Hollensbe: It certainly eliminates things like commute time. I work more hours when I tend to work from home. They felt like it was always there, and personally I still feel that way. Hardy: Remote work was a situation where it was hard for people to turn the computer off. And they're saying that some of the people are more productive. If that's what this person wants, let's look into it. To keep employees, especially right now when it is an employee-friendly job market, companies are going to try anything. We used to say, “We're going to be here Monday through Friday, 8 to 5, this is the way we do business.” forced us to say, “Well, now you've got to work in a different way.” For the most part, many organizations did it, they thrived, and they could figure it out. What COVID has taught us is that anything is possible. This can wait.” Or prioritize one thing over another. Hardy: What employers are doing, and good managers are trying to do, is to put what I would call “fail-safes” in place, so if they see employees that are working lots of hours, they are telling them, “Hey, it’s OK. To ensure work-life balance, be aware of what your preferences are, communicate those preferences and find a workplace that values the same kind of separation that you do. If there are organizations that really require people to be available 24/7, and you like to segment that part of your life, that's a problem. Your expectations of work-life balance may be different than your employer's. If you prefer to have things separate, and you're in a position where you can make that clear to people, it's important to do so and to communicate the expectations that you have. Hollensbe: A really important thing that we've found is communicating those preferences. Some of this is knowing your personal preferences and working to maintain boundaries that align with them. Neither is good or bad, but people can find themselves on different sides of the spectrum. People can be more of a segmentor or integrator. Steed: Some of this depends on the person. There are many more segmentors than integrators in the world. Hollensbe: Most people really do find it stressful to not have some segmentation. For a lot of people, your work was in your living room or your basement so it was a lot harder to have distinct lines between work and life. Steed: I've seen people start to use the terms work-life integration versus work-life balance where they're talking about how you fit your work into your life rather than viewing the two things as opposed to each other. There are other people who are quite comfortable having work and home just mix, and they're integrators. They've almost erected a boundary between their work and home. For example, there's a certain group of people who really like to keep those areas of their life separate. Hollensbe: People have different definitions of what work-life balance means, and that's an important thing to consider. I think for employers, it's important to prioritize employees having the ability to disconnect from work so they have some of those benefits. It's good for the employee both physiologically and for their productivity in the workplace. Steed: From an employee standpoint, we have evidence that going home and recovering from work is good for your sleep, mental well-being and job performance. College of Engineering and Applied Science.College of Education, Criminal Justice, & Human Services.College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning.
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