Just a generation ago, work and life were treated as different entities. Thanks to mobile technology and a globally interconnected world, we’ve gone from “Honey, I’m home!” to “I’ll be just a second, I’m checking email.” What does this mash-up of our personal and professional lives mean for workplaces at home and all the other sites where work gets done? To find some answers, Coalesse sponsored a study of knowledge workers on the east and west coasts who have the freedom to work when and where they want. The study is ongoing, but several themes are becoming clear.
The Home/Office Paradox
“Many people have home offices or office-like spaces, yet few actually use them, or use them as expected,” says Emily Ulrich, a senior design researcher with Steelcase WorkSpace Futures. “The common advice for a home office is that you should be away from everything else happening in the house. That’s the exact opposite of what people are doing. They are happily adapting their own solutions to better integrate work within the other parts of their lives.”
Staying in the Loop
We may be out of the office but we’re not out of touch. During many of the hours they spend at home, people connect to the outside world. “Everyone brings their devices home,” says Ulrich. “And everyone — clients and bosses especially — values responsiveness.”
Working Amid Family
LifeSome people feel most comfortable working in the kitchen or living room while family life swirls around them. They stay on top of work yet remain part of the family. For example, a software manager screened incoming emails at a kitchen counter while his wife (who sometimes pops open a laptop at the counter) prepared dinner. His rationale: “Our daughter’s doing her homework at the kitchen table, so I can be a total screen geek and yet still be vaguely social with my family.”
Roaming
People don’t stay put. When they’re out of the office, they miss the energy of having other people around, so they spend part of their days in “third places,” like coffee shops. Achieving a good vibe and aesthetic, without necessarily having to engage with others.
Soft Landings
Comfort historically has been antithetical to the head-down work ethic: if you’re too comfortable the fear was you’d lose focus. “But at home, with everyone we observed, comfort is king,” says Ulrich. One millennial was adamant: “I absolutely cannot work with my feet down. They have to be up.” Another explained the blend of productivity and comfort this way: “I don’t feel like I’m working here. That’s the most important feeling.”
Toggling
Traditional 9-5 routines are disappearing. For many, the day more closely resembles four or five waves that begin earlier and end later, with a back and forth between work and life activities. People switch between these two pursuits without fully abandoning the other. “This is toggling,” says Ulrich. “It’s not just multitasking, it’s multitasking combined with multi-locating.”
Nesting
Some work-at-home people are creating hybrid work/home settings that combine comfort with a pleasing aesthetic, i.e., a nest. A design director camouflaged her workspace at home to look as much like a living room as a place to get things done. The desk is like a side table and also converts to an extension of the dining table, and a large, pillow-stacked lounge chair and couch take prominent positions. Ulrich says “bringing in the couch changed the relationship to the space. They can sit there together and feel a sense of nested communing, while still working.”
Boundary Issues
Merging work and home life may be inevitable for many people, but it’s not always easy. Being distracted by the very comforts that make working at home desirable in the first place, and the stress of trying to separate work and the rest of life, are typical issues. It’s about setting boundaries. When you’re always able to tap the interconnected business world, the live/work balance too often tilts toward work.
“Work and workers, when set free, flow like water along the path of least resistance. We’re untethered from the office, but not the work. Email follows us everywhere and our work demands are escalating, yet we want a life outside of work,” says Ulrich. While people occasionally need to cocoon in a secluded space to concentrate on a task, that’s the exception. Most prefer to be nomadic, mixing the always-on stream of work with other activity. Rather than be secluded, people want to stay connected to others for stimulation and, likely, to compensate for the increasingly distributed lives so many of us lead.
“For most of us, comfort is key, both psychic and physical. Wherever we work, we want to be relaxed, stimulated, even inspired. Smart companies get it, and they’re building inspiring places to work. The rules are gone. Conventions are being challenged. The tethers are decidedly coming off.”