Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom

5 Truths About Work/Life Fit

My friend, Cali Yost, is an internationally-recognized expert on work/life fit.  In her new book, Tweak It: Make What Matters to You Happen Every Day, she suggests ways to hone in and make time for your most critical priorities.  But before you can do that, she shares some essential truths about work/life fit that are important to understand if we are to be satisfied at work and at home.

Truth #1:  A work/life mishmash is the new reality

As recently as the last decade, the hours of 9-to-5 were standard in most organizations.  You did your work during that period, and then you went home and took care of your personal life.  But the reality of people’s lives no longer matches those neat, rigid expectations.  The growing mismatch is causing people and business to suffer.

Truth #2: It’s not just your employer’s responsibility

Companies and managers alone can’t solve the work/life challenges of their employees.   Managers and HR departments can’t tell each person in the organization how to manage their work and life because everyone’s circumstances on and off the job are completely different.  Employers must create a work environment in which it is okay to discuss potential flexible work/life solutions.  Then we, individual employees, need to meet the organization halfway and come to the table with a plan that takes into consideration our needs and the needs of the business.

Truth #3: It’s work/life “fit,” not “balance”

Using “balance” to describe the goal of flexibility for individuals causes more problems than it solves.  That’s because there really isn’t a “balance” or ideal 50-50 split between work and life.  Most of the time, what we’re after is not working less, but working differently.  By shifting hours, allowing telecommuting, and changing the way work is completed, everyone can manage the way work fits into his or her life.  The goal is to create an environment where all of those different work/life fit realities can live together to achieve the goals of business over time.

For more truths from Cali's book, have a look at the full post on Intuit's Fast Track blog.

Building Culture in a Digital World

Quick quiz: true or false?

1. You don’t know anyone who works at your company.
2. You try not to involve yourself with your company’s digital networks.
3. When it comes to certain office protocols, you have no idea what is and isn’t acceptable.

If you answered ‘True’ to these statements, you’re part of the 20 percent of global employees who work on virtual teams, and your organization’s culture is a total mystery to you.

This is a problem, because even as we strive to enhance our cultures so our employees will stick around, our strategies mostly shut out employees who don’t come into our offices. If we want to encourage collaboration and track productivity, we have dozens of effective digital tools from which to choose. But when it comes to tools meant to inform and reinforce culture, there’s not much.

In a recent article for Fast Company, Austin Carr reported on a few new technologies that are a step in the right direction. Yammer, which is an enterprise social network that Microsoft acquired for $1.2 billion, acts like a Facebook for internal business use. It enables employees to exchange messages, media and status updates—integrating the option to “Like” a coworker’s post or give him or her “Praise” badges.

Taking it a step further is emotional intelligence company Kanjoya, which has a product called Crane that taps into an organization’s Yammer network and analyzes data to measure how employees are feeling at any given moment or on any given topic. Crane can tell, for instance if your employees are irritated by a new policy or don’t like the way management is handling a current issue. Although it’s not always clear what leaders should do with Crane’s data from a big picture perspective, the program at least allows them to address small details that might otherwise go unnoticed and fester.

For tips on how to effectively build culture in a digital world, check out my full post on the AMEX Open Forum.

Could You Work From Anywhere?

Many of us are growing increasingly accustomed to doing our work from anywhere, anytime.  It’s a skill we will certainly need in the years to come.  But since I am working in London as we speak, I’ve been researching what it means to be truly location independent.  To that end, blogger Sean Ogle has provided some excellent suggestions for being as safe and productive as you can while working overseas.

Suggestion 1: Reliable VPN

VPN stands for Virtual Private Network, and the primary purpose is to allow you to allow you to securely connect to a network remotely.  A VPN can allow you to hide your actual identity or location.  Many countries block certain sites completely, so the only way to access them is when connected to a VPN.  A VPN can also make you look like you’re in the country, which can come in handy if you need location-specific search results, for instance.  Sean recommends Express VPN.

For more recommendations, check out the full post on Intuit's Fast Track blog.

Independent Work is Increasingly Common

Having your own business was once a rarity. 

I remember when I first took the leap. I’d go to a party and tell people what I did, and oohs and ahs would ensue. The admiration bestowed on me then was similar to that of a movie star or a neurosurgeon. Most could not even imagine being their own boss.

Today, they’re not just imagining it. They’re doing it.

MBO Partners, an advisor to organizations who want to efficiently manage their  contingent workforces, recently released its second State of Independence in America study and the results of its first Independent Workforce Index. Since 2011, the independent workforce has grown by nearly a million people and currently contributes about one trillion dollars in revenue to the U.S. economy. 

Most interestingly, though, the research tells us a great deal about the face of the independent worker–defined as people who work at least 15 hours or more per week in non-traditional, non-permanent, full- or part-time employment–in 2013.

For more on the face of the independent workforce, read my Culture Beat column at the AMEX Open Forum.

Talking Your Manager into Flextime

Happy New Year, everyone!  It's "Reader Mail" time! 

I’m a manager in a small department and have to get approval of flexible schedules for staff from my Boss.  Boss wants everyone to be at work during normal business hours, doesn’t like flexible schedules, and sees all requests as the same (trying to get out of work).  Yes, I’m confused about this thinking and believe Boss doesn’t really understand flextime and its advantages, but I’m wondering how to best discuss this.

