Hybrid working and Realm based Transition Time

When hybrid working blurs the boundaries between work and life realms

by Work-Home Boundary Blurring

It is well understood that we exhibit different personas for different life roles. Each role we occupy requires differing personalities to manage, different expectations, different demands and different puzzles to solve.

The traditional transition time between home and work (and back again) gave us the time and mental space to subconsciously shift ourselves between these two life realms & personas. It was also used to think through the obstacles, tasks and responsibilities that needed dealing with, giving time and space to think through possible solutions. 

Working from home limits that ability. A number of workers are also using that commute time to start work earlier and finish later. Rather than the perception that working longer hours makes a person more productive, research shows that doing so makes no to little difference from a daily productivity perspective.

Working longer hours, just makes us more tired and less productive. It therefore just means we take longer to get things done and reduce our overall work-life balance.

Additionally, the removal of the reflection and thinking time in the day reduces the ability for problem-solving and perspective-taking.

Hints and Tips:

If you are not commuting to work, rather than sit down at your desk and start working around the same time you would otherwise have left for the office. Use the time to do a ‘mock transition’ between your home and work responsibilities. 

Try doing the same activity you would have done if you were driving, bussing, walking or cycling to work. e.g.

  • go for a walk around the block
  • sit in a comfy chair and read a book or listen to music
  • engage in a hobby

Your brain and subconscious require time to transition between one life realm and another. It also needs downtime and creative/divergent thinking time. Creative thinking can only happen when you stop thinking analytically. That is why we have the best ideas when we are not thinking about the problem at hand and doing something else less mentally taxing like going for a walk, taking a shower, cooking dinner etc. 

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Home-Office-Boundaries

The advantage of creating bespoke boundary-blurring strategies

by ResearchWork-Home Boundary Blurring
'From Work to Life and Back Again: Examining the Digitally-Mediated Work/Life Practices of a Group of Knowledge Workers'.

Extracts and summary of the research by: Luigina Ciolfi & Eleanor Lockley (2018)

Key quotes from the research:

  • ‘[those in] knowledge-intensive roles devise strategies for handling work and non-work in light of a set of interconnected forces’ 
  • ‘Boundary dissolving and work-life blurring, and not just boundary setting and ‘balancing’, are essential resources within [boundary management] strategies’
  • ‘Boundary sculpting pertains not only to work pervading personal spheres of life, but also the opposite, and that establishing, softening and dissolving boundaries are practised to handle situations when the personal seeps into professional life’
  • ‘Establishing, softening and dissolving boundaries are practised to handle situations when the personal seeps into professional life’ 

Summary of the research:

The boundaries that we set, dissolve, blur and manage between work, home and play are how office workers juggle and deal with, the changing demands of both professional and personal tasks. Every worker has a boundary strategy that is unique to them and entirely dependent on personal preferences, individual circumstances, working styles, the expectations of others and specific work culture.

Home and hobbies can be time and labour-intensive, and require as much professional management as paid work. Home life can be as intrusive of work as work can be of home life. Boundaries that are set in one direction are independent to the boundaries set in the reverse direction.

The setting of boundaries is not limited to geographic location, time of day, technology ownership or application used, but can also include mindset, identities, ambitions, social practices and cognitive practices.

There is a continuum of boundary-setting strategies from ‘segmentation’ to ‘integration’ of work and home life. Everyone has a different interpretation of what the words and resulting actions mean to them.

Boundary strategies can either be a resource or a constraint. They can change and be adapted depending on life stage and lifestyle adjustments. Although a life stage is not a precursor that dictates the type of strategy we implement e.g. working parents can either be strong segmenters, or strong integrators as can single people, young or more mature workers.

Those whose work is closely tied to their core life passions view additional reading and work-type tasks as professional development or self-improvement. In contrast, others (a portion of whom may regard work as a means to an end) view having to engage in work-related tasks during personal time as eating into their recovery time or as unpaid work and time away from their family or hobbies.

Digital technology is a mediator of both boundary setting and blurring.

For some, being able to check emails and messages after hours can be a ‘lifeline’ to manage their workload – giving them a sense of control or to ‘signal availability’ when away from the office.

For others, access to emails outside of working hours is an interference. They use various tactics to fence off work from private time. These can range from:

  • technology-based solutions – such as leaving laptops and mobiles in a car boot overnight or setting out-of-office messages – to
  • person-based solutions – such as informing others of availability patterns and when to expect a response.

