The Covid pandemic is forcing us to separate work and non-work

Dividing your time just got a whole lot harder this year. Here are some suggestions about separating work and home roles.

In many cases, employees must attend to email and video meetings alongside family members who are also working or learning from home.

Remote work used to be an option for those ­employees who could convince their manager that it was a good idea. All that changed with the arrival of COVID-19.

For many, the transition to remote work has been remarkably smooth, aided by technologies such as fast internet and videoconferencing. Yet the technologies that have made remote work possible have also created a more permeable boundary between work and family roles. In many cases, employees must attend to email and video meetings alongside family members who are also working or learning from home.

Much of my research looks at how we form and manage boundaries between different parts of our lives. As many knowledge workers and their managers face more months of remote work, it’s vital to understand how you and your employees navigated work-family boundaries in more traditional office environments — and how mandatory working from home affects these approaches. Only then can you begin structuring remote work that is not only productive but honours everyone’s boundaries over the long term.

INTEGRATORS AND SEGMENTORS

Our preferences for work-life separation — known as “integration” and “segmentation” — are key factors in the ways we navigate our daily boundaries. “Integrators” tend to blur work-­family boundaries; “segmentors,” on the other hand, strive to preserve clear ones.

Generally speaking, there are two key dimensions that integrators and segmentors have to navigate: time and space. Understanding these dimensions will give you an idea of which ­category you fall in.

TIME: Integrators tend be comfortable performing work tasks during “family time” and doing family tasks during “work time”. In contrast, segmentors strive to focus on work during work hours and on family during family time.

SPACE: Integrators tend to be more comfortable blurring spatial boundaries. They are more apt to work from home, and, when they do work from the office, they’re more likely to display ­pictures of their family members. Segmentors, however, like to keep these spaces separate. They sometimes split work and home by having different calendars. While they are less likely to have a home office to begin with, if segmentors are ­required to do so they’re likely to need a physical barrier between work and home, like a room with a door.

Broadly, these time and space differences also mean that integrators are more likely to experience distractions and interruptions, given that they tend to allow work and family activities to coincide. Segmentors, however, often have the ability to focus more deeply, because they preserve a sharper boundary between work and home.

How, then, do the characteristics and needs of both working styles change when employees are required to work from home? I see some new challenges both work types face today, and offer some practical ways to address them.

INTEGRATORS AND SEGMENTORS IN THE AGE OF COVID-19

Today, segmentors’ strong desire to keep their office and family lives separate is almost ­impossible to satisfy while working from home. For integrators, the sudden and fully immersive blurring of work and home boundaries can be ­difficult if they’ve never felt the need to separate work and home in the past but might have to now. Here are ways both segmentors and ­integrators — and their managers — need to ­reconsider both time and space.

TIME: Putting boundaries around your time is important regardless of whether you are an ­integrator or a segmentor. This might come ­easier to segmentors. Integrators might have to work harder at this skill by creating more ­schedules and routines.

In particular, sticking to a schedule of predetermined working hours will be important for segmentors to feel in control of their work life. However, it’s still important to recognise that any predetermined schedule may need to be modified based on your responsibilities in caring for family members. Negotiating “work” hours with your family and your co-workers will help you stay on track. A second technique that may help segmentors fulfil their need for a clear boundary is to dress for work, whatever this means for you.

Integrators, on the other hand, may not need a strict schedule. They may be very ­productive working in their pyjamas. But they too need to set some boundaries while working from home. For example, they should deliberately block out time for important meetings or for solitary, focused work.

Managers’ behaviours toward employees also need to change when it comes to time. For example, a segmentor might have had a boss who expected emails to be answered in off-hours before the pandemic. Now that boss may want to escalate those interactions into video calls at all hours, while the segmentor would prefer an audio call or an email exchange so that aspects of his home life remain sacrosanct. A manager who is an integrator may not be able to easily recognise the segmentors’ concern; as a result, the person will need to learn what routines will help each team member perform at their best.

SPACE: Whether you are an integrator or a segmentor, you need to select your work-from-home space carefully. Integrators may be comfortable setting up their home office somewhere central, like the kitchen, where they can keep an eye on family members. However, segmentors should choose a room with a door, if possible.

Managers can help segmentors gain more control of their boundary challenges by regularly clarifying the goals and tasks team members need to perform. This can help minimise the stress associated with blurred boundaries for them. Managers should also be tolerant and encouraging of integrators working in a way that suits their individual needs and preferences. If an integrator shows up at a virtual meeting but has to check on a child or other family member, ­recognise that it’s important for that employee to be able to display this side of him or herself.

While COVID-19 exacerbates the challenge of the permeability of work-family boundaries, it also allows us to think more systematically about how we approach workplace flexibility. Now is the time to learn more about your own integrator and segmentor tendencies and those of your team. By understanding how everyone works best from home, leaders can turn this unexpected crisis into an opportunity.

Nancy P. Rothbard is the chair of the management department at the Wharton School, ­University of Pennsylvania.