Oh, we're "hybrid" now, are we?

 

It’s no longer “remote work” – it’s now “hybrid.”  Great, so how does that change my life? Aside from oil changes being more meaningful once we start driving again, not much. However, there are some tidbits I’d like to share from all the reading (and real life) I’ve done on this topic.

1.       Your setup.

a.       Having a large monitor at home REALLY REALLY helps. If you don’t have one yet, ask your manager. If you already have one, take care of it – turn if off on the weekends so it doesn’t burn screensaver images into the screen or fry its insides.

b.       Having a docking station at home REALLY REALLY helps, especially if you have that monitor, an external mouse, a USB headset, etc. As we start taking our laptops back and forth again, with the intention of being productive in both home and office, this is key.  I got frustrated early and bought one for about $80 on Amazon, but if you don’t have one yet, ask your manager.

c.       I also prefer to close my laptop and use an external keyboard and mouse instead of the laptop keyboard and touchpad. Less reaching; easier on the wrists.

2.       Pay attention to ergonomics.

a.       Chairs.  A colleague was using a hard wooden chair to work all day for months until one day her back said “no” and she couldn’t get out of bed. You deserve a comfortable chair that can adjust up and down and swivel. (If you have a Staples store or similar, office chairs go on sale occasionally and can be quite reasonable.)

b.       Monitor height.  When you’re sitting up straight (in your new office chair), your eyes should be able to look straight across to the middle of your screen. If you’re angled, looking up or down, or (heaven forbid) twisting your neck to see your monitor, move it. We all have a fat book we’re not reading that can prop up that monitor.

3.       Greenscreens and ring lights.  😏  Unless you’re a teen, they’re so overrated.  Since our work computers are sufficiently current, your laptop can handle virtual backgrounds for WebEx, Zoom, and Teams pretty well. And if bandwidth is impacting your video, a greenscreen won’t solve that! If you wear glasses, like I do, lighting is important lest your lenses reflect your screen. But reducing the brightness on your monitor is a good start!  If you need more, a gentle overhead light and an off-angle desk lamp can serve the same function – of providing sufficient light to offset the brightness coming from your monitor. Save your money for the comfy chair!

4.       Blue light glasses.  Speaking of the light coming from your monitor (and cellphone), do they really work? The American Academy of Opthalmology says you don’t need special eyewear. But with sales predicted to increase from $19 million in 2020 to $28 million by 2024 per 360ResearchReports, someone’s making serious bank.  Blue light glasses might help your sleep by increasing melatonin levels, but you can accomplish the same thing by putting your screens away an hour or two before bedtime and/or switching to dark mode. Ultimately, it’s up to you. Heck, if you haven’t used your EyeMed benefits yet, it might be an interesting experiment.  From my own experience as a wearer of progressive lenses, what DOES help is a pair of dedicated, screen-distance, single-vision lenses for using when you’re sitting at the computer. According to my Optometrist, single-vision prescriptions are also the easiest for online glasses shops to get right.  (I got mine from EyeBuy.) Just remember to switch back to your progressives when you step away.

5.       Dressing up?  Now that we’ve eaten our feelings/anxieties for over a year and thoroughly gotten our money out of our jeans and sweats will my suits even fit? Probably not, but my black suit jackets look fine over a nice pair of yoga pants. Some folks look forward to returning to business wear while the rest of us are trying to figure out how to sneak Snuggees into our work wardrobes. Ultimately, though, most of our meetings with external business partners will continue to be online, so keep your nice shirts/blouses and just add a jacket – your internal colleagues hopefully won’t mind the jeans.

6.       Territory.  When I worked 100% at the office, I railed against “bullpen” style pods and struggled until I got a proper office of my own. Some colleagues would count the ceiling tiles to ensure they were given an office of equal size to their peers. Offices were status symbols. Now I’m looking at 2 days/week in the office and I care a lot less. Many organizations are taking this opportunity to re-configure office spaces, veering sharply toward hoteling and hot-swapping desks. It’s smart – if someone's not using my office, that’s wasted space the company's paying for. And frankly, since my home office is reasonably comfortable now, I don’t need my downtown office to be my kingdom. As long as the hoteling space I’m assigned is properly cleaned, ventilated, spaced away from others, and has the basics (big monitor, docking station, separate mouse and keyboard, source of caffeine), I’ll be fine. I’ll bring my own pens.

7.       Laptop transport.  A few weeks ago, I went into the office for onsite testing. I brought my laptop in a messenger bag. And my purse. And my lunch. And an extra bag for taking my long-abandoned office shoes home. After returning home, my shoulder ACHED. I wasn’t used to carrying that much stuff. If you can reduce what you carry, that’s ideal, but if you MUST carry it all with you, work up to it and consider a backpack for your laptop (and wear both straps!). Thank me later.

8.       Virtual commutes.  One thing I do miss about my commutes (possibly the ONLY thing I miss) is the carved-out time to decompress and let all those work topics go. Listen to music or an audio book. Breathe. Refresh. But what about the 3 days working from home? Try booking a 20-minute recurring appointment on your calendar at the end of your work day – and use that time to do a quick yoga stretch or mindfulness meditation or even deep breathing. If you use Microsoft Teams, some of that is already built in – just turn on MyAnalytics and add the Insights app to Teams – you’ll be reminded to wrap up your day and prompted with a 1-minute deep breathing exercise.

9.       Hybrid = Inclusive.  Diversity and inclusion have been hot topics this past year and I haven’t met anyone who thinks the core concepts aren’t important and valuable. So what’s hybrid work in essence? It’s finding ways to blend office people with home-based people with our customers, in an equitable fashion, wherever they may be. But we know how to do this – we’ve BEEN doing it – and hybrid work means KEEP doing it:

a.       Ensure there’s an online meeting option attached to all your meeting invitations

b.       Have an agenda – post it ahead of time and follow it. Don’t waste people’s time. I think we’ve all seen the meme, “Another meeting that could have been an email!”

c.       If bandwidth permits, share your video when attending meetings so we get that personal connection (and you can’t be ignored). And make space for others. Let’s NOT go back to the old “Oh hey, does anyone on the call have anything to say?” 2 minutes before the meeting ends.

d.       Meetings may start on the dot, but take five minutes or so to reacquaint with some small talk while others straggle in.  Better yet, START your meetings at 5 minutes past the hour; give your attendees a breather between their last meeting and yours.  After all, in real life we need bio breaks and meetings don’t HAVE to be exactly 30 or 60 minutes long.

e.       Brainstorming? Use a Whiteboard. Remember how we wasted many trees’ worth of postit notes prioritizing ideas? Use an electronic whiteboard. This not only saves trees, but is also more effective in getting participation/input from your quieter teammates. Remember, diversity is being invited to the dance but inclusion is being ASKED TO DANCE. Ask your team members to contribute whether they’re online or in person, and make that as easy as possible.

f.        Meeting recordings and meeting notes are great for reminding people what was agreed-to, what the action items are, and looping others in who couldn't join at the time.

g.       Use a task tracker instead of posting “action items” in your notes.  Notes are useful references but can be ignored. Planner or Asana or Monday are good “lightweight” project planning tools built on task tracking. Assign people tasks; they’ll get reminders and you’ve got a built in Kanban board for the next time you meet.