WEBVTT - Get your hybrid schedule right

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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<v Speaker 1>Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's tip is to get your hybrid schedule right. Lots

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<v Speaker 1>of organizations are moving people back into physical offices at

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<v Speaker 1>least part of the time, but there is a lot

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<v Speaker 1>more flexibility now than in the past, so this can

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<v Speaker 1>be a great opportunity to consider how you work best

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<v Speaker 1>and what might make your work life balance possible. This

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<v Speaker 1>episode was inspired by a question I am getting a

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<v Speaker 1>lot these days. People note that their organizations want them

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<v Speaker 1>to work in the office three days per week and

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<v Speaker 1>at home two days per week. So which days would

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<v Speaker 1>they like to work from home? On some lovel this

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<v Speaker 1>isn't quite the right question. True flexibility means working from

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<v Speaker 1>home when it works best for you, which could change

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<v Speaker 1>week to week. This week, your kid has a special

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<v Speaker 1>lunch at school on Wednesday, so it would be good

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<v Speaker 1>to work from home that day so you can dart

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<v Speaker 1>over and back without losing too much work time. Or

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<v Speaker 1>maybe you look at the traffic Tuesday morning and see

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<v Speaker 1>that there's a gigantic snarl on the bridge you have

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<v Speaker 1>to take to get to the office. Rather than sit

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<v Speaker 1>in a solid hour of traffic, you decide that that

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<v Speaker 1>is a good day to work from home. But I

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<v Speaker 1>know a lot of teams like to coordinate in office

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<v Speaker 1>coverage or when would be best for meetings, and many

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<v Speaker 1>people like to create a weekly rhythm that they can

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<v Speaker 1>plan on, so I understand the impulse to designate which

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<v Speaker 1>days will be work from home days. That just leaves

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<v Speaker 1>the question which days. My first bit of advice, don't

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<v Speaker 1>automatically pick Fridays. This is probably the most common choice

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<v Speaker 1>and pre pandemic. It was basically the only day many

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<v Speaker 1>places would allow people to work from home. But Friday

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<v Speaker 1>tends to end earlier anyways, so if it helps your

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<v Speaker 1>work life balance to be home earlier, you will automatically

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<v Speaker 1>do that on Fridays. You want to find different days

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<v Speaker 1>where your work life balance could be improved. If you've

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<v Speaker 1>got an awful commute, my choice would be to work

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<v Speaker 1>from home on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This can make a

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<v Speaker 1>bad commute more bearable because you never have to do

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<v Speaker 1>it twice in a row. If you have trouble concentrating

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<v Speaker 1>in the office, my vote would be Wednesdays and Thursdays.

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<v Speaker 1>You can schedule your meetings for Mondays and Tuesdays and

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<v Speaker 1>have social time. Then on Wednesdays and Thursdays you can

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<v Speaker 1>hunker down and work from home on your individual deliverables.

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<v Speaker 1>And of course Friday is the slow day with lots

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<v Speaker 1>of other people working from home, then you can probably

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<v Speaker 1>concentrate in the office. Brilliant. If you are experimenting with

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<v Speaker 1>living far from your office, not just a long commute,

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<v Speaker 1>but maybe you have a weekend house or something like that,

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<v Speaker 1>then I'd recommend choosing two consecutive days to work from

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<v Speaker 1>home wherever that home happens to be the most obvious choices.

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<v Speaker 1>Thursday and Friday. You can head out Wednesday night if

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<v Speaker 1>that works for your family's schedule, and head back sometime Sunday.

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<v Speaker 1>The alternative is to use Monday and Tuesday as work

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<v Speaker 1>from home days. I kind of love this idea because honestly,

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<v Speaker 1>I think working from home is more productive than working

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<v Speaker 1>in most offices, but I know it might be hard

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<v Speaker 1>to pull off in many places. Monday and Tuesday do

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<v Speaker 1>tend to be the kickoff days for many projects, and

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<v Speaker 1>those do tend to be the big meeting days, so

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<v Speaker 1>that is something to keep in mind. One idea to

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<v Speaker 1>put out there is to shift hours even on the

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<v Speaker 1>days you do go into the office. There is no

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<v Speaker 1>law that says those hours have to be nine to five,

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<v Speaker 1>as we have seen during the pandemic. If the work

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<v Speaker 1>gets done, when it gets done and where it gets

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<v Speaker 1>done are not quite so relevant. So if your organization

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<v Speaker 1>has pledged to be more flexible and you would really

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<v Speaker 1>prefer to work early, you might see about doing a

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<v Speaker 1>schedule of say seven to three or even six to two.

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<v Speaker 1>If you are more of a night owl, perhaps ten

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<v Speaker 1>to six or eleven to seven would allow you to

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<v Speaker 1>be more productive. Plus, if people stagger their commutes, the

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<v Speaker 1>roads will be better for everyone. In any case, think

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<v Speaker 1>about how you work best, what days you tend to do,

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<v Speaker 1>what kind of work, and what the rest of your

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<v Speaker 1>life looks like. Then think about how a hybrid schedule

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<v Speaker 1>can best support all that. My hope is that there

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<v Speaker 1>will be a lot more happy people when fewer organizations

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<v Speaker 1>are demanding people be in their desks from nine to

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<v Speaker 1>five Monday to Friday. We have seen in the last

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<v Speaker 1>year that this isn't absolutely necessary for most knowledge work.

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<v Speaker 1>Let's keep those lessons to create a better way of

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<v Speaker 1>working moving forward. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks

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<v Speaker 1>for listening and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

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<v Speaker 1>I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

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<v Speaker 1>your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

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<v Speaker 1>me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod.

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<v Speaker 1>That's b E the number before then Breakfast p o D.

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<v Speaker 1>You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

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<v Speaker 1>podcast at iHeartMedia dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled

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<v Speaker 1>out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look

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<v Speaker 1>forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production

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<v Speaker 1>of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio,

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