ways2work > How to do it > Re-thinking commuting > Reducing commuting through ICT > Issues to be overcome > Keeping a proper work-life balance
Keeping a proper work-life balance
Teleworkers often find it difficult to maintain a proper balance between their working lives and their personal lives when working at home. The lack of a physical distinction between home and office, plus the lack of a commute, can blur boundaries. For example, a Department of Transport investigation of teleworkers reported that
"[Teleworking can lead] to an increase in the amount of hours some people worked. As such, the ability to maintain clear boundaries between their working life and personal life was a clear concern amongst some participants. Teleworking, for some, made it harder to ‘switch off’ from work, as work materials and ICT equipment were constantly available and visible."
The ease of blurring work and home, and the danger of working too-long hours, is one of the reasons why we said that teleworkers need to be able to have good time-management skills, can set expectations and boundaries with others sharing the home, and can detect when they are over-working. Practically this can mean setting in place some rules.
-
Set expectations with the people at home, as well as relatives and friends, about when you are 'at work' and when you are 'at home'
-
If you regard one of the benefits of working at home to be the avoidance of interruptions, don't interrupt yourself by doing little chores around the house
-
Don't feel you have to prove yourself as a teleworker by working longer hours. And don't be sucked into an 'always on' working culture. Set expectations with work colleagues about your working hours. Agree the nature of the situation that would require you to be contacted outside those hours
Training in how to work as a teleworker will often address skills of achieving a proper work-life balance at home.