1 00:00:03,440 --> 00:00:06,720 Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:09,360 --> 00:00:15,360 Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. 3 00:00:16,280 --> 00:00:21,440 Speaker 1: Today's tip is to set common hours. If you and 4 00:00:21,480 --> 00:00:24,880 Speaker 1: your team are working from home, all of you can 5 00:00:24,920 --> 00:00:27,479 Speaker 1: have a lot more scheduled flexibility than you could in 6 00:00:27,480 --> 00:00:30,920 Speaker 1: the past, but you probably still need to do some 7 00:00:30,960 --> 00:00:35,440 Speaker 1: work together in real time. By setting a few common 8 00:00:35,520 --> 00:00:39,400 Speaker 1: hours and then letting the rest be more flexible, you 9 00:00:39,440 --> 00:00:47,560 Speaker 1: can get the best of both worlds, cohesion and freedom. 10 00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:50,240 Speaker 1: Many folks have been working from home for a full 11 00:00:50,560 --> 00:00:54,200 Speaker 1: year now in the wake of the coronavirus. Working from 12 00:00:54,200 --> 00:00:57,360 Speaker 1: home is a skill, and fortunately in a year's time 13 00:00:57,720 --> 00:01:00,320 Speaker 1: we've gotten a lot better at it, but there is 14 00:01:00,360 --> 00:01:05,399 Speaker 1: always room for improvement. One of the biggest challenges is 15 00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:09,760 Speaker 1: figuring out how to still work closely as a team. 16 00:01:09,800 --> 00:01:13,000 Speaker 1: In the beginning of COVID, many companies were requiring people 17 00:01:13,040 --> 00:01:17,480 Speaker 1: to check in precisely at nine am. Oddly enough, many 18 00:01:17,520 --> 00:01:21,120 Speaker 1: of these places didn't require people to check out precisely 19 00:01:21,240 --> 00:01:24,479 Speaker 1: at five pm. You don't really need to think too 20 00:01:24,520 --> 00:01:28,319 Speaker 1: hard to figure that one out. Fortunately, most people are 21 00:01:28,360 --> 00:01:31,480 Speaker 1: moving away from strict time guidelines like that, which is 22 00:01:31,480 --> 00:01:35,160 Speaker 1: good because one of the major upsides of working from 23 00:01:35,160 --> 00:01:39,319 Speaker 1: home is the freedom to set your own schedule. If 24 00:01:39,360 --> 00:01:41,399 Speaker 1: you work best early in the morning and then want 25 00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:43,760 Speaker 1: to take a long midday break to go for a 26 00:01:43,840 --> 00:01:46,440 Speaker 1: run or take a nap, and then work some more 27 00:01:46,440 --> 00:01:48,600 Speaker 1: in the afternoon, well this is hard to pull off 28 00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:51,880 Speaker 1: if you are commuting somewhere. If you're working from home, 29 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:57,960 Speaker 1: well why not. Some people are useless before ten am, 30 00:01:58,080 --> 00:02:01,640 Speaker 1: Yet office culture has long dick tated showing up and 31 00:02:01,720 --> 00:02:05,960 Speaker 1: pretending to be bright eyed and bushey tailed at eight am. 32 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:10,560 Speaker 1: Without a commute, you can escape most of this. Of course, 33 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:12,920 Speaker 1: none of this changes that we do need to work 34 00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:18,640 Speaker 1: closely with our colleagues. Email is an extraordinarily inefficient method 35 00:02:18,840 --> 00:02:22,680 Speaker 1: for close collaboration because it drives people to check email 36 00:02:22,760 --> 00:02:26,360 Speaker 1: constantly and never do anything else. Yet, when we are 37 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:28,280 Speaker 1: staffed in teams, we do want to know that we 38 00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:32,040 Speaker 1: can reach people and get a swift response. The solution 39 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:37,120 Speaker 1: set common hours. Teams that do this well set some 40 00:02:37,200 --> 00:02:39,840 Speaker 1: sort of core hours like eleven am to three pm, 41 00:02:39,919 --> 00:02:42,040 Speaker 1: or maybe ten am to two pm, or maybe even 42 00:02:42,080 --> 00:02:44,440 Speaker 1: noon to four pm Eastern time. If there's a large 43 00:02:44,480 --> 00:02:46,720 Speaker 1: contingent on the West coast that then needs to clock 44 00:02:46,760 --> 00:02:50,280 Speaker 1: in from nine to one. The point is that everyone 45 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:54,000 Speaker 1: agrees to be available during these times for near real 46 00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:59,040 Speaker 1: time collaboration. You can call, you can video chat. I 47 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:01,720 Speaker 1: guess you can email, although it's still a horrible medium 48 00:03:01,720 --> 00:03:04,800 Speaker 1: for that sort of thing. Anyway, you know that you 49 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:09,560 Speaker 1: are all on together during these hours, and then for 50 00:03:09,600 --> 00:03:12,280 Speaker 1: the rest of the work day, people can choose whatever 51 00:03:12,360 --> 00:03:15,520 Speaker 1: works best for them. Some folks might want to get 52 00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:18,280 Speaker 1: up early and work from five am to nine am, 53 00:03:18,440 --> 00:03:21,280 Speaker 1: sign off until