Reflection on the research:

The researchers specifically qualify that they ‘do not buy into the myth of the mobile worker who can seamlessly handle demands through flexible work arrangements and ubiquitous technology’ and ‘self-regulation is a crucial component for knowledge-intensive flexible work’. This is an important consideration in the remote and hybrid work environment. Although many take on a remote/hybrid or flexible working pattern, the expectation can be that it is as easy to maintain focus and productivity in the same way as being in the office does. Spending time with others in a similar activity is a key motivator to keep going and needs less self-regulation than sitting alone in a quiet space. Remote/hybrid and flexible workers will need different strategies and develop purposeful working patterns and tools/strategies to keep them motivated and focused away from the office.

What also seems to come through in this research is the notion that the setting and dissolving of boundaries between work and home life is something that workers need to proactively sculpt, manage and adjust according to life circumstances and demands.

The researchers also view ‘boundary sculpting [to] relate to spaces/locations (being at the office, or travelling, or at home), time (times of the day or days of the week), tasks (certain tasks are acted upon, others are not) or social circles/other people’. The creation of work-home-play boundaries is not limited to just whether or not we are looking at our work emails and messages during non-work time, but rather that both active and passive engagement in work during private time is a form of boundary setting.

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Some acronyms used in the research document: 

  • CSCW: Computer-Supported Cooperative Work
  • HCI: Human-Computer Interaction
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Sociology Review 2019 WFB Mgt

Differing forms of work-family boundary management

by ResearchWork-Home Boundary Blurring
'Technology, Work, and Family: Digital Cultural Capital and Boundary Management'.

Extracts and a summary of research by: Ariane Ollier-Malaterre, Jerry A. Jacobs, and Nancy P. Rothbard (2019) – (based in Canada and the USA) who set out to develop a framework for how technology, work and family intersect, especially regarding how tech is changing the boundaries between work, home and play. Although this is a 2019 Annual Review of Sociology, conducted prior to the shift towards greater degrees of hybrid work, the principles of the theories remain unchanged.

Key quotes from the research:

  • ‘…boundaries between work and family are permeable … events from one domain affect the other… it is the permeability of these boundaries that makes boundary management such a key skill, enabling people to balance work and family life.’
  • ‘… technologies directly influence how people experience work and family life by further increasing the porousness of the temporal, spatial and relational boundaries between work and family roles and identities. This porousness in turn makes the management of connectivity, online self-preservation, and privacy more challenging and calls for more elaborate technology management.’
  • ‘technology management: work performed to gain control over technology and its associated social norms in order to align one’s use of technology and one’s values and goals.’ 

Summary of the research: 

The boundaries that we create between work and home can be compared to a ‘mental fence’ that divides two differing life roles. Like any physical geographic boundary, this fence can have varying degrees of permeability and cross-over-ability.

However, we only have a small amount of control over this mental fence that we create. Company norms, team expectations, or our own internal mental processes may scupper our ability to manage these mental fences. 

Boundary Types

There are not just 1, but rather 3 types of boundary fences that we need to consider: temporal, spatial and relational. 

  • Temporal boundaries are time-based and exist whether we work in a flexible or a more structured role. Conducting work outside of the times we have set aside for work each day is an example of the blurring of this boundary. There is some debate as to the impacts versus payoffs of a constant state of connectivity with work via technology (mainly through mobile phones). The downsides including overwork, productivity levels and work-family conflict are weighed up against the upsides such as greater ambition and work involvement.
  • Spatial boundaries are our ability to separate the places where we engage in work and home activities. With better connectivity and the ability to work from home, these boundaries have become a lot more porous. Even carrying a mobile phone with you after work hours, that instantly connects you to work email, is an example of expanding work into nonwork time and infringing on both temporal and spatial boundaries.
  • Relational boundaries refer to a person’s choice of whether to build friendships with work colleagues or keep these relationships strictly professional. This includes linking up with work people on social media sites – depending on the level of personal or professional self that is revealed on each platform. 

The increasing porousness of each of these boundaries requires greater levels of awareness, motivation and active management to navigate and curate multiple identities and life roles.

This constant management of online identities is referred to as ‘digital cultural capital’, which requires technical skill and is both time and effort-intensive. It also requires awareness of the impact of self-information disclosure on both personal relationships and professional reputation. 

Connectivity Decisions

The first challenge in managing digital cultural capital is connectivity decisions. Although some groups have little control over their connectivity decisions – often due to company cultural norms and expectations – most people have some control over their digital connectivity, which allows them to feel some element of digital control (rather than being controlled by their devices).

