The New Corner Office: The remote worker is in

Be more effective with semi-regular hours

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the New Corner Office,
the podcast where we share strategies for thriving in the
new world of war, where location and hours are more
flexible than in the past. Today's tip is to keep
semi regular hours when the people you work with and

(00:26):
the people you live with now roughly when you're working
and when you're not. This allows you to be more
effective at work and at home. Since many organizations had
to move everyone to virtual work basically overnight, a lot
of organizations simply kept their standard work hours. If you'd
normally be expected to be in the office at nine, well,

(00:47):
your boss might start sending chatty slack messages at nine
just to make sure you're there. It's understandable, but long term,
one of the biggest upsides of remote work is that
people can establish a rhythm that works best for them.
A team could set core hours of say, tend to two,
but then allow people to choose their other hours around that.

(01:08):
Someone who's generally useless before ten in the morning could
work until six or seven at night, whereas an early
bird could start at six in the morning. But whether
you start at ten or at six aiming to work
roughly the same hours each day enables your colleagues to
work with your schedule. If they know you're on at
six am, but that you and your partner trade off

(01:31):
childcare and you have a toddler on your lap at
three pm, they'll know that matters requiring focus are best
handled early. If you almost always work from six to
eight am, before the household gets up, a night owl
colleague will know that anything he sends to you at
one am will be responded to by the time he's
back at his desk. When we know each other's rhythms,

(01:53):
we can seize convenient opportunities for real time interactions, and
we can be strategic about the times we the baton
uncollaborative work. Of course, for your colleagues to work with
your schedule, they have to know your schedule, so tell them,
don't just assume they'll notice. This is particularly important for

(02:13):
people who are covering childcare duties. You might say, I'm
generally at my desk from seven a m. Till noon,
and then on kid duty till bedtime. Then I'll log
back on for an hour or so around eight, or
if you're home with children's solo, communicate the times when
you'll be available to your colleagues, even if that's non
traditional hours like early morning, after the kid's bedtime and naptime.

(02:37):
Try not to feel too self conscious. It's much better
to acknowledge your time constraints and make a plan for
doing your job anyway, rather than say nothing and have
your colleagues feel like you're a wall without understanding why.
Keeping fairly regular hours helps on the home front too.
If your kids know that you'll have lunch with them

(02:58):
and that you'll play outside together from three till four,
then they'll be more patient unless demanding of your attention
while you're working at other times. Even if you've only
got adults in the household, this transparency can keep everyone happy.
You won't make the mistake of popping into chat at
a time when your partner, your roommates, or your adult

(03:18):
children really want to focus. Of course, not every day.
We'll fit the template, and that's okay. If a major
client or a coworker in a different time zone needs
to meet at a time when you're generally on kid duty,
well hopefully you and your partner can trade off. If
you want to make an early morning grocery run every
other Friday, to avoid the weekend crowds, or shut your

(03:39):
laptop earlier than usual On a nice afternoon, you can
just make up the time earlier or later. After all,
part of the appeal of remote work is more flexibility.
So today, think about what you'd like your regular hours
to be. Talk with your colleagues and family members about
what might work for everyone. Then you can start planning

(04:02):
your days to be effective at work and at home.
In the meantime, This is Laura, thanks for listening, and
here's the succeeding in the New Corner Office. The New
Corner Office is a production of I Heart Radio. For
more podcasts, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

(04:25):
or wherever you get your favorite shows.