Your Personal Work/Life Balance

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by activeStick

I actually don't care about being on a call during the lunch hour. If I have lunch plans with someone, I won't attend otherwise I will just eat my lunch around my meetings. I don't care to have lunch at a set time every day.

The point is that attitudes around lunch hour seem to have changed. In the decade before covid I had maybe three requests for meetings between 12 and 1. Now I get one or two a month. So why the change in expectations?

[DoubleF]

I work 35-45 hours a week during slow season as a small company executive + self employed situation. I often do a ton of Kaizen during slow periods to fill in my time. There are days where I'm still doing a solid 10 hours to finish a project and then a few days later, I'm struggling to figure out 4-5 hours of work for the day.

Unfortunately due to the nature of some of my work, I have to be in the office rather than leave early. Our small company culture is also very specific in trying to make clear lines between work and private so that we don't get clients demanding we do stuff for them like we're on call at 2 AM or something dumb. I do the most work from home and after hours work due to the duality of my roles. Most of the others have given WFH a try and they agree they dislike the lack of boundaries that inevitably seep in.

It's around 40-55 hours a week during busy season. It used to be more, but with kids and making sure to spend more time for that, I have made sure to delegate more of the menial tasks to focus on the higher level ones.

Kids are chaos, so sometimes I am late or have to duck out early for daycare pick up/drop off/appointments etc. I often shave off a major portion of my lunch to make up the time (ie: 10 minutes instead of 30-45 minutes).

I get that there are many who are self driven and can do WFH and are more productive. But those people are rare. I am one of those people, but not my wife who is a social butterfly. I'll be in the zone and she'll water cooler me/bring me a snack and waste my momentum. I literally lock the door and that turns into an annoyed conversation after work hours. I also find it annoying and hilarious that people who are always saying they're so busy in a WFH situation are also the same ones sending "OMG work is so busy/####ty, I'm going on a walk/going out for lunch etc." type updates 1-2 times an hour.

Many people at work or WFH or studying need to understand the difference between being present for something vs being focused and actually working on/progressing on something. I deal with a few courses where I took 2-3 hours solid a week to do the necessary work. Others complain about 5-6 hours in front of the work per week, but I'm pretty sure they're on their phone, social media, videos etc. and not actually truly focused on the work.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

The point is that attitudes around lunch hour seem to have changed. In the decade before covid I had maybe three requests for meetings between 12 and 1. Now I get one or two a month. So why the change in expectations?

No time and certain meetings are more difficult to do online vs in person.

Case in point, I worked on a few projects at the height of Covid in a split office isolation/quarantine/tracing situation. Two teams, if one team had to quarantine, the next team would take over the in office stuff. I had a project where I spent 2.5 hours explaining a plan for a section of work and my colleague seriously had no clue what I was talking about. I got fed up, showed up super masked, face shielded etc. and within 15-20 minutes he understood what was going on.

Collaborative work sucks if done online. It is way better in person. Siloed work WFH I can see being on par if not superior vs office depending if your set up at home is on par with an office set up.

My line of work has a ton of collaboration of things that are constantly unique and different. Hybrid and full office is the only approach that is effective and efficient for my situation. I know others that are basically siloed types of work, that's great for WFH, but absolutely not my scenario. This on top of the fact many people cheaped out on their WFH set ups, they are absolutely not effective and efficient at all. I do not have a office calibre set up at home due to space constraints and infrequent usage. Tracked hours, I know for a fact I'm only around 60-80% as effective/efficient using a dual 15" screen laptop set up and older semi retired work hardware on a shallower dining table vs my full desk and 3x 22"+ screen set up at work with up to date hardware like scanners and printers/photocopier. I'm a 95:5 office/WFH hybrid set up and it's perfect for me.

My wife cheaped out and in the end I got fed up and I spent the budget she had from work (much to her chagrin) and got her a triple monitor set up, improved desk and chair, improved keyboard/dock accessories/speaker and mic, improved light lighting, printer, white board etc. and she finally relented that it massively improved her workflow and she was doing more with less time and stress. $800 in spending + elbow grease was likely improving her productivity and ergonomic based injuries savings by that per month if not per week.

[flamesfever]

As an executive in a small company, that is more economically sensitive to the work efficiency of the staff, wouldn't it be more advantageous to demand that all employees put in their hours at the office, instead of letting them work from home...now that the pandemic is over?.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by flamesfever

As an executive in a small company, that is more economically sensitive to the work efficiency of the staff, wouldn't it be more advantageous to demand that all employees put in their hours at the office, instead of letting them work from home...now that the pandemic is over?.

