Workplace wellness experts give advice on how to deal with this new model.

When the pandemic fused our personal and professional lives, causing many of us to work from home, we learned a valuable lesson about technology. It can be an incredibly useful tool for communicating with colleagues. However, when used carelessly, it can affect our productivity and relationships.

Now, as some professionals prepare to return to the office, many businesses plan to implement a hybrid model, in which employees split their shifts between the office and home . And therein lies a new technological challenge. Instead of just one work environment, many of us will have two. Often we will switch between the two, collaborating with some colleagues in the office while others are at home. It can feel chaotic figuring out which tools to use—from email to video calls—to work in each situation. “What I'm seeing in the literature is more and more evidence of how important it is to be deliberate and decisive about how we use information. technology,” said Emiliana Simon-Thomas, a neuroscientist who teaches the science of happiness at work at the University of California, Berkeley. “How is it supporting what I really want to do instead of taking me in 15 different directions?” I consulted workplace wellness experts for their advice on how to deal with this new hybrid way of working. Using technology (or not using it) to set boundaries will be critical to new home and office lifestyles, they said. Despite the popularity of remote work apps like Zoom and Slack during the pandemic, some studies have found that the most effective communication tools are still the least tech-intensive. That means that in the office we'll probably do better with face-to-face interactions, and at home, the phone will be the ideal tool. Here's some guidance on how we might adapt to these new work environments.

Text, call or Zoom

During the pandemic, the number of phone calls has doubled, according to data provided by phone companies. The phone has proven to be a superior method for feeling closer to people and enjoying conversations more, according to a study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology published last year. Other research found that when the use of video calls exploded over the past year, “Zoom fatigue” became a real concern. Maintaining close eye contact and seeing yourself in real time during a video chat can be exhausting, according to researchers at Stanford University. Plus, sitting still in front of a webcam limits our mobility. So how do we apply these lessons in the hybrid environment? When working with colleagues in the office, we can resist the temptation to chat via email or Slack . To make the most of being close to each other, consider having a face-to-face conversation or, if your colleagues work on different floors, making a phone call.When working with colleagues who are remote< /b>, a text or email would probably be good for quick conversations, like scheduling a meeting. However, for more serious talks, a phone or video call may be better. Video calls can get tedious, so they should be used sparingly, especially when there's a clear purpose for the video, Simon-Thomas said. The reason could be a meeting with audiovisual material in an exhibition. Or a colleague's introduction, when it's nice to see a face. Whether in the office or at home, if you're going to write to your colleagues, be considerate, Simon-Thomas added. Avoid short notes and add nuance and context to your message. When possible, show curiosity when you discuss problem solving to avoid coming across as a harsh critic. “We don't have the intonation, facial expression, or posture gestures that we normally rely on,” he said. “The most mundane answer can mean a universe of things to the person receiving it.”

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Respect Boundaries

Regardless of our hierarchy in an organization, our time is precious. According to a study, when a digital distraction, such as a message, interrupts our work, it takes us on average 23 minutes to return to the original task. So, in a hybrid work situation, respecting boundaries will be crucial, said Tiffany Shlain, a documentary filmmaker who wrote 24/6, a book about the importance of disconnecting from the internet. technology. There are powerful tools, like scheduling emails and setting a message status, that you can use to let others know you're busy and set boundaries.

Let's say your workday is 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. m. to 5:00 p.m. m. and that at 7:00 p.m. m. If you have an idea you want to share with a colleague, write it down in an email. If you send the mail, two things happen. One, you have removed your own limit by letting others know that you work at dinner time. Two, you may have interrupted a colleague during their break time. Emails are a convenient solution. Gmail, the most popular email service, has an arrow next to the send button that allows you to schedule an email for a specific date and time; Microsoft's Outlook application has a similar tool. Schedule the memo to be sent tomorrow at 9:00 am. m. It would probably make everyone happier. On the other hand, when you're busy or after work, there are ways to prevent others from bothering you. In Slack, you can set your status to “away” and write a description as “On delivery date”. In email, you can turn on auto reply to let others know you're in a meeting. Most smartphones also have a “Do Not Disturb” option to silence all notifications. In the next version of Apple's iOS mobile operating system, scheduled for release in the fall, iPhone owners will be able to pin a status message to iMessage to show others when they're busy. It will also include tools to only allow notifications from specific groups of people, like family members, to appear. There are also methods that don't rely on tools. Shlain makes a social media post to let people know she's going offline for the weekend, so they can wait to hear from her until afterward. “It's great to communicate that, but also to let people know that they They can do it too," he said.

Know when to disconnect

On days when you work from home and don't have a physical separation between your work and personal life, you'll need to make a more conscious effort to disconnect. Sometimes the best way to set a boundary is to go tech-free at all. One method of deactivating work-at-home is to create physical distance, said Adam Alter, a professor of marketing at New York University's Stern School of Business. York and author of Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked. For example, you could set an alarm to go off in a bedroom at 5:00 p.m. m., which would force you to leave your office space to finish your tasks both physically and mentally. Shlain takes a more extreme approach. For the past eleven years, he has practiced a technological version of the "sabbath," the Jewish day of rest. Every Friday afternoon, she and her family turn off their devices and for twenty-four hours do all the things that recharge them, like spending time with friends, painting and taking the dog for a long walk. “For one day there is no expectation of Let me answer," he said. “You cut out the noise and free up the space to think about the big picture of your life.” Then, when she feels revitalized on Sunday, she writes emails to her colleagues and schedules them to go out Monday morning.