The digital, instant nature of how we work means it’s always been difficult to resist the temptation to check our emails or respond to work messages when we’re using our devices during our down time. Furthermore, employees might worry about being seen to be working hard and not ‘holidaying at home’. Many people are concerned over potential redundancies, and remaining indispensable as their organisation is forced to change and adapt. The growth in all day and all night communications, suggests a ‘need to be seen’ is fuelling a 24/7 approach to work. But as the months continue, it’s clear the challenge isn’t just where or how we work – but when. The ‘where’ – finding space at home away from other family members, and the ‘how’ – the pressure to always be contactable, immediately answering emails and jumping from one virtual meeting to the next, are clearly important factors when it comes to some of the potential boundary issues that can arise when working from home. It’s not just where you work – but when: work, non-work and the problematic grey area In a paper on personal resilience and working from home, Professor Kim Turnbull James discusses the difficulties we face in keeping a distinction between our work and non-work time, and outlines the importance of setting boundaries that are tailored to your own individual priorities to avoid the danger of being ‘at work’ 24/7. Between balancing work hours around other commitments such as childcare, a lack of dedicated work space and the instantaneous, demanding nature of our digitalised working practices – it can be all too easy to find ourselves feeling like we’re never truly away from work, which in turn impacts our health, wellbeing and our productivity. The clear divide between work hours and non-work hours has been taken away, and with the recent government advice shifting back to ‘work from home where possible’ it seems we’ll be continuing to work, eat, sleep and play all under one roof. The difficulty is figuring out what kind of leadership we now need.įor many of us, the Covid-19 outbreak in March sparked an almost overnight shift to working predominantly from home. By Kim Turnbull James, Professor of Leadership and Executive LearningĪs we enter these unprecedented times, we are all looking for leadership.
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