By Alaina Talboy, Ph.D. (opens in new tab)
Photo credit: iStock
Balancing the demands of a full-time job, alongside the challenges of managing personal obligations, can feel like a tightrope act under the best of circumstances. But then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, which instantly and dramatically changed the way people work and live (opens in new tab). Overnight, people found the clear lines between work and personal life suddenly blurred, with children to take care of, rooms to be cleaned, and meals to be prepared—all while answering emails and attending video meetings from the confines of a not-so-work-friendly living room.
To better understand the issues facing the newly remote workforce, the Browser User Research team surveyed Information Workers (IWs) from around the United States. Prior to the coronavirus, these IWs were working full time in an office setting. Since COVID-19, they are 100 percent remote until further notice.
Blurred lines: Where and when the workday begins
Now that their work-from-home routine has become the “new normal,” IWs are struggling to re-establish a work-life balance. Working longer hours with little clarity between where their job ends and their actual life begins blurs the once distinct lines between work life and home life.
Several factors contribute to this work-life balance sentiment. Emails and meetings are arriving at all hours of the day and night, making it hard to figure out when the workday ends. IWs also reported feeling like they must be “on” for longer stretches throughout the day, and that they have a hard time taking breaks for lunch or personal activities.
Being at home more may have seemed appealing at first, but family and household responsibilities can interfere with productivity. Helping a child with their homework, caring for an elderly parent, or simply washing dishes, were all noted as common daily chores that can easily throw a wrench into the typical workday.
Adding to the complexity, IWs must now find ways to decompress in their home space, which is being used for work. With no physical office to leave, creating a work-life distinction can be difficult. As much as home tasks can distract someone during working hours, having their work in their home space can be equally as distracting during downtime.
Because of these distractions, and without long periods of uninterrupted time to focus, workers reported that their workdays have become harder. As a result, they have been working longer hours.
To help remote workers stay focused, the browser team is considering the following:
- Designing and incorporating specific tools into the browser to help establish working hours in status settings
- Minimizing non-essential notifications, which can be set across different platforms, so workers aren’t constantly being pinged, emailed, or texted
Physical and spatial challenges
Imagine you’re living in a typical downtown studio—there may be nice views of the cityscape, but the living quarters are probably tight. Or how about a two-bedroom apartment that’s shared with a roommate or two? These spaces may be ideal on the weekends, but spending your entire workday, Monday through Friday? Not so much.
This was a common complaint from the IWs who said that their homes or living spaces don’t have dedicated areas to set up in-home offices. Additionally, even when they have the room available, they lack their office equipment such as standing desks or external computer monitors. To that point, many people are struggling because they lack the physical resources and space to do their job.
For IWs who live with roommates or family who are also working from home, video meetings and conference calls have become complicated affairs. IWs must now schedule meetings around not only their coworker’s schedule but also the schedule of their roommates and family. Organizing when and who can be on a video call at a time without interrupting those they live with is part of the reason days have become longer and harder.
Photo credit: iStock
The toll on home networks is also becoming an increasingly difficult hurdle. As more users and devices are logged on for longer hours at home, slow internet speeds and connectivity issues are becoming significant pain points. The large influx of users on home networks led to internet outages around the world in the early weeks of shifting to work from home and continue in some areas today. IWs also report lags and connection problems in not only video calls but also when accessing work materials via VPNs. Although IT administrators and technical support were quick to shore up their digital offerings, connectivity remains a consistent pain point. At a time when people are seeking connection with their co-workers, muddy or delayed video feeds and interrupted audio take their toll on already-stressed workers.
The physical issues extend beyond just space and connectivity, though. Staying physically comfortable throughout the workday is another pain point IWs reported, as they trade comfy office chairs and desks for working on living room couches or kitchen bar stools. Home furniture isn’t designed to support people sitting upright for long working hours, contributing to physical burn out and other issues that workers were not prepared for.
Isolation and a loss of community
While these are just two of the new challenges IWs are facing, their pain points don’t end there. Many expressed feelings around their lack of social interaction and how they’ve lost their sense of community with coworkers.
Typically, IWs have extended social contact throughout their workday. Through numerous small social events, like grabbing lunch with co-workers, walking to and from meetings, or taking a coffee break, IWs lean on these interactions. They help break up their workdays and make them feel a part of a team. Unfortunately, these kinds of interactions are hard to replicate virtually. Many IWs reported that staying connected through the communication channels, like Teams or chat, does not provide the same type of uplifting social engagement as the real-life version.
So, working in sweatpants might be more comfortable in the short term, but IWs are looking for ways to stay socioemotionally connected to their co-workers about things that matter.
To help IWs stay connected and feel a part of their team, we are suggesting that managers help:
- Discover ways to promote collaboration and communication in virtual social spaces
- Incorporate social games, like video games or trivia, in which employees can send emotional messages that promote camaraderie and levity to the workday
As the pandemic and work-from-home guidance continues into the unforeseeable future, we’ll be writing a follow-up blog that chronicles other issues IWs are facing around topics like communication, motivation, and focus.
Has COVID-19 forced you to work remotely? Are you experiencing any challenges related to work-life balance? Tweet us your thoughts @MicrosoftRI (opens in new tab) or like us on Facebook (opens in new tab) and join the conversation.
Prior to joining Microsoft, Alaina Talboy was a doctoral researcher with expertise in reasoning, judgment & decision making, experimental design & analysis, and mixed methodologies. Her favorite line of research was discovering how to present complicated statistics in an easy-to-digest manner to inform personal decision making. Dr. Talboy made the jump to industry and joined CIR in 2019, where she uses her expertise to help stakeholders make sense of complicated data to improve the overall experience of her customers. Dr. Talboy conducts research in the Enterprise and Security space for the Edge browser, bringing together best practices in research and data analysis, rigorous attention to detail, and compelling storytelling to help drive customer experience to a higher level.