the eleven am start of common hours, 54 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:25,200 Speaker 1: work until three pm, and then be done for the day. 55 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:28,639 Speaker 1: Some night owl types might start at eleven am with 56 00:03:28,680 --> 00:03:30,960 Speaker 1: the common hours and then do their other four hours 57 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:34,720 Speaker 1: from eight pm to midnight. The upside of this is 58 00:03:34,760 --> 00:03:37,280 Speaker 1: that when you know there are hours you can reach 59 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:42,000 Speaker 1: your colleagues, then nobody needs to be pinging people during 60 00:03:42,360 --> 00:03:46,560 Speaker 1: non core hours, and that means you can really focus 61 00:03:46,680 --> 00:03:51,080 Speaker 1: on your individual deliverables without checking Slack or email every 62 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:55,240 Speaker 1: six minutes. Such core hours could also work well for 63 00:03:55,320 --> 00:03:58,800 Speaker 1: families that are sharing childcare these days. If you can 64 00:03:58,880 --> 00:04:01,520 Speaker 1: arrange for different party is to have different core hours 65 00:04:01,520 --> 00:04:04,000 Speaker 1: than you can cover for each other and do the 66 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:08,720 Speaker 1: flexible hours whenever it happens to work for your family. Now. 67 00:04:08,760 --> 00:04:12,440 Speaker 1: Of course, there will always be emergencies outside of core hours, 68 00:04:13,080 --> 00:04:16,080 Speaker 1: and sometimes people won't be able to be available during 69 00:04:16,120 --> 00:04:20,680 Speaker 1: core hours. Developing a culture where you only contact people 70 00:04:20,760 --> 00:04:25,039 Speaker 1: during certain hours is really tough. It requires advanced planning 71 00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:27,800 Speaker 1: and making sure when you are about to sign off 72 00:04:27,839 --> 00:04:30,760 Speaker 1: from your core hours that you have whatever you need 73 00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:34,400 Speaker 1: until the next day. I note that if you are 74 00:04:34,480 --> 00:04:38,040 Speaker 1: a manager, you also need to trust that your employees 75 00:04:38,080 --> 00:04:40,880 Speaker 1: will log the other half of the work day, even 76 00:04:40,920 --> 00:04:45,400 Speaker 1: if you are not actively observing it happened. However, I 77 00:04:45,400 --> 00:04:47,920 Speaker 1: am guessing that you didn't hire people who are trying 78 00:04:47,960 --> 00:04:50,800 Speaker 1: to slack off on the job. And if you can 79 00:04:50,839 --> 00:04:53,880 Speaker 1: make the core hours concept work, you'll be able to 80 00:04:53,920 --> 00:04:58,400 Speaker 1: work together closely and enjoy the flexibility inherent in working 81 00:04:58,440 --> 00:05:01,560 Speaker 1: from home. You might be so thrilled with the results 82 00:05:01,560 --> 00:05:04,719 Speaker 1: that you'll keep working this way even when you can 83 00:05:05,040 --> 00:05:08,719 Speaker 1: go back to the office. After all, being together forty 84 00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:13,279 Speaker 1: hours a week is probably overkill. People need time to 85 00:05:13,360 --> 00:05:16,280 Speaker 1: do their own work too, and it's best if they 86 00:05:16,279 --> 00:05:22,520 Speaker 1: can do it whenever they work best. So today, think 87 00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:25,800 Speaker 1: about whether the core hours concept might work for you 88 00:05:25,960 --> 00:05:30,160 Speaker 1: and your team. Which hours would work, and if you 89 00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:32,359 Speaker 1: have something like this running right now, I'd love to 90 00:05:32,360 --> 00:05:36,080 Speaker 1: hear about it. You can reach me at Laura at 91 00:05:36,160 --> 00:05:41,559 Speaker 1: Laura Vanderkam dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura. 92 00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:46,159 Speaker 1: Thanks for listening and here's to making the most of 93 00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:55,839 Speaker 1: our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you. 94 00:05:55,839 --> 00:05:58,719 Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else. 95 00:05:59,480 --> 00:06:03,040 Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at 96 00:06:03,080 --> 00:06:08,600 Speaker 1: Before Breakfast Pod. That's B the number four, then Breakfast 97 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:11,760 Speaker 1: p o D. You can also shoot me an email 98 00:06:11,800 --> 00:06:15,640 Speaker 1: at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media dot com. 99 00:06:15,680 --> 00:06:18,200 Speaker 1: That Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters. 100 00:06:18,800 --> 00:06:20,880 Speaker 1: Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch. 101 00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:29,839 Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of I Heart Radio. For 102 00:06:29,920 --> 00:06:32,960 Speaker 1: more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i heart 103 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:36,400 Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 104 00:06:36,400 --> 00:06:37,120 Speaker 1: favorite shows.