In the last few weeks our lives have changed dramatically. Even if you don’t have to or can’t stay at home, so much of the world does and is, that we are all part of this collective shift. And I must say, while there are some elements that scare me, for the most part, I see this as an opportunity to make some dramatic changes that felt completely impossible just a few weeks ago. The barriers were so high, and the momentum so compelling, that nothing short of a global event could have provided the opportunity for dramatic and immediate changes to some of our most basic structures. But now it feels like we have been handed a golden opportunity.
At the moment, just about everyone who’s job can be done from a laptop at home is doing so. Kids around the world are home from school for weeks and in many cases months. We’re taking conference calls at home, with kids and dogs in the house being their uninhibited selves and letting us know when the delivery truck dares to enter our sphere (thanks Cooper). The professional ideal in which we pretend to have no world outside of our office is getting smashed. And I think it’s great.
I’ve been mulling over a post for a while about how much I dislike the term”work-life balance.” It implies that there is a difference between work and life, and it is predicted on a belief that you the person find your own balance on “your time” outside of the increasingly demanding requirements for work and connectedness.
Well, I call bullshit. You are alive and human while working. Your job is not God, The Economy is not God, and Work should not be the primary ruler of our world. Similarly, being a professional should not mean acting like you are a robot in front of colleagues, pretending that you don’t have human needs and a human life, with dependents (plants, pets, kids, spouses, parents, fish, whatever makes your non-work life human), a need for time to exercise, shower, read, and relax. Because we ALL need these things, and the person who doesn’t do something outside of work life is either lying, or is utterly denying their humanity.
So what is the answer? And what does this have to do with trees? Well, the answer is balance, and everything. We are at our most human when we connect with other living beings: people, pets, plants, forests, rivers, birds, fish, insects, fungus. Whatever strikes your fancy, wherever you find beauty and peace, chances are the answer to at least part of that riddle is found in the living world, not the world of work. And what stops us? Mostly time. We are so pressed for time, squeezed between the demands of job and dependents, that finding time to connect to our humanity is difficult at best and impossible for many.
How Do We Find More Time?
To me, the answer to finding balance, or at least giving people a real opportunity to seek and find their own balance, is time. We need to have less pressure to DO, more time to BE. We need opportunity, access, financial stability, and mental space for it. And here is where I see the current COVID-19 outbreak, social distancing, and quarantine practices as an opportunity to catalyze permanent change that benefits all of us.
We are already working and behaving differently (well most of us are). And my dream, my vision, is that we take this opportunity to notice that, perhaps we don’t have to work 60 hours a week, that having more time to spend with family is good for us in every way – including work – and that going outside keeps us sane and in the end makes us better at our work as well.
There have been studies and experiments in which companies kept salaries stable and had employees work 4 days/week instead of 5. Not 4 10 hour days, not 80% pay, but a full day that, by current standards is “paid” without having to work. Pretty much across the board, the results show steady or even increased productivity: that means just as much work and sometimes more, was done in 4 days that used to be done in 5, and employees were happier, more relaxed and felt less stressed.
Why do we insist on demanding that more is more? When we have proof that less is more. People are different, I know that for me personally, 20-25 hours/week is my sweet spot – the amount of time that I’m truly productive and engaged – and anything more is a struggle that drains my energy, my concentration, and my effectiveness. Some people do better with more, or just need more time for certain kinds of tasks. There is no one-size-fits-all approach. But the answer lies in decoupling time for pay. If we pay for the job, not the time, I bet we get better work, happier workers, and most people will also get more time for life outside work.
Think about it. If you got paid to do a task, no matter how long it took, how would your life change? Some tasks would take longer, I bet most would take less time. You might feel free to go for a walk or run an errand instead of procrastinating in front of your computer, which is probably a better use of your time and more effective procrastinating. And you would feel trusted. I’ve had a few people recently tell me things along the lines of “we won’t track time, we’ve got a job to do and we’re all adults, if it’s taking longer we can discuss adjusting compensation.” How refreshing. How liberating. And, indeed, it made me feel like an adult. Also, I probably did a better job because I wasn’t worried about the time it took or if I was blowing the budget on this one task.
As we navigate this global pandemic, it’s a scary time and many people are suffering. Many more will suffer. But out of suffering can come creative solutions, and changed attitudes. I don’t wish suffering on anyone, but I do wish to see a change, and this is the moment.
Let us take this opportunity to re-evaluate how work looks, how compensation is determined, and cut the fat. What do we really need from employees? Is it their butts in chairs for 8 hours/day (stay late if you eat away from your desk), or is it quality, thoughtful, engaged work for, say 5-6 hours/day? Is it sometimes from a home office and sometimes in a collective meeting place? There’s no doubt that in-person meetings are valuable, but they are not always necessary, and demanding that people work at a certain place for a certain number of hours every day is limiting, and likely killing productivity. Do we need to pretend that kids and dogs aren’t home, that we live in a vacuum for 8 hours/day and the rest of the world and our lives don’t exist?
I think not, I think people have better relationships, better engagement, when they know something about each other besides their “professional background, skills, and capabilities.” When you know about the dog, the cat, the ficus, the teenager, you have a human connection, and a desire for mutual support. When you feel that you are treated with respect and confidence, that you will do what needs to be done, even if no one is tracking your time by the minute, seeing you dressed and at your desk, or looking at you across a conference table for every conversation.
This is our time to choose how life looks moving forward. So let us get creative about what work and life are like as we move forward. Let’s take care of each other by letting go of some of the old standards and creating a new world, one where we have time to get out there with the trees (whatever that means for you).
Out There With the Trees 