Yes, the happy imaginary picture of how you can work from a sun lounger by the pool is shattered by reality with overloads, irregular work schedules and the eternal “something went wrong again”. But this is not the end of the world. Over the 10+ years of experience in IT recruiting, the Bisseti team has discovered many tools from experienced outsourcers.
So let’s share.
1. Planning. No matter how cliché it can sound, it still works. Projects are usually massive, dragging on for weeks or months. Therefore, it will be cool if you write a plan for yourself for the day. First of all, it will help you get off yourself and not force yourself to do something else. This is a healthy approach to dividing work and personal time.
2. Physical division (for those who work outside the office). It would be cool if it is possible to allocate a separate workplace so that the work does not “spread” everywhere. This is a psychological technique used to somewhat “divide and conquer”.
3. Adequate self-assessment. When planning, you should objectively assess yourself and your capabilities. If you know that you sometimes need to distract yourself from work, then you should not plan to complete a task in 4 hours, which usually takes 4 hours at least. Schedule 5 hours to allow yourself a break. That way, planning will make sense and not drive you into stressful situations like “once again I don’t have time for anything.”
And some advice for businesses and those who manage them.
1. Arrange stuff in advance. At Bisseti, we recommend that you immediately discuss working hours, the hygiene of work communication with a new employee, and explain that you should neither read nor send e-mails at 3 in the morning. Or if everyone works without time limits, then agree at least not to force anyone to answer during non-working hours. Correspondence only during the day.
2. Organize leisure time for employees. A remote team is not necessarily people who do not know each other very well. The HR team can generate many online activities: from online mafia to competitions in some games on a gaming console. Joint Zoom calls to talk about your hobbies, online master classes, morning online yoga, or a simple warm-up — all this makes people distract themselves from work. And even if someone is not interested in one activity, they will like another one. So the more diverse these activities are, the more likely it is to involve everyone.
3. Encouraging hobbies. No one will be surprised by the fact that in IT companies it is customary to compensate expenses for sports or learning foreign languages. But we suggest not limiting yourself to a boring gym. You can add tennis, dancing, and buying a bicycle to such a list. And it is possible to rename sports compensation to hobby compensation. Thus, people have additional motivation to set aside time for their own affairs.
And finally, we will warn against an excessive desire to work overtime. This is a direct and very short path to burnout, so it is in the interests of the employee and the company to set up a lifestyle where none of the areas are limited.