Some of the strategies that are used to manage connectivity are: keeping the phone out of easy reach or sight, managing notifications per app, decisions on how to be notified and when to check, and respond to, notifications. Some people leave work phones at work, in the boot of their car or turn them off when arriving home.

Online Self-preservation

The second challenge is online self-preservation management – i.e. monitoring how one appears in cyberspace – and includes both what is posted about yourself as well as what others post about you (with or without your permission). It requires constant surveillance and work to present a unified online presence, and has the potential to be perilous.

Whatever the online strategy used to manage an online profile, it requires everyday awareness, effort, skill and decision-making to consider the online content audience, as well as personal and professional impact.

Privacy Management

The third challenge is around privacy management. Technology amplifies the placement and blurring of boundaries between private and social life. There is debate amongst academics and lawyers as to whether online content is private or public and many questions are arising around privacy, visibility and surveillance.

Efforts by individuals to safeguard their personal information is a form of technology management and also require extensive energy and effort. 

Connectivity Management

Perspectives on connectivity vary across social groups.

Higher-income bracket individuals tend to limit their connectivity. They also attempt to transfer their digital cultural capital values and perspectives onto their children – encouraging a more active social life offline and spending time discussing digital deviant behaviour such as cyberbullying, risky behaviour such as compromising photo disclosure, and the need to switch off.

They tend to spend more time monitoring their children’s media use, helping them develop good digital habits and working on their privacy settings.

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Every increasing Boundary Blurring

The ever-increasing blurring of the boundary between work and home

by Work-Home Boundary Blurring

Prior to the introduction of the Blackberry at the turn of the century, generally for many, when we left the office, our work for the day was done. We spent limited time thinking about work and focussed on doing things we found enjoyable.

The Blackberry dramatically changed that. 

Initially, having a mobile email device massively improved productivity levels and meant we could be perceived by others as responsive, dedicated and engaged employees.

Then, rapid response times quickly escalated into a workplace norm. Those who didn’t answer an email within a few hours would include a form of apology for the response delay. Little actions like these, intended as a form of placation, indirectly stated to the reader that the sender had response time expectations much shorter than what they had taken to reply. 

The escalating perceived need to respond quickly to emails, messages and texts means that apps need to be left open throughout the day and kept an eye on throughout the evening. Not responding quickly can be perceived as showcasing a lack of commitment. For those desiring to switch off completely from work after hours, there is a potential fear of being left out or left behind, especially when many in the team are engaged in the ongoing conversation. 

Since the turn of the century, the psychological expectations around being an ‘effective worker’ have permanently shifted. Quicker responsive communication is now equated to higher perceived levels of productivity and efficiency as a worker. 

So, we’re at work and we work, and we’re at home and we work. We never really switch off. 

Research shows that those who operate like this are more likely to have:

  • Greater family and partner/spouse conflict.
  • Higher levels of stress and anxiety
  • Physical health issues (due to being constantly hyper-vigilant with lower quality and quantity of sleep)
  • Higher levels of cognitive exhaustion
  • Lower levels of overall productivity

We know that creating a strong physical and mental boundary between work life and home life is critical for cognitive and physical recovery from the demands of knowledge work. But, most people don’t have a strategy for separating out the two life realms, unless they make a cognitive effort to do so. 

And having a ‘strong boundary’ means knowing what type of work-life balance you prefer (or need) and making conscious choices around how to do that. For some, not checking work emails after 7pm or before 8am is what they need. For others, having the option of taking time out during the day from work, but allocating a few hours in the early morning or evening works best. It is about being clear with yourself and others about how you prefer to separate out, or integrate, your home and work life. It also means allowing yourself time to physically and mentally recover from the work you do. 

There is much being reported in the media (especially since March 2020) about work-life balance. But, every person has a different nuanced ideal of what that looks like for them. e.g. 

  • For one person, being able to decide their own working hours to get their work done is key
  • For another person, having chunks of work time that can be juggled around their home commitments works best in managing multiple responsibilities
  • For another, having a 6-8 hours stretch of work that allows them to shut off completely from work at a certain point in the day and not pick it up again until the following morning is the only way they can mentally and physically recover

We’re all different and work best with a level of flexibility and job control in order to get work done and maintain our own version of work-life balance. 

Our individual, bespoke needs and ability to segment or integrate our work and home life are important in reducing overall stress, anxiety and burnout. 

Most importantly, the key in this is actually developing an individual strategy, to manage and separate out the two life realms. For managers, it’s about recognising that others in the team may have a very different interpretation of what a good work-life balance is and finding ways to optimise it.

