This is particularly true when so many employees-and/or their colleagues-are now facing the challenge of integrating childcare or elder-care responsibilities during regular work hours. Maintaining temporal boundaries is critical for well-being and work engagement. Maintain temporal boundaries as much as possible ![]() Some workers have already come up with creative and lighthearted ways to maintain their usual work routines. And consider replacing your morning commute with a walk to a nearby park, or even just around your apartment, before sitting down to work. Put on your work clothes every morning-casual Friday is fine, of course, but get yourself ready nonetheless. In the short-term, it may be a welcome change not to have to catch an early train to work, or to be able to spend all day in your pajamas-but both of those things are boundary-crossing activities that can do you good, so don’t abandon them altogether. Try to maintain these boundaries when working remotely. You’ve transitioned from “home you” to “work you.” In a classic paper, Blake Ashforth, of Arizona State University, described the ways in which people demarcate the transition from work to non-work roles via “boundary-crossing activities.” Putting on your work clothes, commuting from home to work-these are physical and social indicators that something has changed. So how can employees continue to compartmentalize their work and non-work lives, given the extraordinary situation that so many of us are in today? How can we “leave our work at the door” if we are no longer going out the door? What can employers, managers, and coworkers do to help one another cope?īased on our research and the wider academic literature, here are some recommendations: Even companies that already encourage employees to work from home are likely to have some trouble supporting employees who face the many challenges of working at home in the presence of their families. Many schools are closed, and daycare may no longer be an option, placing additional burdens on working parents or low-income workers. Even for employees who have a natural preference to separate their work and personal lives, the current circumstances may not allow them to do so. In five studies involving more than 2,000 working adults, we found that senders of after-hours work emails underestimate how compelled receivers feel to respond right away, even when such emails are not urgent.Ĭovid-19 might amplify these pressures. One way they do so is by sending work emails outside office hours. Our research has shown that workers often unintentionally make it hard for their supervisors, colleagues, and employees to maintain boundaries. In no small measure, that’s because the knowledge economy has radically transformed what it means to be an “ ideal worker.” Lots of research suggests that drawing lines between our professional and personal lives is crucial, especially for our mental health. But it’s difficult, even in the best of circumstances. It’s possible that some employees may be asked to continue working remotely for several months. Afternoons will blend with evenings weekdays will blend with weekends and little sense of time off will remain. To signal their loyalty, devotion, and productivity, they may feel they have to work all the time. The lines between work and non-work are blurring in new and unusual ways, and many employees who are working remotely for the first time are likely to struggle to preserve healthy boundaries between their professional and personal lives. But what they really should be concerned about in this unprecedented situation is a longer-term risk: employee burnout. ![]() Not surprisingly, this has some employers concerned about maintaining employee productivity. Millions around the globe have made a sudden transition to remote work amid the Covid-19 pandemic. To get all of HBR’s content delivered to your inbox, sign up for the Daily Alert newsletter. In these difficult times, we’ve made a number of our coronavirus articles free for all readers.
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