and What to Do When it Does
Problem 1: No Physical Separation
If you do part of your work at home, is your work literally ‘in your face’? This doesn’t just affect people who officially work remotely, either all or part of the time. It can just as easily affect people who work in an office during the day but bring their computer and other materials home in the evening and over the weekend. If your workspace is shoehorned into your living space, it can become too easy – in the evening, or perhaps over the weekend – to just pop open the laptop to check out what’s going on. Even if you don’t truly engage in work, though, the physical cue pulls your thoughts into your work (especially if you’re the kind of person who enjoys and cares about your job). Your mind doesn’t get the opportunity to distance itself from the daily grind.
The Fix
In a perfect world, if you work at home, that work would be done in a totally separate space – a home office, apart from your living area. The world is far from perfect, however. If it’s not possible to do your work in a completely separate space, make physical changes that replicate that. Don’t leave your computer sitting on the dining room table; put it away. If you’ve got files and papers spread out on a table, gather them up and put them in your bag. In short, for the time you’re not working, keep your work out of sight … and therefore out of mind.
Problem 2: No Time Boundaries
When everyone went to an office to do their work, it happened during specific hours by default. When our work began to travel more readily back and forth with us, the boundaries between work hours and off hours began to blur. Given the current state of work, drawing the delineation between work time and time off has to be intentional and deliberate.
The Fix
Maintain office hours. Remind yourself that if you had to commute to an office, you’d arrive at a certain time and leave at a certain time, and – as much as you can – mirror that. If you find that you’re tempted to start work earlier in the morning (without taking some compensating time for yourself later in the day), create a healthy morning routine instead: reading, meditating, going for a walk. If you find yourself working into the evening, set timers or alarms to remind you that it’s time to shut down. And then do it.
Problem 3: Constant Connection
Many of us carry phones to read and respond to our business email. For the sake of convenience, a lot of us also choose to access our personal email accounts on those devices as well. Increasingly, we text with our colleagues in the same way as with our friends. Our well-meaning devices pepper us with (helpful?) notifications day and night, but they don’t differentiate between work and not-work. As a result, our work and personal lives are enmeshed – the technology equivalent of having your work spread out on the kitchen table at all times. This doesn’t allow our brain the ability it needs to fully disconnect.
The Fix
If you are using one device for both work and personal use, use the settings to help. Hide work emails when you’re off. Mute texts from colleagues, if you’re getting non-urgent work-related texts through the evening and over the weekend. It’s a drastic step, but if you recognize signs that this constant connection is problematic for you, consider using two devices. Technology gives you the power to choose to be as connected as you need and want to be; use that same power to be as disconnected as you need to be.
General Balance
In addition to dealing with these three specific challenges, there are other things you can do on a regular basis to make sure you’re maintaining a healthy balance of your life and work.
- Examine the range of activities in your life. In addition to work, it might also be important to have time with family or friends, to pursue hobbies you enjoy, and to get some physical activity as well. Are you making time for the things that recharge you?
- Take your paid time off. All of it.
- Take sick days when you need them. And when you take them, actually take them. Whether you work from home, or just take work home with you, it’s become easier to keep doing work when you’re under the weather. Then, more than ever, your body and brain need you to give yourself a break. Listen to them.
- Consider your mental health as much of a priority as your physical health. A sick day might be just as important for one as for the other.
For Leaders
All of the above applies equally to people who have no direct reports as it does to those who have dozens of people reporting to them. However, if you’re in a leadership position, you have a special kind of responsibility.
It begins with the fact that you’re a role model. Your people will adopt the behaviors they see you demonstrating. Are you sending or replying to non-essential emails in the evening and over the weekend? Are you taking vacation time, but at the same time letting everyone know how they can reach you? Your people notice.
As a leader, you should also be checking in with your team on the aspects above. Ask how they’re feeling, how they maintain balance. Ask what they’re doing to maintain their physical and mental well-being. Asking questions like this in one-on-one meetings is perfectly fine, but also consider the message it sends when you add this as an agenda item for team meetings. Placing it alongside the other agenda items underscores its importance.
If you’ve read this far, I trust that you know as a leader that this isn’t just for ‘fluffy’ feel-good reasons, but I’ll spell it out regardless. There are two business reasons why maintaining balance – in yourself and for your team – is important. First, someone whose work and life are imbalanced might perform at an extraordinary rate … but only in the short term. No one can sustain this in the long term. Someone who tries is simply sacrificing long term performance for short term gain. Secondly – and perhaps even more importantly – employees want to work for leaders who care about them as people. Just asking these questions shows that you’re concerned for them, not just for the results they produce. Doing this will improve your retention rates, and your ability to recruit the best talent.