The work-life talk
is broken
There has been much talk about working life in recent years. It’s discussed on buses at rush hour, on empty office floors, and even in the sandpit; parents know about their remote and office working days.
All knowledge workers are experienced experts in this, so the world of work has a great opportunity to evolve at record speed. But there is one challenge that unites all this work-life talk: narrow-mindedness. Either you try to find reasons to come to the office, to justify why you shouldn’t go there, or to pick and choose the days and number of days you work there.
Focusing on these individual narrow perspectives makes it easy to lose sight of the bigger picture of people’s daily lives and their flexibility, how it makes sense to work in each organisation in the first place, and what it is trying to achieve.
Focus on a better (work) life, not the office
Being in an office does not bring any added value itself: knowledge work is not tied to a specific time, place or even a single employer. We live in an age where work and leisure time are increasingly intertwined – not a balance but a work-life blend, where the place and time of work are adjusted to your daily life, hobbies and travel, and vice versa. Both remote and office work have been shown to impact people’s well-being, innovation and efficiency. The narrow view of work-life talk should be broadened from individual office days or remote work instructions to a work-as-a-network approach.
The network of work activities aims to describe each company’s places of working and identify their role in the daily lives of different employees.
From a 'me' mindset to a team mindset
A framework for designing a better (work) life
Company level: defining the operational culture
- What are we aiming for? Work environment vision, including cultural guidelines and defining the role of the office
- How is work done? The desired employee experience
- Where do we work? Places of work
Team level: working models
- What policies best serve the achievement of our team’s objectives, taking into account company-level policies?
- What should be done face-to-face together, what should be done remotely?
- What kind of cross-team practices do we want to set?
Individual level: practices
- How can you organise your daily life around different working places and times?
- Everyone can create their own working life based on mutually agreed practices.
Let’s revise the working life discussion and the solutions derived from it together. Contact us and let’s think about how you can make the most of your workplace.
