In Ireland many of us are 4-6 weeks into a new routine of working from home. As work consumes so much of our week it is important to look at how we are finding it, what is working well and what needs to be tweaked.
So how are we finding it?
I have been tuning in closely to feedback from clients, colleagues and friends and of course experiencing this in my home environment. In general, it seems that people have adapted well. They have come up with a daily routine that works for them and are getting more comfortable with meetings over video conference. It certainly is a challenging time for each and every one of us, but some have commented on how they are surprised at their own resilience and how they have been able to adjust. Having said that many are having good days and bad days. Whether it’s a good day or a bad day may depend on many factors such as how one slept the previous night, worries about a myriad of factors including health, family, finances, job security and how the day goes in terms of juggling work demands with home schooling and the kids being home in general.
What is working well?
- Many organisations have put strong communications structures in place with regular team and one to one catch ups. Some are communicating more than previously in order to bridge any gaps that may arise out of whole teams and organisations working remotely.
- Organisations who are mindful of the challenges that employees may be experiencing are ensuring that communication is not just transactional. They are taking time to check in personally with employees and are actively listening to any concerns.
- People are commenting that they can really see the time savings in not having to commute everyday and many are enjoying this aspect. Having said that some miss the headspace and thinking time that commuting can offer!
- There is a sense of “pulling together” in the face of adversity in some teams which is leading to a more collaborative way of working.
What could be tweaked?
Employers:
- As time goes on and we find ourselves working from home for longer than what we may have initially envisaged there may be a tendency for employers to shift back into a “business as usual” mindset. This may be a positive in terms of forging ahead with projects and plans but the experience of employees is not one of “business as usual”. They may have adapted to a certain degree, but they still face the same challenges such as working from home without childcare and are still dealing many obstacles within their day to day lives.
- Working from home is often seen as a good way of obtaining work life balance. However, working from home during a pandemic is not the normal way of working from home (as we all know). The irony is that some employees are now working far more hours than what they would have in normal times due to a slow down in information flow, dependency on teams in other time zones and a myriad of other reasons. Employers need to tune into this and be aware of how many hours per week their employees are working. It is harder to gauge this with teams working remotely so it is useful to ask the question about extra hours on one to one calls.
- While we are getting used to remote meetings it is important to be mindful of the length of these meetings. Where possible it’s good to limit meeting times to 45 minutes ideally as it allows for short breaks between meetings. I have heard of 2-3 hour meetings happening over video conference at the moment. It will be very difficult to hold attendees attention for this amount of time under current circumstances and key information may be lost or mis understood as a result. If the content of a meeting with take 2 hours to deliver it may be worth considering breaking it into two separate meetings.
- Some individuals have commented that if meetings are scheduled over lunch time, they often end up not taking any break so where possible it can be beneficial to avoid lunch time meetings.
Employees:
- I have mentioned a lot of “tweaks” that employers can make above. However, bosses and employers are human beings and this is also a brand new and unprecedented experience for them. The onus is also on employees to communicate and speak up if something is a particular challenge whilst working from home. We all see things through our own unique lens and our challenges will differ depending on circumstances.
- If you are feeling under huge pressure to hit a deadline and feel that you simply won’t be able to get there, reach out to your manager. Generally, they will prefer to know about this and provide support rather than have you suffer in silence.
- If you are working many extra hours and late into the night on a regular basis this is not sustainable. Eventually it will result in burn out and possible ill health. No employer wants this for you so again do speak up and see if you can work out some solutions around this.
- Go easy on yourself – yes you are working from home, but this is not a normal way of working. You can only do your best!
Author: Lorraine Shine, Career & Executive Coach/ Corporate Trainer: www.careerandinterviewsuccess.ie