Since the Future of Work Exchange launched nearly a year ago (its one-year anniversary is only several days away!), it has been incredibly rare for me to take time off beyond major holidays and, of course, the weekends. And, even then, many Sunday afternoons are spent catching up on email, writing and conducting research, recording podcasts, etc.
I know many, many of you are the same way.
Here at the Exchange, we’ve spoken at-length about two critical pieces of the greater Future of Work puzzle: worker burnout and employee wellness/wellbeing:
“Workers that have moved to fully remote or hybrid models still routinely face a “blurring” of work and life balance, with care for children and their homes (on top of an additional workload) contributing to late nights on the computer, extended time on mission-critical projects, and work on the weekends. Worker responsibilities have surged, as well, as businesses seek to align staff shortfalls with the existing workforce.
Unlike pre-pandemic times (when burnout was still very much an issue), employees facing the epidemic of burnout now also have to contend with additional social, political, and health issues that are all comprise today’s world. And it’s so much more than simple “stress,” too: mental anguish stemming from a workplace environment (and YES, a home office counts!) can have significant ramifications on business professionals, including irritability, physical illnesses, mental health issues, waning productivity, and, worst of all, a constant questioning of if the position/role (or, even worse, the career itself) is worthwhile.”
On the flip side, worker wellbeing is just as critical: workplace environments that encourage physical and mental wellness are typically the ones that tend to thrive, even during challenging times. Leaders of these organizations understand just how crucial wellness is for the long-term success of their businesses and their workforce, and, subsequently so, enable their staff with time, perks, and flexibility for exercise, as well as providing the necessary mental health services that can be needed in times of stress.
Anyways…back to the issue at hand: unplugging and how hard it can be to do so.
My family booked a nine-day stay at a friend’s lakeside cottage on Rust Pond in New Hampshire (Rust Pond is connected to the well-known Lake Winnipesaukee). I entered vacation with a major goal: unplug as much as I could, enjoy the company of my wife and children, and rest and recharge before coming home to a deluge of emails, projects, research, media commitments, etc.
The “as much as I could” phrase from above should have been “unplug completely.” I spent too much time perusing LinkedIn. I popped my laptop open at night while drinking a Downeast Cider. I wrote original content for this very site. I scheduled some social media posts. My kids swam in the lake only a dozen feet in front of me as I used my iPhone’s Notes app to generate some ideas for a top-secret project.
I look back now with some harsh lessons learned. Bringing my laptop wasn’t the issue; spending an hour or two several days during vacation on the laptop was the issue. Needing to write content wasn’t the issue; spending the time writing at night when I could have been sitting next to a firepit was the issue.
For many business leaders and professionals like myself, it can be incredibly difficult to make that big leap and ignore email, turn off the smartphone, and snub the FOMO that we usually have when keeping up with LinkedIn posts. I even realized that I never even set an out-of-office note on Outlook.
After posting something to LinkedIn on Thursday morning, I tucked my laptop into my messenger bag and hid it in the corner of my upstairs bedroom in the cottage. I left my phone behind on the kitchen counter. I took off my Apple Watch and left it on the nightstand. I waded into the relaxing lake water, had a water-gun fun with my six-year-old, and watched my nine-year-old improve upon her already-stellar swimming. I made s’mores with my wife later that night on the firepit right on the lakefront. We all slept in on Friday morning, made pancakes together, and spent the entire day in and around the lake. For the rest of the weekend, my laptop stayed shut. Work email went unread. LinkedIn’s feed was ignored.
I got some reading in (Sequoia Nagamatsu’s incredible How High We Go In The Dark, which is equally enthralling and heartbreaking) and spent hours completely unplugged from the business and social worlds. There’s something about sitting in front of an open body of water, listening to nature, and truly relaxing. Not many of us take the opportunity to do this and it shows: Future of Work Exchange research estimates that 70% (or more) of today’s workforce has felt some semblance of burnout since the beginning of 2022.
It doesn’t have to be this way. If the trends towards better conscious leadership hold steady, as well as trends pointing towards workers continuing to fulfill purpose and work-life integration by reconsidering their career paths, it will mean that burnout and wellbeing/wellness may become even more critical than compensation in the months ahead.
I failed to completely unplug last week, having every reason to shut down my laptop and ignore the business arena for a nine-day stretch. As I look at the above picture of my children peering out into the perfect blue of Rust Pond, the tinges of a perfect summer landscape all around us, I realize that unplugging isn’t just something that I’ll consider for my work-life balance…it’s something that’ll be a required element for my family and me in the future.
Unplugging is difficult…but it’s worth it to rest, recuperate, and enjoy the non-work-related aspects of the world all around us.