Maria Mateescu • Engineering Log
5 Ways to Improve your Work Life Balance
AND WHY YOU SHOULD DO IT
Working longer hours doesn’t necessarily mean working more, in fact research has shown that as we work longer our attention span diminishes, leading to us making more mistakes and eventually just creating more work for ourselves. These can be attributed both to the work hours, and the lack of sleep that can result. While the studies have primarily been done on doctors, as lives are on the line, they don’t necessarily only apply to them. The EU established the European Working Time Directive (EWTD) in 2003 for this very reason.
TIP 1 : TURN OFF YOUR WORK PHONE OUTSIDE OF HOURS
If like me you have poor self control, having my work phone on, especially with notifications, will inevitably end up with me looking at it. Turning the phone off at the end of the day has been the only successful thing that would prevent me from doing that. However that would only work if you have one personal phone, and one work phone. If you have one phone for both work and personal, iOS (ScreenTime) and Android(12+ allowing completely separate work vs personal profile). It may take some time to set up but it’s worth it. I believe it to be imperative to set this up if you don’t have a personal phone.
TIP 2: HAVE A DESIGNATED END OF THE DAY
While in the office the designated end of the day was clear, when it was dinner time, and people were starting to head for dinnte. That lead to a bit of peer pressure to leave, or at least an acknowledgement that leaving would be ok. This is lacking at home, with lack of visibility as to wether someone has left or not. But with work from home that is still possible. And you can even enlist the help of your partner or flatmates to keep each other accountable. Personally, I have found that setting meetings at the end of the day, every day, and decline any overlap, with the message: Message me if you can’t find any other time, to be very effective. For two reasons:
- it gives me a 15 minute (default outlook notification) warning to wrap up whatever I was doing;
- it clearly communicates with my peers that I plan to stop work then.
TIP 3: IF INSPIRATION STRIKES YOU, WRITE IT DOWN
One thing I have found is that sometimes I would have a completely unrelated conversation with someone, or have be reading some book, or just having a shower... And sudden realisation that “Oh, this is how I solve this issue I’ve been struggling with”. There is a certain temptation to just do it there and then, especially if it feels like it would only take 5 minutes. Don’t. Write it down, in a note, on paper, or whatever medium you prefer, as long as it’s not a work device, and let it wait until the next day.
TIP 4: GO DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE OF THE WORST CASE SCENARIO
This one is a bit less practical, but there’s always a reason we work longer hours... and usually it’s because we feel like we have to. So let’s challenge that feeling, and let’s play a game, to try to figure out what the worst case scenario actually is. What would happen if you did not reply to that ping at 8PM when you weren’t oncall? And when we reach the worst case, let’s challenge what it means. Examples:
- I will not get a promotion — Challenge: in a lot of tech companies nowadays promotions are retroactive. This means you will
- I will get fired — Challenge: Let's do a benefit cost analysis. Let's consider the amount a company uses on recruiting. That is the averaged salary of recruiters, any bonuses they receive per headcount, time spent in screening and doing interviews that fail for that position, and then there's the time spent on the employee who does join, that often includes relocation... In other words... a lot. Now would me not replying to this message I got at 8PM cost them more than that... not really... Ok, and even if I do get fired, I am still quite highly employable.
- I will have achieved less — Challenge: there is research to prove working fewer hours can lead to increased productivity, so in the longe term I would be more productive. Even if I am not, why should my productivity define my worth? That is a very capitalist way of thinking.
Now that we've realised the world is not going to end, maybe it's time to employ some self compassion. Your responsibility should be to you and not to a company.
TIP 5: ASK FOR HELP
I touched on this a bit before, but this is something that can help you from falling back onto old habits (of working too much). Especially with lockdown going on when it feels like there’s nothing much to do other than work, it is very easy to just hide away and work. If you have friends or partners, even if they are not physically there, enlist them to help each other to finish work at a reasonable hour. Arrange virtual chats and what not.
