No more work-life-balance: remote work needs work-life-integration
Is there such a thing as work-life balance? And if it does not exist, does that mean that work gets first dibs as discussed in this twitter thread? And how does it work exactly to differentiate “work” from “life”? Does this imply you aren’t really alive when you are working? Or that work is taking away from your ability to live?
The traditional recommendation to achieve work-life-balance is about boundaries: make sure you enact a proper commute in the morning. Set an alarm in the evening to close down your laptop and go for a run to destress. Do not distract yourself after lunch. Don’t think about work after hours.
The reality is that these recommendations rarely ever work. They ignore our very humanness: you cannot focus consistently over eight hours, and you can’t switch off your brain at a specific time.
Work-life integration: rethinking your boundaries
Those employees who end up working too many hours are very often driven by fear. This is especially true when managers aren't able to give the guidance their employees need. The main question seems to be: When no one sees you working, did you really work? As a result, employees try to overcompensate. They continue working to cover for an energy low after lunch or a project that was understaffed to start with. It feels like you can’t “leave” at the end of the day, if you didn’t show up enough.
The problem is twofold:
Without knowing what exactly is expected, it’s difficult to know when you are truly done for the day.
Without the recognition that not all hours will be equally productive, you’ll always play catchup.
If setting strict time-based boundaries does not work, moving those boundaries around needs to work in both directions. For example, stay longer today and then start later tomorrow. Work after hours, and take a long (guilt-free) lunch break. Set clear goals for the day, and log off when you reach them.
Time-dependent boundaries are perfect when you work from an office. If you work from home, or work from anywhere, you need to look for work-life integration.
Work-life integration in practice
Work-life-integration means that you recognize work as part of your activities. And as you would integrate visiting a friend over the weekend, you can integrate work with your other activities.
What does this look like in real life? Here are some examples from my own experience.
I can relocate to the slightly cooler mountains, or to Germany, during the hottest months of the year.
I can take the kids swimming in the river at lunchtime and finish that report when they are in bed.
I can cook my own fresh food at lunchtime, and have a nap before diving back into work without feeling guilty.
I can go for a run when I need to think through stuff, and I can dive into a book when I need to change perspective for a moment.
I can get a crucial piece of writing done at 5am when inspiration strikes at unruly hours - stopping work at 2pm for a fideuá reservation at a popular outdoor restaurant.
It will mean something different for everyone, because you are different and your needs are different. The promise of remote work is just that: integrating your work into your life instead of having it take over.