Boss tends to overreact whenever I bring up the topic and gets into the issue of “not trusting the employee to really work and not goof off.”  I see a request to temporarily change a schedule by arriving earlier and staying later on some days and leaving early on other days because of family schedules/child care issues to be different from a request to work at home on certain days on an ongoing basis.  The first example involves working all hours at the office for a limited amount of time and the second example involves working some days at home with no finite term, but Boss lumps all these requests together and denies all of them.  Any suggestions or advice on how I can approach the subject and try to get Boss to logically consider these requests?

For answers to this quandry from four career experts including me, check out the full post at the Fast Track blog.

Holiday Laziness is Not the End of the World

I have a confession to make.

I have not been as productive as usual lately.

I have set aside 35 hours a week to work, and I’ve written articles, consulted with clients, developed presentations, and done media interviews during approximately 25 of them.  That means that I’m spending 10 work hours a week doing…not much.

I’ve never considered myself lazy.  But well, here we are.

According to my friend Leo Babauta at Zen Habits, however, this is not the end of the world and I shouldn’t feel too guilty about it.   “Lazy means that your body and mind are tired and want to rest. That’s a sign that you should actually rest. When you ignore these signs, it leads to burnout. So rest, and feel good about it!”

Babauta also suggests that one can work all day in a flurry of frenetic activity only to get a little done that actually matters.  On the contrary, one can do a few things that take a few hours but lead to lasting achievement.  You might do less, but the time you spent counts for more.

This last point, which is like a sensible distillation of Tim Ferriss’ early work, has become my new mantra.  But I do think it’s easier said than done.  After all, if everyone could be more effective working a few hours a day, we’d all be doing it.  For some of Leo's ideas, which I've been trying to employ myself, have a look at the Fast Track blog.

 

Would You Work With Your Spouse?

If you want to know the future, your best bet is to ask Weiner, Edrich, Brown (WEB), one of the world’s top futurist consulting firms. WEB, a four-person operation founded in 1977, identifies and analyzes long-term trends that impact business. The direction of the firm is guided by two dynamic co-vice presidents who happen to be husband and wife.

Erica Orange and Jared Weiner met at the University of Rochester, and several years later, Erica began working for Jared’s mother Edie at her firm Weiner, Edrich, Brown. Edie gave Jared the ultimatum that if “things don’t work out between the two of you, I’m still keeping her.” Fortunately, it did. The two married and eventually Jared joined the firm.

The pair lives in an apartment in Manhattan and works in the same office two feet from one another. Incredibly, they don’t drive each other crazy.  To learn what makes their unique arrangement work, check out my full post at the AMEX Open Forum.

 

How to Be Happier at Home (and Work)

Gretchen Rubin has been a friend of mine since the early days of our blogs.  Her first book, The Happiness Project, became an international bestseller, and I was excited to read her latest effort, Happier at Home.  The new book focuses on ways we can make our homes places of greater simplicity, comfort, and love.

Since I specialize in careers and work, I naturally zeroed in on the part of the book that focuses on work/life balance.  Managing your time well is critical, because, as Gretchen points out, it only passes faster as we get older.  She cites poet Robert Southy, who explained:

“Live as long as you may, the first twenty years are the longest half of your life.  They appear so while they are passing, they seem to have been so when we look back on them, and they take up more room in our memory than all the years that succeed them.”

Since we don’t “notice” life as much once we’re in our twenties, thirties, and beyond, it’s especially important that we make an effort to be mentally present in each moment.  Happier at Home has dozens of recommendations to this effect, but here are a few that directly apply to the subject of work:

• Do you have kids?  Even though taking care of them can sometimes be boring, resist the urge to check your phone in their presence.  In fact, put the phone away, as it’s admittedly hard to resist.

 

• Don’t check e-mail at bedtime.  The stimulation of reading certain messages will energize you and you’ll have trouble falling asleep.

 

• Don’t type away on your smartphone when traveling from one place to another.  Instead of forcing yourself to use this time productively, leave yourself open to new thoughts, ideas, and experiences.

 

• Do understand when you are most efficient at doing different tasks, and work around that.  I, for example, get better quality writing done if I respect that my mental focus is sharpest in the late afternoon.

 

Is a Staycation Day at Work Totally Unappealing?

When I posted on the Fast Track blog about taking a staycation day (i.e. mini sabbatical) at work in order to rejuventate one's career, I received quite a bit of pushback.  It seems that many people object for a variety of reasons.  So I wanted to pose the question to this community:

Would you ever take a staycation day at work?  Why or why not?

Please check out the post and let me know what you think!

Can Contract Workers Ever Really Fit In?

According to technology firm Mavenlink’s 2012 infographic, The New Independent Workforce, the contingent workforce–comprised of self-employed individuals, independent service firms, solopreneurs and temporary workers—has grown by an estimated 4.3 million workers since 1995. By 2020, 40 percent of American workers, or nearly 65 million people, will be contingent, and shortly thereafter that percentage is expected to rise to 50 percent.

Why this explosive growth? The biggest reason is that companies in all industries–especially in technology, management consulting, marketing, education and journalism–are on board. Mavenlink reports that 90 percent of firms have used contracted talent, and a recent Economist Intelligence Unit study found that 61 percent of senior executives anticipate a growing proportion of functions to be outsourced to contingent workers.

The key questions are: What do contingent workers have to do with organizational culture, and how can managers help them assimilate so that they're positive additions to the team? For these answers and more, head over to my Culture Beat column at the AMEX Open Forum.