It depends. I've mentioned this difference before, is this actual work from home (like work anytime?) or simply confined to doing regular office hours at home. There's a big difference.

Depending on what type of business this small company is there are certain advantages to full work from home.

1. No office space rent
2. Can hire employees from anywhere in the world.
3. Can get work done at all hours of the day. (assignment based)

If it comes down to a trust issue, there shouldn't be a difference. If you don't trust your employees working from home, they're probably not really working in the office either. It's always the employee, not the environment.

[d00little]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

My line of work has a ton of collaboration of things that are constantly unique and different. Hybrid and full office is the only approach that is effective and efficient for my situation. I know others that are basically siloed types of work, that's great for WFH, but absolutely not my scenario. This on top of the fact many people cheaped out on their WFH set ups, they are absolutely not effective and efficient at all. I do not have a office calibre set up at home due to space constraints and infrequent usage. Tracked hours, I know for a fact I'm only around 60-80% as effective/efficient using a dual 15" screen laptop set up and older semi retired work hardware on a shallower dining table vs my full desk and 3x 22"+ screen set up at work with up to date hardware like scanners and printers/photocopier. I'm a 95:5 office/WFH hybrid set up and it's perfect for me.

It's the opposite problem for me. My home setup is far superior. I have 4 monitors (ultra-wide 34", 1 27" in landscape mode, 1 27" in portrait mode, 1 laptop screen) and a motorized standing desk in a dedicated room where I can control the temperature. At work it's open concept modules with only a single monitor to plug my laptop into. I go into the office to meet co-workers, build bonds, load up on free snacks, but for productive work I do it at home.

Not to mention Covid has gotten me balls deep into the coffee game so my home coffee setup is also far superior with my Chemex, Hario V60, Aeropress, conical burr grinder, gooseneck variable temperature kettle, Breville espresso machine, etc. The coffee machine at work can't compete.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by d00little

It's the opposite problem for me. My home setup is far superior. I have 4 monitors (ultra-wide 34", 1 27" in landscape mode, 1 27" in portrait mode, 1 laptop screen) and a motorized standing desk in a dedicated room where I can control the temperature. At work it's open concept modules with only a single monitor to plug my laptop into. I go into the office to meet co-workers, build bonds, load up on free snacks, but for productive work I do it at home.

Not to mention Covid has gotten me balls deep into the coffee game so my home coffee setup is also far superior with my Chemex, Hario V60, Aeropress, conical burr grinder, gooseneck variable temperature kettle, Breville espresso machine, etc. The coffee machine at work can't compete.

Dear God man...

[gasman]

Originally Posted by flamesfever

As an executive in a small company, that is more economically sensitive to the work efficiency of the staff, wouldn't it be more advantageous to demand that all employees put in their hours at the office, instead of letting them work from home...now that the pandemic is over?.

Until your employees quit and your can't replace them because there are no quality applicants out there.

[skudr248]

I work 3 jobs (FT & 2 semi-full-time consulting gigs) and have been doing so since May. I work 2-3 days a week in the office for one, so it's been an interesting last few months.

Work/life balance has been quite non-existent this summer, but I am trying to shave off a few years before retirement. My wife doesn't know how the hell I manage it all, and frankly, I don't either but it's working so far (*knock on wood*) and still meeting expectations and deliverables.

[mikephoen]

Originally Posted by d00little

It's the opposite problem for me. My home setup is far superior. I have 4 monitors (ultra-wide 34", 1 27" in landscape mode, 1 27" in portrait mode, 1 laptop screen) and a motorized standing desk in a dedicated room where I can control the temperature. At work it's open concept modules with only a single monitor to plug my laptop into. I go into the office to meet co-workers, build bonds, load up on free snacks, but for productive work I do it at home.

Not to mention Covid has gotten me balls deep into the coffee game so my home coffee setup is also far superior with my Chemex, Hario V60, Aeropress, conical burr grinder, gooseneck variable temperature kettle, Breville espresso machine, etc. The coffee machine at work can't compete.

I’m guessing the second paragraph is a huge humble brag, but I don’t actually know what any of that is! Also, no problem if it is a humble brag. I kinda like those if executed smoothly.


