Speaker 1: Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the New Corner Office,
Speaker 1: the podcast where we share strategies for thriving in the
Speaker 1: new world of war, where location and hours are more
Speaker 1: flexible than in the past. Today's tip is to keep
Speaker 1: semi regular hours when the people you work with and
Speaker 1: the people you live with now roughly when you're working
Speaker 1: and when you're not. This allows you to be more
Speaker 1: effective at work and at home. Since many organizations had
Speaker 1: to move everyone to virtual work basically overnight, a lot
Speaker 1: of organizations simply kept their standard work hours. If you'd
Speaker 1: normally be expected to be in the office at nine, well,
Speaker 1: your boss might start sending chatty slack messages at nine
Speaker 1: just to make sure you're there. It's understandable, but long term,
Speaker 1: one of the biggest upsides of remote work is that
Speaker 1: people can establish a rhythm that works best for them.
Speaker 1: A team could set core hours of say, tend to two,
Speaker 1: but then allow people to choose their other hours around that.
Speaker 1: Someone who's generally useless before ten in the morning could
Speaker 1: work until six or seven at night, whereas an early
Speaker 1: bird could start at six in the morning. But whether
Speaker 1: you start at ten or at six aiming to work
Speaker 1: roughly the same hours each day enables your colleagues to
Speaker 1: work with your schedule. If they know you're on at
Speaker 1: six am, but that you and your partner trade off
Speaker 1: childcare and you have a toddler on your lap at
Speaker 1: three pm, they'll know that matters requiring focus are best
Speaker 1: handled early. If you almost always work from six to
Speaker 1: eight am, before the household gets up, a night owl
Speaker 1: colleague will know that anything he sends to you at
Speaker 1: one am will be responded to by the time he's
Speaker 1: back at his desk. When we know each other's rhythms,
Speaker 1: we can seize convenient opportunities for real time interactions, and
Speaker 1: we can be strategic about the times we the baton
Speaker 1: uncollaborative work. Of course, for your colleagues to work with
Speaker 1: your schedule, they have to know your schedule, so tell them,
Speaker 1: don't just assume they'll notice. This is particularly important for
Speaker 1: people who are covering childcare duties. You might say, I'm
Speaker 1: generally at my desk from seven a m. Till noon,
Speaker 1: and then on kid duty till bedtime. Then I'll log
Speaker 1: back on for an hour or so around eight, or
Speaker 1: if you're home with children's solo, communicate the times when
Speaker 1: you'll be available to your colleagues, even if that's non
Speaker 1: traditional hours like early morning, after the kid's bedtime and naptime.
Speaker 1: Try not to feel too self conscious. It's much better
Speaker 1: to acknowledge your time constraints and make a plan for
Speaker 1: doing your job anyway, rather than say nothing and have
Speaker 1: your colleagues feel like you're a wall without understanding why.
Speaker 1: Keeping fairly regular hours helps on the home front too.
Speaker 1: If your kids know that you'll have lunch with them
Speaker 1: and that you'll play outside together from three till four,
Speaker 1: then they'll be more patient unless demanding of your attention
Speaker 1: while you're working at other times. Even if you've only
Speaker 1: got adults in the household, this transparency can keep everyone happy.
Speaker 1: You won't make the mistake of popping into chat at
Speaker 1: a time when your partner, your roommates, or your adult
Speaker 1: children really want to focus. Of course, not every day.
Speaker 1: We'll fit the template, and that's okay. If a major
Speaker 1: client or a coworker in a different time zone needs
Speaker 1: to meet at a time when you're generally on kid duty,
Speaker 1: well hopefully you and your partner can trade off. If
Speaker 1: you want to make an early morning grocery run every
Speaker 1: other Friday, to avoid the weekend crowds, or shut your
Speaker 1: laptop earlier than usual On a nice afternoon, you can
Speaker 1: just make up the time earlier or later. After all,
Speaker 1: part of the appeal of remote work is more flexibility.
Speaker 1: So today, think about what you'd like your regular hours
Speaker 1: to be. Talk with your colleagues and family members about
Speaker 1: what might work for everyone. Then you can start planning
Speaker 1: your days to be effective at work and at home.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, This is Laura, thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's the succeeding in the New Corner Office. The New
Speaker 1: Corner Office is a production of I Heart Radio. For
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Speaker 1: or wherever you get your favorite shows.