NICOLE KOBIE
That smartphone isn’t a tether to work – it’s freedom. So put down your phone and do something more interesting instead
That smartphone isn’t a tether to work – it’s freedom. So put down your phone, take a break and do something more interesting instead.
The government wants so-called “knowledge workers” to go back to the office. After all, if you don’t leave your house, it’ll ruin all those shops you used to buy unsatisfying sandwiches from to devour hunched over your keyboard.
Now, I love Pret as much as anyone else, but there’s only one reason you should return to the office: because you want to. Forget what the prime minister wants, what your boss demands or the pressure from your colleagues – if you want to work from home, you’ve spent the past several months proving you can.
Surveys suggest that’s what we’re doing. Footfall figures from the New West End Company showed that the number of people in Central London was down by 68% in August versus the same time last year, according to the
Financial Times. That makes sense, as a survey by ManpowerGroup showed Brits were the least positive about returning to the office in Europe, tied only with the US on negative feelings about returning to the commute.
And no wonder. Pandemic aside – if you can set aside all of that for a moment – the combination of computing and the internet means that we can work anywhere, anytime and can do so productively. It’s time we took proper advantage of the machines we spend all day staring at.
The promise of mechanisation was always supposed to be easier work – and less of it. There’s an oft-quoted prediction from John Maynard Keynes that by now we would be working 15-hour weeks, spending the rest of our time in leisure pursuits. In fact, working hours have fallen, from 48 hours on average in 1952 to about 39 now, but we’re still spending the bulk of our daylight hours in paid labour.
What’s more, that statistic doesn’t include the extra hours we put in on phones and collaboration software. We check work emails on our phones the moment we wake, swipe away Slack notifications while cooking our lunch, and work well past finishing time as we no longer commute. Here’s a fun idea for new homeworkers: track your day. Every time you do anything for work, be it look at your phone for a notification or read an email out of hours, note it down. You’re probably working more than you should – and more than you’re paid to do.
This is bonkers. We need a four-day week, led from the top, be that government, large corporations or thought-leaders at small businesses. Computing and connectivity are eating up our time. We should use them to fight back.
Think about what you would do with an extra day every week: learn a new skill, do some DIY, spend time with the kids – or just go to the pub. A single day a week could reboot our communities, help reconnect families, and boost the economy – after all, a day off to do more likely means spending more.
That’s all well and good, but firing up the economy isn’t what any of us are here to do, Rishi Sunak aside. The productivity gains from computing should mean more for everyone, not just companies and their bottom lines. A smartphone should give us freedom to leave the home office and go for a walk, to the shops, or wherever else while still keeping in touch in case anyone needs you. Collaboration tools should let us work anywhere, rather than pinning us down to a desk in working hours. And they do, if we let them.
Bosses can and should lead on this. If you manage staff, be clear about what you need from them and when, and then let them get on with it. Don’t micromanage. Create a culture where only important emails need immediate replies and where everyone lends a hand to meet a pressing deadline, but feels secure enough to take a break.
One way to do that is to give them a day off, like a DIY fourday week. That could be a day completely clear of work, but it also could be a light work day, where staff are on call for important questions but have no meetings, letting them catch up on admin, focus on creative tasks – or take a long lunch.
For staff waiting for leadership to catch up on this idea of a four-day work week or a meeting-free Friday, stop waiting and make your own. You’ve taken back control of where you work by not returning to the office – now it’s time to grab your time back and control when you work. When you have a pressing deadline, get on with it. But if a task can wait for later, and the children want attention or it’s sunny outside, let it wait. Taking a break can spark creativity and productivity – that’s what we’ll tell the bosses. But having a nice life is a good reason too.
Every time you do anything for work, note it down. You’re probably working more than you should – and more than you’re paid to do
Collaboration tools should let us work anywhere, rather than pinning us down to a desk in working hours. And they do, if we let them