1 00:00:03,440 --> 00:00:07,560 Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:09,320 --> 00:00:15,280 Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. 3 00:00:16,320 --> 00:00:21,640 Speaker 1: Today's tip is to get your hybrid schedule right. Lots 4 00:00:21,680 --> 00:00:25,840 Speaker 1: of organizations are moving people back into physical offices at 5 00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:28,600 Speaker 1: least part of the time, but there is a lot 6 00:00:28,640 --> 00:00:33,080 Speaker 1: more flexibility now than in the past, so this can 7 00:00:33,120 --> 00:00:37,080 Speaker 1: be a great opportunity to consider how you work best 8 00:00:37,960 --> 00:00:42,680 Speaker 1: and what might make your work life balance possible. This 9 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:45,720 Speaker 1: episode was inspired by a question I am getting a 10 00:00:45,800 --> 00:00:49,919 Speaker 1: lot these days. People note that their organizations want them 11 00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:52,280 Speaker 1: to work in the office three days per week and 12 00:00:52,360 --> 00:00:56,920 Speaker 1: at home two days per week. So which days would 13 00:00:56,920 --> 00:01:00,400 Speaker 1: they like to work from home? On some lovel this 14 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:04,920 Speaker 1: isn't quite the right question. True flexibility means working from 15 00:01:04,959 --> 00:01:08,040 Speaker 1: home when it works best for you, which could change 16 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:12,040 Speaker 1: week to week. This week, your kid has a special 17 00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:15,160 Speaker 1: lunch at school on Wednesday, so it would be good 18 00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:18,080 Speaker 1: to work from home that day so you can dart 19 00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:22,280 Speaker 1: over and back without losing too much work time. Or 20 00:01:22,280 --> 00:01:24,560 Speaker 1: maybe you look at the traffic Tuesday morning and see 21 00:01:24,600 --> 00:01:27,120 Speaker 1: that there's a gigantic snarl on the bridge you have 22 00:01:27,200 --> 00:01:30,399 Speaker 1: to take to get to the office. Rather than sit 23 00:01:30,480 --> 00:01:33,960 Speaker 1: in a solid hour of traffic, you decide that that 24 00:01:34,520 --> 00:01:38,319 Speaker 1: is a good day to work from home. But I 25 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:40,920 Speaker 1: know a lot of teams like to coordinate in office 26 00:01:40,959 --> 00:01:44,360 Speaker 1: coverage or when would be best for meetings, and many 27 00:01:44,440 --> 00:01:47,360 Speaker 1: people like to create a weekly rhythm that they can 28 00:01:47,400 --> 00:01:52,640 Speaker 1: plan on, so I understand the impulse to designate which 29 00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:56,440 Speaker 1: days will be work from home days. That just leaves 30 00:01:56,440 --> 00:02:02,639 Speaker 1: the question which days. My first bit of advice, don't 31 00:02:03,120 --> 00:02:08,960 Speaker 1: automatically pick Fridays. This is probably the most common choice 32 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:12,280 Speaker 1: and pre pandemic. It was basically the only day many 33 00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:15,760 Speaker 1: places would allow people to work from home. But Friday 34 00:02:15,840 --> 00:02:19,840 Speaker 1: tends to end earlier anyways, so if it helps your 35 00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:23,560 Speaker 1: work life balance to be home earlier, you will automatically 36 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:27,760 Speaker 1: do that on Fridays. You want to find different days 37 00:02:28,120 --> 00:02:32,200 Speaker 1: where your work life balance could be improved. If you've 38 00:02:32,240 --> 00:02:35,640 Speaker 1: got an awful commute, my choice would be to work 39 00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:40,320 Speaker 1: from home on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This can make a 40 00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:43,920 Speaker 1: bad commute more bearable because you never have to do 41 00:02:43,960 --> 00:02:48,440 Speaker 1: it twice in a row. If you have trouble concentrating 42 00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:51,320 Speaker 1: in the office, my vote would be Wednesdays and Thursdays. 43 00:02:52,080 --> 00:02:55,680 Speaker 1: You can schedule your meetings for Mondays and Tuesdays and 44 00:02:55,720 --> 00:03:00,160 Speaker 1: have social time. Then on Wednesdays and Thursdays you can 45 00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:03,360 Speaker 1: hunker down and work from home on your individual deliverables. 