I also got a kick out of ‘balls deep’ passing CPs helicopter parent swear filter!

[PaperBagger'14]

Originally Posted by Locke

Dear God man...

If Sliver worked a desk job the only difference would be a rascal parking pad under the desk

[RichieRich]

Work has advised less WFH and more in office starting this fall. Not sure how I feel about that yet. Sometimes those WFH days are super efficient and others hard to focus. But from home those micro-breaks are nice and especially being able to wrap up work and be actively engaged with home stuff an hour or 2 earlier are gold. Especially Fridays.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by gasman

Until your employees quit and your can't replace them because there are no quality applicants out there.

I can't help but wonder if that is a slippery slope though. I totally understand wanting to work from home and being able to do your job anywhere. But if you can really do that, what's stopping the company from hiring someone in Bangalore to do your job for a fraction of the wage and no real difference to them?

[flamesfever]

Originally Posted by gasman

Until your employees quit and your can't replace them because there are no quality applicants out there.

It strikes me that the present situation, with the short supply of workers, and potential employees placing WFH demands on employers, that there is about to be a rude awakening for many, should we go into a prolonged slowdown.

Every recession I have experienced came with a real shortage of jobs, and people scrambling to make ends meet. I recall doing some renovations in 1979, and paying a hefty price to have the work done. Three years later you could get the same amount of work done for half the price.

The economy is always cyclic, and I think one should not get too demanding when times are good.

[RoadGame]

Originally Posted by d00little

It's the opposite problem for me. My home setup is far superior. I have 4 monitors (ultra-wide 34", 1 27" in landscape mode, 1 27" in portrait mode, 1 laptop screen) and a motorized standing desk in a dedicated room where I can control the temperature. At work it's open concept modules with only a single monitor to plug my laptop into. I go into the office to meet co-workers, build bonds, load up on free snacks, but for productive work I do it at home.

Not to mention Covid has gotten me balls deep into the coffee game so my home coffee setup is also far superior with my Chemex, Hario V60, Aeropress, conical burr grinder, gooseneck variable temperature kettle, Breville espresso machine, etc. The coffee machine at work can't compete.

Ditto, other than the standing desk. Quad-monitors and carefully tuned coffee setup makes a massive difference for me too.

[gasman]

Originally Posted by slava

i can't help but wonder if that is a slippery slope though. I totally understand wanting to work from home and being able to do your job anywhere. But if you can really do that, what's stopping the company from hiring someone in bangalore to do your job for a fraction of the wage and no real difference to them?

apega

[gasman]

Originally Posted by flamesfever

It strikes me that the present situation, with the short supply of workers, and potential employees placing WFH demands on employers, that there is about to be a rude awakening for many, should we go into a prolonged slowdown.

Every recession I have experienced came with a real shortage of jobs, and people scrambling to make ends meet. I recall doing some renovations in 1979, and paying a hefty price to have the work done. Three years later you could get the same amount of work done for half the price.

The economy is always cyclic, and I think one should not get too demanding when times are good.

I whole heartedly agree.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by gasman

apega

Sure, some industries have certain barriers to entry and that will protect workers in that sense. There are a lot that don’t have those though, and that could get pretty risky.

[activeStick]

Originally Posted by Slava

I can't help but wonder if that is a slippery slope though. I totally understand wanting to work from home and being able to do your job anywhere. But if you can really do that, what's stopping the company from hiring someone in Bangalore to do your job for a fraction of the wage and no real difference to them?

The difference would be the resource from Bangalore would also likely put in a lot more hours when needed without much pushback than the North American resource from my experience, so it'd be even worse for the folks onshore.

[DionTheDman]

Originally Posted by d00little

It's the opposite problem for me. My home setup is far superior. I have 4 monitors (ultra-wide 34", 1 27" in landscape mode, 1 27" in portrait mode, 1 laptop screen) and a motorized standing desk in a dedicated room where I can control the temperature. At work it's open concept modules with only a single monitor to plug my laptop into. I go into the office to meet co-workers, build bonds, load up on free snacks, but for productive work I do it at home.

Not to mention Covid has gotten me balls deep into the coffee game so my home coffee setup is also far superior with my Chemex, Hario V60, Aeropress, conical burr grinder, gooseneck variable temperature kettle, Breville espresso machine, etc. The coffee machine at work can't compete.

I would like to see a photo of this. When do you plan on adding a couple of people to hold giant palm leaves to fan you?