What have we learnt about balancing work and life during the pandemic?

The year 2020 was one of lockdowns, remote working and hybrid working. What have we learnt from our own experiences about balancing work and life?

Before the pandemic, long working hours were prevalent in Asian countries. In the Kisi survey on work-life balance in 2020, the top five overworked cities are all from Asia – namely Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur and Tokyo.

As employees worked through the pandemic, they observed the pros and cons of the flexible work arrangements.

Some employees at first grumbled about working in a home environment, which may not have enough space or the right equipment for working. Some needed to take on additional childcare and eldercare duties. They found the number of virtual meetings and webinars to be overwhelming. Employees saved time and money on commute, but some actually missed their commute. The feeling of isolation was also keenly felt.

Yet some others enjoyed working from home, as it came with a rare opportunity to be around family members, a high level of autonomy, and freedom from the office setting.

During this period, some companies provided resources such as laptops, electricity subsidies, COVID-19 care packages, project management tools, and online support mechanisms. Some managers learned that it is perhaps more important to focus on performance outcomes rather than on face time. They need to trust their employees, take care of their mental well-being, and empower flexibility in the home setting.

A recent study by Microsoft across 31 markets warns about the dangers of an exhausted workforce, as 54% of workers reportedly felt overworked and 39% exhausted during the year 2020.

Digital overload has been expedited, with double the weekly online meetings, emails, chats, and documents to prepare. Employees, especially Generation Z workers, women, frontline workers, and new hires, reportedly struggled during the pandemic.

On the other hand, 61% of leaders said they were thriving during the same period of time. Obviously, leaders need to listen to and care more about their workers.

With experience, employers and employees knew more of what they wanted. The Microsoft survey revealed that 73% of workers wanted flexible remote work choices to stay, meanwhile 67% yearned for more in-person work or collaboration with their teams post COVID-19.

Employees want the best combination of rigidness and flexibility, along with autonomy, collaboration, and support from leaders. As a consequence, 66% of leaders said a hybrid work redesign is inevitably on the way.

With millennials and Generation Z on the rise, it is imperative to reimagine employee journeys with empathy.

Some companies have started their experiments. For example, Citi announced “Zoom-Free Fridays”, LinkedIn created a “LiftUp” program to address burnout issues and gave all employees one extra paid week off (starting April 5, 2021) to express gratitude to their employees, and Goldman Sachs enacted a “Saturdays off” rule in response to its junior analysts’ complaints about their 95-hour workweeks.

Clearly, work-life balance is on the younger generation’s priority list. If dissatisfied with the company, they will turn around and leave. On the flip side, work-life balance is also an important factor for attracting talents. Hopefully, new hybrid systems will be embedded with a balanced work and life pulse, with specific measures introduced to ease digital intensity, connect dots, and help everyone return to a safe new normal.