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Separating Hybrid Mindsets
Remote work is an interesting case study because it’s one of the most disruptive changes that knowledge work has experienced since, I would say, the introduction of the computer. And now the data is very clear that we have settled into hybrid schedules as the semi-permanent solution. Knowledge workers in remote capable jobs are two times more likely to be in a hybrid schedule than any other configuration, including full-time remote or full-time in-person.
The hybrid schedules lead to these partially in-office, partially at-home collaboration sessions. They’re happening in virtual meetings where some people are in a room and other people are joining via the network and that people uniformly report these are less effective. It’s a hard way to collaborate. So splitting people up between being at home and at work in a haphazard way is not the major improvement to subjective well-being that we hoped.
Here’s what I’ve been suggesting. Synchronize your hybrid schedule. So to the extent possible, everyone on the same team is home on the same day and in the offices on the same day. And then and here’s the key part. Institute a rule that says during the two days a week, let’s say, that you’re at home, no meetings, no email. Those are going to be the days that you’re really working on the things that matter. The other days are going to be the days where we can also talk about the work. We can do the administrative overhead. We can meet. And, hey, when we meet, we’re all here so we can have a very efficient meeting if we’re all in office. And we’re going to have two different psychological mindsets. At-home days and in-office days. Instead of trying to mix these efforts together, instead of trying to mix the really hard thing I’m trying to write with a bunch of meetings and email.
By separating these two things, we’re going to get more of a handle on our workload. We’re going to be able to clear things out on those days we’re at home. We’re going to get a cognitive break from the hyperactivity of constant communication. I think we’re going to be more efficient in collaborating when we actually collaborate. And the result would be a workplace in which we’re more productive and people are much happier.
Three Ways to Hack Your Home Days
So if you’re an individual working remotely or working in a hybrid schedule, there’s a couple things you can do to improve your situation. You can just try to move more of your meetings to the in-office days. Just offer dates on the in-office days much more aggressively for meetings. And now what you’re going to begin to get here is just a psychological division. When I’m at home, I have less meetings. I have more time. When I’m in the office, I have more meetings. I’m more in a collaborative mindset, and you can begin to get a lot of benefits without having to actually have a real formal rule that says here’s what happens on these days, and here’s what happens on those days.
If you’re fully remote, something that is useful is to have two different spaces that you work. And I don’t mean this necessarily in some extravagant way. It could be I’m at the kitchen table is where I always do my deep thinking, and the home office is where I do email. It could be I sit outside if I live in a place where the weather is good when I’m trying to read a complicated memo or something cognitively demanding, and I work inside when I’m doing email. You can even have a commute. Now people don’t like commuting for good reason. Traffic is annoying and you get stuck, But there is an advantage to commuting. Your mindset has time to shift. I’ve left my house. I have twenty minutes when I’m on the subway or driving. And over these twenty minutes, I’m slowly doing the cognitive machinations needed to get my mindset away from home mindset and toward work mindset. That’s actually useful. It’s useful on the other end as well. Okay. I’m going to now leave work mindset and load up home mindset, and I have a twenty, thirty-minute drive to do that.
So if you work completely from home, simulate a commute. Have a fifteen-minute walk you do to start and end your day. I’m going to walk to this coffee shop and get a coffee and walk it back. That’s how I begin my work day. You’re going to get those same psychological benefits of a transitory ritual. A moving from home to work and work from home even though you never actually changed the location where all of these activities were happening.