Working from home has been challenging during the last few months but one of the biggest benefits has been savings in terms of time spent commuting. Commuting to and from office is rare today and this has led to tremendous savings of one of the most important fand precious actors we lacked in our daily life, namely time.
Despite the staggering savings in time, most have struggled to do what they always wanted to do and claimed they did not have time for. The additional available time, it has been, is wasted on unproductive work and unsatisfying leisure activities. having more time does not mean we are using it wisely.
Lesson #1: Working from home or living at work
Without an office to go to, the separation from office and home has become blurred. Though there is universal agreement that commuting is stressful and one of the most undesired segments of the day, having no commute also causes problems.
People struggle to switch between the office and home when they are working from home whereas when commuting to the office, it gives a person to switch between the office and home as required. Instead of shutting down office work in the evening, employees continue to work, stretching the hours they work and they find this additional time is not spent productively.
Also, employees find themselves stuck in more remote meetings, doing too much agenda-setting, filling their time with unproductive work and not much time on creative collaboration.
Lesson #2: Saving time or wasting time?
The additional time gained is often not utilised wisely. The passive activities like watching TV, movies etc., increased while the active time like volunteering, socialising decreased. The lockdown and social distancing have made many active leisure activities challenging but there are many creative ways of pursuing creative leisures which should be followed up.
Several strategies can help structure the workday to demarcate work and home.
- Create own commute - Commuting helps you get into work-mode especially during workdays. When working remotely take time to transition to work-mode like plan your day, take a short walk.
- Give yourself a Feierabend - Find a ritual to mark the end of a workday like having a beverage, cycling, going for a run, have a snack, call a friend etc., These rituals help you to transition out of work.
- Focus your workload as a daily must win - Your to-do list is always too long. (How to manage?) To avoid drowning in work, identify one must-win for the day - no matter what- and complete it. The resulting sense of happiness is likely to have a significant impact on your success
- Put proactive time on your calendar - protect your calendar by carving out time when you are not available, which is utilised for work that is very important but not urgent. Turn off all distractions, focus on specific tasks and help you do effective work and not only your next deadline and getting bogged down with trivial work.
- Reclaim social in social distancing - Use your free time to connect with people., start exercising, volunteering. Be proactive and schedule active leisure activities after work. This can be informal social interactions boosting well-being. Maximise social time by combining it with other pursuits, involve others which make you stick to your goals. Build your social flow into your workday.
- Run time management experiments - Even after the lockdown is lifted, continue the time management schedules that you have developed during the lockdown and implement it in your daily life.
Shifting to work from home as a permanent way could save billions of dollars and save the environment and it is up to the individual to utilise the time saved. Make thoughtful choices of how we reshape work to get what we most crave for: time.
How to (Actually) Save Time When You’re Working Remotely
by Lauren C. Howe, Ashley Whillans and Jochen I. Menges
HBR August 24, 2020
Comments
Post a Comment