Use the crisis to re-evaluate the most effective ways of working and improve productivity, says Kuoni head of communications Rachel O’Reilly
Long ago, when I was working in a coffee bar in Sydney on a gap year, I remember asking someone who I thought was quite grown up at the time what they did. They replied that they surfed, cooked and enjoyed yoga.
I thought they must have misunderstood me, so tried again. I don’t mean what do you enjoy doing, I meant what do you do? The penny dropped. Ah, they replied, how do I earn money to do the things I enjoy? I work in an ad agency.
That conversation stays with me all these years later, because we are so often defined by our work. The Australian lady seemed to have her priorities right, with the work-life balance tipped firmly in favour of life.
Last year I was happy to be invited to a Travel Weekly networking event, hosted by author, journalist, campaigner and mum Anna Whitehouse, also known in the social media world at Mother Pukka. She’s long been a vocal campaigner for flexible working and presented a compelling case for rethinking our approach to rigid work routines.
Productivity, she argues, will increase if we allow people the freedom and flexibility to do just one thing to remove the biggest rub in their day or allow time to pursue a personal passion. The Flex Appeal campaign she founded is designed to illustrate that flexible working is a win-win. As well as boosting productivity, goodwill and happiness from staff, for business it helps talent attraction, staff retention and saves on site costs.
Yet it was eye-opening at that same event to hear how many unenlightened employers, even in the travel industry, were still married to a full-time, office-based approach. Tech advancement, hailed and celebrated as great progress, had done little to dent conventional thinking. Perhaps it’s no coincidence then that the rise of ‘always on’ tech has coincided with a deterioration of the nation’s mental health.
It’s only now, in a time of crisis, when large swathes of the world are properly figuring out how to make best use of technology to operate efficiently from home, that many employers – and employees – have woken up to other possibilities.
Over the years I’ve worked in large corporate organisations, medium-sized agencies and been self-employed. My years running a consultancy from a garage turned office at the end of the garden were enlightening because it made me realise just how time-wasting and expensive office working can be. Uninterrupted by office gossip, endless meetings or a daily commute, my productivity hit new peaks. In the early years of self-employment I was evangelical. Surely, this was the future of work.
Yet it wasn’t until five years into being my own boss that I took a good hard look at the way I was working. Firstly, I had started missing people and being part of a team and longed for a bit of office banter. It took others to point out gently that I rarely, if ever, took time to do the things I set out to do. I didn’t head out on my bike for an early morning ride through the park, nip off to the pool for a mid-afternoon swim or have a coffee with the other mums after school drop off. By stealth, I’d become a victim of the work culture we’ve been programmed for and the scales felt very light on the life bit I’d intentionally set it up for.
Four-day working weeks, part-time hours, daily exercise and homeworking are now being forced on us by a global pandemic. But if we are to take any positives from this awful situation it’s opening our eyes not just to a different style of working – but a new way of living.
Covid-19 has brought life into sharp focus. A virus is playing havoc with our health and our livelihoods. Survival mode forces us to reassess how much we need and what we value, as people and as businesses.
Whether we are self-employed, in small businesses or large companies right now, we are all having to rethink our plans and go back to the drawing board to start afresh. And I hope that Flex Appeal could be central to how we map out a successful, revitalised future which works for business and staff alike.
But whatever unfolds over the coming weeks and years, I also hope that we’ll also remember to embrace some of the vibes of my Australian friend.
Yes, we are travel professionals, communicators and sellers. But we are also runners, writers, cyclists, musicians, mums, dads, sisters, brothers and friends. To work well and be happy those bits of us need nurturing and investing in as much as any professional role.