DRAW A LINE IN THE SAND
WHAT’S ACCEPTABLE AND WHAT’S NOT WHEN IT COMES TO WORK/LIFE BLEND
THE meaning of “remote work” has been overhauled in the past year.
While the pandemic has encouraged more flexible work arrangements for many employees, it has also raised the question of where to draw the line when it comes to work/life blend.
A survey by human resources and payroll tech company ELMO reveals the sectors most likely to invest in the infrastructure needed to support remote work, and therefore be most likely to have workers doing so.
They are financial and insurance services (76 per cent of HR professionals report this is a priority); and wholesale trade (74 per cent); while administrative and support services, not-for-profit and professional, scientific and technical services come in at 67 per cent.
It is less likely in construction (52 per cent), but project management software company InEight aims to help improve this.
InEight executive vicepresident for Asia Pacific Rob Bryant says the software allows design engineers, consultants, estimators, schedulers and project executives to work from loungerooms and home offices.
“(You can create) an augmented 3D model of the asset where you can have a virtual walk-through … without putting on the hard hat and steelcap boots,” he says.
“There are still, realistically, challenges in working remotely in the construction sector as there are a number of roles that need to be able to visit sites, but with the use of drones and cameras, a lot of that can be done virtually.”
Workplace psychologist Dr Amantha Imber says the work/life blend that comes with remote work has resulted in behaviour changes among workers and employers – both acceptable and nonacceptable ones.
ACCEPTABLE
Imber says working from a hotel room on a tropical island is “100 per cent acceptable”.
“The best companies that thrive in remote work – GitLab, for example – have a ‘work from anywhere’ policy,” the founder of innovation consultancy Inventium says.
She also gives a “resounding yes” to remote workers having children, pets, partners and friends around during work hours.
NOT ACCEPTABLE
Imber – who introduced a four-day work week, allowing staff to take Fridays off while keeping their full-time salary – says it is “absolutely not” acceptable for bosses to expect email responses at all hours, taking advantage of employees’ work/life blend.
“They shouldn’t expect instant responses during work hours, either, because it encourages people to be tuned in to digital distractions like email and it hurts productivity,” she says.
Imber says studying or running a side hustle during work hours is also not acceptable.
IT DEPENDS …
For some workers, it is OK to log in whenever it suits their schedule.
“If you are a solo worker that doesn’t need to interact with anyone and no one in the organisation needs to interact with you in a real-time way, that is perfectly acceptable, but those roles are few and far between,” Imber says.
Another grey area is whether it is OK for remote workers to use only audio in video meetings.
“It’s disconcerting if you are facilitating a meeting and half the people are only on audio; it can be hard to read the room and get the best outcome during that session,” she says.