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Constant phone checking brings life to work and work to life

by ResearchWork-Home Boundary Blurring
'When You Just Cannot Get Away - Exploring the use of information and communication technologies in facilitating negative work/home spillover'.

Extracts and a summary of research by: Ronald W. Berkowsky (2013)

Key quotes from the research:

  • ‘Boundaries [between work and home], while sometimes motivated by the needs and beliefs of the individual, are often socially constructed and are based on societal norms, pressures, and expectations’. 
  • ‘Because [mobile digital technology] provides a means for individuals to be available to both work and home contacts at all times, there is an increasing potential for these contacts to impede upon a specific domain in which they do not necessarily belong’.
  • ‘[Mobile digital technology does not] dictate the permeability of the work/home interface, but are instead tools which perpetuate the structural norms associated with work/home boundaries’.
  • ‘Having a heavy workload, having unclear job expectations, and experiencing physical illness/ailments were significant predictors of negative spillover in both directions’.
  • ‘Other work-related characteristics (such as job autonomy and schedule control) … have previously been found to be significant predictors of spillover’. 

Summary of the research: 

The proliferation of mobile-based technology, since the turn of the century, has resulted in workers being constantly connected to friends, family and colleagues at all times of the day and night wherever they happen to be. This constant ability to be contacted has been a significant catalyst for increased physical and mental stress and negative well-being. Berkowski’s research is an investigation of the negative impact of digital technology’s ability to allow for work to spill over into non-work time and visa versa. 

The boundaries we set between one domain and another, and the level to which we allow one to permeate into another, are as distinct and unique as each of us are.

Prior to the introduction of mobile digital technology, the boundary between work and home was (generally) a simplistic and definitive one, determined by a geographic boundary between the two life realms. Mobile digital technology has removed this geographic boundary between work and home, resulting in one that was already more permeable prior to the onset of mass remote and hybrid working. There are advantages and disadvantages to this. 

The advantages are:

  • Life and work roles have the ability to enrich each other – i.e. a positive mood in one life realm can counteract any negative or stressful circumstances in another
  • Being successful in one role can compensate for any areas needing improvement in the other
  • Skillsets and competencies in one role can translate into the other – so participating in a number of different life roles can counterbalance negative stress and struggles in another

The disadvantages are: 

  • ‘Role interference’ – where the stress and negativity of one role can impact on other life realms
  • Work interruptions during private time can reduce the amount of time spent with significant others, reduce overall energy levels and take time away from personal pursuits

The level of either positive or negative impact that the more permeable boundary has on the individual is determined by the preference they have for allowing work to spill over into private time or visa versa.

The level of stress and anxiety is determined by the level of individual ability to meet these expectations in practice. e.g. if someone prefers to have their home and work life overlap, stress and anxiety result when they are not able to do so – either because workplace policies do not allow them to do so or a partner may have a strong preference for a clear segmented approach to work and home life.

Alternatively, if someone prefers very little overlap between work and home, but a line manager or client either sets a meeting for (or sends messages, emails, or calls) outside of official working hours asking questions or expecting a reply, this can result in higher levels of anxiety and stress, both for the work and others within the household. 

The impact of technology use during private time: 

  • Those who have higher levels of ambition and are more involved in their job role are more likely to use mobile technology after work, which results in higher levels of conflict in home life
  • Perceived usefulness of technology, organisational pressures, and after-hours supplementary work is directly associated with work-to-family conflict
  • Checking emails and work-based mobile use, over time, was linked to work negatively spilling over to private time, which was linked to higher levels of distress and lower family satisfaction.
  • Using Social Media to connect with work colleagues in private time can help to reduce stress, as social media is viewed as a means to socially engage with work colleagues outside of work commitments.
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Work and Home Boundaries

Lessons from Lockdown – Boundaries

by Work-Home Boundary Blurring
Boundaries between work and home

Work and home boundaries were abandoned during the first lockdown with both life realms being geographically merged for the first time for most.

Since then, we’ve adjusted our boundaries and had time to figure out what does or doesn’t work for us. We’ve also had time to shift our perspectives on what is possible and optimal for us and our teams, in a way that can give us the benefits of being fully in-office, hybrid or fully remote. 

However we work, what is important is having a psychological boundary between work and home tasks. We need to have a strategic work-life balance strategy that dedicates chunks of time outside of work to people and activities that aren’t work related and switching off workplace tech during private time. 

Everyone’s definition of what a good work-life balance is can be fundamentally different. But, having a personal work-life balance strategy that allows for cognitive energy recovery time is essential to being a more effective, productive worker because cognitive recovery directly impacts thinking skills, memory, stress levels and mental health. 

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