46 00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:08,080 Speaker 1: And of course Friday is the slow day with lots 47 00:03:08,120 --> 00:03:11,400 Speaker 1: of other people working from home, then you can probably 48 00:03:11,440 --> 00:03:17,200 Speaker 1: concentrate in the office. Brilliant. If you are experimenting with 49 00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:20,320 Speaker 1: living far from your office, not just a long commute, 50 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:22,679 Speaker 1: but maybe you have a weekend house or something like that, 51 00:03:23,440 --> 00:03:26,840 Speaker 1: then I'd recommend choosing two consecutive days to work from 52 00:03:26,919 --> 00:03:32,280 Speaker 1: home wherever that home happens to be the most obvious choices. 53 00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:36,440 Speaker 1: Thursday and Friday. You can head out Wednesday night if 54 00:03:36,440 --> 00:03:40,880 Speaker 1: that works for your family's schedule, and head back sometime Sunday. 55 00:03:41,520 --> 00:03:44,920 Speaker 1: The alternative is to use Monday and Tuesday as work 56 00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:49,280 Speaker 1: from home days. I kind of love this idea because honestly, 57 00:03:49,320 --> 00:03:52,400 Speaker 1: I think working from home is more productive than working 58 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:55,680 Speaker 1: in most offices, but I know it might be hard 59 00:03:55,720 --> 00:03:59,320 Speaker 1: to pull off in many places. Monday and Tuesday do 60 00:03:59,480 --> 00:04:01,960 Speaker 1: tend to be the kickoff days for many projects, and 61 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:04,800 Speaker 1: those do tend to be the big meeting days, so 62 00:04:04,920 --> 00:04:08,240 Speaker 1: that is something to keep in mind. One idea to 63 00:04:08,240 --> 00:04:11,800 Speaker 1: put out there is to shift hours even on the 64 00:04:11,880 --> 00:04:14,920 Speaker 1: days you do go into the office. There is no 65 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:18,720 Speaker 1: law that says those hours have to be nine to five, 66 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:22,800 Speaker 1: as we have seen during the pandemic. If the work 67 00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:27,440 Speaker 1: gets done, when it gets done and where it gets 68 00:04:27,480 --> 00:04:31,719 Speaker 1: done are not quite so relevant. So if your organization 69 00:04:31,800 --> 00:04:35,159 Speaker 1: has pledged to be more flexible and you would really 70 00:04:35,200 --> 00:04:38,359 Speaker 1: prefer to work early, you might see about doing a 71 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:41,680 Speaker 1: schedule of say seven to three or even six to two. 72 00:04:42,560 --> 00:04:45,080 Speaker 1: If you are more of a night owl, perhaps ten 73 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:47,840 Speaker 1: to six or eleven to seven would allow you to 74 00:04:47,880 --> 00:04:51,919 Speaker 1: be more productive. Plus, if people stagger their commutes, the 75 00:04:52,040 --> 00:04:56,120 Speaker 1: roads will be better for everyone. In any case, think 76 00:04:56,160 --> 00:04:59,760 Speaker 1: about how you work best, what days you tend to do, 77 00:04:59,800 --> 00:05:02,560 Speaker 1: what kind of work, and what the rest of your 78 00:05:02,600 --> 00:05:07,200 Speaker 1: life looks like. Then think about how a hybrid schedule 79 00:05:07,320 --> 00:05:11,040 Speaker 1: can best support all that. My hope is that there 80 00:05:11,040 --> 00:05:14,560 Speaker 1: will be a lot more happy people when fewer organizations 81 00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:17,200 Speaker 1: are demanding people be in their desks from nine to 82 00:05:17,320 --> 00:05:20,560 Speaker 1: five Monday to Friday. We have seen in the last 83 00:05:20,640 --> 00:05:24,400 Speaker 1: year that this isn't absolutely necessary for most knowledge work. 84 00:05:25,400 --> 00:05:29,480 Speaker 1: Let's keep those lessons to create a better way of 85 00:05:29,480 --> 00:05:35,960 Speaker 1: working moving forward. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks 86 00:05:35,960 --> 00:05:47,279 Speaker 1: for listening and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody, 87 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:49,599 Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me 88 00:05:49,640 --> 00:05:53,279 Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with 89 00:05:53,320 --> 00:05:57,720 Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod. 90 00:05:58,400 --> 00:06:02,760 Speaker 1: That's b E the number before then Breakfast p o D. 91 00:06:03,600 --> 00:06:06,440 Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast 92 00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:10,400 Speaker 1: podcast at iHeartMedia dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled 93 00:06:10,440 --> 00:06:13,080 Speaker 1: out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look 94 00:06:13,080 --> 00:06:21,440 Speaker 1: forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production 95 00:06:21,480 --> 00:06:24,919 Speaker 1: of I heart Radio. 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