Stop Emailing at Midnight

The work I do is important, but it is not a matter of life and death. Often, our egos try to convince us otherwise, but the truth is, work and life move along just fine without us. That can be humbling but it is also really freeing. The email that so infuriated me during my birthday dinner was in no way a matter of emergency or even urgency. But it was enough to nearly ruin what should have been a glorious and much needed break from work.

There are a lot of reasons to disconnect from work, not the least of which is that we simply don’t work all that well when we work too much. Research has consistently documented the dramatic decrease in productivity when we work more than 50 hours per week . Additionally, research has consistently shown that excessive work causes an increased risk of a host of health problems including heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and depression.  Naturally, staff cannot be productive when they are not healthy. Yet we continue to value quantity over quality and glorify the culture of busy. But this culture of busy is not only inefficient, it doesn’t seem to matter much to managers, who, research has found, cannot tell the difference when you are actually working longer hours and when you are simply faking it.

As a leader, you have power and opportunity to change this. As a leader, you are responsible for setting the culture and expectations for your team. To do this effectively, you must be clear and consistent in both your words and your actions. Like all people, staff pay attention to what you do far more than what you say, so the best strategy for creating a culture of healthy balance and expectations is to both model these expectations and then make them explicitly clear to your team, over and over again. Here’s how:

TAKE YOUR LUNCH

In our glorification of busy, we wear our hunger and exhaustion like medals around our necks. In our never-ending competition of complaint, whoever has the longest to do list and sleeps the least, wins. It’s a shitty competition. In order to encourage your team to work and live in a healthier and more productive way, you must do the same. Take your lunch. Away from your keyboard. If you really want to go the extra mile, leave the office and shut off your phone. Get some fresh air. Take a walk. Come back ready and refreshed. When you see your staff during lunch time, ask them if they’ve eaten yet. Make it normal to take a break to eat- BECAUSE IT IS- and don’t implicitly or explicitly send the message to your staff that doing so makes them lazy or undedicated. Simply telling your team to take a lunch is not enough if you are not doing so yourself. Model the expectation and then hold yourself and your team to it.

In addition, recognize and share with your team that regular breaks throughout the day enhance productivity, not take away from it. Research tells us that taking a 15-20-minute break every 50-90 minutes is ideal for maximum productivity.  

UNPLUG

I used to catch up on emails before I went to bed because it seemed to be the only time I could get to them. One day my boss called me in to ask me about it. He told me that I was setting a bad example for my team. I explained that I didn’t expect them to check emails at home and in fact told them as much. “It doesn’t matter”, he explained, “by doing it, you’re sending the message that this an acceptable way to work.” I had never thought about it that way, and now I can no longer think of it any other way. After that, I stopped sending emails at all hours of the night and instead, began to model the importance of unplugging when the workday is done. After my interrupted birthday dinner in the Bahamas, I eventually learned to unplug during vacations too. I stopped texting and responding to texts outside of work hours. I created boundaries for myself and upheld the expectation that my staff do the same.

If you truly don’t mind working from home or while on vacation, consider scheduling when your emails go out or saving them into your drafts folder until regular business hours. Just because you can be accessed at all times does not mean you should be.

MAKE TIME TO THINK

In my work with new managers, my standing piece of advice is to make sure they schedule at least 15 minutes per day (to start) for simply thinking and reflecting. You should see the horror on their faces. In the early stages of their leadership, they are convinced that they cannot possibly find 15 minutes in a day to do such a thing- an issue in its own right- and besides, what would others say if they saw their manager simply looking out the window or taking a walk or meditating?

These concerns are not without merit, but as a leader, it is your right and responsibility to do what you know to be effective, not just what looks good. You already know that constant doing without thought or reflection is not an effective way to operate. You already know that it is necessary to take time out from screens and meetings and paperwork to ensure that you are working at your best. You already know that reading, learning and discussing are invaluable components to performing well. So, do it. Put it in your calendar. Protect it. And have your staff do the same. When you meet with them, ask them about that time. Encourage critical, deeper thinking and learning.

GO AWAY

American workers receive some of the lowest amount of paid vacation days in the industrialized world, while many receive none. Despite this, over half of Americans do not use all of their vacation days each year. The reasons vary but some of the most commonly given are that they do not want to appear undedicated and that they are worried about the amount of work they have to do. As a leader, it is up to you to ensure that your team receives the message that vacation days are important and encouraged. You can do this, again, by modeling and taking your own vacation. You can make sure there is adequate coverage for the vacationing staff’s workload while they are gone. You can insist that your staff not be bothered while they are away, and you can set the tone by unplugging while you are away.

Research shows us that breaks throughout the day and throughout our year make us more productive, yet we continue to operate under the false narrative that more time equals more productivity. The research shows us that the opposite is true. 

UPDATE YOUR POLICIES

Matching your words with your actions is an important step in creating a culture of effective rest and productivity but it is not the only one. It is vital that your words and actions also match your organizational policies. You can share with staff the importance of staying home when they’re sick but not if sick time is unpaid or challenging to receive approval. You can encourage staff to take all the bereavement time they need but these words become empty if you only allow bereavement time for certain deaths. Check your current policies to see that they match the culture you are trying to create. Consider making time off easier by simply giving time off, rather than compartmentalizing it into sick, vacation, personal or any other category. Consider more flexibility in work schedules and working from home. Put your money where your mouth is both literally and figuratively and understand the bigger picture that satisfied staff stick around longer.

WATCH YOUR WORDS

Staff pay attention to what you pay attention to. If staff come in early and/or stay late and you comment on it in a complimentary kind of way, staff will notice. If you comment on it in a discouraging way, they will notice that too. If they see you coming in early and staying late, they will especially notice that. Call attention to what you want to see and what you don’t want to see. Don’t praise quantity over quality. Don’t praise martyrdom. Don’t glorify busy. Praise results, efficiency, positivity and healthy balance.

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Workplaces today look very different than they did a generation ago and will likely look quite different a generation from now. The talent we so desperately seek is not willing to stick around in organizations that do not appreciate them and provide what they need, nor should they. To attract and retain that talent, you must create a culture that cares about staff and this care must include a healthy work life balance. Begin by creating that balance for yourself and modeling it for others. Set the expectations and uphold them. Stop treating your staff like children and stop acting like an overinvolved parent. Empower and respect your team to be the professionals they are and live the healthy, satisfying lives they want to live.